Rio Grande Open Space I

The Albuquerque area has quite a few open spaces - areas set aside for enjoying nature.  This one is along the Rio Grande, very near Downtown.
The cottonwood forest runs along the river, giving this high desert a splash of green

The trees are easy to spot

But the flowers tend to hide!

I stumbled onto a quiet pond (fortunately, not *into* it!)

Hard to believe there's a city all around this...

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Here's where it is!

Phoenix With Friends

We spent late November in Phoenix with friends - Facebook is to blame for a chain of connections that saw us all meeting, exploring, and getting non-electronically connected :-)
We strolled around the ruins, plants, and exhibits at the Pueblo Grande Museum Archeological Park

We visited the Arizona State Capitol Museum

It is a beautiful time of year here, inside and out!
We hiked the McDowell Mountain Regional Park

Green Chile Stew

Soooo... New Mexico!  New Mexican cuisine has its idiosyncrasies.  It has most of the general elements that are associated with "Mexican food" but...

• Beans are *always* pintos :-( 
• Rice is not usually available - potatoes are *the* starch
• Burritos (other than the breakfast burrito) seem to be meat rolled in a flour tortilla - that's it.
• Tortillas are fluffy flour (and delish!)
• Sopapillas - filled with meat for a meal, or served plain with honey for dessert
• Corn product choices are yellow or blue
• AND chiles *make* the dish

The dish to have is Green Chile Stew - and there are a ton of recipes.  Since you have to start somewhere...

This is *almost* straight off the package of "Bueno Hot Autumn Roast Chopped Green Chile"

• 1 tub frozen Green Hatch Chilies, fire roasted (13 oz)
• 1/2# cubed lean pork
• 3 potatoes, cubed
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups water 

 Toss everything in a pot, simmer for about 2 hrs.
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This was amazingly easy, and fabulously good!
BUT VERY HOT!!!
It helped to have handy sour cream, avocado, bread, and cheese to soak up all that heat.

Cacti - A Love Affair?

When I was seven, my family of 6 piled into our red VW bus, and, along with a family friend, drove from Northern California to central Mexico.  It was an amazing 6-week adventure that left this youngster with quite a few odd memories.

The strongest (and most unpleasant) memory for this always-barefoot girl, is the multitude of pictures taken against (and smack in the middle of) a cactus-filled landscape.  Thus began my enmity towards all things spiney.

Fast-forward several decades, and here I am, slow-traveling in the Southwest. Desert. Land of the Cacti.

Sigh.  Perhaps it's time to dig up that old grudge and re-evaluate.

So... first, let's examine the pretty ones

Then a strange-but-not-too-scary one

Don't get too close!

Dang! Let's show some appreciation...

Ready for spiney, but small...

Be careful of the cute and fuzzy looking ones - they're actually pretty aggressive

How 'bout a hug?

(I think I still prefer the dead ones)

By the way, other Mexican memories from a 7-year-old include:

1. My own suitcase!
2. Playing Cinco Loco
3. Spicy corn-on-the-cob from street vendors
4. Sleeper train to Mexico City
5. Pulling my sister's tooth
6. Running downstairs to find out how to say "pretty" in Spanish, dashing back up, pointing at a giant vase, and saying "bonita"
7. Tickle-wars
8. Owl pendants
9. Brilliant blue and gold poncho
10. Ham and cheese quesadillas, from a restaurant that had just shut down their kitchen when a hungry, road-weary family showed up
11. Colorful skirts
12. Spelling "Hoo-lee-a" (that would properly be "Julia")
13. Sleeping on the roof
14. Pyramids
15. VW stew 
16. Sweet bread from the street market
17. Crossing into The Tropics
18. Suitcases flying off the roof
19. AND....
20. Big sister saving me from the nasty "plant" :-) 

Is It Still Gallo Pinto?

Gallo Pinto* is THE national dish** of Costa Rica, and I loved making it when we lived there:

1. Heat oil in a heavy pot
2. Add chopped onion and chopped sweet red chile (red bell pepper can be used, but it isn't exactly the same); cook till caramelized
3. Add cooked, drained black beans (some like red beans, but under NO circumstances should you use pinto beans)
4. Add cooked white rice
5. Stir in chopped cilantro (coyote is best, but hard to find outside Costa Rica), Salsa Lizano, and black pepper
6. Heat through

This is a side dish served at any meal (although, oddly enough, lunch usually has the rice and beans served separately).

Over time, my version morphed a bit :-)

1. Rick determined that Lizano didn't agree with him, and I liked the texture when I added the soup from cooking the beans, so I made the exchange.  Also, it is nearly impossible to get Salsa Lizano except in Costa Rica...
2. I had the Caribe version, made with coconut milk, and fell in love!  So I occasionally added that (honestly, it's to die for).  I also sometimes like to add ginger.
3. Then, I made it a full meal (sort of a stove-top casserole) by adding chopped veggies and cubed meat
4. Several years later, we decided to reduce our consumption of whites, and so I replaced the white rice with brown rice 
5. Then we Slow-Traveled to New Mexico, KNOWN for its most excellent Green Chiles, and I added that (OMG, YUUUUM!)
6. And finally, in its latest incarnation, I had leftover barley, and used that instead of rice.  :-\ 

Although it is now unrecognizable, even more changes are on the way, I'm sure :-)

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* translated as Speckled Rooster ('cause, you know, it looks speckled)

** There is even a Gallo Pinto festival each year in San José, shutting down the Paseo Colon (the main East-West road through the capital)

San José Tour

Today's tour of San José, Costa Rica - Brought to you by Memory, while on the treadmill in New Mexico...

I left our apartment in lovely Barrio Dent, walked though Parque China, and through Escalante to the Iglesia Santa Teresita.  Then I cut through Barrio Amon to see the bougainvillea at the Casa Amarrilla (I waved to the President, of course), and then through Parques España, Niños, and Morazon, and on to the Alliance Française - Coucou! Ça va?
I followed the bus route (terrible for breathing fumes, but exciting to think of all those destinations!) all the way to Mercado Borbón, where I bought some *fresh* palmito (aka hearts of palm) and mora (blackberries).  I turned back towards home, thinking of all the wonderful ways to enjoy them!
I stopped off at the central Correo (so beautiful) to check the mail, and rested for a moment at the park (for some reason, this time, I simply didn't hear the perpetual stream of proselytizers).
I went down to the pedestrian mall, past the flower stall and statues, and into the press of people!  I got into my people-watching-and-dodging mode, listened to the chatter and street musicians, kept an eye out for a street-side bargain (hah), and stopped for a breath of wet air at the fountain.
I thought about stepping into the café at the National Theatre, but decided to listen to the blues played outside instead.
I watched children chasing pigeons, and remembered the freeze-frame flashmob we did at the plaza :-)
I got to the end of the mall, this time without coming across any political parades, and went on to the Artist's Market, where I cut back through the shady, breezy, blossomy Parque National.  I passed the ferrolito (train station, also used for outdoor events), the Antigua Aduana (an events hall that used to be customs), and walked on to Parque Francia.
Almost home!  So I waved to the North American Cultural Center, passed the dazzling yellow hibiscus, turned left at the purple bougainvillea, and went into my gate :-)

Backyards

We've had quite a few backyards over the past few years - I've enjoyed the views; hope you do too!
The backyard where it all began, in northern California

Our first house together, at Moss Beach

The Forever Spring of San José, Costa Rica

Winter, spring, summer, and fall in Iowa

And the watermelon-red of the Sandia Mountains from Albuquerque, New Mexico

Remember, no matter what they say, sometimes looking back is FUN!