Cold - As Far as the Eye Can See!

Yep, it's *cold!*

Our warned-of winter storm has begun

And there is no warmth in sight :-(

Irresistible Sculpture

We went to a party at a friend's house tonight, and met "Craig Phelps," this irresistible sculpture

Why that name? Babs (our friend) saw the ad on Craig's list, and the physique seemed similar to Michael Phelps => Craig Phelps...
She hasn't been able to track down any information about the artist: Lenora Mark (1991), but many of us would love to see more!

Apparently, he's irresistible to many; Barbara and I joined a fan club ;-)

Spanish Again :-)

I was trying to think of the last time I spoke Spanish; at first, I thought it had to have been a year and a half ago in Costa Rica. Then I realized that I'd had some short conversations here in New Mexico - part of hiking and other meetups. And yes, I read some Spanish in my Facebook feed, but things (e.g., my brain, my ears, my mouth) were getting rusty!

Well, last night, we went to an Intercambio party, and had actual, *sustained* conversations! For hours! It was great - so many words were just on the tip of my tongue, then I heard them - and remembered!

Quebramos la piñata...

(Photo swiped from Gabriela :-) )
I don't think I've had a swing at a piñata since I was 8 (ish) - young, anyway! It was certainly a lot of fun!

Potluck Egg Cups

'Tis the season for potlucks!
And these are amazingly good, and travel well! I had them hot, but I suspect they would be great cold as well (reminds me of the time I had cold quiche at a farmer's market in France).

Egg Cups*

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan.

Distribute in muffin cups:
- cooked and crumbled bacon (~3 strips)
- 1/2 onion, chopped, cooked in bacon drippings
- 4-5 mushrooms, chopped, cooked with onions
- 1-2c chopped, cooked green veggies (asparagus, green beans, broccoli)

Mix, then pour over vegetables:
- 9 eggs, well beaten
- 1/4 c milk
- suggested seasonings, to taste
--- thyme
--- basil
--- tarragon
--- nutmeg
--- chipotle and/or green chile

Sprinkle on top:
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the egg cups are well set and a tester/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let rest 5 minutes, then remove from pan, and eat or wrap in foil to take to the potluck.

Remove foil and microwave to reheat.

Pre-oven:

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* Based on this recipe: http://www.rachaelray.com/2013/06/egg-cups-good-go-to-and-to-go-breakfast

To Do This Week

To Do this week:
- be happy
- do what you love
- give love
- enjoy time with others
- keep learning
- be yourself and love who you are

A friend shared this meme online; I love it! And this week just happens to fill the bill!

We went to a lecture at a local museum - it was about what the folks in Los Alamos (metro area with highest percentage of PhD holders in the nation) are doing to increase our plant-based fuel - I was out with Rick, met interesting new people, and we learned some new science!

I went to a "Civic Hack" night sponsored by the Code for ABQ group. It's not quite a year old, but has several projects in work; one aims to make it easier for the people of Albuquerque to see where the city spends its money (currently, you have to sort through reams of paper to find out), another is mapping pedestrian problems (bad sidewalks, history of falls, etc). Then there's ImagineABQ (yeah, check the link!), collecting ideas for a better Albuquerque. This one evening checked all the boxes for me!

But the fun didn't stop! Our apartment had scheduled some plumbing repairs (no water available for several hours), so we went out to lunch, then furniture shopped - what a beautiful day it was! And successful!

Having a newly dedicated project area, I spent some time painting :-) I have a picture in mind that has some difficult aspects. I've thought about it a lot, now I've tried a few things... Well, I learned a bit. And I have a few more ideas to try. If When I get it right, I want to paint this one on a large (for me) canvas.

Those are the "To Do" highlights - let's not forget these:
- morning coffee
- cook something new and interesting
- read a fun and absorbing book
- sudoku
- neighborhood walks (with Rick, in the sun!)
- Big Bang Theory, new episode ;-)

And chores - because when they're done, they keep life pleasant :-\

More Stuff?!?

YES! More Stuff!
Last Spring, in Travel Heavy - Live Light, I posted about downsizing and improvising. But I also had a wish list (repeated here for your convenience and my edification :-) )
- a small table with 2 chairs for dining
- we're hoping to find a mattress that works for us. Easier said than done - currently, we have two air mattresses plus various "padding."
- at least one more real end table (We're getting a bit tired of the unstable box)
- a hand mixer. Although, I don't bake as much as I used to, and I have come to like my fork-mashed parsnips (replacing mashed potatoes)
- a serving platter and bowl; I'm looking for something that combines a NM souvenir (and perhaps handmade experience?) with practicality. I'm not in a hurry tho - I have a cookie sheet and largish cereal bowls that work pretty well...

Well, we're making strides! Albuquerque has *tons* of thrift, consignment, second hand, used-stuff shops - and you can kill yourself trying to see them all! We hit 4 or 5 this afternoon, and finally found this item on my list (sort of) - it has 4 chairs, and two of the sides drop. We moved my painting station over to the next window - that table is now (yay!) just for my projects (and for pressing into service if we have people over).

Our last visit to the consignment shop gained us this! It's a sleigh platform bed (appropriately mussed), with (wait for it) a *real* mattress!!

That freed up the footlockers we had been using as part of a platform; they are our new end tables :-)

I've decided I don't want a hand mixer. I have a blender that I don't use as  often as I used to, and a mixer would just be another gadget taking up space.

I finally broke down and bought a generic pyrex bowl. I use it a lot, but I sure would like something with pizazz! Today, we passed a pottery shop - I may have to go back that way and see what's what...

Orange Cranberry Sauce

Yep, it's that time of year again! I love this recipe, and I seem to keep losing it! So, even though it's so basic that I don't think anyone can claim it as their own unique recipe, it's finally somewhere I can find it...

Orange Cranberry Sauce
Julienne the peel from two Clementines*
dice the fruit
add orange juice or water to fruit to make 1 cup
add 1 package fresh cranberries
heat all in a saucier and cook until cranberries pop, about 15 minutes
sweeten to taste with Splenda (I like less than a tsp granulated)
serve warm or cold

~~~

*I like these because they're *easy!* You can also use one regular orange; just make sure no pith gets in (it's too bitter)

Hint: a vegetable peeler works great to get just the skin.

Elena Gallegos Hike

Today's group hike looped around in the Elena Gallegos Open Space! It was a cool and sunny morning, with just a hint of a breeze.

We had a nice view of the Sandia crest

And Downtown Albuquerque

Last week's storm was hinted at

And we were high enough to see some pines

As well as the junipers

The trail was mostly gentle slopes, with just one or two steeper sections - very lovely!
MyTrails track details (our highest elevation was actually slightly higher than 6700 ft per the "real" GPS):

~~~~
What she said (Me):
- a week ago - "all right! The cancelled hike is rescheduled! I'd better sign up right away!"
- yesterday - "ugh, I can't believe I signed up to go! I think I know where we're meeting, but I could be wrong."
- this morning - "omg, it's so early. and cold. I can't get out of this, can I?? No way am I signing up for another one."
- 2 miles in, nearing 6700 feet - "oh! this is so great!"
- 4 miles in - "I sure am glad I have moleskin! I have *got* to get better boots before the next hike!"

Off Center Arts

I've been getting back to ART lately*!

Yesterday was my second class in drawing at the local art center, Off Center.  Last time, we did gestural drawing and experimented with conceptual art. This time, we went on a field trip!

We walked from the center down Central (old route 66) to the Exhibit/208 Gallery. Our "assignment" was to draw something on the way there, view the gallery of art, then draw something else on the walk back.

A few things caught my eye besides what I drew**...

This is the transportation center

I particularly liked the shapes here - several semicircles, canted rectangles, and the scrolled edges of the Sunrise bank building.

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* see my other art experiment - Wine Down with Art
** nope, didn't take a picture of my drawings, nor the buildings I drew...

First Snow Storm!

We got our first snow storm of the winter here in Albuquerque!

Here are the Sandias - proof! I was scheduled to go on another group hike, but prudence prevailed, and the hike leader cancelled it :-)

Pork in Red Wine

Pork in Red Wine

Combine in a large stew pot:
2 cups red wine
2 cups broth/stock (~14.5 oz can)
2# pork shoulder or loin, cut into small chunks
10 cloves garlic, peeled, left whole
1 onion, chopped
1/3 # carrots, peeled, large chunks
10 - 14 (~8 oz) mushrooms, quartered
3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped (preferably peeled)
Add seasonings as desired:
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
tarragon
clove
thyme
nutmeg
1/2 tsp cocoa (trust me, do it!)
Simmer several hours (~3), till pork is tender.
Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Continue simmering to meld flavors.

optional: remove solids and cook liquid to reduce, then recombine.

based on this recipe: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11861-braised-pork-with-red-wine

Serve with barley or rice, green salad, red wine (or all by itself!)

Hiking the Sandias - Copper

Hiking the Sandias - Copper* Trailhead

What a difference a couple of days make! Today was a bit cloudy, and *quite* windy! Nearly everyone kept their layers on :-\  We had a faster hike today, averaging 3 mph - I sure did puff!

I used MyTrails again, but I had another GPS tracker installed, and I also forgot to turn off Wi-Fi - some combination caused me a problem. The phone was too occupied to properly respond when I wanted to take pictures. Well, I got a few anyway!

~~~
Morning temperature = 40's

* Copper just means copper ;-)
Something to know about Albuquerque - a lot of the East-West roads are named for mined material: copper, coal, lead, central (no, wait)...

Hiking the Sandia Foothills

Hiking the Sandia Foothills - Embudo* Trailhead

This morning, I took the plunge - I went on a group hike through the foothills of the Sandia mountains!

While the air was crisp, the sun was bright, and the hike was brisk, I think the best part was all the many memories it sparked of past hikes.  I realized that the last serious hike I went on was almost 2 years ago, and I first (officially) hiked over 40 years ago! I kept thinking of Sundays spent at Pinnacles, Muir Woods, and Big Basin, and days backpacking Lassen, Big Sur, and Whitney. And getting off the trail. Or meeting hometown neighbors on a craggy peak. Oh, those were the days!

Well, today I tried out a GPS tracking app (on my Android phone) called MyTrails. So far, I like it - it does what I want, and is not overly complicated. It tracks the route even when it's in sleep mode and in my pocket, and I can still take pictures without interference. My phone doesn't have altitude or temperature sensors, so it's limited in those areas - I take the elevation stats with a grain of salt.

One of the many ways this terrain is different than what I'm used to! Cactus, cactus, cactus...

And scrub

With some juniper trees (to which, it turns out, I am allergic)

Our hiking path** looped around this cone

And flowers bloom, even in mid-November!

Some interesting rock formations

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* Embudo means funnel in Spanish. I don't know why it has this name...
The trailhead (parking lot only) is at the Eastern end of Indian School Road.

** I have *got* to find a map of trails by number! This trip followed 365A-365-400-401. I heard of an interesting sounding trail (through pines!), #140, the Pino Trail, from the Elena Gallegos space.

Wine and Paint

I tried something different yesterday - I went to a "Wine and Paint" workshop! A small group of us all painted the same picture in a 3 hour period. We were guided by our teacher, who supplied everything, even our plastic aprons.

The approach and techniques were very different than my usual, so I learned a lot!
- we painted from the top to the bottom, without sketching
- my brush was bigger and bristlier than my norm
- our paints (acrylic) weren't thinned with water or extender, although we had a spray bottle handy in case we needed to keep the canvas damp longer
- we did clouds and snow using a dry brush
- lake reflections used an up-and-down stroke, then edges blurred with a side-to-side stroke with the edge of the brush

Do I like the end result? No, not the painting; yes, the new ideas*.

I definitely prefer studying the scene and sketching out the spaces first. I felt like I didn't really know what certain parts of the scene were supposed to be, and much of the painting reflects that :-\  I may try a larger brush, and I'll try holding it different ways. I think I will try a few more paintings using unthinned paint, and I will definitely practice the dry brush and reflection techniques!

Details of areas I like:

Dry-brush snow

Reflections

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*and *of course* I liked the wine! :-)

ABQ Whirlwind

Yesterday, our friend and her friend came through Albuquerque on a road trip - So we had a whirlwind afternoon and evening visit!

We started off with lunch at the Chama River Brewing Company (I had an excellent green chile cheeseburger) - outside patio, cloudless skies, mild breeze, lots of catching up!

Then we toured Old Town, peeking in shops, strolling through the plaza, and wandering through what is probably my favorite photo gallery (http://www.abqphotographersgallery.com)

From there, we took a short drive to the Rio Grande open space to take a look at the river

We drove around a variety of neighborhoods - Nob Hill, then down Central past UNM and Downtown, then North up Rio Grande Blvd to Los Ranchos. Then! I saw the sign for Casa Rodeña! Yes, we stopped. We tasted. :-)

After a little rest, we met for dinner at Garduño's; yet another hit!

And now they're off to see the Grand Canyon :-)