Verjuice

Did I miss it or are we going to hear more about this? I visited Santa Fe in Feb 2001, for a business meeting. It was cold and gray. A fair bit of snow, but frozen into icy gray mounds. I promised myself that I'd come back in another season and now realize that I have yet to do so. Thank you for blogging. Like the blogs that that drew me to eGullet, you have brought to this one your own special sense of time and place. ← No worries-- I'm cooking for them this afternoon! I've actually cooked for them a couple times since the blog began, but I didn't take pictures. Bad, bad blogger.

Funny, I usually associate hot climes with spicy foods, not rich, heavy dishes. How did this linkage manage to bypass the Arabian peninsula? ← I'll just assume that the resemblance between the Emirates and industrial New Jersey was purely coincidental. ← Oh, Sandy, Sandy, Sandy... you kindly and mistakenly assume that I am not yet a bona fide Scrabble crack user. I play daily on ISC (Internet Scrabble Club). I worry that after I check your PM, I may never leave my house-- or my study-- again. Except to visit the kitchen, of course. I didn't forget any of your questions, but I was trying to amass all of my replies before responding. I am still waiting for a call back from Loretto Chapel to get the name of the architect, for starters. Food in the U.A.E. is spicy with cloves and cardamom, but not heat. Bottles of hot sauce are standard accompaniments to local meals.

What she said. I do have to take points off for this disturbing sight I hear wonderful things about New Mexican food, but haven’t experienced it in person. If you are taking requests, please do share some of your favorite New Mexican dishes, whether home-made or not. Otherwise, just keep doing what you are doing. ← Thank you! As for the Marmite, well... what can I say. Do you have any idea what it's like to go through life as a slave to sodium? Clearly not. edited because I never proofread and have clumsyy fiingrs

Thanks for making an appearance. Hopefully, by the time you've retired here, I'll have my very own Emirati/Lebanese/Northern New Mexican fusion restaurant going, and you can come by for dinner.

Hi Tepee! I always bring back Lebanese sweets. There's a huge Lebanese population in the Emirates, and they keep the bar quite high: 1) Baqlawa (baclava) from Al-Samadi Sweets in Abu Dhabi. Not sure what the best is in Dubai, or if Goodies in Wafi City in Dubai has decent stuff- but it might, as it is Lebanese in origin, and that's never a bad thing! There is so much mediocre baqlawa out there, and very little that manages to be simultaneously light, crisp, rich with real butter, and not too sweet. 2) Nammoura and basbousa from, randomly enough, Carrefour. None of their other sweets are remarkable, but these are ambrosial- the best ever! There are several Carrefours in Dubai where these can be found. They are sold by the kilo at the Lebanese pastry counter. Make sure he asks to taste them first, so that they give him the best and the freshest, which they save for buyers whom they presume to be discriminating. 3) Dates. Bateel is grossly overpriced. Their presentations are gorgeous, but the quality itself is quite poor. You can get outstanding local dates at any supermarket for a song. Plain, stuffed with almonds, you name it... there are countless varieties. Bateel dates are more the sort of thing you send to a friend's hospital room in lieu of flowers, after she's had a baby. On a non-food related note, jewelry. Small pieces or otherwise. Dubai has become obscenely expensive, but there are a few places in the Free Zone where I know excellent, honest dealers of gold and gemstones, with prices that cannot be matched anywhere. <<Full disclosure: I am not connected as a businessperson to the dealers mentioned above, but tor several years, I've had a business on the side with another Emirati woman (a gemologist), dealing in fancy (colored) diamonds)>>.

Yes, it's the Inn at Loretto! Pretty impressive, no? Dave's is still there (or "here", I suppose. Never did figure out the name). I used to go there all the time when I lived in the neighborhood, but after I moved back to town, I noticed it was getting written up in the paper a lot for violating health codes, and a couple of friends told me it just wasn't the same. Molly's Mexican Kitchen is gone. I don't think this place is related. Is it? As for Monte Sol, I don't know what I'd do (or how I'd eat this way) without Dorothy Stewart and Atalaya for frequent excursions... eta: Dorothy Stewart and Atalaya are hiking trails.

That is a lovely compliment. Thank you.

Oh no... you've got the bug, too!

We wrapped things up with a proper margarita at the Rio Chama. Ahhh..... perfection: Of course, I can't go anywhere without ordering food, so food was ordered. Mini-burgers: Nachos with green chile: And also these, just for dipping the nachos into for maximum pleasure: Roasted tomato salsa, tomatillo salsa, and habanero guacamole: And Chama chili: Yes, that bowl of m&ms was full when I sat down. And yes, it was empty when I left.

We had Pissaladiere: And eight small plates. They weren't particularly photogenic, so I won't post many photos. But we had: Manchego and membrillo Crab croqettes with aioli Pate Forestier with whole grain mustard and cornichons Duck rillettes and crostini Stuffed mussels Andouille sausage with apple compote Gnocchi alla Romana Salt Cod Brandade The pinons in the rillettes were.... interesting: The spineless little cornichons from the pate performed some impressive gymnastics for us:

And Kent, I hate to disappoint, so this is for you. The tequila list at the Staab House: I ordered the house special Silver Coin... Herradura Silver. And--- a tragic combo of lemon and lime juice. Garnished with slices of lemon and lime. I only had a couple of sips; too sweet and too strong. Oh, the mockery: He had a Monk's Ale, made here in NM by monks up in Jemez: The menu was tempting: And LOOK, Seattleites!

Buenos dias and sabah al-khair! I uploaded my pics from last night when I got home, but kept nodding off in the middle of trying to post, so I put it off until this morning. It snowed intermittently all day yesterday, and it was really coming down when we got to Maria's at 8 pm (without a reservation because I've never needed one before, and am always happy to sit in the bar). I have never seen a restaurant lobby so crowded here in Santa Fe- the wait was nearly two hours and the bar was packed. Not my idea of a good time, so we just made a reservation for tonight at 8 and left. We slipped and slid our way on the icy roads to the Staab House at La Posada on Palace Ave. The courtyard was stunning, with fire several fire pits: The bar is comfortable. There are a couple of cozy rooms attached, which is where we sat. The hotel lobby itself consists of a series of a half dozen furnished rooms, and cocktails can be served in any one of them:

Thanks for the sweetness, mizducky. I called my friend Dan, owner PD Bean coffee shop, earlier today to get more accurate info on the whole coffee brewing thing. I had never discussed my theory with anyone before posting about it here; I just know from experience that it never tastes right when it's made in a home kitchen. Dan confirmed that his commercial equipment is pressurized to keep the water at 195 degrees throughout the brewing process, whereas at this altitude with an ordinary drip coffee maker/French press/percolator/Moka etc. the water will just never get anywhere close.

Of all of the creatures in Wren's home, I probably bonded most with this monster. Here is the largest, sexiest single clove of garlic I have ever seen: When Wren made the pfannkuchen, she used coconut oil to grease the pan. Mamma mia!! It imparted the most wonderful flavor to the finished product... As if pancakes weren't enough to talk me into coming over, Wren pulled out a bunch of mushrooms that she foraged herself earlier this year-- Aspen boletes and King boletes! These were sauteed with a respectably-sized knob of good butter. And that was lunch! Before we settled in to play Scrabble Wren served me a cup of green tea in this mug that she made:

Hola, boys and girls. For lunch, I went over to my friend Wren's place to a) learn how to make pfannkuchen (German pancakes; Wren is German), and b) play Scrabble (we are both hopeless addicts). Wren is one of the loveliest , bravest, and most generous people I know. She is also a gifted physician and fabulous cook, potter and enamel artist, among other things. Here are her rescued kids. The first picture is of Lucky, whom Wren legally kidnapped last month, so to speak, from her neighbors. They were abusing him and one day he ran away from home. Wren went to the local shelter on a hunch and adopted him from there. Very gutsy, considering her neighbors are a rough bunch, and they have yet to figure out that their former pet is living right next door! Look at that loyal face. Phoebe: Jack: Emma:

I just reread the posts about coffee on the last page, and the combined effect is definitely not pretty! But to me you're The Amazing Abra Cadabra, and you can do no wrong in my eyes. And I'm sure everyone here agrees.

Thank you so much! The laws concerning alcohol and pork are similar. They cannot be served outside of a hotel restaurant. Pork is sold in a curtained addition to the supermarket. Alcohol is sold in windowless buildings. You need a special license to purchase it legally. The license will identify you as a non-Muslim, and it costs money to maintain as well. Of course, there are all kinds of ways around this... but those are the laws. As for PDA, yes, it is condemned. If a man harasses a woman verbally and she files a complaint, he has his head shaved and his mug shot posted on the front page of the paper of the next day as an example to others. I can think of numerous related stories that I've read about in the Gulf News over the years, all of them ridiculous. But there you go.

Mmm... Ommegang is such an excellent value. 150 tequilas?! There isn't a proper tequila bar in Austin, I'm very jealous. Have a Del Maguey mezcal for me. ← Yeah, they are a great value. I like the Chimays and a lot the Unibroue beers even more, though. I'll give your mezcal a try!

Those cupcakes are huge! Not that size is a deterrent, mind you. I have never tried one, but I will now that you've recommended them. Speaking of huge and delicious baked goods, the cinnamon rolls at Counter Culture? Please! I go out of my mind for these; they're DELICIOUS. They bake them on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays. I am going to get one on Saturday morning. And I like the cinnamon sour cream coffee cake at CC just as much.

That reminds me. A tale of legendary idiocy: A few years ago, before I knew I was allergic, I ate a couple dozen Wellfleet oysters and fell violently ill. My ribcage seized up and I felt like my whole body had been beaten with a sledgehammer. I lay awake all night, shivering and wincing from the pain. At the time, I had assumed that it was one bad bugger in the lot. A year later I was at Blue Water Cafe in Vancouver, and I must have eaten about forty oysters before I started to hallucinate, break out in hives, and feel my intercostal muscles begin contracting again. At the hospital an hour later, I had to confess to eating several dozen oysters before realizing that they were making me sick. The ER dc looked at me like I was either the biggest dimwit or the greediest person he had ever met. Finally, two years later, I tried eating one kumamoto oyster at a chef's insistence. Don't ask me why I did it. Sure enough, ten minutes later I felt like I was being stabbed in the gut with a dough hook. But I figured I should rule out gluttony as a potential aggravating factor in my allergy to oysters. Ahem. Oh- and yeah. I'm a chick.

Oh my, I just called them and you're absolutely right. I don't remember them always doing it that way! They said that they use lemons because of their year-round consistency. What the heck- are you kidding me? Every other place in town manages to locate limes throughout the year. Now I'm irritated because, like you, I need me some lime in my margaritas. So I may forgo the margaritas, have a tequila and mezcal sampler... and head elsewhere for a margarita later. Thank you for the heads-up!

Had to run a few errands on the Southside. This included meeting my former hospice volunteer director at Plaza Diner Southside (same ownership as Plaza Cafe downtown) for a quick holiday hug exchange and personal life update. As usual, I was feeling peckish, probably because I didn't have any bread with my soup. I had a quesadilla with chipotle chiles. This is very New Mexican. Honey on every table for your sopaipillas (actually, I think you get honey butter at Tomasita's).

It just started snowing again. Soup sounded pretty good to me, so I whipped some up. Curried kabocha squash soup with coconut milk. I stirred in a hefty dose of sriracha.

That's how a margarita should be made anyway. I use the exact same recipe, down to the Milagro Silver. Which ones? I'm a huge fan of Belgian styles and love the way they pair with food. ← Ommegang, Hennepin, Three Philosopher's and Rare Vos from Brewery Ommegang. Clearly you have the right idea when it comes to margaritas! You just gave me an idea; I've decided that I'm going to Maria's tonight. They carry over 150 tequilas and mezcals- and will make a margarita out of any of them. They have it down to a science; which drinks benefit from a combination of lemon and lime, sometimes subbing Grand Marnier for Cointreau... I think it's time to bring some Northern New Mexican food to this blog, as well, as nobody does it better than Maria's, imho. So stay tuned.

It's from his 2003 obit in the Albuquerque Journal. Steering back towards on topic, you said you rarely venture to the Plaza area. What neighborhoods do you frequent? I left Santa Fe in 1990 after a four-year post-college walkabout there. I lived on West San Francisco Street, a few blocks from the Plaza. At that time, my apartment was very close to what Anglos referred to as a barrio, and just a few doors down was an Italian restaurant that turned into a lively gay bar after dinner service. When I returned for a visit a few years ago, the gentrification was stunning, although honestly it was well underway in 1990. Like you, I'd avoid the downtown area. Every space was leveraged for maximum retail potential, but no place to buy, say, a tube of toothpaste. (Maybe pinon toothpaste.) Anyway, your blog is a delightful trip down memory lane. Thanks for doing it! ← Yes! That's my 'hood. Stamm built Casa Alegre, which is the neighborhood around Osage (the street that connects St. Mike's and Cerrillos) , Casa Solana (this subdivision has always creeped me out, even before I knew that Santa Fe's Japanese internment camps were on the same 80 acre plot of land), and the stunningly beautiful Sol y Lomas, which is where Stamm's family and Lee Brown's family live to this day. Lee Brown, quoted in the article, is a friend of mine and all-around brilliant and sophisticated human being (he has actually spent quite a bit of time in the UAE!). He raised his family in Casa Alegre. As Jack Stamm stated in the obit, the Casa Alegre homes were originally built as starter homes for small families, however real estate prices in Santa Fe have skyrocketed to the point where that's no longer really the case (hence all the newer lower-income housing developments in Rancho Viejo and Airport Road). Homes in the neighborhoods of Casa Alegre and Casa Solana now range from the high 200ks (no renovation, original windows, original plumbing, 1 bathroom) to the low 400ks. Not exactly cheap and downright unaffordable to many, but it doesn't get any better unless you want live in a townhouse out by the highway. Personally, I was just sick of throwing my money away on rent (and the Dubai stock market ), and I felt extremely confident about investing in Santa Fe. The market has always been strong, regardless of hat is happening elsewhere in the country. Due to our water shortages and moratoriums, there is very little new development in general- and none at all downtown. In fact, ever since this new low-income housing law was passed almost two years ago, not a single new development has been built! This keeps the market strong, in conjunction with the fact that there is only so much room in Santa Fe, but every year more people from California and Texas want to retire here. Soon after I bought my house, I met Lee Brown at my realtor's birthday dinner (he's also my realtor's father-in-law) and he asked me what I paid for my house. He said he remembered building that house with Stamm and selling it for around 10k. Naturally, this elicited much nervous laughter from me, as I stood rooted to the spot, my heart hammering away as I digested the thought of my brand new mortgage. Your comments on the gentrification of the Plaza are painfully accurate. Every now and then, I'll hit he Plaza at around 11pm after everything closes and just walk around to familiarize myself with all the awful new stores. One positive thing about the plaza is that chain stores cannot survive it; Banana Republic had a huge space on the corner of San Francisco and Galisteo, but hardly anyone ever went in, even during peak tourist season, and it eventually closed. People seem to prefer to spend their vacation money on hideous turquoise bolo ties and Frank Howell prints instead, and I have no problem with that! I also never seem to to tire of this awesome thing, which I often deliberately walk past when I'm downtown: My usual dives... well, I do my hiking and trailrunning out at St. John's and am very familiar with the Camino del Monte Sol area... I also feel like I spend a fair bit of time in the Guadalupe District, for some reason, and around the Capitol and South Capitol (which is where a lot of my friends live and work). I hate the South Side of town, but every now and then, we all need something from Target. I practically lived at Home Depot while I was doing lots of work on my house, as well. The truth is, I spend a lot of my time blissfully in and around my house, which is like a little fortress with its wall of privacy. I go to the market every single day (usually Wild Oats, Vitamin Cottage if I'm just buying produce, or La Montanita Coop; I only go to Whole Foods if it's very early or very late, to beat the crowds). I cook for a couple that lives out past Las Campanas, so I drive out there a few nights a week.