An Artful Cappuccino At Le Pain Quotidien In Los Angeles Yesterday

A Strange New Mexican October Sky

The Most Beautiful Donkey In The World Lives In Corrales

This Morning With Helen

a hawk just as the sun starts to rise

San Ysidro Church

Chris who hates his picture taken manning the coffee bar at Oasis, our local coffee house

the cemetery on Old Church Road

Sun's up

My guacomole recipe for Oz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwQ9WYiBDxE

Sunday Soup

I love the rotisserie chickens that seem to be in every store.  I think I probably don't want to know alot about the chicken's credentials , but they are so useful and delicious.  Sticky tender and well seasoned, I usually get at least two dinners out of them.  First, I might make a chicken pot pie or chicken with dumplings, then next round will be chicken enchiladas and then, with the bones, my favorite: soup.
I take the bones with any drippings from the container ,add onion, carrots,celery,bay leaf and lots of garlic, cover with water and maybe a glass of white wine for depth and bring it to a boil. I let it simmer till rich and strain out all the solids.  Last night I craved the  Greek soup Avgolemono

Fruitcake Bouboulettes, The Slow But Satisfying Process

For everything there is a season, and now, solidly tucked into October, it is time to go to the next phase of preparation for my fruitcake bouboulettes.  Weeks ago, I chopped figs, dried apricots, candied ginger chunks, raisins, dried cherries, dates, cranberries and currants, and started soaking them in liquor.

How Fruitcake Bouboulettes Start Out In This World

Fruits soaking in rum and brandy with nuts to be toasted

This Morning At The Growers Market

 multi colored carrots to make beautiful pickles

  

produce from Anjo Farms

tiny heirlooms

Matthew's beloved car that carried him home from the hospital as a baby, now putt- putts us to the growers market on Corrales Road

Look from yesterday's paper!

Link to article on-line

The Best Pretzel Rolls

A couple of weeks ago I went to see my friends in Bavaria and the Czek Republic.  One of my absolute favorite foods is pretzel bread.  Eating hot soft pretzels as a little girl from street vendors in New York was a regular weekend treat. The smell of coals, yeast and the feel of bracing cold knees and nose combined with the pleasure of being on an outing with my smartly dressed parents made me a happy girl. I would try the street pretzels as an adult, but they tasted stale, the smell of yeast and the alkaline pretzely distinctiveness gone.

Late Afternoon At Wagner's Farm, Getting Fresh Red Peppers To Candy

Incredible Toffee Cheesecake

Last summer, Kim and I got a request for a Cheesecake Wedding Cake.  The bride and groom weren't concerned about having a cake that re-enacted the scene of their engagement complete with ice rink and skaters that really move, or a cake that looked like a replica of the Lincoln Memorial, they just wanted a delicious delicious cake to eat.  AH, fellow tribe members.  We made them a sample tasting of this cheesecake and that was that.  This recipe is based on one out of a very old "Bon Appetit" collection.

Dawn In Corrales

Last Night in Albuquerque

Big Balloons and Fresh Donuts

   We went en famille to the Balloon Glow last night in Albuquerque. All the hot air balloons are tethered in the field and we walked through these giants that light up intermittently as the pilots shoot the flames of the burner to keep them filled. Every October balloonists from around the world come and fill the skies each morning with color and huge bees, clown heads, cows, witches-just about every shape you can imagine.At night they do spectacular fireworks and have stalls set up with fair food and drink. Django's favorite