Category: Albuquerque & New Mexico

New Mexican Food

In a comment, Bob asked about my “favorite Mexican food restaurant” in Albuquerque.

To answer, I need to begin with some qualifiers.

First, New Mexican cuisine is distinct from Mexican, which has numerous subsets, of course. The New Mexico distinction is chiles, which while part of many Mexican dishes, are to New Mexicans like sauce is to pasta for Italian food. Hence, the state question: Red or green? Chiles are the Pueblo Indian contribution to conventional Mexican food.

Second, my favorite New Mexican restaurant isn’t in Albuquerque. It’s in Santa Fe: Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen. And I like the enchiladas at the Pink Adobe Cafe, though it has gone from one set of owners to another and just last month back to the first, so who knows.

And third, I don’t have a favorite in Albuquerque, though several are OK.

SnoLepard refers to Garduño’s, but the only one of that local chain that I particularly liked was the one on North Fourth, now closed.

I used to think that the Church Street Cafe was exceptional, but it has been disappointing lately.

El Pinto has a delightful physical ambience, especially when the weather permits dining in the courtyards. But El Pinto had become hit or miss for both the food and the service recently. In fact, most recently, it has been miss and the prices keep climbing to pay for all the vanity photos on the walls (and there is the fact that it was George W. Bush’s favorite).

Sadie’s has the hottest chiles. Monroe’s has the best prices and is always tasty. La Hacienda in Old Town was Bill Clinton’s favorite, but not mine. Some like Los Cuates, but I can’t say.

And none of these is the least bit fancy — if you count tablecloths and menus that aren’t plastic-coated as some sort of threshold for fancy.

But even so-so New Mexican food is ahh-some — it makes me hungry just writing about it. And you do understand, that the hotter the chiles the greater the reward. The capsaicinoids result in increased metabolism (also perspiration, runny nose and teary eyes). And the pain leads to a release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, which reward us with blissful feelings.

Hey, they’re all my favorites.

Albuquerque

Why I like living in Albuquerque, leaving on a trip edition.

Drive to the airport at 9AM. 17 miles. 22 minutes.

Parking in satellite parking. $4 a day including tax. The shuttle was behind my car before I got out. We drove directly from my car to the terminal door.

Walked directly up to a kiosk. No line. I did have to wait behind one other person to turn over my bag.

Walked to security. No lines whatsoever. I walked directly up to the guy checking boarding passes. I walked directly up to take off my shoes. I walked strait through the metal detector. I barely slowed down.

Another 100 feet or so and I was at the gate.

El Tratado de La Mesilla

… was signed in Mexico City on this date in 1853. The treaty settled the dispute over the exact location of the international border west of Texas and gave the U.S. approximately 29,000 square miles of land — in brief, Arizona and New Mexico south of the Gila River — for the price of $10 million. In the U.S. it’s known as the Gadsden Purchase Treaty.

The Mexican Republic agrees to designate the following as her true limits with the United States for the future: retaining the same dividing line between the two Californias as already defined and established, according to the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the limits between the two republics shall be as follows: Beginning in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, as provided in the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; thence, as defined in the said article, up the middle of that river to the point where the parallel of 31° 47′ north latitude crosses the same; thence due west one hundred miles; thence south to the parallel of 31° 20′ north latitude; thence along the said parallel of 31° 20′ to the 111th meridian of longitude west of Greenwich; thence in a straight line to a point on the Colorado River twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers; thence up the middle of the said river Colorado until it intersects the present line between the United States and Mexico.

Read the entire Gadsden Purchase Treaty.

The Santa Fe Trail

. . . was opened on this date in 1821.

William Becknell, under forced escort by Mexican troops, arrives at Santa Fe. New Mexicans, who are still celebrating their newly won independence from Spain, quickly purchase all of his goods, which he initially intended to trade with the Indians. This marked the birth of the Santa Fe Trail, originating from Independence, Mo.

New Mexico Magazine

The 1940 film Santa Fe Trail, with Ronald Reagan playing George Armstrong Custer — and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland — has little basis in historical fact other than that there was a Santa Fe Trail.

One of Our 50 is Missing

On a long drive from Clovis, New Mexico, to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for a family reunion, George and Maggie Powell made a pit stop in Sevierville, Tennessee, that they will long remember.

“Several of us needed to go to Walmart and the nearest one was in Sevierville,” Maggie says. “We finished our shopping and went to a checkout counter.

My husband had purchased beer, and the checker asked for his ID.”

The fun began when George showed the checker his driver’s license. “I’ll have to see your passports,” she said.

The Powells weren’t expecting this request, and George asked her to repeat it. “I can’t sell you beer without seeing your passports,” she said.

Guessing the source of the checker’s misunderstanding, the Powells segued into a geography lesson. They explained that they were not from a foreign country but from New Mexico—“One of our 50 states, between Arizona and Texas.”

The checker was adamant. “I know where Mexico is. These are Walmart’s rules, not mine.”

When the Powells threatened to go to another checkout counter, the checker relented. “I’ll go ahead and finish checking you out this time, because if I don’t, you’ll be held up for more than an hour.”

“It was obvious to us this was not a Walmart rule, but a case where the checker had no idea where New Mexico is,” Maggie says.

New Mexico Magazine

Balloon Fiesta!

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta began this morning — from my perch in the foothills I can see balloons floating near the Rio Grande five or six miles west. I go out every year or two to watch and occasionally crew — I posted a couple of photos last year — but it’s not my thing to rise at 4:30 and go out every morning. So no new photos yet — but if had them they would look pretty much like these below taken five years ago.

The Balloon Fiesta runs through next Sunday, October 10th. It’s something you really should see at least once.

Ballooning is an early morning event. The warmer the day, the hotter the air inside the balloon must get to make the balloon rise; too hot and the nylon may weaken.

So, in the cool hour before dawn the pilots and crews arrive and begin laying out the fabric gas bags, most of which are made of ripstop nylon. The bags are about 80 feet long. (The envelopes in the photo are on tarps. Last week’s rain had left parts of the field muddy.)

Laying Out

Once laid out, the envelope is cold inflated using a gasoline powered fan to blow air into the envelope. To fully inflate, a typical two-three passenger balloon requires about 100,000 cubic feet of air (2,800 cubic meters). This is done with the envelope lying on its side, and with crew members tugging and pulling in appropriate ways. In this photo you can see part of the fan (the red object with the yellow label in the lower left corner).

Fill Er Up

When the moment is right, the air in the envelope is heated (carefully, so not to burn the nylon). Here you see pilot Greg Stell heating Fais Do Do. Look closely and you can see the blue flame. As the warmer air fills the balloon, the envelope and wicker basket gondola are pulled upright.

Warming Up

NewMexiKen hasn’t timed it, but I’d say that if all goes well, from lay out to ready-to-launch takes about 35-45 minutes. Here you see Fais Do Do shortly after launch Saturday morning moving rapidly south. On Sunday the wind took the balloons north, many as far as Bernalillo, 8 or 9 miles away. The shadow in this photo is from another balloon just to the left of Fais Do Do.

Fais Do Do

In Albuquerque during a mass ascension, more than 700 balloons are inflated and launched in two waves. Altogether that lasts from about 7 until about 9. Here you see a small portion.

Balloons Galore

Of course, there’s always those who’d rather be alone.

Solo

And there are those who prefer their balloons to be cute more than pretty. No, the squirrel is not playing with a ball. That is another balloon farther away. Late this week there are many, many more special shape balloons, some of them unbelievably large.

One of the bees.

Bee

What goes up must come down. Here is Fais Do Do gathered and ready to go back into the bag for the next day. Yes, that’s the gondola turned on its side — after, not during the landing.

All photos taken by NewMexiKen, Saturday, October 1, 2005, at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Best line of last night

“I ask the citizens of Santa Fe,” he said, “Shall we now send Zozobra to his fiery death?”

“Burn him,” they shouted.

The Santa Fe New Mexican has photos and video of last night’s 86th annual Burning of the Zozobra, Old Man Doom and Gloom.

I wasn’t there this year, but I’ve decided all my gloom and doom were torched anyway. 😀

Zozobra is a hideous but harmless fifty-foot bogeyman marionette. He is a toothless, empty-headed facade. He has no guts and doesn’t have a leg to stand on. He is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He never wins. He moans and groans, rolls his eyes and twists his head. His mouth gapes and chomps. His arms flail about in frustration. Every year we do him in. We string him up and burn him down in ablaze of fireworks. At last, he is gone, taking with him all our troubles for another whole year. Santa Fe celebrates another victory. Viva la Fiesta!

Zozobra.com

Burning the Zozobra began in 1924. The Santa Fe Fiesta originated in 1712. My photo is from 2008.

10 Things I Like Best About Living in Albuquerque

First posted here three years ago today.

Driving along Tramway across Sandia Pueblo last evening, I was reminded of one of the best things about living in Albuquerque. I began to think, NewMexiKen you can live anywhere, why do you stay here?

There are a lot of ways to answer a question like that. One way is to make a list.

These aren’t the only reasons, and they aren’t in any particular order, but these are the ten that came to mind.

  1. The weather, except sometimes in March and April. Four seasons, all of them distinct, none of them oppressive, or too long. And September and October — amazing!
  2. The food, red and green — and sopapillas with honey.
  3. The Rio Grande, though we fail to do anything with it. A historic river — third longest in America — and Albuquerque’s [former] Mayor Marty [was] so unimaginative he thinks pandas and streetcars are what we need. How about a river walk with cafes and shops (tastefully and environmentally correct, of course)?
  4. The plaza. Not as historic as Santa Fe’s, or even Taos’s. Still it’s always inviting and often filled with people celebrating a wedding at San Felipe de Neri. In other words, while a tourist attraction, it’s still “our” plaza.
  5. Santa Fe, Taos, Chaco and all, world-class tourist venues that are day trips for us.
  6. The sky, whether bluer than blue, or lit dramatically by sun or twilight, or with clouds, white or dark. Our sky is always something to behold, most gloriously at sunrise over the mountains and sunset over the volcanoes.
  7. The pueblos nearby with their cultures, feasts and dances.
  8. The Sandia mountains right here, rising a mile right above us.
  9. The diversity of people. It’s a community without a majority population.
  10. The Indian land north and south of the city, the forest land (and wilderness) east of it. If it weren’t for the permanently undeveloped land that surrounds so much of Albuquerque, I fear it all would look like Rio Rancho.

The Pueblo Revolt

On this date in 1680, the surviving Spanish settlers under siege decided to abandon Santa Fe and began the trek to Chihuahua. The Spanish did not return to Nuevo México for 12 years.

Colonists from Mexico first settled in New Mexico, north of present-day Santa Fe, in 1598. By the 1620s there were 2,000 colonists taking land and forcing labor from the Puebloans, occasionally executing dozens of Indians for the murder of one settler. In the 1660s a drought further stressed conditions for all, especially as Apaches and others raided the Pueblos. Many Puebloans began to feel that deserting their own religion to accept Christianity had brought on these disasters. There were occasional uprisings, but nothing sustainable until Popé, a San Juan medicine man, began unifying resistance among the various independent Pueblos in 1675.

On August 10, 1680, the Indians launched a unified all-out attack on Spanish settlers. Colonists were killed, churches burned, horses and cattle seized. Priests were singled out and killed in all the Pueblos, including Acoma, Zuni and Hopi (in modern Arizona). About 1,000 survivors escaped to Santa Fe and the town was put under siege on August 12. By the 16th the Indians occupied all of the town except the plaza and its surrounding buildings. According to reports, as they burnt the town the Indians sang Latin liturgy to taunt the Spanish.

Three-hundred-and-thirty years ago today the settlers were allowed to withdraw from Santa Fe. When they reached El Paseo del Norte (modern-day El Paso) in October, there were 1,946 from of a population that had been about 2,500. About 400 had been killed, another 150 escaped to Mexico independently.

The Puebloans removed all signs of the Spanish — the churches, the religion itself, the crops, even the animals (the horses let loose on the plains, eventually transforming the culture of the Plains Indians). One vestige remained: one man rule. Popé declared himself that man and moved to the Palace in Santa Fe.

Spanish attempts at reconquest failed until 1692.

Popé’s statue is one of the two for New Mexico in the United States Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

New Mexico

New Mexico officially became part of the United States 164 years ago today when 1,600 troops under General Stephen Watts Kearny raised the American flag over the plaza in the Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis (Santa Fe), reportedly as the sun broke through the overcast sky. There had been little or no resistance. (It came at Taos the following January.)

August 18. Gen. Kearney proceeded through the pass and at 5 pm reached hill that overlooks Santa Fe.

Major Clark’s artillery was put into line, and the mounted troops and infantry were marched through town to the Palace (as it is called) and his staff dismounted and were received by the acting governor and other dignitaries and conducted to a large room. The general gave the assurance of safety and protection to all unoffending citizens. The stars and stripes were hoisted on the staff which is attached to the Palace by Major Swords. As soon as it was seen to wave above the buildings, it was hailed by a national salute from the battery of Captains Fischer and Weightman, under the command of Major Clark. While the general was proclaiming the conquest of New Mexico as a part of the United States, the first gun was heard. “There,” said he, “my guns proclaim that the flag of the United States floats over this capitol.” The people appeared satisfied. The general slept in the palace. (we democrats must call it the governor’s house.) One company of dragoons ws kept in the city as a guard and the business of the day was ended.

As reported in Niles’ National Register