Local Flavor December 2015 – January 2016

Top Ten Dishes...

Dig In!

Taos Pueblo

Behind the Lens

Boarding

First Tracks in the Snow

DECEMBER 2015 - JANUARY 2016 A TASTE OF LIFE IN NEW MEXICO

SANTA FE ALBUQUERQUE TAOS

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2571 Cristos Rd, Santa Fe Across from the Auto Park near Kohls

505-424-8900

•

theranchhousesantafe.com

photos by Robert I Mesa

photos by Robert I Mesa

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Lunch: 6 days week 11-3, Closed Mondays Lunch: 6 days aa week 11-3, Closed onon Mondays

Customevents eventsalso alsoavailable available Custom yearround. round. year

710Camino CaminoL ejo Le joSan San Fe,NN 87505 710 t at aFe, MM87505 w.MuseumH illC e.n ww ww w.MuseumHillC afaf e.n e te t

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DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016 AD VERTISING

A Taste of Life in New Mexico PUBLISHERS

COVER PHOTO

Patty & Peter Karlovitz

Debbie Lujan

EDITOR

WRITERS

Patty Karlovitz

Gordon Bunker

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Michelle Moreland

ART DIRECTOR Jasmine Quinsier

WEB EDITOR Melyssa Holik

COPY EDITOR Mia Rose Poris

PREPRESS Scott Edwards

AD DESIGN Alex Hanna

SANTA FE Lianne Aponte 505.629.6544 Kate Collins

Here’s Allison, pairing craft Belgian beers and cheese at Cheesemongers of Santa Fe.

Mary Cheeseman

505.470.6012

ALBUQUERQUE

Philip de Give

Allison Muss

Andrea Feucht

954.292.6553 Gail Chablis

Stephanie Hainsfurther Melyssa Holik Kelly Koepke

805.453.8808

Andy Lynch

Mark Hainsfurther

Mia Rose Poris

505.400.7601

Emily Ruch James Selby Gail Snyder

PHOTOGRAPHERS Joy Godfrey

Just hangin’ on deadline day at Local Flavor with my peeps & pup ! Enjoy an awesome holiday season! - Gail

Debbie Lujan Bolars Matson Jim Cox

Subscriptions $30 per year. Mail check to above address.

© Edible Adventure Co.‘96. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used without the permission of Edible Adventure Co. Local Flavor accepts advertisements from advertisers believed to be reputable, but can’t guarantee it. All editorial information is gathered from sources understood to be reliable, but printed without responsibility for erroneous, incorrect, or omitted information.

140 Acre Historic John Gaw Meem Estate | Exclusive Venue for Private Events Luxury Accommodations for 20 | Swimming Pool | Duck Pond | Sacred Mesa Equestrian Complex | Antique Furnishings | Museum Art Collection

Four Diamond Hotel Services and Amenities Available 15 Minutes from Downtown Santa Fe 505.412.9921 LAMESITARANCHESTATE.COM

DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

Who says blondes have more fun? I’m having a blast trying on life as a brunette and treated myself to some head shots with photographer Daniel Quat to celebrate my new look. -Lianne

223 North Guadalupe #442, Santa Fe, NM 87501 Tel: 505.988.7560 | www.localflavormagazine.com

Liz Lopez

THE MOST EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE ESTATE IN SANTA FE OPENS ITS GATES

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Celebrating Cooking With Kids’ 20th year with Chef Johnny Vee. -Kate

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Inside The Buzz

by Kelly Koepke 10

Move over Santa, you’re not the only one keeping track of who’s naughty and nice.

Art Buzz

by Kelly Koepke 12 Short, sweet and always artful.

Santa Fe’s Top Ten Dishes of 2015

by James Selby 16 For Santa Fe gourmands it’s the Academy Awards and the Super Bowl rolled into one. It’s only once a year—and foodies, it’s here!

Happy New Beer!

by Melyssa Holik 24 Local beer drinkers, read this for a few rowdy New Year’s Resolutions: Try a New Brew. Try a New Bar. Try to Keep Up.

Ride the Mountain

by Gordon Bunker 29 Two of Taos Ski Valley’s top snowboarders recapture their moments of magic on the mountain...it’s all about making those first tracks in the snow.

ON OUR COVER: “First Snow” by Debbie Lujan 6

DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

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Coming to Rio Rancho More Than Entertainment

by Stephanie Hainsfurther 34 With a theater scene that is one of the most vibrant in the nation, writer Stephanie Hainsfurther observes that “... behind-the-scenes passions are changing neighborhoods, adding jobs and educating kids.”

A Haverland Carter affiliated community

Journey Into the New Year

by Emily Ruch 38 The goddess Janus, namesake of January, inspires a thoughtprovoking look into the passing of the old year and the embrace of the new.

Time Passages

by Gail Snyder 43 A rare view behind the lens of Native photographer Debbie Lujan, as she records the pueblo she calls home.

Wintertime Traditions

by Mia Rose Poris 48

! w o n t Ac ited Lim ents m aparteft! l

As this young mother discovers, Santa Fe is “potent with the magic and awe of wintertime traditions”...now all she has to do is choose.

Big Cabs for the Holidays

by Philip de Give 50 According to wine writer Philip de Give, this is a “golden” time to buy Napa Cabernets. Now there’s a line that should get your attention.

A Gift for the Home Cook

by Mary Cheeseman 52

LifeCare communities offer an active, independent lifestyle with the peace of mind of long-term care protection. Enjoy living in the private residence with the services and amentities you desire plus a plan for long-term care, if needed. There is no better option than The Neighborhood.

If you want someone to cook for you for a change, buy them a cookbook. Here are eight to choose from—all great and all local.

Taos Winter Wine Festival

by Andy Lynch 54 Join the four-day celebration of fabulous food and wine in Taos—they’ve been doing it for 29 years now and they have it nailed.

by Andrea Feucht 58

The Que shows off their big-city credentials with a far-flung assortment of ethnic dishes and adventuresome choices for the Top Ten.

Still Hungry?

by Mary Cheeseman 64 Try these holiday recipes straight from the pages of our toppick local cookbooks.

Photo: Courtesy Angel Fire Resort

Albuquerque’s Top Ten Dishes of 2015

(505) 994-2296

Reservations are now being accepted – for details, please call Ashley Trujillo

NeighborhoodRioRancho.com

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

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Being Happy deserves more than an hour!

Join us for Red Sage Happy Hour specials daily from 3PM-6PM for more info visit: redsage-sf.com

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DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

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Gift as you would like to be gifted.

Buy gifts for everyone you know and get dinner for yourself!

Enjoy a free $50 gift certificate when you buy $500 of gift certificates.

505.254.ZINC

505.294.WINE

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Shop simple, shop local, shop smart this holiday season.

GRAND OPENING DECEMBER 10TH

SISTER RESTAURANT of SHOHKO CAFE Tapas • Wine & Beer • Signature Dishes Marge’s Dessert Specialties Wednesday - Sunday, 5-9pm Reservations: 982.3700 & OpenTable.com Chef/Owners Robert & Marge look forward to greeting you at the door with a smile of welcome!

227 Galisteo Street • Santa Fe

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DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

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2110 Central SE • Albuquerque • 505.369.1039

9 Great Shows.

all on sale now!

The Ten TenorS

MAriAchi chriSTMAS

Let The TEN Tenors captivate you with their rich voices and distinctive charm, performing versions of holiday classics including “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Joy to the World,” “Sleigh Ride,” and more!

Witness the awe-inspiring sights and sounds of classic mariachi music and folkloric dancing representing the beautiful traditions of Christmas in Mexico.

SAT dec 12

Sun dec 13

drivinG MiSS dAiSy

The ProducerS

home for the holidays

Starring Clarence Gilyard and Sheree J. Wilson, Driving Miss Daisy tells the heartwarming story of a white widow and her black chauffer developing trust and friendship during the Civil Rights Era.

jAn 28-31 6 Performances

PekinG AcrobATS

The signature sound of Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas music performed with dazzling multimedia effects

Experience an awe-inspiring performance by the Peking Acrobats as they tumble, juggle, balance and generally defy gravity and common sense.

christmas

Fri dec 18 2 Performances

riverdAnce 20th Anniversary World Tour The international Irish dance phenomenon is back by popular demand!

Feb 5-7 5 Performances

Fri jAn 15

once Once tells the enchanting tale of a Dublin street musician who’s about to give up on his dream when a beautiful young woman takes a sudden interest in his haunting love songs.

MAr 8-13 8 Performances

© Disney

Sun jAn 17

Bialystock and Bloom! Those names should strike terror in anyone familiar with Mel Brooks’ classic cult comedy film. The Producers sets the standard for modern, outrageous, in-your-face humor.

MAnnheiM STeAMroller

‘‘ thErE

is simply

NOthiNg ElsE likE it.’’ the New York times

October 4-30, 2016

4 weeks oNlY!

popejoypresents.com • unmtickets.com

UNM Ticket Offices at the UNM Bookstore and The Pit 925-5858 (877) 664-8661 • Albertsons stores

The buzz about The Shop Breakfast and Lunch in Nob Hill has been non-stop since it opened. Now you can get your late-night eats there, too. William Hartig is the chef and owner of Late Night, an “Asian fusion from scratch” concept that takes over The Shop from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Tuesday through Saturday, and offers delivery. We hear the fried wonton pork belly nachos are amazing! Get your feed on by watching their Facebook page for nightly specials.

In other Nob Hill restaurant news, Loving Vegan has closed, and Downtown’s Soul and Vine has moved into the same spot on Central between Tulane and Amherst. That’s no coincidence, either, as both restaurants are owned by the same folks, Kathy and Tony Punya. Both restaurants’ Facebook pages announced the changes, with promises to incorporate a few of Loving Vegan’s more popular dishes into the more eclectic, upscale fare of Soul and Vine.

If you haven’t checked off all your holiday gift-list entries yet, pick up Grandma Lale’s Tamales: A Christmas Story for children and Bernalillo for the adults on your gift list, on December 12 at Under Charlie’s Covers in Bernalillo. Award-winning author and translator Nasario Garcia will talk with patrons and sign copies of these two new books. Grandma Lale’s Tamales won the International Latino Book Award for Best Bilingual Children’s Book and Bernalillo won Best New Mexico History Book in the 2014 New Mexico and Arizona Book Awards.

Get a book signed as a gift, and support your local authors and merchants. More at undercharliescovers. com.

Opera Southwest rings in the New Year December 31 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center with four incredible singers: Alissa Anderson, Alex Richardson, Caroline Worra, Get in the holiday spirit with the inaugural and Carlos concerts of a new chorus. Coro Lux, conducted Archuleta (making by retired professor of music and director of his Opera Southwest Choral Activities at UNM, Bradley Ellingboe, | Caroline Worra, Opera Southwest debut). From means “choir of light” in Latin and consists opera favorites to of 65 adult community singers. The program, light classics, there will be music to delight December 4 and 5, at the Kimo Theater consists of the everyone. Maestro Anthony Barrese will ever-popular Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten, lead the OSW Chamber Orchestra, and you as well as the Gospel Magnificat by Robert Ray. The can join the after party for light refreshments Britten is accompanied by harp and the Ray by a small and a champagne toast. Space is limited with combo (piano, bass, drums). For those of you who like tickets at 505.724.4771. to sing along, there will be familiar Christmas carols, too.

Tickets at kimotickets.com, with special rates for seniors Kick 2016 off right with the 16th Annual and students.

Revolutions International Theatre Festival, beginning January 12. This year’s festival December is all about the music, so join Friends of will feature theatrical performances from Cathedral Music at the Cathedral of St. John, 318 Paper Doll Militia (Scotland), Kana Teatr Silver Avenue SW for Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, (Poland), Ashtar Theatre (Palestine), Ndere as it celebrates women in music on December 13. This program of music for women’s voices by female composers, Troupe (Uganda), and from the United States, Aztec Economy, Nellie Tinder and includes a poetry reading with Pulitzer Prize nominee, our very own Tricklock. Special events Valerie Martínez. The ensemble was founded in 2006 by include Free Speech Comedy Arts with Dr. Maxine Thévenot, who conducts the performance.

Jamie Kilstein, Verbage 16 with Urban Polyphony’s singers present a range of music from the Verbs and Tricklock’s Excavations new works Medieval period to modern day. College, high school and series. Head to tricklock.com for complete children under 12 are free, but get your tickets now at info on performances, tickets and dates. Viva polyphonynm.com. la Revolutions!

The Vortex Theatre and Mother Road Theatre Company are joining to present All Is Calm, the true story of the Christmas cease-fire on the Western Front during World War I. Out of the violence comes first a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into no-man’s-land singing “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night)—heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers’ essential humanity endured. This performance is about an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music and peace. Director Julia Thudium says, “This is not a traditional play with characters and ‘lines.’ All of the words spoken came from people who actually lived through the war and, specifically, who lived through the Christmas truce of 1914. And these words are interwoven with song in a way that is quite marvelous. The play is historical and very moving all at the same time.” Visit motherroad.org or vortexabq.org for performances December 3-27.

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DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

Mark January 30 on your calendar for the annual Souper Bowl to benefit Roadrunner Food Bank. Enjoy soups and desserts from local chefs and restaurants, and vote for the People’s Choice winners in favorite soup, vegetarian soup, dessert and booth categories while enjoying live entertainment, demonstrations and more. Tickets at rrfb.org, and consider donating, as proceeds help keep hungry people fed throughout the year.

SANTA FE Congratulations to Compound Chef/Owner Mark Kiffin and Barbara Brackett on their brand new baby girl! London James Kiffin came into the world in November and we wish mom, dad and big sister, Phoebe, a happy holidays and all the best in the New Year!

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| La Mesita Ranch

retreat or other special event. We’re sure Newman, previously event and catering director for the Club at Las Campanas will help turn La Mesita into one of Santa Fe’s most in demand accommodations.

Eat well and do good on December 13.

Specifically, a three-course meal from Chef Ahmed at Jambo Cafe. Each course comes with select wine pairings from Karl Johnson, winemaker at Black Mesa Winery. The event kicks off the capital campaign for the Women’s Care Center, a much-needed facility expansion of the Jambo Kids Clinic.

Details about the meal, the worthy charitable activities that Jambo supports, and other ways to participate at jambocafe.net. | Chef Ahmed If you’ve ever written, dabbled in writing or dreamt of writing for the screen, this is a don’t-miss event: BlackShirtReads December 5 at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, part of the Santa Fe Film Festival (December 2-6). The Festival focuses on bringing together distinguished industry specialists and discriminating movie lovers through accessible screenings, panels, workshops and parties. BlackShirtReads opens with a reading of the TV pilot screenplay Enchantment (the first-place winning script from its 2015 screenplay competition) directed by veteran TV director/producer Vern Gillum, and featuring Santa Fe-based film and stage actress Debrianna Mansini in the lead role. Then stick around for the TV Drama Writing panel discussion with some serious heavy-hitters: Hunt Baldwin (lead writer for Longmire), Kirk Ellis (Emmy for John Adams), Bruce McKenna (Emmy for The Pacific), Melinda Snodgrass (writer for Star Trek) and Hampton Sides (historian, editorat-large for Outside magazine and author of best-seller Blood And Thunder). More at santafefilmfestival.com.

Indigenous Theatre Collective’s Spiderwoman Theater presents two special events on the IAIA campus, December 3 and

5. First, it’s Muriel Miguel: A Retrospective.

Muriel Miguel, co-founder and Artistic Director of New York City’s Spiderwoman Theater, shares her fascinating journey from the streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, to her pioneering contributions to the contemporary feminist and Indigenous theatre movements in the United States, Canada, and around the world.

Experience this extraordinary life through stories, photos and film from the last 60 years.

Then, be part of Storyweaving Workshop, to experience storyweaving, a unique process that Spiderwoman Theater uses to create their plays.

This approach to creating a performance arises out of an Indigenous aesthetic, a cultural place where the elements of cultural life are an integral part of the whole. You get to tell your own stories. They can be traditional stories, personal stories or myths. Incorporating the exercises that have been learned in the workshop, you will collectively create a presentation of the stories.

More at iaia.edu.

Tuesdays through Saturdays in the New Year, Vanessie Santa Fe presents Branden James, a cello vocal duo composed of Branden James and James Clark.

They are known for their stunning original songs and magical arrangements of classical crossover music. Described as Josh Groban meets The Piano Guys, the blending of Branden’s tenor sound and the stirring beauty of the cello creates a unique meeting of the iconic instruments.

Details at | Branden James vanessiesantafe. and James Clark com.

The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, New Mexico Museum of Art, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and The Lensic Performing Arts Center present Acting O U T. This evening of performances by iconic Indigenous performance artists James Luna, Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Rebecca Belmore is one night only, December 4. For more than 30 years, Luna has provocatively explored the Native American experience and has created some of the most iconic artworks of our time. McArthur Award recipient, Gómez-Peña’s spoken word and actions engage notions of the “living archive” and radical citizenship. Belmore’s performances activate the charged space between the personal and the political, memory and trauma. Following the performances will be a keynote discussion between the artists led by writer, activist and curator Lucy Lippard.

These performances are part of Acting O U T: A Symposium on Indigenous Performance Art, December 3 and 4. Tickets at ticketssantafe.org.

Photo: Zach Ross

Think the cold weather has put the kibosh on the Rail Yards Market? Think again! December 13, join the Downtown Growers’ Market and the Rail Yards Market at the grand 2nd annual Albuquerque holiday gathering at the historic Blacksmith Shop of the Rail Yards. Both markets are committed to building a resilient, sustainable local economy that we all love to work and play in.

The Holiday Market is a fantastic celebration of our local culture, presenting an opportunity for our vast diversity of farmers, chefs and artisans to share their talents, and a time for us to come together in the spirit of giving to support and nourish those in need with food, gifts and supplies from nearly 100 vendors. Visit railyardsmarket.org for more.

And some news from the Pueblo of Pojoaque. They are “reopening” the gates of La Mesita Ranch Estate, and have hired Deborah Newman as property director.

Called a hidden gem, La Mesita won’t be hidden for much longer, especially its hiking trails and gorgeous views. The ranch, a John Gaw Meem property, has five cottages of luxury accommodations on 140 acres, with duck pond, pool, tennis court and more.

What a beautiful setting for a wedding,

Photo: Kitty Leaken

ALBUQUERQUE

The Popejoy Awards is a new initiative designed to recognize excellence in musical theater among local high school students, serving as the New Mexico competition for the National High School Musical Theatre Awards. The competition recognizes excellence in vocal, dance and acting; honors the important work of local teachers committed to performing arts education; and gives individual winners the chance to compete for the national awards in New York City. Open to any public, private or charter high school performing an approved, fulllength Broadway musical, the first 20 schools to submit an application are guaranteed participation in the competition. Register by December 16, or three weeks before a show’s opening night, whichever comes first, with forms available at popejoyawards.org.

Copyright 2009 InSight Foto Inc.

buzz

b y K E L LY K O E P K E

| Acting Out, Guillermo Gómez-Peña

You knew that BODY, the yoga studio, active-

TAOS | Chef Tony Smith of The Old House

| You know who.........

The International Shakespeare Center is a new nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to making Santa Fe a destination for world-class Shakespeare. January is a good month for that, as the ISC presents The Winter’s Tale by the Upstart Crows of Santa Fe: Young Actors Making Shakespeare Their Own, a lovely, tragic, magical, and redemptive Shakespeare play, January 21-24. Then learn What Is The

Thrillist.com has listed Taos Mesa Brewing on a prominent national roster of must-visit beer destinations. Says the piece, “Taos Mesa looks like it sprang to life naturally from the floor of the New Mexico desert, willed into existence by the needs of the 2,000-some folks who call El Prado home. Great beers at the eco-friendly compound…include the Fall Down Brown, a whopper in the form of Great Scot, and the area-appropriate Three Peaks.

But if the beer alone isn’t enough, Taos Mesa also happens to be one of the state’s best concert venues,

Photo: Kim Pelton

First Folio Anyway, And Why Should We Care? on January 27at the New Mexico Museum of Art. The Folger Library loaned a Shakespeare First Folio to one city in each state in America, and the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe won the application to host here February 5-28. Dr. Kristin Bundesen is the presenter for this free event. Then close out the month on January 31 with Ever the Twain: William Shakespeare in Mark Twain’s America at | Upstart Crows of Santa Fe the Lensic, a benefit for KSFR Radio, Santa Fe Public Radio at 101.1 FM. Tickets and complete details at internationalshakespeare.center, and visit nmhistorymuseum.org for February’s exhibition and other events.

Grocery shopping just got a little more civilized thanks to the Whole Foods on Cerrillos Road. Be sure to check out their new Piñon Pub, a sweet little retreat with 24 taps –many of them dedicated to our great local breweries.

Photo: Gabriella Marks

It wouldn’t be December without the holiday classic, The Nutcracker, now would it?

Featuring hundreds of young dancers from The School of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, this take on the holiday classic creates lifelong memories for ballet students and audiences alike. With four performances over the weekend of December 19-20, there are multiple opportunities to enjoy a holiday favorite. Tickets at aspensantafeballet. com.

The inaugural Santa Fe Foodie Classic celebrates Southwestern flavors, showcases classic flavor combinations as well as new techniques demonstrating the future of Southwestern cuisine.

It all happens January 15-17, and begins with the 7 Deadly Sins dinner, a decadent feast for all of the senses with dramatic design and stimulating music and dance by the National Institute of Flamenco. Hosted at the historic Eldorado Hotel & Spa, guests will be treated to seven gourmet courses by Executive Chef Tony Smith with seven complementary wine pairings selected by Gruet Winery’s renowned winemaker, Laurent Gruet.

The next day, the Grand Tasting at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center features 35-plus food and beverage booths, and a competition to choose the favorite chef. You’ll also be able to join an intimate session with winemaker Gruet, learn about beer and cheese pairings, and see cooking demos. Tickets and information at santafefoodieclassic.com.

Photo: Melanie West

wear boutique and café had a kids program, right? Yep, and in January, BODY is launching Peace Place for Kids, classes for parents and young children 3-11 year olds, as tools to experience greater peace, joy and connection to the present moment. The wonderful creation of the talented Kathy Walsh, whose extensive background includes a stint as the marketing and PR director of the Rudolph-Steiner School, Kathy also helped define the value of Waldorf education in Manhattan. She is a certified yoga instructor for children, and taught mindfulness and yoga to students at The Connecticut Conservatory of the Performing Arts. As a teaser, BODY will hold a mindful parenting class on December 12. Details at bodyofsantafe.com.

| Taos Mesa Brewing

with two outdoor stages and one indoor, offering up one of the best all-around brewery experiences in the SW.” Kudos to Taos Mesa!

The Taos Chamber Music Group’s 23rd season continues on December 12 and 13 when it presents A Spanish Holiday at the Harwood Museum of Art. This festive program of Spanish chamber music includes works by Granados, Turina, Cassado and Torroba, as well as a surprise appearance

by Taos’ homegrown talent, performing chamber music, New Mexico-style. Visit taoschambermusicgroup.org for tickets and more information.

The 29th Taos Winter Wine Festival, held the last weekend in January, is a fourday celebration of food and wine with participating local restaurants and over 40 national wineries. Wine seminars, dinners and on-mountain après ski events occur in the town of Taos as well as Taos Ski Valley, culminating in Saturday evening’s Grand Tasting. The Grand Tasting at the Taos Ski Valley Resort Center (at the foot of chair lift No. 1) features more than 150 different wines from 40 participating wineries and tastes from a dozen of Taos and Taos Ski Valley’s finest restaurants. A silent auction adds to the fun. Taoswinefest.com.

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A Taste of Life in New Mexico

DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

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Photo: David Nufer

Photo: David Nufer

Opening December 19 and running through April at The Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, The Artistic Odyssey of Higinio V. Gonzales: A Tinsmith and Poet in Territorial New Mexico explores the work and life of Higinio V. Gonzales.

After more than a century of obscurity, art historian and tinsmith Maurice Dixon discovered that a New Mexican artisan, formerly known only as the | Tin artist Higinio V Gonzales Valencia Red and Green Tinsmith, is actually Gonzales, a prolific and bilingual 19th-century educator, artisan, poet and musician. This exhibition traces the life of Gonzales and, for the very first time, explores his influence on music, poetry,and the arts in New Mexico.

More at albuquerquemuseum.org.

SANTA FE Through January 18, catch Material Matters at ViVO Contemporary, a show that explores the relationship between materials and form by juxtaposing a dynamic range of media. The exhibit showcases distinctive ways in which gallery artists manipulate materials in their artistic processes. Drawing upon both traditional and unconventional materials, the works are skillfully composed, yet diametrically opposed. Despite distinctive exploration of various media, the artists share an affinity for color, pattern, shape and texture. Their works expand visual expectations through uncommon processes and uniquely interpreted paintings, book art, sculpture, kiln glass, collage and printmaking. Visit vivocontemporary. com.

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DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

Paula Davis

New Grounds Gallery is excited to present its 3rd International Juried Print Exhibition, featuring a compelling variety of contemporary printmakers. This year’s entries came from as far as Korea and Ukraine to Estonia, Argentina and the Netherlands. Showcasing a variety of techniques, the imagery ranges from symbolinfused abstraction to deep considerations of place and identity. Artist, writer and critic Wesley Pulkka, and Regina Held, New Grounds director, juried the exhibition. The jurists’ challenge was to select the strongest 25 pieces from 107 works submitted by 38 printmakers from around the world.

Awards will also be announced during the opening reception December 3. The show runs through December 26. Visit newgroundsgallery. com.

The New Mexico History Museum always has great exhibitions and events. This one caught our eye in December. December 12–13, the Museum hosts the Young Native Artists Winter Show & Sale.

Begin collecting art, jewelry, pottery and more from the next generation of Native American artists and craftspeople. Children and grandchildren of artists associated with the Palace of the Governors’ Portal Program will demonstrate and sell their own

Mention this ad and receive 20% off your purchase.

photos by Samyra Sinclaire

December in the Albuquerque art world means the annual 12x12 Exhibition show at the Harwood on December 5. An exciting evening of live music by Wildewood, hors d’oeuvres from your favorite local restaurants and original works by over 200 amazing artists of all ages. It’s a fundraiser, too, featuring 6” x 6” works by the student artists of Escuela del Sol Montessori School, 12” x 12” works by emerging and established local artists, and Prelude, larger works by notable New Mexico artists. The Prelude auction ends during the 12x12 event, but you can bid online until then. More than 200 artists are participating in all the events this year, and this year’s Prelude artists include Nani Chacon, Juliana Coles, Shawn Turung, Jami Porter Lara and John Garrett. Prelude artists receive a portion of proceeds, so your bids benefit everyone. More at harwoodcenter.org.

David Richard Gallery is relocating to a new space in the Midtown neighborhood— Santa Fe’s burgeoning art and design district near the intersection of Pacheco Street and West San Mateo Road—in January. The up-and-coming neighborhood of artists’ studios, design and architecture firms, great restaurants and shops is definitely creating a buzz. On January 15, the gallery christens the new space at the grand opening with shows by the renowned Royal Academician Paul Huxley, whose work was recently featured at the 2015 Venice Biennale, the young Italian painter Michele Bubacco, and ceramic sculpture by the New York designer Monte Coleman. The gallery will continue to showcase the major proponents and practitioners of post-60s abstraction, while introducing an international roster of artists exploring new forms of expression, too.

Details at davidrichardgallery.com.

Photo: Allen Brown

artbuzz

ALBUQUERQUE

| Young Native Artists Show and Sale arts and crafts in the Meem Community Room. It’s free, and perhaps you’ll find something for a special person’s stocking.

Visit nmhistorymuseum.org.

TAOS Stray Hearts Animal Shelter and the Taos Coalition to End Homelessness invite you to Taos Country Club for the Calabash Bash on Sunday, December 6. This event, originally created by JD Challenger, has been re-named and will feature gourd art created by Taos area artists, sold via silent auction and live action. “Mattress Mary” Domito will be the master of ceremonies and conduct the live auction. Taos’ most talented artists will be decorating gourds for the auction. Hors d’oeuvres and appetizers provided by the Taos Country Club and a cash bar will be available. All proceeds benefit both Stray Hearts Humane Society and Taos Men’s Homeless Shelter. Tickets at strayhearts.org.

You’ve still got time to see Pressing Through Time – 150 Years of Printmaking in Taos, the first group of exhibitions to survey the historic sweep of important prints produced in the Taos Valley from the 1880s to present time. Co-curators David Farmer and Robert Parker planned a community-wide set of exhibitions, with prints shown in nearly all of the museums in town, and a jury of nationally recognized authorities on printmaking having chosen work for the contemporary section. The last of the exhibitions end in late January/early February, so check pressingthroughtime.com for more.

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32 years in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Earthfire Gems Gallery—where locals buy and sell diamonds, colored gemstones, gold and silver jewelry, beads, fossils, minerals, curios, sacred statues and large decorator pieces, celebrating the wonders of the world.

We offer custom designed jewelry.

Our customers say we are “The best gift shop in Santa Fe”.

Visit us and be amazed!

Voted Best of Santa Fe 2015!

Tom Forrest Broadley Owner, Gemologist GIA

EARTHFIRE GEMS GALLERY 121 Galisteo Street • Santa Fe NM 87501 10 am – 5:30 pm, Monday – Saturday 505-982-8750 • www.earthfiregems.com

Earthfire Local Flavor_4.5x11.75.indd 2

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New Mexico Art League WINTER SCHEDULE OF CLASSES, WORKSHOPS AND EXHIBITS

MONDAYS

WEDNESDAYS

FRIDAYS

WORKSHOPS

Miniatures in Oil From Start to Finish with John Meister January 11 – February 29 (no class February 15) 9 AM to 12 Noon

Drawing with Colored Pencil with Melinda Beavers January 13 – March 2 9 AM to 12 Noon

Open Life Drawing Session No Instruction / Ongoing class 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Abstract Splash Color Pouring on Paper with Ming Franz December 4 – 6, 2015 Friday through Sunday 9 AM to 4 PM

Printmaking (and More!)

Without a Press with Lea Anderson January 11 – February 29 1 PM to 4 PM Art Exploration for Kids ages 7-10 with Heather Blair-Jones January 11 – February 29 4 PM to 5:30 PM Introduction to Figure Drawing with Shana Levenson January 11 – February 29 (no class February 22) 6 PM to 8:30 PM

TUESDAYS Color & Composition in Watercolor Beginning to Advanced with Carol Carpenter January 12 – March 1 9:30 AM to 12 Noon Fine Tuning Color with Still Life with Cynthia Rowland January 12 – March 1 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Intro to Drawing and Painting with Maria Cole January 13 – March 2 9 AM to 12 Noon

Color and Composition in Watercolor Beginning to Advanced with Carol Carpenter January 15 – March 4 1 PM to 3:30 PM

Painting the Landscape in Oils with Waid Griffin Painting the Interior Space January 13 – March 2 in Oils 1 PM to 4 PM with Waid Griffin January 15 – March 4 Exploring The Figure 1 PM to 4 PM An Independent Study with Cynthia Rowland SATURDAYS January 13 – March 2 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM Beyond Perspective

THURSDAYS Strictly Pastel with Vasili Katakis January 14 – March 3 9 AM to 12 Noon Creating Expressive Paintings from Photographs with Maria Cole January 14 – March 3 1 PM to 4 PM Building a Portfolio for Teens with Shana Levenson January 14 – March 3 (no class February 18) 6 PM to 8:30 PM

Abstract Painting with Arden Hendrie Open Life Drawing Session No Instruction / Ongoing class January 14 – March 3 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM 5:30 AM to 8:30 PM

Painting as a Second Language with Brian O’Connor January 8 – 10 , 2016 Friday through Sunday 10 AM to 4 PM Portrait Painting Workshop with Kerry Dunn March 7 - 11, 2016 Monday through Friday 9 AM to 4 PM

with Vasili Katakis January 16 – March 5 9 AM to 12 Noon

Watercolor Workshop with Tom Jones March 28 - 31, 2016 Monday through Thursday 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM

Introduction to Paper Arts with Stephanie Lerma January 16 – March 5 1 PM to 4 PM

EXHIBITS

SUNDAYS Chinese Brush Painting with Ming Franz January 10 – February 28 1 PM to 4 PM Open Life Drawing Session No Instruction / Ongoing class 1 PM to 4 PM

LOCAL COLOR DEMO Flowers As Still Life with Cynthia Rowland January 31, 2016 Sunday, 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM

Small Works / The Holiday Show December 1 – January 16 Reception, December 12 Saturday evening, 5 PM to 7:30 PM Limited Edition / Prints of All Kinds January 26 - March 5, 2016 Reception, February 6 Saturday evening, 5 PM to 7:30 PM

CALLS FOR ENTRY Limited Edition / Prints of all Kinds Entry deadline: December 12, 2015 prospectus available now Black & White / An Exhibition of Black & White Photographs and Drawings Entry deadline: January 30, 2016 prospectus available now

For registration and more detailed information visit newmexicoartleague.org All classes are held at 3409 Juan Tabo NE Albuquerque, NM (505) 293-5034 Gallery hours: 10 AM to 4 PM Tuesday – Saturday

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raditionally, at year-end, our magazine shines a light on Santa Fe chefs and the manifestations of talent put on a plate. We changed the game a bit by canvassing a cross section of chefs, sommeliers, owners, servers, diners and home cooks—our own “Academy”—for their nominations, to see where they took the conversation.

From restaurants great or small, old and new, in storied buildings or sitting on four wheels, these are dishes that set us a-twitter, spark word-of-mouth and a promise to return. This is not an ironclad competition for top chef—the reality is there are baker’s dozens of chefs we applaud throughout the year. Tacitly, this is for the league of professionals who, over the years, have attracted the world to New Mexico and to Santa Fe’s culinary scene: Mark Miller, Eric DiStefano, Nelli Maltezos, Mark Kiffin, the Gruet family, writers such as Cheryl and the late Bill Jamison, local and national treasure Deborah Madison. The selections are meant to nourish our hometown flavor, represent traditions, trends, the imaginative—the different—in our city. Here is the compendium of the Top Ten dishes, in no special order, for 2015.

story by JAMES SELBY photos by JOY GODFREY

TOP TEN

TOP TEN

The Compound Restaurant Chef Mark Kiffin CHARRED OCTOPUS, PAN ROASTED POTATO, CHORIZO, AND RED PEPPER ROMESCO SAUCE WITH LEMON OIL

“Sometimes a plate is put before you and the food is simply magic,” one local foodie writes. “In other words, I don’t know how to do what they do.” Mark Kiffin and his talented team, chef de cuisine Josh Kalmus and sous chef Michael Leonard are the magicians here with an edgy and paleo-coastal dish.

Part of the mystery is getting the mollusk tender. “Too often, it’s boiled, which makes it tough; we braise the octopus in olive oil and aromatics—low and slow—for six hours at 200 degrees, confit-style, giving it a supple texture,” Chef Mark Kiffin says. Long, blackened arms swan and reach while resting gracefully atop a Mediterranean bed of potato and black olives, and Spanish chorizo, giving the dish a soothing backheat. Char is a component of flavor sustained by smoky redpepper romesco, enlivened with a drizzle of lemon oil. “We keep this dish authentically Spanish,” says Chef Mark says. “I told the cooks we aren’t putting mango on this plate!” A plate that will octopi Canyon Road.

The Compound is located at 653 Canyon Road, 505.982.4353, compoundrestaurant.com.

| Chef de Cuisine Josh Kalmus 16

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Arroyo Vino Chef Colin Shane PARSNIP GNOCCHI, ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES, SAGE, BROWN BUTTER, DRIED CHERRIES, WHIPPED CIDER

Alice Waters opened her Berkeley restaurant, Chez Panisse, the vanguard of farm-to-table movement, nearly 45 years ago. A local attorney and gourmet refers to it as “the Mother-church” and makes frequent pilgrimages. He and his wife are also acolytes of Arroyo Vino. “As to the food,” he writes about our Santa Fe parish, “pretty much everything they make is a top dish.” Parsnip gnocchi, which initially served as smaller “Firsts” on the menu, had so many requests for double portions, Chef Colin Shane and Managing Partner Brian Bargsten decided to offer it under “Mains.” The airy dumplings come moistened in browned butter, accompanied by roasted, diced sweet potato, salsify, celery root and a smattering of tart dried cherries. This all rests on a feather-bed of parsnip puree with dollops of reduced, fluffed apple cider, all prettily veiled by a handful of Okinawan sweet potato chips, the super-food with a violaceous interior. A hymn could be called “O! Warm Clouds over Earth’s Harvest; Come! ye Heavenly Purple Lightning!”

Arroyo Vino is located at 218 Camino La Tierra, 505.983.2100, arroyovino.com.

TOP TEN

La Boca Chef James Campbell Caruso BRUSCHETTA WITH CRIMINI MUSHROOMS, CREAM, REGGIANITO, FRIED EGG AND TRUFFLE OIL

The knife-and-fork bruschetta with Reggianito—a fromage/homage from Argentina, produced by Italian émigrés to replicate their native ParmigianoReggiano— is listed on both of Chef James Caruso’s lunch and dinner tapas menus at La Boca. Gently cooked mushrooms, cream and egg yolk warmed together, result in a lushly comforting harmony of like-textured ingredients with an added basso note of truffle oil. Despite what seems a plethora of riches, | Chef Kiko Rodriguez Chef manages a balance that feels wholesome and distinctly gratifying. From Napa Valley, another county heard from, a Santa Fe expat sommelier writes, “I’m a huge fan of this dish.

Paired with a chilled Fino Sherry or a richer Amontillado from La Boca’s killer Sherry list, it can’t be beat.”

La Boca is located at 72 West Marcy Street, 505.982.3433, labocasf.com.

El Chile Toreado

TOP TEN

Chef Luis Medina CARNITAS BURRITO WITH GREEN SALSA

The popular vote goes to El Chile Toreado, a food truck without wheels.

No one wants it to go anywhere. From breakfast through lunch, burritos of all kinds, quesadillas, tacos, even Polish sausage and hot dogs, efficiently disperse perpetual lines of boots on the ground, along with a universal mix of oxfords, pumps, Converse and flats. Luis Medina, a former car salesman in Los Angeles, started the business 30 years ago and is still in the driver’s seat. “He wanted to get into an honest business,” quips Berenice Medina, his daughter and heir apparent. “He sent me to the Cordon Bleu cooking school. Our food was fine, but he thought we should be producing an even better product.” The two-handed carnitas are made with pulled pork that tastes like a good roast, rich, moist and sweet. It also contains flavorful, fluffy rice, pinto beans and Luis’ special green salsa. “My father has not told me exactly what’s in it, but cilantro and jalapeño, primarily. It’s a secret,” she says with a vivid smile. “Let me make you some tacos.” Secret ingredients run in the family.

El Chile Toreado is located at 950 West Cordova Road, 505.500.0033. | Berenice Medina

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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S a nta Fe 201 5 TOP TEN

Il Piatto Italian Farmhouse Kitchen Chef Matt Yohalem SEARED AHI TUNA “PUTTANESCA” WITH ORGANIC SHRIMP, BRAISED FENNEL, OLIVES AND TOMATO

Puttanesca, the classic tomato sauce, is thought to have been created by Italian prostitutes as a quickie for their noodles.

But hold on to your Borsalino: as imagined by Chef Matt Yohalem and his chef de cuisine, Jackson Ault, theirs is not a pasta dish. The fresh, light sauce, made racy with capers, cloves of roasted garlic and whole Tuscan green olives, is spooned (making their Puttanesca a ladle of the night?) onto a long, narrow plate as a piquant base for a trio of lovely components.

Centered are the gently seasoned, rosy rare medallions of seared wild-caught tuna, flanked by a generous catch of sautéed shrimp, organically farmed in Puget Sound—small and sweet as an infant’s pinkie—and thick, tender slices of fennel, braised with garlic and turmeric. Wife and husband teams, Chef/Owners Matt and Honey Yohalem, along with Ault and spouse, General Manager Jamie Taylor, bring a collective inventiveness and gumption to all aspects of the ever-evolving Il Piatto.

Il Piatto Farmhouse Kitchen is located at 95 West Marcy Street, 505.984.1091, ilpiattosantafe.com.

El Meson Chef David Huertas PINCHOS MORUNOS

TOP TEN

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Pinchos (“little thorn”) Morunos (Moorish) are classic Andalusian skewered tapas, most commonly made with pork. Originally, Moorish peoples in the region cooked with lamb, but during the Inquisition, pork helped cull those suspected of not truly converting. “You won’t eat the pork? Away with you,” mimics El Meson Chef/Owner David Huertas. “I’ve gone back to using lamb for our Morunos.” The sticky part with any kebob is making the protein tender, flavorful and keeping small bits of the meat moist. Huertas uses a local lamb, brought directly to the restaurant from a ranch near El Rico in northern New Mexico. For two days, the top round cut rests in a marinade resplendent with saffron, paprika and cumin. Dice-sized morsels of juicy lamb arrive speared on two hot-offthe-grill pinchos, splayed over a cradle of picadillo (think pico de gallo), a finely diced salsa of bell peppers, garbanzo beans and cumin, zesty with lemon juice. With the integrity and love in this forthright tapa, it’s as if Cupid were shooting skewers in the kitchen.

El Meson is located at 213 Washington Avenue, 505.983.6756, elmeson-santafe.com.

Bouche Bistro Chef Charles Dale STEAK TARTARE

Generosity is a fine trait, particularly, when you come across it in a competitive business such as a restaurant. One local chef has this to say about the steak tartare at Bouche, and says it so well it needs to be shared. “Sometimes great art presents itself in a humble manner, like a god that can appear in many forms, but there is much more beneath the surface.

Charles Dale brings years of experience, love and refinements to deceptively simple dishes like this, which is why Bouche is a truly great restaurant.”

Our contributor goes on, “People say, ‘That is so simple. I can make that at home.’ My response is, ‘No you can’t.’ I had the tartare again recently and it was served with perfect, salty potato TOP chips instead of traditional toasts.

TEN This only enhanced the juxtaposition of simple/complex; fine dining/bar food, French gastronomy/peasant food at its best.” Chef Charles uses local, grass-fed tenderloin, seasoned with shallots, Cognac, capers, Dijon mustard, ketchup, black pepper and salt, garnished with a raw organic egg yolk and Maldon sea salt. Chips are made daily in-house. Et voila!

Bouche Bistro is located at 451 West Alameda Street, 505.982.6297, bouchebistro.com.

TOP TEN

Loyal Hound Chef Renee Fox WAGYU STEAK FRITES AKAUSHI NEW YORK STRIP, CHAR-GRILLED, HOUSE FRITES, HORSERADISH MAYO

Gastropub is the new bar and grill. Expectation is what sets them apart. The Spotted Pig in New York City is a Michelin-starred gastropub. Its chef, April Bloomfield, coined the word. A gastropub chef has chops. Not the kind you eat, necessarily, but the kind you earn by extensive culinary training— kitchen cred—and then use to transform common dishes into superior yet unpretentious fare. Renee Fox can sear foie gras with the best of them, but she’s chosen, along with life and business partner, Dave Readyhough, to fashion a convivial, modest restaurant where serious attention is given to fun foods. Fox’s ubiquitous French bistro steak is a breed apart, literally, for its famous marbling. “We serve Akaushi Wagyu beef from Beeman Ranch in Texas, as there is no Wagyu in New Mexico,” Renee says. New York strips, “fresh, never frozen,” are hand-cut into 12- to 14-ounce portions, given a sweetly crisp sear, leaving a moist, buttery, à point, interior, then presented with simplicity on a small juice-grooved cutting board with a ramekin of house-made horseradish mayonnaise. (Bacon and blue cheese crumbles are optional.) Steak, board, knife, fork. Frites! Hand-cut, as well, soaked overnight, blanched, fried to order, they are complex and super flavorful with just the right crunch.

Loyal Hound is located at 730 Saint Michaels Drive, 505.471.0440, loyalhoundpub.com.

Joseph’'s of Santa Fe Chef Joseph Wrede LOCAL LAMB BONE MARROW, MOLASSES GLAZED OYSTER MUSHROOMS, WARM CAMBOZOLA

TOP TEN

There is thrift and regard in the nose-to-tail revival. What was once a necessity to survive, now provides a lesson of nourishment and delicacy. Fergus Henderson has famously showcased the underutilized portions of animals at his London restaurant St. John. Joseph Wrede’s plating of lamb marrow is like a tableau of a Flemish still life. Offered as a starter, its henna-toned veal stock is background for tawny oyster mushrooms in a shellac of glaze, posed as if in a forest, among branch-like bones, roasted to a deep mahogany and split to reveal a pencil-thin trough of melting marrow. All nestle alongside a pool of warm, triple Cambozola cheese the color of aged ivory, heightening the palette for the eye, while its creamy blue sharpness complements the burnt sweet flavors of bone and molasses.

Joseph’s is located at 428 Agua Fria Street, 505.982.1272, josephsofsantafe.com.

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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S a nta Fe 201 5 TOP TEN

Restaurant Martín Chef Martín Rios ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND APPLE BISQUE WITH ROULADE OF MAINE LOBSTER, ALMONDMUSTARD FINANCIER, BUTTERMILK CURD AND PICKLED GRAPES

It is understood by many chefs that butter and salt equal flavor.

Fine-dining isn’t where one goes to count calories. To read “bisque” on a menu is to conjure a liberal use of thick, rich, heavy cream.

This is not the case with Martín. Butternut squash is what you taste in the piping hot, restorative solution suggestive of sweet apple cider, tart Granny Smith apples, fresh chile, ginger and house-made vegetable broth—and only a soupçon of cream to round together all the complementary flavors. The luxury shot comes as the bowl is placed before the diner, its garnishes—a small, savory almond cake, disks of lobster roulade, tangy grape halves, a boutonniere of nasturtium—lie exposed until the server pours their aromatic bath from a warmed pitcher. Chef Martín explains it all for you in his new cookbook, Restaurant Martin, Sophisticated Home Cooking from the Celebrated Santa Fe Restaurant.

Stop by the restaurant for a copy or source locally and online.

Restaurant Martín is located at 526 Galisteo Street, 505.820.0919, restaurantmartin.com.

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contemporary clothing... for men & women

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Warm up this season with our scratch made comfort food crafted with local organic ingredients & love.

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Traveler’s Market DeVargas Center, (Behind Office Depot)

153B PaSEO De Peralta, Santa Fe. NM. 87501 505-989-7667 40 Dealers of Fine Tribal and Folk Art, Jewelry, Books, Antiques, Furniture, Textiles and Beads www.travelersmarket.net

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730 St. Michael’s Drive • Santa Fe 505-471-0440 • loyalhoundpub.com

Great Gift Ideas!

SantaFe Pens Pens, Journals, Leather Bags, Stationery & Writing Accessories

Celebrate the Holidays at Sanbusco 505-989-4742

www.santafepens.com

Executive Chef Pontiggia creates Italian cuisine using fresh local Farmer’s Market ingredients, flown in daily seafood, natural locally raised meats and gluten-free pasta dishes.

58 S. Federal Place Santa Fe • 505-986-5858 • osteriadassisi.com

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

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ROWDY RESOLUTIONS FOR

A Happy New Beer!

New Mexico really is a craft-beer lover’s paradise. The variety and quality of the local brewers truly leaves us spoiled for choice, and one could happily stick to the classics: La Cumbre Elevated IPA, Marble Red, Tractor Farmer’s Tan or Santa Fe Brewing’s Happy Camper. We’ve all got our favorites, and of course those go-to brews are comforting and steadfast. But in the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, I urge you to branch out and try something different in 2016. Here are just a few suggestions on how to tantalize your palate with something new and novel during the coming year. stor y by MELYSSA HOLIK

Try a New Brew.

One of the easiest ways to shake things up is try an experimental brew from a tried and true brewery. Nearly all established microbreweries create small-batch seasonals to give consumers something unusual, and to provide a testing ground for their most imaginative brewing ideas.

© Jacek Sopotnicki | Dreamstime.com

Santa Fe Brewing Company, for example, will soon offer La Bête Noire, a black session ale fermented in French oak barrels using unusual brettanomyces yeast. Santa Fe Brewing’s barrel artist Leif Rotsaert describes La Bête Noire as, “by far one of the most experimental and interesting projects the Los Innovadores team has yet undertaken.

It has a strong earthy grassy aroma with notes of dark stone fruit and a very subtle hint of tobacco smoke combining with a roasty dry finish.”

He explains that only a handful of breweries are experimenting with barrel aging using this type of yeast strain, but Santa Fe Brewing is experienced with this type of experimentation and has a long history of making wild ales and sour beers. They even won a World Beer Cup bronze medal in 2008 for a similar project.

If La Bête Noire is not quite your cup of tea (or your pint of beer), Santa Fe Brewing will also have a new winter seasonal called Adobe Igloo, a Winter Warmer with cacao nibs and red chile, which is scheduled to be released in cans just before Christmas.

La Cumbre Brewing Company is celebrating their 5th anniversary with Ryeot on Rye, coming out December 10. Jeff Erway, president of La Cumbre Brewing Company, says, “It’s a very amped-up version of our Red Ryeot that has been aged in Taos Lightning Rye Whiskey Barrels. At 11.5% ABV, this is a great beer to sip by the fire on one of our long, cold nights.” Bonus points to La Cumbre for the collaboration with local KGB spirits.

And, if you missed La Cumbre’s Cafe Con Leche last time, there’s good news! Come January, you’ll have a second chance to try this legendary milk stout that is infused with over 60 pounds of locally roasted espresso. Jeff tells us, “This chewy black ale is brimming with fresh coffee aromas, and the addition of lactose makes for a soft, creamy, milk chocolatey flavor and mouthfeel.” Yes, please!

One local brewery that’s always having fun with their seasonals (and their names) is Tractor Brewing Company. This fall, they have Turkey Drool on tap. It’s a 24

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brown ale with some pretty unusual ingredients, including Majalah cherry pits and a blend of Mexican spices to bring out a hint of mint, and fresh vanilla to bring it all together. As Jeremy Kinter, Tractor’s creative marketing manager explains, “The ingredients make this brew exceedingly unique and unusual. The base is a brown ale, but it couldn’t be categorized as such.

It is truly a specialty beer.”

Turtle Mountain Brewing Company also has some pretty inventive variations on their classics, including a black lager dosed with black currant purée, and a Kölsch with peeled and pureed cucumbers added, but one of their newest and most unique is the soon-to-bereleased Winter Ale. In fact, this brew is so new, it doesn’t have a name yet! The nameless Winter Ale is brewed with 100-percent German malts and hops, for gentle hop bitterness balanced against the sweetness of the malt, but with a twist: the brewers added Colorado Spruce tips and fresh chopped ginger root at the end of the boil. The result, according to Head Brewer Tim Woodward, “is a curiously refreshing and completely satisfying ‘comfort’ beer perfect for celebrating fresh fallen snow, crackling fires and loving time with family and friends.” Sign me up for allllll of that!

Nexus Brewery will soon release a Salted Caramel Stout, which Head Brewer Kaylynn McKnight says was inspired by a similar—and very delicious—stout she sampled in the Pacific Northwest. “I liked it so much, I decided to make my own rendition of it,” she says. Kaylynn plans to add three to five pounds of house-made salted caramel to this extra dark stout, resulting in a thick and silky mouthfeel, and a smooth sweetness. Very few beers use salt to enhance flavor, and even fewer use caramel, so this will be a bit of a departure for any beer aficionado.

Kaylynn says, “It is going to be like a favorite dessert of mine—in beer form!”

Kaktus Brewing Company is also displaying some outside-the-box creativity with their three seasonals: Fire and Smoked Porter with cherrywood smoked malts and chipotle chile, a Schwartzbier infused with local Villa Myriam’s medium-dark coffee roast and a Peppermint Stout just for the holidays. In short, no matter what your taste, there are plenty of interesting seasonals to try, without stepping too far out of your comfort zone.

Try a New Bar. One of the best “problems” with New Mexico’s booming beer industry is that there are so many breweries to choose from, it’s hard to try them all, especially the ones located a bit off the beaten track. However, these breweries are absolutely worth the extra mileage, and what they lack in proximity, they make up for in character.

© Syda Productions | Dreamstime.com

For example, Blue Heron Brewing Company has been open since 2010 in Embudo, New Mexico, but their more accessible location in Española opened in May of 2014. Hit them up for their ever-popular La Llorona Scottish Ale or Lady Bug IPA, or grab one of their seasonals like the Prieta Real Imperial Oatmeal stout while it lasts.

It’s been around for years, but if you haven’t made it out to Taos Mesa Brewing yet, plan a trip out to El Prado to experience their one-of-a-kind venue. Not only are the beers tasty, but they have frequent concerts and events in their indoor/outdoor “brewclub.”

Another oldie but a goodie, Sierra Blanca Brewing, has been open almost 20 years in Moriarty. In April, they will celebrate the 20-year milestone with a Whiskey Stout anniversary beer, plus an assortment of six different sours that are aging in oak barrels right now: Tijeras Cherry, Crest Cranberry, Zano Mango, Backyard Apple, Galisteo Grape and Zozo Apple Cran. That’s something to look forward to this spring!

Meanwhile, New Mexico’s oldest brewery, Santa Fe Brewing, opened a second location in the Green Jeans Farmery development in Albuquerque earlier this year! The new location offers up to 27 taps, as well as package sales, so ready your growlers and head on over.

Duel Brewing also has plans to open a second location in Albuquerque, in the old Banana Joe’s space at 606 Central Avenue SW. Their blend of carefully crafted Belgian-style beers and artsy events like figure drawing and an eclectic array of concerts inspires intense loyalty from Duel Brewing fans. Now, if only some Burque breweries would open locations in Santa Fe (hint, hint).

Try to Keep Up.

© Bogdan Hoda | Dreamstime.com

For the most daring beer enthusiasts, there’s no shortage of brand-spankin’ new breweries to satisfy your thirst for adventure. Here are a few new favorites to try if you haven’t yet: In the short year-and-a-half that Boxing Bear Brewing has been open, it has certainly clinched a place in the hearts of Burque beer enthusiasts. Their Chocolate Milk Stout has won several national awards and took home silver for sweet stout styles at this year’s Great American Beer Festival.

Justin Hamilton, director of brewery operations for Boxing Bear explains, “This beer is basically chocolate milk for adults. It’s sweet but not over the top, it has a nice balance of malt flavors balanced with chocolate. It’s a milk stout, but it’s also a chocolate stout, so together it creates a unique, oneof-a-kind beer.” Bring on the big-kid dessert.

Red Door Brewing Company exploded onto the scene in 2014 with such unexpected popularity, they ran out of many of their beers soon after opening! Those supply-and-demand issues have been remedied now, and Red Door has plenty of barrels on hand to keep the drinks flowing. They are also the A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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Blue Grasshopper Brew Pub has been open just over a year, and in that time, something special has been in the works. Their Cherry Bomb, a Belgian Sour, took about seven months to make, but it’s available now and well worth the wait.

Albuquerque has been buzzing over Boese Brothers Brewing ever since it opened in August. The Boese brothers have set their brewery apart by creating a distinctive lineup of beers, including their seasonal for the early winter months: the Burly Brown Ale, which was released on November 21. George Boese, operations manager for Boese Brothers Brewing, reports, “The beer style is a more recent American creation called Cascadian Dark Ale or India Brown Ale. Basically, these are strong dark beers, with lots of hops. Our Burly Brown Ale combines the coffee-like elements of brown and pale chocolate malts, with the floral and grapefruit flavored punch of American hops.

This brew is stronger and hoppier than any of our year-round offerings, which is generally something we like to do with our seasonal beers.

This beer certainly has the bitterness and flavor to appease the ‘hopheads,’ while exploring a newer direction.” I may be a bit of a hophead myself, but this definitely sounds worth a go.

Of course, there are infinitely more ways to switch things up and keep your beer-drinking repertoire interesting in the year ahead. If 2015 is any indication, 2016 looks to be a lively year for beer enthusiasts here in New Mexico, so stay tuned for more festivals, seasonals and brand-new breweries out here on the Frontier of Beer.

© Inokos | Dreamstime.com

Happy New Beer!

only brewery in Albuquerque that guarantees “an environment free of rampaging gangs of rabid badgers which feed off chaos and lust for nothing but a dystopic, badger-ruled hellscape of a future.”

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d an e s v r U as E nne y IN sm Di Da J O h r i ve r s C s E Ye a xe e a r w i F Y e N ix w Pr Ne pen O S!

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A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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stor y by STEPHANIE HAINSFURTHER

More Than Entertainment “Theater brings many things to the community. It prompts reflection, analysis and the ability to view things from another perspective. Theater can be the spark of a revolution.” Lauren Myers

Mother Road Theatre Company produced their first play of the season at the new Keshet Center for the Arts, a wonderful example of collaboration between arts nonprofits. Photo courtesy of Mother Road Theatre Company.

As part of the Siembra series at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, “Aye, No!” delighted audiences with a regional premiere by Camino Real Productions, featuring (l. to r.) Diane Villegas, Julia Lee Romero (seated), María Teresa Herrera and Celine Rosario López. Photo by Max Woltman.

On the right from top to bottom: Aux Dog Theatre in Nob Hill frequently presents experimental theatre, as in the Kneehigh-style production of “Tristan and Yseult.” Morholt was played by Ali Agirnas. Photo by Russell Maynor.

Old-favorite comedies like “Arsenic and Old Lace” draw new life at Albuquerque Little Theatre. Colin A. Borden (l.) and Ryan Jason Cook (r.) starred. Photo by Randy Talley Photography.

During their first full season in a new theater, The Vortex launched “And Away We Go,” a comic play about theater folk through the ages. (Front row) Colleen McClure, Kristen Ryan, Gene Corbin; (Back row) Bryan Lambe, Shangreaux Lagrave, Linda Williams. Photo by Christy Lopez.

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Behind-the-scenes passions are changing neighborhoods, adding jobs and educating kids....

For 15 years, FUSION Theatre Company has lived in the Warehouse District of Albuquerque, in a small-ish building at the edge of the railroad tracks. Its black-box space, aptly named The Cell, holds New Mexico’s only Actors’ Equity theater company, a tiny reception area with a refreshments bar cadged from a local furniture store, and soldout shows.

The folks at FUSION have already changed the character of the neighborhood surrounding The Cell, with parking for patrons and a colorful, well-scrubbed front facade to welcome them. It started life as a fruit and vegetable warehouse in 1910, and was vacant for 16 years before FUSION moved in. The company has helped lead the redevelopment of the neighborhood that now boasts Warehouse 508 (the former Ice House strip joint), The Wool Warehouse (operated by Youth Development Inc.), a 70-unit affordable housing complex, and the award-winning Marble Brewery.

FUSION co-founder Dennis Gromelski, working with the Public Art Division of the Cultural Affairs department, also encouraged the city to move the sculpture “Centric Shear” by Rico Eastman to the corner of 1st Street and Lomas, where it serves as a distinctive portal to the Warehouse District. But Dennis dreams big, and today his visions are showing him what further development can look like. He has already started renovations on a building across the parking lot, a twin to The Cell, that will house another black box, a café and offices for creative businesses. Between the buildings, the lot itself will become an outdoor music venue seating 1,000. “These plans will be a game-changer for Downtown,” Dennis says.

Many theater groups have made an impact on their Albuquerque neighborhoods this past year. The Vortex Theatre moved from the University of New Mexico area to the Northeast Heights to take over the former Langell Art Supply building, vacant for two years. A large corner lot with plenty of parking and a large building with plenty of warehouse space became a thriving contemporary gem instead of an eyesore.

The 86-year-old Albuquerque Little Theatre, whose casts are a mix of professional and community actors, is housed in a John Gaw Meem building across from the Country Club and Old Town.

Renovations over the years include a period-perfect new lobby, an outdoor café and fixes to a misguided ’70s addition. Their new capital campaign includes plans for restoration of the outside, expansion of public spaces inside and an endowment looking toward the next 86 years.

“Maintaining our large old building, producing seven major productions a year and running an extensive operation puts quite a bit of money back into the community,” says Henry Avery, the theater’s executive and artistic director. “ALT provides employment in the arts for seven full-time employees and several part-time employees, plus [it] provides contract work for many artists and teachers.”

Adobe Theater in the North Valley ran a capital campaign a few years ago to keep their patrons out of the rain and snow. Conceived by set designer Barbara Bock, the new portal and interior lobby suit this beloved theater and showcase its show posters, past and present.

We could go on: The Aux Dog Theatre in Nob Hill created its new X-Space on an admirable shoestring; improv theater The Box Performance Space fills a formerly empty spot in Downtown; Mother Road Theatre Company just moved into the Keshet Center for the Arts, a brand-new development in itself. But what Albuquerque theater companies give back to the community most often are personal growth choices for children.

Theaters give numberless benefits to children

The members of Duke City Repertory Theatre believe that theater has the power to change the world, making it a vital and necessary component of any community.

“As far as education goes, studies have shown that theater has a huge and impactful effect on children,” says Lauren Myers, an actress on WGN’s Manhattan TV series and a resident company member at DCRT. “Whether it’s through watching and experiencing a play (which develops our sense of human empathy), or acting in a play (which develops bravery, confidence, and teamwork), theater is important to our community in that it enriches our youth and secures an imaginative and creative future.”

Perhaps you didn’t know that Popejoy Hall, which lures the traveling companies of big Broadway musicals to town, also treats school children to mid-week matinees and produces study guides for classroom discussion of those shows. And FUSION at The Cell sponsors the New Mexico Academy of Rock & Blues: under their aegis, the bi-lingual music academy for ages 7 to 18 can garner more grants and plan a yearround program.

Teen education in particular is a buy-in for the more than 35 members of the Albuquerque Theatre Guild. The Guild recently scored a grant from a local foundation that will double the amount of existing Youth Theatre Scholarships and help them begin a new program, Play-Dates.

“We’ll be bringing junior-high and high-school kids from lower socio-economic areas of the city to free weekend performances by seven ATG theatre companies including ALT, Landmark Musicals, the Vortex’s ‘Shakespeare on the Plaza,’ Elite’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ and others,” says Linda Lopes McAlister, a founding member of ATG and owner of Camino Real Productions. “A ‘Play-Date’ will be there when they get to the theater to welcome them, talk to them about what they can expect, answer questions, buy them a snack at intermission, and introduce them to cast members afterwards. We expect that several hundred kids will get to experience live theater, probably for the first time.”

The Albuquerque Theatre Guild has extended the program into the summer and is working with nonprofit Children’s Choice to bring at least 200 kids to the Blackout Theatre Company’s new interactive show in June. “This helps address the ‘learning gap’ that some kids experience from being away from the intellectual stimulation of the classroom during the summer,” Linda says.

Expansive cultural opportunities broaden knowledge and experience Events beyond the state’s cultural triumvirate abound in part because of Albuquerque’s theaters. At the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the Siembra series of original plays allows local audiences access to the multiple flavors of Latin America. Working Classroom is an after-school program that pairs students with professional actors and directors who bring new-to-us plays to life. FUSION, having built a national reputation, has dibs on contemporary plays newly off Broadway, and so stages regional premieres. The company also inaugurated The Seven, an international 10-minute new-play competition; performances of the winning plays are sold out months in advance. June 2016 will mark The Seven’s 11th year.

Undeniably, and perhaps remarkably, Albuquerque theater companies and venues bring us the best the world has to offer. “Theater brings many things to the community,” Lauren of DCRT says. “It prompts reflection, analysis and the ability to view things from another perspective. Theater can be the spark of a revolution.”

And let’s not forget the sheer joy of theater, on stage or off. “Theater is live, 3-D entertainment,” points out Vicki Singer, president of the board for Musical Theatre Southwest. “Most people who go to the theater also make a night of it: dinner before or drinks after.”

Henry Avery of ALT gets to the core of local theater’s contributions. “We provide high-quality entertainment at a reasonable ticket price, expansive education opportunities and professional-level experience opportunities on stage, back stage and in design,” he says. “Plus, it is a lot of fun and adds to the quality of life in our community.”

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Holiday Shows in the Que Holiday shows abound in Albuquerque. Nearly every theater company is staging a seasonal splash and you can choose from old favorites, new premieres, British pantomime and more. Whether you’re planning a magical dinner-date night or an afternoon with the kids, there’s a treat in store for you and yours and many theaters offer seniors’ and children’s prices and pay-what-you-will performance dates.

Dec. 3-6, The Farolitos of Christmas This original play by Rudolf Anaya has become a family tradition.

With the Vortex Theatre at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, 505.724.4771, nhccnm.org Dec. 3-13, Nutcracker on the Rocks New dance moves and pop music put a fun twist on the holiday standby.

Keshet Dance Company, 505.224.9808, keshetarts.org Dec. 3-20, The Nutcracker A play based on the original story, with darker twists, okay for all ages.

Duke City Repertory Theatre at The Cell Theatre, 505.797.7081, dukecityrep.com

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Dec. 4-13, Elf The Musical Jr. A shorter version of the musical with child actors.

Cardboard Playhouse at South Broadway Cultural Center, 505.510.1389, southbroadwaytickets.com Dec. 4-20, The Game’s Afoot, or Holmes for the Holidays A manor-house Christmas mystery.

Adobe Theater, 505.898.9222, adobetheater.org Dec. 4-20, Cinderella: The E! True Hollywood Story Fun and games for kids and grown-ups in an interactive British panto play.

The Dolls at National Hispanic Cultural Center, 505.724.4771, nhccnm.org Dec. 4-20, The Wind in the Willows With the Aux Dog Kids, adapted from the classic children’s book by Kenneth Grahame.

Aux Dog Theatre, 505.254.7716, auxdog.com Dec. 4-24, A Christmas Carol An updated version about a troupe of actors having a lot of fun.

Albuquerque Little Theatre, 505.242.4750, albuquerquelittletheatre.org Dec. 4-27, All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 A true story of soldiers making a moment of peace during World War I. Mother Road Theatre Company and The Vortex Theatre, at The Vortex 505.247.8600, vortexabq.org; 505.243.0596, motherroad.org

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Dec. 10-12, Peter Pan Tinkerbell and company with drama, music and dance.

Elite Dance and Theatre at the African American Performing Arts Center, 505.440.0434, elitenm.net/shows Dec. 13, Mariachi Christmas Dec. 14, The Kingston Trio Christmas Dec. 19, An Irish Christmas Popejoy Hall, 505.925.5858, popejoypresents.com, unmtickets.com Dec. 18-19, The Santaland Diaries A holiday hoot by David Sedaris, who worked as a Christmas elf.

Cardboard Playhouse at South Broadway Cultural Center, 505.510.1389, southbroadwaytickets.com Dec. 18-Jan. 3, The Little Mermaid Based on the fairy tale and the Disney film version thereof.

Musical Theatre Southwest at the African American Performing Arts Center, 505.265.9119, musicaltheatresw.org

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stor y by EMILY RUCH

I

n recent weeks, as the wheel of the year turns and autumn makes its cold, slow, quiet way toward winter, I’ve felt the irresistible desire to wrap myself in scarf and cardigan and mimic the season. So every day, pondering my place among the colorful collage of houses and the freshly fallen leaves, I walk a slow, serpentine route through the Southeast Heights, adding my steps to the undulating path that traces Ridgecrest’s grassy, tree-lined median, and traversing quiet miles by foot in the cold midmorning sun. Learning to love the names of the streets: Morningside, Graceland, Pershing, Montclaire. Learning to love the glimpses of other people’s lives. Admiring the occasional roadrunner.

Crunching and kicking my way through swells of crisp orange leaves, stirring up their sweet, earthy scent with every step, I can’t help considering my own fallen leaves—the little deaths scattered red and umber and gold over the contours of my life. Phantoms of almosts and might-have-beens, phantoms of the broken and the lost. Such introspection comes naturally this time of year. Winter has always been a season of endings and beginnings, a threshold between the old year and the new that beckons us to turn our thoughts inward, contemplating what has been and what might be. Looking behind and looking ahead, we resemble the Roman god, Janus, January’s namesake. With two faces—one for either direction—Janus gazed both simultaneously and perpetually on the past and on the future.

In between the end of one year and the beginning of another, there is a kind of precipice. Here we stand, with our toes pressed close to that dizzying edge, when we think about our many little deaths and the changes within that they seem to demand. We sometimes call these changes New Year’s resolutions, resolving ourselves to make fresh starts and begin again. Once upon a time, many feared, as the nights grew longer and the days grew short, that the sun might not

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Journey into 2016

return. That the new year might not come without our active participation in the world’s cyclical regeneration through prayer and ritual. Our New Year’s resolutions are modern echoes of that ancient impulse, remnants of that old urge toward actively turning the wheel of the year.

The harsh weather and the waxing darkness, the dying vegetation and the frozen earth—these have shown their psychological sigWinter has always been a season of endings nificance in the winter myths and and beginnings, a threshold between the old traditions of many year and the new that beckons us to turn our cultures. John Matthews writes thoughts inward, contemplating what has been that the Celts and what might be. Looking behind and looking named their winter months Dumanios ahead, we resemble the Roman god, Janus, (“The Darkest Depths”), Riuros January's namesake. With two faces–-one for (“Cold Time”), either direction-Janus gazed perpetually on the and Anagantios (“Stay-Home past and on the future simultaneously.

Time”). The darkest depths are what we find at the foot of the precipice when we lean over and peer down. Fear, uncertainty, insecurity, loneliness. We must descend into the depths, the myths suggest, if we would walk the path of the new year and honor our commitments to change. Whether these changes are small (no more than one cup of coffee per day from now on) or large (no more emotional barriers between me and the people I love), some aspect of the old self—like the old year—must die so that a new self can emerge.

Depth psychology calls this an underworld journey. Mythologically, the underworld is darkness, depth, death, dream. In other words, change and transformation require that we enter the darkness and face our inner demons. Our culture places so much value on the highs that it tends to undervalue the lows. We give such preference to the rational that we tend to neglect the non-rational. Yet there is power in the underworld akin to the restorative power of sleep. The Greek goddess Persephone descended to the underworld—which she ruled with her husband, Hades—every winter, and every spring she reemerged. Persephone was life returning in the spring because she was queen of the underworld. The darkest depths were the source of her power. We might say that she ruled her inner demons rather than letting them rule her.

Sometimes we choose to visit the depths, sometimes we lose our footing and slip down unintentionally, and sometimes the underworld claims us. Last November, two weeks after the Celtic New Year, Samhain (from whence the modern celebration of Halloween originates), I came frighteningly close to death. As if to emphasize how very thin, at this time of year, is the veil between the upper and the underworld. While we sat in the emergency room late into the night, my friend, Holly, asked me a pivotal question: “What do you need to change in your life right now?” I knew the answer immediately. I need to tear down the walls around my heart, I thought, and have the courage to be truly vulnerable. Then and there, I committed myself to the change that life demanded of me, and when I was released from the hospital the next morning, I took the first steps on the path of my new year.

It started in darkness, quiet and slow. For a while it was harder for me to get around, more difficult to make the long drive between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, so I often found myself in an isolation that was not of my choosing. The experience was a strange one. Being something of a hermit by nature, I was accustomed to solitude, but I’d never had it forced upon me. The contrast was startling. My life, I gradually realized, had migrated south. Everything and everyone I cared about were centered in Albuquerque, but I was still stuck (out of habit more than anything else) in Santa Fe. So I followed my heart and moved. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made—but without a brush with death, without an underworld journey, I might never have known it needed making. After the move, like Persephone in the spring, my life came to life.

Memories of the accident and the hospital and the weeks and months that followed flash through my mind as I walk, inlaying the new sensations of the present—sunlight on the bark of this tree, song from the throat of that bird—with a shadowy filigree from the past. Each new experience resonates with the echoes of those that came before. I am driving when this season’s first snow falls, and also I am walking out Holly’s front door, lifting my palms to catch last year’s snowflakes. I’m walking across a bridge in a little German town, too, and slushing my way down the middle of Mass Ave in a red wool coat on a snowy Boston night. One within the other. Memories are ghosts of a sort, and underworld journeys by definition pass through their territory.

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

Sometimes it’s helpful to have a guide who knows the way, a psychopomp, when setting out on an underworld journey. The Greek god of travel and communication, Hermes (known to the Romans as Mercury), was also an underworld guide—one of only a handful of gods who moved freely between all realms. For those seeking such a psychopomp, there are several winter retreats in the area that may be of interest.

Ghost Ranch, established in 1955, offers three New Year retreats near Abiquiu. Creating Possibilities: Listening for New Directions in Life; Creating Spaciousness in Mind, Body & Spirit; and In the Stillness & Silence, I Begin Again. All three are held December 30-January 2. For more information visit ghostranch.org/education/ featured-retreats/new-yearretreats.

The Upaya Zen Center, founded in 1990, offers a variety of meditation retreats this winter in Santa Fe. Rohatsu: Miracle of Each Moment, December 1-8, by application; Winter Practice Period: Deep Refuge, January 6-27; Zazenkai Weekend, January 8-10; Bodhidharma Weekend, January 15-17; and Sesshin: Shikantaza, January 2227. For more information visit upaya.org/programs.

The Canossian Spirituality Center, established in 1996, offers a weeklong guided journaling retreat in Albuquerque. Journal Directed Retreat, January 8-15.

For more information visit canossianspiritualitycenter.org/ programs.php.

DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

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P

story by GAIL SNYDER photos by DEBBIE LUJAN

hotographer Debbie Lujan remembers everything about the day she shot her simple, moving image of Taos Pueblo’s San Geronimo Chapel. “It was a couple of days after Christmas, and we’d just had one of the worst blizzards I’d ever seen,” she says. “I was living at my Grandma’s house, and I came out with the intention of shoveling snow.” But instead Debbie felt herself pulled toward the church. “It was 9:30 in the morning. Complete stillness, absolute serenity. No one was out, no cars, no talking, not even the sound of shoveling. All I could hear was the crunching of my own footsteps.” Hers were the first prints in the pristine snow.

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The clean lines of the white rounded church glisten under fresh snow, the only decoration a single wreath of natural greens bound with a red ribbon, loosened from its bow by the wind. You feel as if you, not the photographer, are the one standing there, drinking it all in: The cold, crisp air mixed with piñon smoke, the blanket of leaden clouds, hovering close, promising more snow. Any moment, the twin church bells could begin to ring. It’s a solitary moment but not lonely. Even ensconced in this frozen, most hushed winter chill, you know you are not alone.

Almost all of Debbie’s photographs are taken “at times of extreme solitude. That’s my MO.” These moments, Debbie says, are fleeting. “If you don’t stand still long enough, you’ll miss them.” For her photo “Time Passages,” she stood in her grandpa’s corral toward the end of a summer’s day, storm clouds moving in. “He used to have 200 head of cattle in there. This is a perspective no one outside the Pueblo will see, because they don’t have access to this land I’m standing on; it’s my family’s,” Debbie says. “I love that old falling down fence in the foreground—it’s the perfect frame for the bell tower beyond.”

The presence of the cemetery, she adds, refers to her lineage. “The sky is also so evocative of skies in New Mexico, where one minute, it’s clear; the next minute, here come the clouds! It’s rare for me to take daytime photographs in the summer; the light’s usually too harsh. And I was happy that that little patch of bright blue is visible among the clouds.”

Because Debbie lives there, she gets to see her Pueblo in all its distinctive shades, moods, variations. For visitors, however, who are usually just here during the summer, the Pueblo is only open for limited hours. “So many people want to see something tangible, ‘the secret stuff ’—the inside of our kiva, a private ceremony. We aren’t selling our heritage. And many come with high expectations of landscapes out of Georgia O’Keeffe or Ansel Adams—the perfect sky, the perfect wall,” Debbie says. “They have no idea we have seasons or inclement weather. To them, the Pueblo is elusive. So, through my photographs, I try to give them something real, unromanticized: a sunset, a spring snowfall, all shot in their natural colors. I don’t edit my photographs. No filters, no Photoshop. They’re all totally genuine. The shots are completely spontaneous, intuitive. I don’t keep track of apertures, lenses, that kind of thing. But I am maniacal about the compositions!”

Debbie started taking photographs in high school, using her father’s Minolta. Her first love was music, but midway through, her school counselor told her she was taking too many music classes and she needed to choose another elective. “The other choices were either home ec or photography. My school had a brand-new darkroom, and that was intriguing to me, so I took that.” Her photography teacher taught her students to trust their guts, to frame each shot in their minds’ eye. “I’m a perfectionist about that,” Debbie says. From that one class, Debbie’s photography was launched; she taught herself everything else through years of experience. By preference, her photos are all taken outdoors, which is harder than indoor shots because of the variability of the light.

“You have to be always aware of what’s happening in nature all around you. I’m always seeing something and suddenly pulling over to the side of the road, and then constantly waiting.”

Growing up, Debbie and her parents, who both had jobs with the federal government, lived in Albuquerque. “But we came back to the Pueblo weekends and summers. There weren’t as many tourists back then.

My Grandma sold fry bread from our house. I remember days when I was eight, nine, ten, we’d have the Pueblo to ourselves—we could get through a whole game of kickball!” Now, Debbie says, especially in the summer, the Pueblo is often inundated with tourists. So when she can spend one-on-one time out in its uniquely distinctive landscape, she says, “It heightens the experience for me.” And this is why all her photographs center around her home. “I can’t believe I’m from here! Its pristine aspect 44

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sets it apart from so many other iconic places, like a national park or New Orleans’ French Quarter. In those and most other historical places, changes have been made over the years to the infrastructure, like the installation of power lines.” Taos Pueblo has none of that, which adds to the timelessness of its nature.

“I’m always so struck by how colorful the Pueblo can be—our community so full of life and vibrancy. What we see in nature here!

And the architecture—it’s so simple but very profound, a precursor of Southwestern architecture as we think of it today. I just go with the light.”

This past year, Debbie’s been, as she says, “a busy bee!” Besides helping to co-ordinate the Taos Pueblo Pow-wow, a job she’s done the past few years, she played violin with both the Durango and the Roswell symphony orchestras, and she also entered this summer’s Indian Market, winning first place for photography, as well as the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, winning second place for photography there. Next, she’ll enter the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts’ Winter Market. She’s rightfully proud of these accomplishments. “I’m a Type-A personality. I love photography, and I can’t live without the music—that’s my respite! I’m fortunate to live in a place where I can make a living with my art. That’s hard to do in many places these days.”

Debbie’s happiest, she says, when “my photographs strike a memory or a very meaningful purpose for others from the Pueblo. I have an auntie in her 80s who, when she saw my winning photo from Indian Market, said, ‘Oh, my gosh, I would love to have that!’ It means a lot to me when someone from my community is struck by the beauty of a photo from our Pueblo. I just give it to them. I’m very touched by that. Sharing is a part of who we are.” As a child, Debbie spent a lot of time around her grandparents in their village house. “They were a huge influence on me.”

Since then, she says, “I made part of that house into our gallery. It’s called Summer Rain, after my Dad—that’s his Indian name.”

In another of her favorite photographs, “Christmas Aglow,” Debbie shares a surprisingly intimate portrait of the only night that visitors are welcome to come to Taos Pueblo, Christmas Eve. “There tend to be swarms of people that night,” she says. “We have vespers, the procession of the Virgin Mary, and lots of bonfires. I took this right as the fires were dying down, at the tail-end of the night. Most of the tourists had left and there was just one huge flame, still so bright, its light reflected in one of the windows beyond it. It’s rare to see that kind of light at that time. To me, it was magical, miraculous!” Through her photographs, Debbie is like an ambassador from Taos Pueblo, capturing with generous spirit these moments of startling intimacy so that the rest of us can learn to look for them, too, there and in our own daily worlds.

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Wintertime Traditions A

s I grew up, my family moved around a lot and the location of our Christmases varied from this house to that, this state to that country. Nonetheless, there are things that remained consistent within our little family, within our various homes. These things that stay the same without losing their magic—the felt advent calendar hung along our mantels; the cookies and milk left out for Santa, the ropes of popcorn and cranberry strung among the branches of the tree, the Midnight Masses—these are what we call tradition.

No matter whether we are a child or whether we are grown, Santa Fe—with its Blood of Christ Mountains and beautiful Our son, who is only one Cathedral, its ancient desert year old, has seen only one soil fertilized with fossils and Native traditions, its Christmas through the haze Christmas-colored chiles and of a newborn’s vision. He is a traditional posole—is potent with the magic and awe of tabla rasa for tradition. wintertime tradition.

And indeed the Canyon Road Farolito Walk (farolitowalk.com) is one of Santa Fe’s most celebrated holiday traditions. Every Christmas Eve, in the dark of the holy night, paper bags filled with the light of burning candles line Santa Fe’s historic art-district road, and beyond. Locals and visitors, adults and children and dogs stroll down and carol along the street, sipping warm drinks and mingling with friends and strangers. It is a beautiful, longstanding tradition, and one entirely worth the experience.

Our son, who is only one year old, has seen only one Christmas through the haze of a newborn’s vision. He is a tabla rasa for tradition. Yet last year, my husband’s East Coast family traveled to the desert for the holidays in order to celebrate with us and visit our newborn son. None of us being particularly religious, we are nonetheless religiously food-oriented, so Christmas entailed basking in the warm, newness of our child, as well as kneeling at the alter of good, home-cooked posole, the ingredients of which we’d accumulated at the Farmers’ Market (santafefarmersmarket.com) and prepared amidst banter and baby cries. This year, our East Coasters are staying put, but the small nuclear family that is now “us” remains home, here in Santa Fe. With us lingers the inherited love for cooking that’s been distilled in our memories and in our blood through the generations. This, I think I can fairly well say, will remain a true holiday tradition— cooking with local bounty, together in the kitchen, will always be part of who we are, how we celebrate, comfort and commune.

On a snowy day in late November, I hear from a friend, who asks how Santa Fe is faring this winter season—he misses the smoke and candles and snow of this time of year. I tell him it feels just right, just like it always does: quiet and chilly and nostalgic, somehow, for the ghosts of winters past. Yes, he says, even where he lives, so far away, sometimes the smell of burning wood brings him back to Christmastime in Santa Fe, where tradition does seem to hang like piñon smoke in the dry desert air. He reminds me of trips to the forest to chop dead trees for a winter’s worth of heat. And, even once, we chopped down a Christmas tree. These are some of the gifts of our mountains and woods, gifts that bring us back to another time. We can heat our homes with their bounty, and gather around a tree grown on our own, old mountain soil (fs.usda.gov/main/santafe/ passes-permits/forestproducts).

Recently, a neighbor stops by our house with another gift sprung from and inspired by local land and lore—an Advent calendar for our family to enjoy together throughout December. Hidden among a hand-painted scene of a mother bear sleeping with her cub

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© Alena Ozerova | Dreamstime.com

story by MIA ROSE PORIS

in the womb of the earth beneath a tree are the 24 days of the Advent.

Above the sleeping bears is a night sky, below which the illuminated tents of the Jicarilla glow like warm fires in the snow. Each year for her Advent calendar, local artist Mary Ray Cate paints a scene reflecting the people, the land, the traditions of Northern New Mexico (sunlit-art.com). Inside each day of the Advent are thoughts for parents and children to ponder together. Advent calendars traditionally anticipate the days leading up to Christmas and, indeed, Mary Ray’s calendar counts 24 days. But this calendar, with its special thoughts and its Jicarilla story, exists beyond religion, beyond the day that Santa comes, in the pure realm of local Native lore and family-time spent together. Each day is truly special, and December gives us reason to celebrate this, to savor our local heritage and its people and stories, and to share these with our children.

As a child, I often attended Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. To head out of the house long past bedtime, and pay our respects to baby Christ, was a very special honor for us kids. These memories of being awake in the hours of dream, amidst the drone of adult voices singing and the scent of melting wax, these are memories held sacred in the alter of my own childhood mind. In Santa Fe, where the spirit of St. Francis lingers strong, the Cathedral Basilica (cbsfa.org) offers a special midnight mass in celebration of the birth of Christ. No matter our religion, Catholicism plays a large role in Santa Fe’s—and in Northern New Mexico’s—history, and the cathedral’s presence looms large over our town. Midnight Mass is a memorable experience, one that shines special light in the darkness of the night of the birth of Christ. We are blessed to have here, at home in Santa Fe, such strong traditions twining through so many rich cultures.

It is a gift to be able to step into and raise our children among such celebrations and rituals, both those that are familiar and those of others.

Waiting in a shopping line recently, I overhear a family discussing their own Christmas-day plans. They will, I gather, climb into their car, full of thermoses and skiing gear, and head up to Ski Santa Fe (skisantafe. com). There, they will spend the day “as close to the North Pole as we’ll get this year—or ever.” I love this. One of these years, when the baby is no longer a baby, perhaps our family will do the same, but this year, I have another dream: Myself, my husband, our dog and our son will drive north to Taos. We’ll stay at a bed and breakfast in that old, snowy village, held down by the ghostlike cloud of woodsmoke that drifts above kivas and hovers over the town. And on Christmas Eve, we’ll head to Taos Pueblo for the holiday procession, a taste of a tradition that dates back hundreds of years. True, this an escape from Santa Fe, but Santa Fe and its traditions will be here when we return, and so will its unique flavor of holiday spirit, its farolito-lined horizon, its warm meals, our sweet advent calendar, our Christmas tree. These will be waiting for us when we return home—these are our own wintertime traditions.

We’d love to hear about your local traditions. Visit us on Facebook to share them with us!

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story by PHILIP DE GIVE

BIG CABS

A

s of writing this story, we have already seen at least one day “when the weather outside is frightful.” In December, we spend time in front of the fireplace; the carnivores among us include more beef in our cuisine; and holiday get-togethers and gift-giving spur us on to spend more money on wine. The one wine that fills the holiday needs, cuisine and weather better than any other is Napa Valley Cabernet.

Napa is king of Cabernet Sauvignon. Yes, Sonoma has some lovely Cabernets, and Paso Robles is displaying its improving quality with each new vintage. But Napa is so identified with this varietal that when we discuss vintages for the Valley, we are talking predominately about Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a golden time to buy Napa Cabernets because of the four vintages currently available. Of course, New Mexico provides its own unique retail situation but before we look at what is available here, let’s first summarize the qualities of the vintages from 2010 to 2014 that makes this such an amazing time for Napa Cabs.

Every compendium of California wine will tell you that vintages matter as much in Napa as they do in Bordeaux. 2010 and 2011 were both cool vintages, in fact cooler than any of the vintages since, producing wines leaner than 2012, ’13 or ’14. A typical good vintage has a unique combination of dense but elegant black currant fruit with classic structural core, longevity and freshness. The cool temperatures for the 2010 vintages seemed to work more in that vintage’s favor, since the longer, cooler growing season often made wines with great finesse, and the harvest was not marked by rain. Also, 2010 Cabernets are drinking well now because the extra years of bottle age benefit any Napa Cabernet.

In 2011, however, we saw rain falling at harvest, and the vintage is politely described as “variable.” Cabernet Sauvignon is a late-ripening grape, and rain at harvest will challenge the grower and winemaker in deciding when to pick (although some winemakers were able to avoid picking while it rained). The newcomer to wine might describe the wine as drier, noticing the higher acidity, lower fruit component and lighter body. Occasionally, a 2011 wine will be excellent, even outstanding, especially for drinkers who prefer that style.

For the next three vintages, however, the weather changed considerably: 2012, 2013 and 2014 are described as drought vintages and are almost universally acclaimed. These wines are warm and “showy,” displaying greater extract: deep, bright color, full-on nose, higher alcohol levels. For some reviewers, the standout vintage of the group is probably 2013, but all three will have wines worth buying.

The second consideration for Napa Valley Cabernets is provenance—where, specifically, are the grapes grown in the valley? There are 16 sub-appellations (or American Viticultural Areas, as they are legally called) in Napa, each one with its own special soil and weather patterns. Orientation to the sun, proximity to San Pablo Bay and its fog, wind and precipitation all play their part. Carneros Cabernets are rare because it is so cool. Calistoga, at the opposite, northern end of the valley is the warmest region, since it is farthest from the Bay and consequently has more powerful wines. A somewhat general distinction can also be made between mountain and valley fruit. For example, Rutherford, Oakville and St. Helena have a softer more “inviting” style than the AVA’s of Spring Mountain, Mt. Veeder and Diamond Mountain District. Taking into consideration all these factors and what is available in New Mexico, here is a list of some exceptional choices. Retail prices may vary.

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for the new year $20-$30 Ca’ Momi Cabernet Sauvignon Napa 2013—approachable without sacrificing Napa character

$30-$40 Billhook Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2012—more reticent, but lovely structure

$40-$60 Keenan Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Napa 2011—a standout exception to the vintage Frog’s Leap Rutherford 2013—brand new release; delicious typical Rutherford Cabernet, but more subtle, almost Bordeaux-like Pine Ridge Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2013—even more successful than their delicious, complex 2012

$60-$100 Terlato Wines Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon 2010—aging beautifully with classic “Rutherford Dust” character Clos du Val Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon 2010—Bordeaux-like style with the “iron fist in velvet glove” typical of Stags Leap District Dyer Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2012—a nose of cedar and bright-red fruits with complex subtlety; a perfect example of the appellation

$100-$180 Retail Odette Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Estate 2012—very limited, amazing Stags Leap District character Dominus Estate 2011—the owner of the estate is from Bordeaux and has experience with rainy vintages. Described by Wine and Spirits Magazine as “proof that a challenge met can create something sublime.”

Diamond Creek Diamond Mountain District Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon 2010— this wine is still young but meticulous care in the vineyards has produced an elegant Napa mountain-vineyard wine

Finally, we must remind ourselves that Cabernet ages well. The wines lose their expansive fruit but become softer, and gain “vinosity” and aroma.

Vinosity is often described as all the flavors fine red wine gains that are not related to fruit—the flavors of tea, tobacco, cedar and earth. Delayed gratification is beautifully rewarded with expensive Cabernets, as I was reminded while drinking a 2001 Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon with friends last week. One can find older examples, on a limited basis, of single-vineyard wines from Heitz Cellar in the New Mexico market, and your favorite retailer probably has some other gems tucked away—or at least has access to some. But more importantly, any of the wines listed above in the $40-plus range easily have a five-year— sometimes as much as a ten-year,—life span. As they age, the wines grow in complexity and depth and can amaze you with their developed character. Buy a bottle or two as a gift to put away for yourself. Just store your purchased wines in the dark, at a constant cool temperature—55 degrees is ideal—and your investment will be repaid handsomely.

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and a freelance writer peared in The New York t and many other publirn in Sweden, grew up in ey, and lives in Santa Fe, er husband, Kyle.

and KATE WINSLOW wife team behind And We and food styling studio le, New Jersey. But their ities belong to Santa Fe, many years.

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“The Maverick Cookbook brings together two important and fascinating elements of New Mexico: history and cuisine. Lynn Cline has gathered together a collection of some of the most appetizing recipes that span centuries; each chapter a cluster of edible memories from a dozen men and women whose repertoire of dishes helped shape the face of our indigenous cookery. Cline gives each recipe a place in time with her extensive research and clever prose while photographer Guy Ambrosino’s gorgeous photos will inspire you to cook recipes that run the gamut from the simplest of grits to a sophisticated Green Chile Lamb Stew. This cookbook is a must-have for anyone who loves good food and recognizes the importance of our culinary heritage and how it affects our tastes and choice of what we eat today. Delicious! ”

n The Maverick Cookbook, Lynn Cline chronicles the fascinating history of New Mexico cuisine

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the Kid to Georgia O’Keeffe and Dennis Hopper. These trailblazers include artists and authors, gamblers and outlaws, entrepreneurs, and the ancient Pueblo people, all of whom had a hand in shap-

–C H E F J O H N N Y V E E , Food Editor, Santa Fean Magazine

ing the region’s celebrated cuisine.

and Director of Las Cosas Cooking School, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Each story is inspired by history–

fictional imaginings of a day, or a moment, in the remarkable lives of these mavericks.

Each chapter includes original recipes with authentic ingredients and traditional techniques of the era. And Guy Ambrosino’s beautiful photographs capture the timelessness of the foods featured in

“In this fascinating hybrid, history comes alive, folded in with luscious recipes and vibrant photos proclaiming the culinary legacies of notable New Mexicans.”

the book, bringing the recipes to life in rich, vibrant color that will inspire you

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to make each dish at home.

“The Maverick Cookbook smartly shows that it’s individuals and small businesses, as well as entire cultures, that contribute to the making of a regional cuisine. Of course the two overlap, but really, what would Santa Fe be without Rosalea Murphy’s French Apple Pie, anything made with Stanley Crawford’s garlic, or the tomato jam of a teenage bride on the Santa Fe Trail? What a fun and eye-opening book!”

“The Maverick Cookbook is so much more than just a cookbook! It’s an authentic peek into the different eras of life in New Mexico.

Each individual character is unique and offers a lively perspective on our state’s historic past.

This is the perfect book for learning about New Mexico’s most famous residents as you enjoy a delightful mix of signature recipes!”

— D E B O RA H M A D I S O N, Santa Fe author of Local Flavors and Vegetable Literacy

GIFTS for the HOME COOK

Follow us on Twitter @LeafStormPress See Photo Credits, page 181, for detailed information about the images above.

Cover photo: © Shutterstock.com Book and Jacket Design: the BookDesigners

—NICOLE CURTIS AMMERMAN

Director, Santa Fe School of Cooking

LeafStormPress.com

4/12/15 10:08 PM

story by MARY CHEESEMAN

A

s the days get shorter and the weather turns colder, I find myself inside on the couch reading cookbooks, planning what to make for my family and friends when we get together over the holidays. Since my family lives far away, I make it a point to cook them food from New Mexico when they come visit. As fabulous as local food can be in the context of a restaurant, when it is shared with family, it becomes truly special. And there are so many amazing cookbooks that have come out recently. Like New Orleans cuisine, the food of Santa Fe is steeped in historical tradition, and many of these books explore the culture and history of local food. The rest are uniquely modern and groundbreaking, the work of creative and intelligent local thinkers, writers and chefs. All of them make amazing gifts for the special people in your life who should really cook you something for a change.

James Beard Award-nominee Martín Rios, in collaboration with local authors Cheryl and the late Bill Jamison, has crafted an exceptional cookbook based off the recipes he created for his restaurant. The book is receiving national accolades for its collection of sophisticated yet approachable recipes. In The Restaurant Martin Cookbook: Sophisticated Home Cooking from the Celebrated Santa Fe Restaurant, Chef Rios’ cooking style is unique; he is not bound by any particular tradition; and he acknowledges a range of influences from French to Asian to Mexican cuisines. Each dish is broken down into multiple sub-recipes, so that the novice cook (such as myself ) can work her way up to creating a complete meal. The organization of the cookbook is exceptional, the pictures are beautiful and it makes an artful yet useful addition to a bookshelf full of cookbooks.

For the history buff who likes to cook, Lynne Cline’s The Maverick Cookbook: Iconic Recipes and Tales from New Mexico frames New Mexican cuisine within the context of 12 local and iconoclastic historical figures, from Billy the Kid to Dennis Hopper.

Each chapter is headlined with a description of a person who contributed to New Mexico’s cultural landscape, and is punctuated by mouth-watering Southwestern recipes and rich, bold photography by Guy Ambrosino. It makes for a fascinating read for those who enjoy a little history with their food.

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The trend toward farm-to-table meals is perfectly suited for New Mexican cuisine, which is already firmly rooted in what can be grown in local gardens. Sharon Neiderman’s New Mexico Farm Table Cookbook: 100 Homegrown Recipes from the Land of Enchantment takes it a step futher— almost every recipe is named after the New Mexico institution that inspired it, from Black Mesa Winery to the author’s own family kitchen, accompanied by an explanation of its local context. The photography, by frequent Local Flavor photographer, Kitty Leaken, is subtle and elegant. I would gift it to someone unfamiliar with New Mexican food as easily as I would give it to someone who already has a deep love for their home state.

The trend toward farm-to-table is also perfectly suited for making cocktails.

Author and blogger Natalie Bovis’ Edible Cocktails: From Garden to Glass - Seasonal Cocktails with a Fresh Twist takes inspiration from local herbs, flowers, even eggs and meats to give a unique spin on cocktail making.

In addition to showing how local ingredients can be used in mixed drinks, Natalie also devotes plenty of time to talking about the tools and techniques that are essential to the home bartender. This makes the book a delight for novices and more experienced mixers alike. Don’t try to make all the recipes at once though!

Simplicity is key in Huntley Dent’s The Feast of Santa Fe: Cooking of the American Southwest, which focuses on regional cuisine before Santa Fe became a beacon for culture, art and wealth. The recipes are low-key and down to earth, but never boring. Everything in the book can be made without breaking the bank, and the book pays tribute to the Spanish, Mexican and Native American traditions that shaped Southwestern food into its modern form. This book is perfect for someone on a budget who wants to stock their kitchen with uniquely New Mexico ingredients.

Traditional New Mexican cooking is soulful, earthy and unique among all the various cuisines of the United States. Local Taos chef and author, Frederick R. Muller of El Meze, pays tribute to the influence of the Spanish and Indigenous peoples of New Mexico with his book La Comida: The Foods, Cooking, and Traditions of the Upper Rio Grande. He takes the basic elements of New Mexican cuisine, such as corn, beans and chile, and frames them in a historical context that dates back hundreds of years. He is careful to pay tribute to the people who are often not credited with having a hand in New Mexico history, let alone modern New Mexican food. You’ll never look at a sopapilla the same way again.

A departure from the other entries on the list in many ways, the New Native American Cuisine: Five-Star Recipes From The Chefs Of Arizona’s Kai Restaurant is not quite local, for it is co-written by two of the chefs at Kai Restaurant, a prestigious Native American restaurant outside of Phoenix.

Executive chef Michael O’Dowd and Chef de Cuisine Jack Strong—whose delicious recipes we’ve sampled in Still Hungry?—with the help of food writer Marian Betancourt, have crafted a fine-dining interpretation of Native American food, while paying tribute to the culture of the Pima and Maricopa communities of the Gila River. Certainly foie gras, tartare, carpaccio and panna cotta aren’t easily approached by the average home chef, but the recipes are inspiring and interesting. This is a great gift for either an advanced cook or someone highly creative.

Fine Southwestern & French Cuisine

Happy Holidays!

RESTAURANT

Even though summer barbeque season has long past, I am still dreaming about cooking outside. Local cookbook writing power couple Cheryl and the late Bill Jamison have come up with the perfect cookbook for the outdoor cook, the Barbecue Lover’s Big Book of BBQ Sauces: 25 Extraordinary Sauces, Rubs, Marinades, Mops, Bastes, Pastes, and Salsas, for Smoke-Cooking or Grilling. The chapters are arranged according to various styles of preparing meat for grilling, from dry rubs to liquid marinades. It’s a mouthwatering collection of preparations that will have you dreaming all winter about cooking outside Perfect for carnivores who love an open fire.

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DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

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TAOS WINTER WINE FESTIVAL stor y by ANDY LYNCH photo by JIM COX

W

hy care? I mean, about anything, really, but…wine?

I expect you to care about… wine? Really? When Beirut/Paris/Syria are rent by darkness, when Monsanto hijacks our grocery shelves and armed rightists visit slaughter upon caregivers, it’s hard to get it up for carbonic maceration. I understand. And yet…Wine—specifically the drinking of wine in a social milieu— pushes back against the darkness. Human conviviality offers respite. And something as silly as wine makes the world, and our place in it, briefly better. It’s worth bothering about.

Here’s an easy way to bother about wine—and maybe recover a little well-being—in Taos during the last weekend in January. The Town of Taos and the Village of Taos Ski Valley host a four-day wine event from Thursday, January 27 through Sunday, January 31. El Monte Sagrado is the in-town venue, hosting the Reserve Tasting (Thursday, Jan. 27) and half of the weekend’s seminars; TSV puts their Resort Center (at the base of Chair 1) to use as the site for the Grand Tasting (Saturday, Jan. 30) and for the balance of the seminars. The seminars are where it’s at for the geeky set; Bacchic irregulars can practice their rites at either of the big events. Serious wineries abound, too, with about 40 first-rank producers slipping into town to ski Taos and drink with Taoseños.

Start on Thursday evening (4:30 p.m.) at the Reserve Tasting and over-bid on the silent auction in order to support Taos High’s very sharp culinary arts program, The Great Chefs of Taos. Run by Mary Spears and Benjie Apodaca, the Great Chefs program has a handsome test-kitchen inside the high school that allows freshmen through seniors to earn credits while gaining basic-through-advanced culinary skills, impeccable sanitation practices and extern experience at large and small off-site events. A significant portion of their annual budget flows from fundraisers like this silent auction, so over-bid. And over-indulge: Taos restaurants bring appetizers and jostle three-dozen wineries bearing reserve-only bottlings. (Tickets: $75 and worth every penny.)

Seminars! Not strictly or solely for nerds and geeks, the five seminars offered this year span the globe and forge an intimate connection with some of the most committed and talented winemakers out there.

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Everyone’s heard of Napa, and most associate that green and pleasant and prosperous land with Cabernet Sauvignon. “Napa Cab” is one of California’s biggest achievements. But many would argue that the state’s greatest and most distinctive Cab is not from Napa, but from a special ridge high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, above Cupertino. The winery is Ridge Vineyards; the wine is Monte Bello. Taste four vintages of it— poured by the winemaker—at the first of the weekend’s seminars on Thursday at 2:30 p.m., right before the Reserve Tasting.

What makes Ridge Monte Bello such a big deal? Remember that Cali planted Cabernet Sauvignon in conscious imitation of one of France’s greatest red wine regions: Bordeaux. The Bordelais make wine in a certain way and we tried to make wines in their image and likeness.

Failing, we came up with our American style instead: Napa Cab. Not elegant—delicious. But holed-up in the hills above Silicon Valley was Ridge Vineyards and the holy ground called Monte Bello making a style of Cabernet-centric wines that the French trade journal Vigneron Magazine recently called the most Bordelais of all American reds. And although Ridge Monte Bello is a concentrated, powerful wine, its power isn’t based on big ripeness and alcohol like some of the trophy wines winning big points. Forty years ago, the French concept of terroir, the idea that wines are an expression of the soil and the unique microclimate of their origin, was regarded in California wine circles as folklore.

Today, the skeptics are in the minority. For all its traditional Bordelais character, Ridge Monte Bello is ultimately a wine of the rugged Santa Cruz Mountains, not quite like anything else in France or California. (Oh, Ridge also grows Chardonnay in the limestone-rich Monte Bello vineyard. Thursday’s seminar starts with two vintages of Chard—one old and one new—before moving into the reds. Be there.)

Then there’s Italy. Mad, chaotic, capricious Italy. It’s OK if you haven’t figured out Italy. Many people in the wine business haven’t figured out Italy. That’s probably OK, too, because many Italians haven’t figured out Italy. Some would argue it’s more concept than country, with 20 regions precluding any unifying theme, never mind an identifiable and unitary place. North-Central-South is one successful frame for breaking down Italy. Those stoic and cold northerners with their Nebbiolo and their cash. The Tuscans and their nearneighbors slugging Sangiovese and fagioli at all times of day. And finally, the southerners.

Some of them live closer to North Africa than they do to Rome, which provides polite nearcover for the horrible ‘joke’ that everything south of Rome is Africa. What’s a wine fan to do?

Go south, south to Italy’s Mezzogiorno, but go with a good guide, like Shelley Lindgren, owner of A16 and SPQR, both in San Francisco. Shelley is coming to Taos, conducting a lightning tour of Southern Italy on Friday, January 29, 1 p.m. Wine & Spirits Magazine named her Best New Sommelier, her first book earned Cookbook of the Year and Gourmet Magazine granted her the magazine’s Sommelier Award, presented to the next generation of wine stars. Let Shelley Lindgren take you to Italy’s soulful south. The places are unforgettable, the grapes unpronounceable. It’s a good place to embrace the whole concept of autochthonous grapes. Little-known, linked indelibly to one certain corner of Italy, autoctoni are indisputably of that place but from elsewhere. Good example? Greco di Tufo. Its origins are right there in the name (Greco) but it’s no longer grown in Greece and has been (arguably) in cultivation in Southern Italy for 2,000 years. Of there, even if not from there: autoctono. And what of the 20 regioni? Campania, Lazio, Toscana, Sicilia and other southern gems are candidates in this tasting. Always eye-opening, sometimes eye-popping. (Note: In case Italy isn’t your thing, and your Francophile reflex is still sharp, Saturday, 2 p.m. at TSV, a comparable guide rips through a tour de France with a comparable line-up. Details TBD.)

CELEBRATING FOUR YEARS

ANNIVERSARY

WINE SALE

DECEMBER 1ST - 5TH

20% OFF 12 OR MORE BOTTLES OF WINE

www.ArroyoVino.com 218 Camino La Tierra Santa Fe, NM 505.983.2100

Most long-term wine people end up at Pinot Noir. They may have come into wine through Bordeaux or Napa or Mateus or white Zin. But they mostly end up at Pinot. One of the mysteries of life. And every Pinot Noir maker will tell you it’s all about the ground. Some call it terroir. Some just call it dirt. But where that fickle, elusive, sexy, uncooperative grape grows is all-important. On Saturday, January 30, at TSV, four different winemakers, each representing a different inner – AVA of Willamette, will all swear the Willamette Valley of Oregon is some of the best—maybe the best—ground around. Four winemakers, four wineries: Belle Pente (Yamhill-Carlton AVA), Beaux Freres (Chehalem Mountains AVA), Brick House (Ribbon Ridge AVA) and Bergstrom (Dundee Hills AVA). Each winemaker will pour both a 2007 and 2013 version of their Pinot, providing depth as well as breadth in this tasting.

Willamette (rhymes with dammit) is the American Viticultural Area (AVA) responsible for three quarters of Oregon’s wine production and the vast majority (88 percent) of the state’s Pinot Noir production.

All other grapes—Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling—share a distant second place. In Willamette, Pinot Noir is a big deal. And it’s a big AVA: over 5,000 square miles and nearly three-and-a-half million acres planted to vines with half-a-dozen inner-AVAs within its generous Portland-to-Eugene span. This year, a Willamette Valley Pinot earned the No. 3 spot in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines. That’s a big deal, too. (Geek alert: Rajat Parr’s Evening Land Pinot Noir is the No. 3 wine. It’s technically from an inner-AVA of Willamette Valley called Eola-Amity Hills.)

Keep your eye on the schedule for these four days of intimate wine connection in Taos. Check the website (taoswinterwinefest.com). Don’t skip the Grand Tasting at TSV on Saturday afternoon, 4 to 6:30 p.m.

And share all of it with a friend or two or three. Is that an answer to “Why care?” No, but it could be a formula for “How to.”

RIDGE WINEMAKER DINNER Wednesday, January 27, 7:00pm

u

$95/person

u

(505) 986-9190

1st couRsE Fresh Hawaiian Hearts Of Palm with Jumbo Lump Crab saffron meyer lemon & black garlic emulsions 2012 Estate Chardonnay, Monte Bello Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains

2ND couRsE Wood-Fired Whole Roasted Salmon with Porcini Mushroom-Dusted Onion Rings sage, brown butter winter squash & brussel sprouts 2013 Pagani Ranch, Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley

ENtRÉE Sliced Beef Loin with Rosemary & Shallots wild mushroom strudel & black truffle potato parsnip purée 2012 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains

chEEsE Pear & Raclette Turnover with grilled endive & poached huckleberries 2012 Lytton Springs, Petite Sirah, Dry Creek Valley

Join our e-newsletter at www.315santafe.com for upcoming wine dinners, specials & promotions!

Sun-Thur, 5:00 -9:00 pm u Fri- Sat, 5:00 - 9:30pm 315 Old Santa Fe Trail u www.315santafe.com u Reservations: (505) 986.9190

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Churrasco Brazilian Style Grill

GOOD FOOD & GOOD DRINKS AT GOOD PRICES ...OPEN LATE! 101 W. Alameda Inside Inn of the Governors Downtown Santa Fe 505-954-0320 • delcharro.com

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story by ANDREA FEUCHT photos by LIZ LOPEZ

TOP ABQ TEN AJIACO COLOMBIAN BISTRO Patacon con Ropa Vieja

Albuquerque shows much love to New Mexican, Vietnamese and “American,” but there’s much to find comforting about South American fare. Meat and potatoes are the norm, with delicate seasonings and unusual starches. Thank the lucky stars for Ajiaco and their upscale Colombian homestyle. My favorite is a most rustic of dishes, essentially stewed beef with beans and starch. The Patacon con Ropa Vieja is what to order, and what arrives will make your tongue purr. Fried plantains (the “unsweet” banana cousin) are the base for the shredded beef plate with tomatoes and spices.

Each bite has crunch, chew and warm richness. Now let’s raise a toast to soupy beans, served in their full stewing liquid. These are amazing and served in their own dish, all the better to save that glorious broth.

Ajiaco is located at 3216 Silver Avenue SE, 505.266.2305, ajiacobistro.com.

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Pedro and Nubia Sabogal

JENNIFER JAMES 101 Grilled Pork Collar

It never gets old to take a first-timer to Jennifer James 101, to see them light up like a luminaria when they see deviled eggs on the menu and then to see them flush with sheepish glee after they have shoved said eggs directly into an eager mouth. Or to have a dubious diner order the always-on-the-menu burger for a revelatory experience. But the regulars know what to order: anything you haven’t had before. Why? It might be around for days or months or years and no one wants to take the chance of missing a JJ101 dish. The Grilled Pork Collar is your current go-to. Root veggies flank the succulent meat, anything from turnips to radishes (or both), bringing a starchy stability to the meat. Garnishes as always are simple but effective: Garlic and honey balance pungent with sweet and might even prevent colds. Who knows, but it’s worth a shot.

Jennifer James 101 is located at 4615 Menaul Boulevard NE, 505.884.3860.

Chefs Nelle Bauer and Jennifer James

VINAIGRETTE Cuban Torta

Salad, salad, salad. It’s all about the salad at Vinaigrette, right? No, wait, it’s actually about the desserts, too. Or . . . perhaps . . . there is something else going on. Something essential that indicates we are all glossing over the larger point of this place, founded on the idea of growing one’s own. Not just growing veggies, but growing your own passion, job, company, life. Wow, that’s a little bit deep for what is just a love song to a sammich tucked deep within a salad-heavy menu. It’s the Cuban Torta. Not quite traditional, this mash-up of roasted pork and ham (with green chile, of course) is breaking convention with Swiss cheese and red onions and a final slathering of avocado and mayo.

But traditional isn’t the feel Erin Wade wanted from her salad restaurant; this breaded envelope of goodness is proof of her unconventional success.

Vinaigrette is located at 1828 Central Avenue SW, 505.842.5507.

Chef Owen Aguilar

THE SHOP BREAKFAST AND LUNCH Chilaquiles

What is your favorite restaurant’s most important dish? One hint: it ain’t the chef ’s visionary entrée—seasonal produce and locally sourced whatever notwithstanding. The true unsung hero is some workhorse of a dish, using at least one ingredient always in excess in the kitchen, cooked expertly. Take scraps and make magic: that’s the formula. This is how we have cake pops, fried rice and, most importantly to Southwesterners, chilaquiles. Take yesterday’s tortillas, fry until crispy, douse with chile and serve with anything from eggs to cheese. You’ll find a million versions in Texas, but here in Albuquerque, it gets no better than The Shop Breakfast and Lunch in Nob Hill. For $15, you’ll get your basic chilaquiles with red chile, eggs, black beans and queso fresco, PLUS a pile of sliced and spiced local sirloin steak. It’s the breakfast of your dreams, and it’s served up by talented Chef Israel Rivera and his business partner and childhood friend Grant Sibley.

Chef Israel Rivera

The Shop is located at 2933 Monte Vista Boulevard, 505.433.2795, theshopbreakfastandlunch.com.

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TOP ABQ TEN

LOS POBLANOS White Pasta

Simple and fresh is the name of this farm’s game: many items on the menu are grown onsite or procured within the state’s bounds. The menu changes often; your favorite from earlier in the year may have shifted into something equally amazing and comfortingly similar. One example is the appetizer that will surely feature balsamic vinegar: order it and regret nothing. This fall’s outstanding dish, however, involves a bit of white: I have never known this kitchen to do anything less than amazing with cauliflower. Yep, cauliflower.

Find it in the White Pasta, a pappardelle dish with cauliflower, parsnip and celery root for starters. That hearty foundation is punched in the flavor face with feta, preserved lemon, chile flakes, cream, lentils and pecorino. Meat? Was that required?

Las Poblanos is located at 4803 Rio Grande Boulevard NW, 505.344.9297.

Chef Jonathan Perno

M’TUCCI’S MARKET Charcuterie Plate

There are a lot of things to love about M’Tucci’s Market, like fresh baked bread or a roasted beet salad, but what you really came here for, whether you know it or not, is something else entirely. Shift your appetite from beets to meats and order the charcuterie plate. Trust in cured-meat master Cory Gray’s skillful palate by letting the kitchen choose which delicacies to include. Tell them you love flavor, you love fat, and all will be well. You might end up with a few succulent slivers of cured pork belly, prosciutto or something done in-house like pork jowl (!!). As the list of their creations grows, this plate will keep getting more interesting, but it’s already pretty darn good. What do I love almost as much as tearing through that plate of potent flavors? The fact that you get to take a gustatory romp without getting stuffed. You may even have room for the most interesting cannoli you’ve ever experienced. Go ahead, order it. Nothing isn’t amazing here.

M’Tucci’s is located at 6001 Winter Haven Road NW, 505.503.7327, mtuccis.com.

Chef Cory Gray

PIATANZI Fried Calamari

Never mind the recent slight change of name—this Italian restaurant is exactly the same as it’s been since Pete Lukes shuttered Terra Bistro to open this bright and energetic haven of Mediterranean cuisine. Today, make no bones about it, you will be ordering an appetizer, and it’s the Fried Calamari. A dish often relegated to the quick-serve type of menus with factory-applied breading and mediocre fish, here under Lukes’ control, it beams with bright flavor. The rice-flour dredging carries a hint of lemon zest and fries up crisp without weighing down the thin rings of squid. Are they chewy? A little, of course—that’s the nature of this beast. But are they tough? Heck, no. The drizzle of lemony sauce as finishing garnish brings everything together, always threatening to ruin whatever appetite I had for the rest of the meal. Who says one can’t have a meal out of an appetizer, anyway?

Piatanzi is located at 1403 Girard Boulevard NE, 505.792.1700, piatanzi.com.

Chef Pete Lukes

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THE GROVE MARKET & CAFÉ Croque Madame

Lauren and Jason Greene have got this Albuquerque “thing” down. They moved to the Duke City back in 2006 after, in short, meeting-cooking-eating-collaborating themselves into a life together. First up was a restaurant of their own. East Downtown was growing; it was the perfect time to ride that groundswell along with places like Farina, with Holy Cow and Gravy to come much later. The Grove’s line-tolerant crowds came for the excellent café foods and fancy coffee along with the inevitable social chatter of this town.

Many of them have discovered the Croque Madame, elegantly egging on diners from the chalkboard menu with its warmth and gooey ingredients. Black Forest ham, Gruyere and mustard on toasty bread is the base for a jiggling over-easy egg. Pick up that knife and fork; this open-faced sandwich is a formal affair.

The Grove is located at 600 Central Avenue SE, 505.248.9800.

Chef Jason Greene

SAFARI GRILL Curry Corn

It’s a side dish, barely even noticeable on the menu strewn with weirdly juxtaposed items like fried okra and Indian style fish tacos. But there, on the bottom of one page, is the best thing you’ll have all day: curry corn. What the heck are you ordering? Is it a cob with seasonings? Is it some gourmet thing all locally sourced and interestingly flavored? Nope and nope. Rather, you’ll receive the plainest of sights, served up in a styrofoam bowl: creamed corn looking straight outta that 1989 dinner at Grandma’s. Invite your grandma or her fond memories over to your table to taste what the Safari Grill has created. There’s a little zing and a whole lotta sweet. One bite in and you know you’ll have to order more to take home or inhale before you leave the premises. Eat it with their amazing goat stew, if you’re a glutton for joy.

Safari Grill is located at 3600 NM-528, 505.897.0505, thesafarigrill.com.

Chef Bill Young

STREET FOOD BLVD Takone Twist

Albuquerque was just starting to realize they were in love with food trucks when one of the favorites, a certain taco joint, just up and left for the left coast. Fortunately for us they “forgot” one key person: Chef Raul Maestas. His next gig turned into another truck called Street Food Blvd, winning competitions and the hearts of all those taco fans. They’re learning that New Mexican can coexist with Hawaiian on one menu, pleasing fans of chile and spam alike. But their crowning achievement is to create a delicious/curious mash-up of fry-bread/gyro/chimichanga/enchilada all in portable form. Stay with me now. Roll up a flour tortilla like a cone, fry it until stiff, insert enchilada love and boom: the Takone Twist. Your filling choices are red-chile carne adovada or green-chile chicken, but I lean hungrily toward the red, as I am wont to do.

To follow the varied locations of Street Food Blvd go to streetfoodblvd.com.

Chefs Jonathan Gutierrez and Raul Maestas

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El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe 555 Camino de la Familia, Santa Fe, NM 87501 (In the Railyard across the tracks from the Farmer’s Market)

Info call: Steve at 505-250-8969 or Lesley at 760-727-8511

Winter Market at El Museo and 103.7 Albuquerque Happy Holidays!

Contemporary Jazz Chill - Latin Guitar Music You Won’t Hear Anywhere Else in New Mexico!!

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Tickets & Information at: 1037theoasis.com

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Every weekend until May 1, 2016 Featuring Shure Bakehouse & Bistro

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STILL

story by MARY CHEESEMAN

Plucked from the pages of the local cookbooks we are featuring this month in “Gifts for the Home Cook, ” here are four great recipes that will bring a little local flavor to your holiday table.

TOASTED PINON-DUSTED BLUE CORN PANCAKES For the holidays, I have a few traditions I share with my family. We always have breakfast together after everyone gets in, and this year, I’m making everyone these Southwesternstyle pancakes from Sharon Niederman’s gem, The New Mexico Farm Table Cookbook.

Serves 4 This is a Sunday morning brunch treat that my family serves with bacon and chokecherry syrup that we make from chokecherries we forage in Cimarron Canyon each August. This recipe is good with honey butter.

1 ½ cups finely ground atole (toasted blue cornmeal) preferably horno roasted ¼ cup all purpose or whole wheat flour ¼ teaspoon salt 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ cup toasted ground piñon nuts, divided 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 ½ cups buttermilk or a combination of whole milk, yogurt, or unsweetened soy or coconut milk ¼ cup vegetable oil (not olive oil) Honey butter, for serving (optional) Chokeberry syrup, local honey, or pure maple syrup, for serving Heat a griddle, preferably cast iron

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Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl, including ¼ cup of the piñons. In another bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir quickly, just enough to mix. Spoon the pancakes onto the hot griddle, using 2 large tablespoons of batter per pancake. When the edges start to bubble, flip once with a spatula. Serve hot with honey butter, if desired, and chokecherry syrup, local honey, or real maple syrup, sprinkled with the reserved ¼ cup of toasted piñons.

If you’re looking for a more rustic recipe go to our website for this hearty dish from Lynn Cline’s, The Maverick Cookbook--Los Gallos Green Chile Lamb Stew!

DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016

magazine.com

Niederman, Sharon. The New Mexico Farm Table Cookbook: 100 Homegrown Recipes from the Land of Enchantment (The Farm Table Cookbook). The Countryman Press, 2015.

HUNGRY? BALSAMIC CAVIAR PEARLS I was so impressed with this recipe—it’s an easy way for a home cook to create the little caviar-like balls served at Restaurant Martín. This recipe takes very little time and provides a perfect garnish for my soups, salads or even to serve in place of actual caviar alongside a cheese plate. Hmmm…how about serving it with a little vodka or champagne, come New Year’s?

We get requests from guests constantly for two recipes in particular.

Butternut squash soup is one, something easy enough for anyone to whip up for a weeknight supper (see the soup chapter.) The other is for the little pearls we create of vinegar, wine, or soy sauce. Guests are fascinated by these caviar-like rounds that ping against the tongue, fashioned from some substance no one expects to look like a tiny round egg. These are not an everyday accent, but a home cook can still accomplish them with a little time, a kitchen scale, and a trip to a well-stocked supermarket. The preparation technique is called spherification, and in this case it relies on agar agar to gel into tiny balls. I love these added to chilled Spring Pea Soup, where the pop of them mimics the pop of a fresh pea. Try them too on butternut squash soup, tomato salad, or even pasta. You can create this culinary sleight-of-hand up to 8 hours ahead of when you serve it. Take your time and follow the directions precisely. Magic.

Makes enough to garnish up to 8 dishes 2 cups (1 pint) extra virgin olive oil ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (3 ounces) balsamic vinegar ¼ cup (2 ounces) apple juice 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar Kosher salt and ground white pepper 1.6 grams agar agar Pour the olive oil into a deep container, one taller than it is wide. Place it in the freezer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, combine balsamic vinegar, apple juice, sugar and pinches of salt and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Whisk in exactly 1.6 grams agar agar.

Carefully pour the hot vinegar mixture into a squeeze bottle, then stand the bottle in your freezer for 2-3 minutes to cool slightly.

Remove the oil from the freezer. Squeeze out a few individual droplets of the vinegar mixture slowly, from a height of about 6 inches, into the cold oil.

As the droplets fall through the oil, they will become tiny, round, caviar-like balls. (If the balls aren’t holding shape, return the squeeze bottle to the freezer for another minute or 2. Spoon out the vinegar mixture from the oil before proceeding.) Move the bottle around as you make the droplets so that they don’t fall against each other and end up sticking together.

When all the liquid is used, strain the balls through a fine mesh sieve (you can reuse the oil later for another dish like salad dressing) and then dunk them again briefly (still in the strainer) into a bowl of cold water to rinse gently. Refrigerate for up to 8 hours if not using within 30 minutes. Spoon portions of the “caviar” over soup, salad, crudo, or other dishes just before you’re ready to serve.

Jamison, Bill and Cheryl. Rios, Martin. The Restaurant Martin Cookbook: Sophisticated Home Cooking From the Celebrated Santa Fe Restaurant. Globe Pequot, National Book Network, 2015

WARM WINTER SANGRIA For entertaining at a party, try this cold-weather Sangria from Natalie Bovis’ Edible Cocktails. Sangria is a Spanish “wine punch,” that is inexpensive, fun to make and easy to put together in case you need another batch quickly:

The smell of nuts, cloves, oranges, brandy, and red wine fills a home with the feeling of the holidays any time of year. This sangria style wine punch can be served warm or cold, so although it’s technically a “winter” sangria, it can be a great alternative in any season. This recipe serves twenty-four, just in case you have a full house for the holidays.

2 oranges, sliced into rings 1 lemon, sliced into rings ¼ cup Honey Syrup (see below) 1 cup brandy 3 whole cloves ½ cup almond slivers 2 bottles Sutter Home Sweet Red Place sliced oranges and lemons into a large saucepan, reserving some for garnish. Drizzle with honey syrup, and add brandy, cloves, and almond slivers. Heat on low, and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Reduce heat and add one bottle of red wine. Let simmer about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add second bottle of wine. If serving warm, serve immediately in heat-resistant punch cups or wine glasses. If serving cold, refrigerate until cool, and serve over ice in wine glasses. Garnish with additional sliced lemons or oranges.

Honey Syrup Using honey adds both thickness and flavor to a syrup or cocktail. Farmer’s markets and even grocery stores carry everything from lavender honey to wildflower honey and beyond, so experiment with different flavors in your homemade cocktails to find a flavor you love. Play around with light and dark honeys to experience a different depth of flavor as well 1 part honey 1 part water Slowly heat honey and water into a small saucepan, stirring often, until nearly boiling, Let cool, then store in a sealable bottle. Refrigerate.

Bovis, Natalie. Edible Cocktails: From Garden to Glass - Seasonal Cocktails with a Fresh Twist. Adams Media, a division of F+W Media Inc. 2012

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Celebrate with Someone Special Christmas Eve Dinner starting at 4pm

Christmas Day Dinner starting at 5pm

New Year’s Eve Dinner starting at 6pm

LUNCH • DINNER • BAR Reservations 505.982.4353 653 Canyon Road compoundrestaurant.com

A Holiday Tradition for 50 Years

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

photo: Russell 2016 DECEMBER 2015Kate / JANUARY

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A Taste of Heaven for the Holidays.

Celebrate the Holidays with locally owned

Angel Fire Vodka. A special thank you to

our great New Mexico Restaurants and retail shops. — CHEERS!

Angel Fire is named after a village in New Mexico where the sunsets are so dramatic the local Native American Tribes once called them, “The fire of the Gods”. Our vodka is Micron filtered and distilled 5 times in copper to ensure purity. Handcrafted in small batches from a propriety blend of grains.

@angelfirevodka www.angelfirevodka.com For information on how to order Angel Fire Vodka contact us at angel@angelfirevodka.com Please drink responsibly.