Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Miss me?

Well, I had a great time in Albuquerque.

Kicker flew wonderfully. Well, on the trip there, that is. On the trip back, he wanted to crawl around, and was mighty annoyed that I made him stay in the seat. Luckily, it was a short flight.

It was great seeing my family. My dad and stepmother got to hang out with their grandbaby, and I got to see my new nephew! He's adorable (not as adorable as Kicker, but awful cute). My uncle and aunt also were in town, coincidentally, so we got to see them.

Anyone ever tried pinon picking before? It's really fun. Pine cones blossom open, and the pinon or pine nut will just fall out. There are two ways to get the pinons - one is to pick up the pine cones and take them out, or the other is to pick up the pinons that have fallen all over the ground, either from wind, or from shaking the tree. So, we spent all day Saturday pinon picking in the Cibola National Forest. Only in the desert will a National Forest have pine trees with cactus all over the ground. Needless to say, I didn't get to pick a whole lot of pinon, since I was holding Kicker the whole time. Every time I tried reaching for some pinon, he'd try reaching for the nearest cactus. So he and I just spent most of the time exploring, while the rest of the family picked pinon.

I miss my chile. Chile in New Mexico is more than just a condiment - it's a way of life, almost an art form. While I was back there, I tried to make sure I had chile with almost every meal, even breakfast. I had this great dish at Flying Star Cafe called a Southwest Bennie, which is amazing. They make their own english muffins, and their own turkey green chile sausage. Over which, they put two over medium eggs, which are then covered in this plate-licking-good green chile cheese sauce. Yeah - I fit in my new size 6 jeans for a couple of days, and of course, after eating like that all trip long, they no longer fit.

So, now that I'm back home, I'm trying to figure out how to work green chile into some non-traditional menu items, so I can ease back into all this 'normal' cooking. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to combine my favorite soup recipe - green chile stew - with matzo ball soup. I'm thinking I'll make a normal chicken soup, with just a touch of green chile, and then work some green chile into the matzo balls.

1 comments:

Marissa said...

My husband is from New Mexico - what a great place! He introduced me to the whole green chile thing and it's delicious.

 
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