Local Flavor April 2013

APRIL 2013

theHomestead

issue

My Backyard’s a Barnyard!

Kids in the Garden The Need to Knead New Restaurant Gems

S A N TA F E | A L B U Q U E R Q U E | TA O S

A Taste Of Life In New Mexico

LAURA SHEPPHERD ATELIER

Ready for Spring!

New arrivals of reversible silk jackets, accessories, and much more!

photosantagto.com

65 w. marcy street santa fe, nm 87501 505.986.1444 laurasheppherd.com •

April in Fuego Featuring the Global Latin Cuisine of New Mexico’s Chef of the Year Carmen Rodriguez Saturday, April 20th “Flamenco en Fuego” An evening of Flamenco and Latin Dance with a three-course dinner for just $48 per person plus tax and gratuity

Locals Breakfast Special Now through April, New Mexico residents receive a 10% discount on breakfast, Monday through Friday.

NM Driver’s License must be presented to receive breakfast discount.

LA

10 Years & still Buzzin’!

Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill’s 10th Anniversary Celebration Join us throughout the year for fun events, food specials and offers* such as: • Sunday, April 14, 2013 from 11 to 8 10th Anniversary Celebration with $2.50 tacos all day, Free Bee-Day Cake • Kids Eat FREE* on Sundays & Mondays • Hap-Bee Hour* daily from 2 to 5 pm *Check the website for offer details.

PO S A D A

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Reservations: 505-954-9670 or visit OpenTable.com 330 E. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe • laposadadesantafe.com

Downtown Santa Fe • 301 Jefferson 505.820.2862 Southside Santa Fe • 3777 Cerrillos 505.988.3278 Visit our NEW WEBSITE bumblebeesbajagrill.com

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THANK YOU!

Santa Fe

The following individuals, organizations, and businesses have made arTsmart’s 16th annual arTfeast a pleasure for participants and attendees alike, as well as a significant contribution to the creativity of Santa Fe’s young people.

General Fund The Coker Foundation Ed & Margaret Roberts Foundation ScholarShip Anonymous Donor Fasken Foundation Scholarship Santa Fe Gallery Association arTFeaST evenT underwriTer American Art Collector Collector’s Guide Deborah J Trouw, CFP ® Essential Guide Los Alamos National Bank Mary and Robert Harbour New Mexico Bank and Trust Santa Fe Properties Santa Fean Southwest Art Western Art and Architecture Western Art Collector arTFeaST Media SponSor American Art Collector Collector’s Guide Essential Guide Hutton Broadcasting Inside Santa Fe Journal Santa Fe KHFM 95.5 Local Flavor THE Magazine Santa Fean Southwest Art Western Art and Architecture Western Art Collector arTSMarT SupporTer Donna Zick SupporT a STudenT Barber Family Limited Partnership Ann Bealle & L. W. Stoesz Michael & Julia Dawson Mark & Rosa Silbert Santa Fe Society of Artists arTSMarT Friend David Carr & Sabrina Pratt Harry & Linda Kaloustian Paula McDonald parTially Funded by New Mexico Tourism Department, newmexico.org buSineSSeS & orGaniZaTionS 315 Restaurant & Wine Bar Amaya at Hotel Santa Fe Ark Arroyo Santa Fe Atelier Danielle Back At The Ranch

Barbara Meikle Fine Art Beals & Abbate Fine Art Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery Blue Rain Gallery Boots & Boogie Bouche Bistro Boxes, Bubbles, & Beans Buffalo Thunder Resort Café Café Cassidy Landscaping Casweck Gallery Charles Azbell Gallery Charlotte Jackson Gallery Cicada Collections Cowgirl BBQ Coyote Cafe Darnell Fine Art David Richard Galleries Del Charro Saloon at Inn of the Governors Domiane Serene Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art Ecstatid Sun, LLC El Farol Eldorado Hotel and Spa Essential Guide Evoke Contemporary Fine Art for Children and Teens First National Bank of Santa Fe Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Frank Howell Gallery Frontier Frames Galerie Zuger Gallery 822 Garisol Winery Inn Gaugy Gallery GF Contemporary Giacobbe Fritz Fine Art Great Southwest Adventures, Inc. Greenburg Fine Art Golden Eye Goler Shoes Fine Imported Shoes Grapeful Wine Consultant and Sommelier Gusterman Jewelers’ Handwoven Originals Heidi Loewen Porcelain Gallery Hilton Santa Fe Golf Resort & Spa at Buffalo Thunder Historic Marcus Whitman Hotel Hotel Santa Fe House of Sandol Human Performance Center HVL Interiors of Santa Fe Il Piatto Cucina Italiana InArt Santa Fe Invisible City Designs Jambo James Kelly Gallery Jane Sauer Gallery Jezebel Gallery Jinja Bar & Bistro JLH Media Joe Wade Fine Art Kakawa Chocolate House Kokopelli Rafting Trip La Boca

La Casa Sena La Plazuela at LaFonda La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa Laura Sheppherd Lensic LewAllen Galleries Littlebird at Loretto Lumenscapes Illumination Media Luminaria at Inn at Loretto Manitou Galleries Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen Mark White Fine Art Matthews Gallery National Distributing Company New Mexico School for the Arts NuArt Gallery Old House at El Dorado and Agave Lounge Ojo Caliente Inn and Spa Osteria d’Assisi Paula Davis Designs Peas ‘n’ Pod Pippin Contemporary Pizzeria da Lino Pop Gallery Quail Run Club Queen’s Ransom RAD RBC Heritage Golf Classic Red Leaf of Santa Fe Red Mesa Red Sage Rippel and Company River Trading Post RKW Enterprises Road Runner Airport Shuttle Robin Hillard Rooftop Pizzeria Russel Scharf and Jazz Explosion Saffron of Santa Fe Sage Creek Gallery Santa Fean Santa Fe Audio Visual Santa Fe Convention Center Santa Fe School of Cooking Santa Fe Spirits Saveur Signature Gallery Silver Sun Santa Fe SITE Santa Fe Starbucks Coffee Steaksmith Talbot Auctioneers & Fundraisers Tai Gallery Tante Luce Ten Thousand Waves Thaw Charitable Foundation The Butler Did It The Golden Eye The Pantry The Paper Tiger The Ranch House The Shed Torres Gallery Tresa Vorenberg Goldsmiths

Tsosie-Gaussoin Ventana Fine Art Venus In Velvet Vivo Contemporary Waxlander Gallery Whole Foods Market Catering Whole Hog Wiford Gallery William and Joseph Gallery William Siegal Gallery Windsor Betts Winterowd Fine Art Worrell Gallery Wyndham Vacation Rentals Zane Bennett Contemporary Art Zaplin-Lampert Gallery Zia Diner individualS Anthony Abbate Bruce Adams Missy Agnew Leslie Alsheimer Lori Andrews John Arnold Stephen Auger Connie Axton Melinda Baker Javier Lopez Barbosa Bobby Beals Sol Bentley Amy Birkan Steve Bones Mary Bonney James Bottorff Corky & Laird Brown Victoria Brown Rezina Busch Susan Chapman Trish & Chip Byrd Candy Carlson Scott Carlson Kaline Carter Bill Cassidy Miguel Castillo Nathalie Champion Jodee Chavez Claudia Cielensky Kate Collins Aimee Colmery Chef Andrew Cooper Cyndi Conn Elizabeth Crumpler Paul Cunningham Charles Dale Bob Daws Paula Davis Susan & Jeff Davis Joe Abe Dean Chef Marianne Deery Rita Derjue Sheila & Alex Doran-Benyon Suzanne Donazetti Kathrine Erickson Bobbie Ferrell Elizabeth Fisher Colleen Franco Bonnie French

Deborah Fritz Keith Gabor Melanie Garcia Todd Glatz Mark Greenberg Lynn Grimes Joel Grimstad Barbara Goldman Riis Gonzalez Mary Harbour Bonnie Hamilton Alex Hanna Mary & Bob Harbour Wendy Henry Matthew Higginbotham Jennifer Hinsley Siri Hollander Carol Hoover Andrée Hudson Munson Hunt Debbie Insalata Natasha Isenhour Jezebel Adam Joaquin Andrew Johnson Sara Julsrud Phyllis Kapp Leonard Katz Shawn Katz Colin Keegan Elaine Kidd Bruce King Kata Kissoczy Jennifer Kittleson Talia Kosh Gloria Krantz Frank Krifka Amanda Lee Brian Lee, CPA Joanne Lefrak Margie Lessen David Leigh Bobby Levin Carmen Lopez Rachuel Lopez Mary Madley Jamie Markle Paul Margetson Fred Martinez Bernard Marks Sharon Markwardt Kelly Masten Nina Mastrangelo Jim McCabe Buck McCain Barry McCuan Kele McDaniel Iris McLister Barbara Meikle Mayo Miller Linda Montano Monika Moores Alena Morales L. Scooter Morris Stephanie Morris Anne Mulvaney

Save the date! Sunday, September 15, 2013 – arTsmart Golf Tournament

f alo o yM

We’ll see you February 21-23, 2014 for the 17th annual ARTfeast

n To

arTsmart ensures that Santa Fe and new Mexico youth have the opportunity to explore, experience, and engage in the visual arts, a critical component of every student’s education.

Michael Namingha Danny Naranjo Christopher Owen Nelson Alex Neville David Nez Marshall Noice Natalie Nunez Catherine Oppenheimer John Oteri Pascal Allyson Packer Bill & Sharon Peterson Kristina Peterson Tiffany Peterson Michele Plourde Chef Cristian Pontiggia Eric Reinemann Norbert Relecker Willy Richardson Robert Rivera Joyce Robins Robert Rodriguez Otter Rotolante Donna Ruff Joseph Salzberg Joe Ray Sandoval Marvin and Michelle Shafer Jacob Sheafe James Schelnick Meg Shepard Genie Shuller Jacob Siseros Andrea Slade Chef Andrew Smith Brandon Sode Dynamite Sol David Solomon Joan Stago Amy Summa Grace Tapia Steve Talbot Susan Tatum Christopher Thomson Al Trujillo Jami Tobey Rebecca Tobey Deborah J Trouw, CFP® Chris Turri Judy Wadenation Ray “Zozobra“ Valdez Karen VanHooser Elan Varshay Charles Veillux Andrew Wallerstein Kim & Richard White Mark White Cedra Wood Chef Matt Yohalem Star Liana York Toby Younis Gloria Zamora Sandy Zane

Inside:

25 Paraphernalia

by James Selby

Wine writer James Selby admits that wine accessories run the gamut from “silly to sensible.” But who cares? We love it all.

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Buzz

by Kelly Koepke

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What’s in, what’s out, what’s hot, what’s not … that’s the buzz!

Taos Hum

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Meet two Taoseños who embrace back-to-theland traditions: herbalist and wildcrafter Rob Hawley and award-winning photographer Kathleen Brennan.

It’s Our Garden

by Gail Snyder

Meet author George Ancona who recorded the birth of a classroom garden for the children who planted the seeds and harvested the joy.

by Tani Casselle

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Deep Roots

by Gordon Bunker

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The Need to Knead

by Chef Johnny Vee

If you long for the sweet old-fashioned days of another era, perhaps you just need to do a little kneading.

We love the family-owned (and family–cared for) tree farms and nurseries in our part of the state.

Supporting them is a green way to grow your community as you grow your garden.

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The Guava Tree Cafe

by Kate Gerwin

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Those who yearn for something new under the sun should look no farther than the sunny food and atmosphere of this Caribbean culinary gem.

Bouche Bistro

by Erin Brooks

Chef Charles Dale describes his new restaurant sensation: “Bouche really is a bistro in the sense that the tables are fairly tightly packed. The energy is high. The food is simple, well prepared and flavorful, and it’s moderately priced. And that’s the key with a bistro.”

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In the Presence of Animals‫‏‬ with contributions by several photographers

If you want to gauge the level of enthusiasm for “homesteading” ways, just take a gander at the critters living in urban backyards all over New Mexico.

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Still Hungry?

by Melyssa Holik

ON OUR COVER:

Spring Chicks by Kitty Leaken

This month we reached out to the folks at Home Grown Santa Fe, the Old School and South Mountain Dairy (both in Albuquerque), as well as our own Chef Johnny Vee for these back-to-basics toppings—perfect for home-baked bread!

April

2013 ~ Publishers: Patty & Peter Karlovitz Editor: Patty Karlovitz Web Editor: Melyssa Holik Art Director: Jasmine Quinsier Cover photo: Kitty Leaken Advertising: Santa Fe: Mary Brophy 505.231.3181. Lianne Aponte 505.629.6544. Margret Henkels 505.501.2290 Albuquerque: Ashley Schutte 505.604.2547.

Prepress: Scott Edwards Ad Design: Alex Hanna Distribution: Southwest Circulation Local Flavor Magazine 223 North Guadalupe #442, Santa Fe, NM 87501 Tel: 505.988.7560 Fax: 988.9663 E-mail: patty@localflavormagazine.com www.localflavormagazine.com Subscriptions $24 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.

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Any three-courses from our NEW dinner menu featuring Nuevo Ranchero Cuisine — created by Executive Chef & Certified Sommelier Christopher McLean.

• any appetizer • any entrée • any dessert • $34 plus tax & gratuity View our NEW Dinner Menu online at bishopslodge.com

505.819.4035

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BO TWIN

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Reservations Recommended

EY E

GRO U P

o p t i c s S A N TA

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DR. MARK BOTWIN DR. JONATHAN BOTWIN DR. JEREMY BOTWIN

1297 Bishop’s Lodge Rd. bishopslodge.com

Reserve today for MOTHER’S DAY Grand Buffet • May 12

444 St Michaels Drive

Optometric Physicians 505.954.4442 BotwinEyeGroup.com

INVISIBLE CITY DESIGNS g r a p h i c d e si g n

clients A RTs m a r t / A RTf e a s t Cornerstones Th e E s s e n t i a l Gu i d e Inn & Spa at Loretto JL H M e d i a L o c a l Fl a v o r M u s e u m o f N e w M e x i c o Fo u n d a t i o n N e d r a M a t t e u c c i Ga l l e r i e s New Mexico Municipal League S a n t a Fe P r o p e r t i e s Th e S a n t a Fe O p e r a Southwest CARE Center Zacatecas www. in visib le c ityde s i g n s . c o m

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

APRIL 2013

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This is only the second year that we’ve done a Garden and Homestead issue, and already it’s become a favorite with readers.

It’s certainly a favorite of mine. Local Flavor has always had a soft spot for people who actually live a back-to-the-land, old-school kind of life, with a vegetable garden that nourishes the soil while feeding the family, heritage fruit trees with their own proud stories, an appreciation for the birds and bugs and bees who all have their own perfect reason for being there and a sense of stewardship and quiet satisfaction being in the presence of farm animals.

Fine wine, craft beer, select spirits & extraordinary treats!

April 2013 Pairing: 10% off deli cheese with wine purchase from our fabulous selections!

Two precious spring chicks in the hard-working hands of a real homesteader grace our cover and set the tone that inspired us throughout this issue. Our opening story announces the debut of a new book by George Ancona, the self-professed abuelito, or honorary grandpa, of the Acequia Madre Elementary School. Ancona’s touching photographs and text chronicle the life of their school garden in his justreleased book, It’s Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden.

We’re proud to bring you this story about the kids and teachers at this small public school in one of Santa Fe’s oldest neighborhoods. George’s book inspired us, and we hope that it inspires other kids and teachers to grow their own school garden and bask in the bounty that it brings.

Homesteaders are not outside doing chores all the time; they also spend a lot of time in the kitchen. For that side of the story, we turned to our own Chef Johnny Vee for advice on one of the most timehonored and elemental of all household tasks, baking bread. This is especially close to my heart, because my own grandfather was a baker and the memories that I hold in my heart of the good-natured and effortless way he made his way around the kitchen flooded back as I read John’s story. In whatever way the story touches you, I hope that you’re inspired to roll up your sleeves and discover the joy of kneading bread.

Chef Charles Dale is a man who bakes bread every morning at his newly opened French bistro, Bouche. It is here that Dale, one of Santa Fe’s preeminent chefs, is embracing the traditional simplicity of French country cooking, and he is doing it beautifully. Don’t go with expectations of pomp and circumstance; go with a desire to be nurtured by comfort food and warm surroundings. This could very well be the opening of the year.

Not newly opened, but newly discovered by one of our favorite Albuquerque food writers, is the Guava Tree café. Kate Gerwin’s story will have you tracking down this Yale Street gem and not just for their amazing Cubano. Owners Diego and Maricarmen Barbosa exude warmth and enthusiasm for everyone who comes into their homey little restaurant and wows them with an exuberant array of Caribbean and South American cuisine.

These are just a few of my favorite stories— there’s plenty more to enjoy and plenty of gardening and homesteading ideas to help you tap into your own pioneer spirit!

Shop Hours: Mon-Sat 9am-8pm & Sun 11am-6pm 55 Canada del Rancho, Suite F Santa Fe, NM 87508 505-474-2828

ranchoviejovillagemarket.com

Thursday, April 18, 2013

s l e g An ut O t h Nig

Compliments of Local Flavor

Pizzeria Espiritu 424-8000 Plaza Café Southside 424-0755 Pranzo Italian Grill 984-2645 Ristra 982-8608 2nd Street Bar & Grill (Railyard) 989-3278 Reservations for 6+ only The Ranch House 424-8900 Reservations for 6+ only Tomme 820-2253 Vinaigrette 820-9205

Synacktics

Byte-proof IT

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Photo: Kate Russell

Cowgirl BBQ 982-2565 Crumpacker’s Café & Bake Shop 471-0226 El Meson 983-6756 Galisteo Bistro 982-3700 India House 471-2651 India Palace 986-5859 Jambo Café 473-1269 Mariscos Costa Azul 473-4594 Piccolino 471-1480 No Reservations Piccolino (Eldorado) 466-1264 No Reservations

For more information, contact Kitchen Angels at: 505.471.7780 • www.KitchenAngels.org

Breakfast & Lunch: Café Fina 466-3886 No Reservations Crumpacker’s Café & Bake Shop 471-0226 Dinner: Andiamo!

995-9595 Asian Restaurant 983-3600 Azur 992-2897 Café Café 989-1730 Café Castro 473-5800 No Reservations Café Pasqual’s 983-9340 Counter Culture 995-1105 No Reservations

25% of your bill goes to Kitchen Angels!

CALL EARLY FOR RESERVATIONS

R E S T A U R A N T S

ENTER TO WIN! LOCAL FLAVOR MAGAZINE

Reader Appreciation Drawing sponsored by the Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa. Enjoy a luxury getaway for Two at Santa Fe’s Authentic Ranch Resort.

GETAWAY PACKAGE INCLUDES: Two nights’ stay in a deluxe room, Two spa treatments, Dinner for two at Las Fuentes Restaurant & Bar and Two field archery lessons.

TO ENTER click on “BISHOP’S LODGE GIVEAWAY” at localflavormagazine.com

Reservations 800.732.2240

Santa Fe’s authentic ranch resort since 1918.

1297 Bishop’s Lodge Rd. Santa Fe, NM

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Purchase will not increase an Entrants chance of winning. To enter go to localflavormagazine.com and click on the “Bishop’s Lodge Giveaway” banner. Entries must be received no later than 4/15/13. Entrants must be at least 21 years of age. Employees of Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa and Local Flavor Magazine, drawing sponsors, and their immediate families are not eligible. The winner will be selected in a random drawing at Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa, 1297 Bishop’s Lodge Rd., Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, on or about 4/22/13. Only one entry per person is allowed. Odds of winning are dependent upon umber of entries received. For a list of winners, send self-addresses, stamped #10 envelope to Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa, 1297 Bishop’s Lodge Rd., Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501. The winner will be notified by email, telephone or US Mail. A detailed prize winner letter will be mailed within 21 days of notification. The winner is requested to sign off that the winner agrees with the rules of the drawing. If the winner does agree with the rules of the drawing, or does not meet the requirements to be eligible to enter this drawing, you will be excluded as a possible prize winner. Federal, state and local taxes are the responsibility of the winner. Void where prohibited by law, and all federal, state and local laws apply. Prizes are non-refundable, non-transferable and are not redeemable in cash. Reservations based upon availability and blackout dates apply.

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

APRIL 2013

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ALBUQUERQUE

It’s like musical chairs in the Duke City restaurant scene these days. In April, Ned’s on the Rio Grande moves to the Northeast Heights after more than ten years in the North Valley, becoming simply Ned’s. (The new space, which is on San Mateo just blocks from I-40, used to be The Press Room.) Fratelli Bistro, late of Central Avenue near Presbyterian Hospital and UNM, relocates to 2740 Wyoming Blvd. NE, next to Sergio’s Bakery, which itself relocated from Lomas near Washington. (Santa Feans will remember Sergio DeBari of the Kitchen Fresh Bakery.) And finally, La Quiche Parisienne Bistro has packed up to the Mountain Run Shopping Center, at Juan Tabo and Eubank. They are also expanding their lunch and dinner menus.

Downtown’s loss is the Heights’ gain.

Here’s some great news for fans of local eateries expanding. The homey Roma Bakery and Deli is expanding to a second location, in the Albuquerque Plaza. Fear not, Roma fans; the original location, at 5th and Roma, is still open and serving sandwiches, salads, soups and fresh-baked goodies.

| Rebel Donut Westsiders rejoice! Rebel Donut has opened a new location at 9311 Coors (in the Ross shopping center just north of Paseo del Norte). Stop in for one of their 30 flavors of designer donuts (like the maple-bacon or the Breaking Bad Blue Sky), gourmet coffee and new minis, known as Li’l Rebels. And congratulate owners Carrie Mettling and Tina Winn for their appearance on The Food Network’s new show Donut Showdown, premiering in April. Way to represent Albuquerque, ladies! Their recipe for the Azteca red chile donut with Mexican chocolate will be included in the official FN Donut Showdown cookbook, too.

Check out the original Rebel location, at 2435 Wyoming NE, or stock up on their donuts at Alli’s Café, at 5th and Marquette downtown.

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

Speaking of donuts, the Duke City’s largest donut chain with four stores is local and expanding, too. The fifth Donut Mart is open across from UNM, ironically next to a Dunkin’ Donuts.

Kudos to the Gauba clan—father Razzak and brothers Tahir, Amin and Haroon, originally from Pakistan—who opened up Donut Mart #1 in 2010 and are building a sweet empire. Rio Ranchoans should watch for their own location by the end of the year.

In new-restaurant intelligence, a little birdy tells me that Taste of Peru, at 840 Juan Tabo NE, is a delicious way to get your rotisserie chicken on. Everything on the limited Peruvian menu is cooked to perfection, and the service is good, too. Chef Willy Mantilla grew up in Cajamarca, Peru, where his family has owned a restaurant for over 100 years. He joined with fiancée, Deborah Palma, to offer rotisserie chicken, the specialty of the house, made in a traditional coal oven ordered directly from the source. Stop in soon for lunch or dinner, but not on Mondays. Check out the menu at www. tasteofperuabq.com or follow them on Facebook for daily specials.

Another new resto joining Standard Diner, Farina, Artichoke Café, Holy Cow and Daily Grind in EDo is the soon-to-open Hartford Square, at 300 Broadway NE. Chef/owner Sarah Hartford’s farm-to-table concept boasts local, fresh ingredients (partners so far include Gina Riccobono of FreshProduceABQ) in a weekly changing menu, as well as high-quality take-out and a small market for home cooks.

Until she throws open the doors in May, keep up with the goings-on at www. hartfordsq.com, which also features Sarah’s blog about the local food scene.

Big news about Gold Street Caffe.

Owner Matt Nichols sold the Downtown favorite in March to Winston Holdings, LLC, a management group of which GSC ops manager Katie Espat is a member.

New chef Kanella Barnes (who has ten years’ experience at The Range Café) joins the staff but doesn’t have any plans to change the menu. Which is good, since their red chile bacon haunts my dreams.

Visit Matt at his UNM eatery, Rocka Taco.

Here are two items of note from Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm. First, welcome sous chef Adam Nelson, a Nashville native excited to pair

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his Southern soul food flair with fresh farm ingredients. Next, if you’ve been looking for an excuse to spend more time at Los Poblanos, get more active or learn more about local agriculture and horticulture, here’s your chance. Farmers Kyle, Will and Christine need help in the fields and barn! Applications are now available for volunteers looking to get their hands dirty while learning more about sustainable farming. Volunteers earn gift certificates redeemable for free breakfast or dinner, lavender gift sets, cooking classes or a free night at the inn.

Volunteer orientations are scheduled for March 30 and April 3; visit www. lospoblanos.com for more info.

customers to bike to their spa. The couple moved the business from The Silver Lofts to 101 Broadway SE last summer. Plans for the new GF&B space include an urban farm, rooftop garden, fruit trees, grey water irrigation, a restaurant and living quarters. You go, boys!

In not-so-happy retail news, vintage clothier Revolver is closing after ten years in Nob Hill. It seems the building was sold out from under shop owners Samantha and Das Anastasiou. They aren’t sure whether they’ll relocate, go Internet-only or simply close up their shop. Whatever they choose, we wish them all the best!

But here’s some happy retail news.

Ellouise Padilla has been making jewelry for years, following her Santo Domingo artisan tradition. Husband, John, markets his wife’s work, and together the two of them opened their new gallery, Ellouise Originals in Old Town, to retail Ellouise’s in-demand stone- and shell-inlaid jewelry.

Visit them at 422A San Felipe St. NE.

| Sous Chef Adam Nelson Spend the weekend with Elvis at the Bottger Mansion of Old Town B&B, April 5-7. Yep, Elvis stayed there in 1956, performing at the Armory on Gold Avenue just before “Heartbreak Hotel” hit number one on the charts. Bottger will be serving up peanut butter-and-banana– stuffed French toast on Saturday morning while guests listen to the King’s greatest hits and learn Elvis facts and quotes with custom trivia cards. Other Kingly events in Old Town include an Elvis karaoke concert on the Plaza Friday evening, with an Elvis impersonation and look-alike contest. On Saturday view classic cars.

Complete information at www.bottger. com.

After Elvis, head to Zinc for their first Spring Local Beer Dinner, April 7, featuring Il Vicino Brewing and the live music of Desi & Cody, a folk rock/ bluegrass band on tour from Tulsa. The Spring series highlights one beer dinner a month through July. On tap (get it? on tap?) are La Cumbre & Marble, finishing with a blind tasting competition in July.

Visit www.zincabq.com.

More national love for a local biz, this time for Great Face & Body Eco-Urban Lifestyle Market and its owners, Keith and Andre West-Harrison. DAYSPA Magazine has named Great Face & Body its “Top Green Spa” for 2013. (You may know GF&B for its Breaking Bad line of salts, scrubs and skin care that pays homage to the chemically inclined cable TV show.) The magazine cited the duo as being among the first in the industry to use paperless billing, to craft organic products onsite and to offer incentives for

| Ellouise Padilla

SANTA FE

| Bumble Bee Bob and BJ Hurrah ten times over for Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill’s tenth anniversary. Yep, Bob (aka Bumble Bee Bob) and B.J. Weil, owners of Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill and Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill & Burgers restaurants, are still buzzin’. Celebrate with them at the Bee-ch Party, April 14 at the restaurant’s downtown location, 301 Jefferson, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The face-painting, surfin’ photos with the Bee, beach fun, giveaways and prizes all promise big fun (not to mention the $2.50 tacos).

Soup is good food, or so Campbell’s told us. Really good is news that Sup has opened a third location, at Northern New Mexico College, in Española. The restaurant’s Santa Fe locations offer a daily selection of ten freshly made soups, three

Photo: Gaelen Casey

to four sandwiches, salads, breads and desserts. Lucky diners can also feast on breakfast items (pancakes, biscuits and gravy and eggs), burgers, pizza and a salad bar, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit www.eatsoup. net.

| Chef Josh Gerwin Josh Gerwin lost his Corrales restaurant, Casa Vieja, when the ancient adobe wall literally came crashing down in 2011. Lucky for Santa Fe diners, Josh has decided to relocate and open his new place right here on Cerrillos Road in the old Los Nietos Café space (2860 Cerrillos). With the fun name of Dr. Field Goods, a gorgeous horno oven and an open kitchen, this is one place you need to put on your must-try list.

Word is that Josh is bringing the Casa Vieja enchiladas recipe along with his legendary pulled pork sandwich. Visit www.drfieldgoods.com for hours, etc.

Photo: Gabriella Marks

Did you notice that cozy Italian eatery Trattoria Nostrani quietly became the French bistro Vivre? Yep, Chef Nelli Maltezos, who started her career at Charlie Trotter’s, felt the calling of her French cooking roots and made the switch in January. Let’s hope that the restaurant will continue its excellent service and cuisine. (Trattoria Nostrani was named one of the top 50 restaurants in the U.S by Gourmet Magazine and one of the top 500 in the world

by Frommer’s.) Call 505.983.3800 for reservations.

| Executive Chef Marianne Deery Here’s another change. Chocolate Maven’s Executive Chef Marianne Deery has jumped over to Jinja Bar

& Bistro to become their Culinary Director and Executive Chef. For the last two years she’d been pulling double duty, working at the Maven while also consulting and developing menus for Jinja, and she finally made the move official. At the Maven, she updated recipes and added new items, while breathing new life into this stalwart of the culinary scene. Let’s see what magic she works at Santa Fe’s pan-Asian palace Take 24 local restaurants, one worthy nonprofit and 25% of revenue, and it all adds up to one angelic event. April 18 is the 15th annual Kitchen Angels’ fundraising event. On Angel’s Night Out, eat at Andiamo!, Café Café, Café Pasqual’s, Café Castro, Café Fina, Counter Culture, Cowgirl BBQ, Crumpacker’s Café & Bake Shop, El Meson, Galisteo Bistro, India Palace Restaurant, India House, Jambo Café, Mariscos Costa Azul, Piccolino, Piccolino Eldorado, Pizzeria Espiritu, Plaza Café Southside, Pranzo Italian Grill, Ristra, Second Street Bar & Grill (Railyard), The Ranch House, Tomme or Vinaigrette, and 25% of your food and non-alcoholic beverages tab goes to Kitchen Angels. Kitchen Angels is a community-based, volunteerdriven agency that provides free homedelivered meals to people in Santa Fe who are living with life-challenging health conditions.

Comfort food makes us feel warm and fuzzy. Find out who makes the very best comfort food in Santa Fe and help support Gerard’s House, an organization that offers free grief support to children and youth (ages three to 21) who have experienced the deaths of close family members or friends or who are living with family members experiencing life-threatening illnesses. April 28, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at La Posada de Santa Fe Resort and Spa, sample comfort food prepared by some of the best chefs in Santa Fe: Andrew Cooper of Terra at Four Seasons Rancho Encantado, Rocky Durham of Santa Fe Culinary Academy, Ahmed Obo of Jambo Café, Fuego at La Posada de Santa Fe’s Carmen Rodriguez, and JeanLuc Salas of Le Pod. Visit www. gerardshouse.org/comfort-food-classic.

Spring is in the air, and it’s time for the Santa Fe Botanical Garden Spring Garden Workshop. On April 6, from 1 p.m to 3 pm, join Michael Clark at The Bishop’s Lodge Resort to learn which seasonal activities will spruce up your garden. Discover which plants are waking up, as well as how to prune roses and remove mulch—all before you start planting the year’s garden.

The event is free to SFBG members, $15 for others. Get more info at www. santafebotanicalgarden.org.

The Gallery Mingle with Santa Fe’s favorite artists at our

Meet The Artist Events

Please call 505-995-4502 to make reservations.

Gino Miles

April 25, 2013 Reception & Dinner 6:00pm $150 per couple

Amy Ringholz

May 23, 2013 Reception & Dinner 6:00pm $150 per couple

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June 6, 2013 Reception & Dinner 6:00pm $150 per couple

Art & City Lights with Cody Brothers

July 27, 2013 Presidential Patio Dessert Reception 8:00pm-10:00pm $25 per person

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There’s more garden fun at the Santa Fe Master Gardeners 9th annual Spring Garden Fair, April 27, 10 a.m to 4 p.m., at the County Fairgrounds on Rodeo Road. Don’t miss the best plant sale in town, plus lectures, clinics, demonstrations, exhibitors, used and new garden gear, and kids activities.

This year’s speakers include Anne Schmauss of Wildbirds Unlimited on attracting more birds to your yard; Jannine Cabossel, the “tomato lady” at the Farmers’ Market; and Les Crowder of the NM Beekeepers Association on getting started keeping bees. Plus join Doug Poushard, owner of HarvestH2O, as he offers instruction on building a rain barrel.

Bring your gardening questions to Ask a Master Gardener and your appetite for some great food. For details on this free event, visit www.sfmga.org.

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| Garden Fair Vermiculture Demonstration A fashionable time for all is promised April 22 as part of the Friends of the Wheelwright Lecture Series when Native American fashion scholar and Turtle Mountain Chippewa Dr. Jessica Metcalfe will discuss the Native highfashion movement from the 1940s to the present. The talk starts at 2:30 (refreshments at 2). Metcalfe is the creator of the Beyond Buckskin blog and online boutique. Details at www. wheelwright.org/friends.html.

The art scene in Santa Fe is one of the biggest in the country, and the Eldorado Hotel & Spa now offers interactive art breaks and live demonstrations for group, as well as exclusive artist receptions and dinners for locals and tourists. Adding local flavor and lore,the hotel’s new 4,000 square-foot Gallery features a varied collection of classic to contemporary pieces for purchase, monthly artist dinners and a picturesque venue for artful weddings and corporate retreats.

Stop in for a look-see.

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APRIL 2013

“Lost and Found.” The performances highlight the work of 48 students, under the direction of NMSA Theater Department Chair Joey Chavez. In addition to the theater productions, 14 visual arts students exhibit works on paper and sculptural objects through April 14. It’s all at Warehouse 21, on Paseo de Peralta in the heart of the Railyard district. Visit www. nmschoolforthearts.org for ticket information.

Actor Tom Schuch’s portrayal of the irreverent, brilliant scientist in Einstein: A Stage Portrait, is not to be missed. So get to Teatro Paraguas April 5-7 for an evening (or matinee) of humor, introspection, science and a little violin. You’ll walk away with an understanding of the man who solved many of the world’s most difficult puzzles with astounding creativity and a delicious sense of humor. Call 505.424.1601 for reservations.

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Support New Mexico School for the Arts’ theater students April 3-6 as they perform 15 short one-act plays written, directed and performed by the students, all exploring the theme

By the time you see this, dear reader, Lambert’s of Taos will be up and running in its new location, 123 Bent Street. That’s the Old Apple Tree building, where Taoseño chef Ky Quintanilla got his start 12 years ago. Expect the same great food and service, just a different location with more seating, an awesome patio, affordable lunch and brunch, plus three times the bar capacity. There will be some menu changes reflecting a New Mexican approach to fresh, seasonal ingredients, but you will be able to get your chicken-mango enchiladas! Visit www.lambertsoftaos. com.

Outdoor enthusiasts and fly-fishers will be heading to Taos April 19-21 for the Enchanted Circle of Trout Unlimited’s annual banquet and flyfishing contest. The Friday banquet includes silent and live auctions, casting demos and a competition.

The two-day tourney (limited to ten three-person teams) raises funds for ECTU to bring awareness to local conservation issues, including restoring fish habitat to stretches of the Red River that have been channelized for flood control. This project is one of the largest of its kind in the history of Northern New Mexico and will help to dramatically improve the health of that trout stream. Visit www.taosflyshop.com for details.

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It’s Our Garden Two third-grade girls, Sarah and Kate, came out to the school garden early one morning with their class. As they started digging in a bed, Kate said, “This is slave work!”

But, after working together a while, Sarah said, “You know what? This is actually fun!” When it was time to go back to class, neither girl wanted to leave. They were the last ones to stop working in the garden that day.

“When I heard of schools having gardens, I became curious.” So begins children’s author George Ancona’s introduction to his recent book, It’s Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden. “So I went to visit some schools in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I live. When I got to the Acequia Madre Elementary School, I stopped looking.”

The idea to document kids gardening came to him after hearing about the Obama girls starting a garden at the White House. All the school gardens he looked at were fine, he says, but they were “just rows of vegetables.” George was looking for something with more of what he describes now as “the soul’s content.” At his first sight of Acequia Madre’s garden, with its cheerful explosion of plants stretching their greeny arms up to the sky and beyond the boundaries of their beds, George remembers saying, “Whoa! This is it!”

Even if you know nothing about gardening, it’s immediately apparent that this one really is the kids’ garden. There’s a playful feeling to the ordered structure of its layout. Carved out of a space in one corner of the small playground, the garden nestles up to the school building itself, with lots of various raised beds, waffle beds, two compost piles, whole continents of sunflowers and a big spreading, nurturing elm. “It’s visually very pretty. I love this school,” George adds. “It’s like a family.”

This affection for Acequia Madre and its kids is evident throughout his book. From spring to winter, George takes you along on his magical experience through the seasons he spent there with his camera. “When I wasn’t chasing and trying to photograph the kids, I would just sit on a bale of hay and watch the fun they were having,” he writes. “I felt I’d been adopted as the resident Grandpa, or Abuelito.”

At 83, George is friendly with a comfortably open face, the kind of man who is endlessly interested in kids for the simple reason that he’s still one, inside himself. And it’s obvious how the kids feel about him—in his photos, which he says he took “from a kid’s-eye point of view,” they’re either showing him something, a worm or a radish, looking straight at him with love and trust, or else they’re oblivious of him and his camera, completely engrossed within their garden life, laughing, serious or full of wonder.

And, George sounds just like a kindly grandfather. In the book—which is part family photo album, part how-to manual—his voice speaks straight to kids in a simple, direct, understated tone with storytellerly charm. “I want other kids to get from the book that they could have the same fun. I want them to see this and say, ‘Hey, I can do that!’ Besides,” he deadpans, “when I know nothing about a subject, I’m eminently qualified to write about it because I’m learning, too!”

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story by GAIL SNYDER photos by GEORGE ANCONA

Following his natural curiosity, George captures the significant moments in the garden’s life that year with the Acequia Madre children, from harvesting potatoes and making popcorn from cobs of strawberry corn from the traditional “three sisters” plot to releasing butterflies hatched from cocoons in a classroom so they can pollinate the garden’s plants. There’s a photo of a child’s sign saying, “Please don’t pick me I need to grow! Thanks, The Tomato” and a girl jubilantly spreading her muddy hands for the camera after helping give the horno a fresh coat of adobe. In addition to George’s photographs, literally every page of the book is also amply illustrated with drawings by the kids themselves: plants complete with underground root structures, the horno’s fire burning down to coals, insects of every description, a wheelbarrow full of compost.

“Free carrots! Free carrots in the garden!” kids called to everyone out on the playground at recess one spring day.

Sue McDonald, Acequia Madre’s school garden coordinator, collects these vignettes. So many kids discarded their playground games, she says, to flock around her for a taste of just-harvested carrots that she had to cut them so there’d be enough.

Third grade teacher Barbara McCarthy was the original impetus for Acequia Madre’s garden. It was her dream. “Barbara’s Garden” is carved on the little blue garden gate. With a resident artist, third graders made the outdoor classroom and the adobe horno six years ago. Sue’s husband, Will, designed the garden’s layout. And Miss Sue is the garden’s heart.

George dedicated his book to her.

Sue and other parents have written lots of grants—this was how, for instance, they got their beautiful greenhouse built. And many volunteers come to help. But Sue is the one who starts the kids making books with pictures from seed catalogs every spring, showing the flowers, fruits and vegetables they want to grow. She works with small groups from each class every day, helping them plant their starts, demonstrating garden and composting techniques, filling up their brightly colored watering cans.

And Sue encourages all kinds of projects. There’s a permanent easel set up in the garden so that any child can write their garden observations or illustrate what they see.

entary School dents at Acequia Madre Elem | George Ancona with the stu

John and Liam, first graders, come out together to the garden most days at recess. They’re born naturalists, observing and drawing on their own. This spring, the boys were fascinated by blooming flower bulbs. As he bent down to look closely at the purple tulips, Liam said, “It looks like someone painted them. Look at all the pollen!”

There’s also a tipi in the garden for much needed sanctuary time.

“Sixth graders need to let off steam,” says their teacher Jim Williams.

“They did lots of work there, but they also spent time stopping and listening. It really teaches them to tune into nature, to tune out minutiae and garbage, and listen to themselves.”

“I’m not going to quit!” declared Evan, a first grader, when the other kids said they were done. He was raking leaves in front of the school and putting them into a wheelbarrow just his size.

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Kids from each class take turns bringing out lunch leftovers for the compost piles. Parents come in to help; there are workdays on weekends and over the summer, featuring potlucks and family music. A mom from Tesuque Pueblo comes every Thanksgiving to bake bread in the horno with the kids. Sue and George reminisce fondly about a dad from Italy who helped the kids make pizzas, showing them how to mix and punch dough, roll it out, cut ripe tomatoes, grate cheese on top and cook them in the horno. “I ate very well that year,” George laughs.

It’s Our Garden isn’t George’s first children’s book. In fact, it’s one of 117 he’s written and illustrated to date. (He laughs, remembering an older Orthodox Jewish man in New York who, after asking what George did, said, aghast, “From this you make a living?”) His family was originally from the Yucatan; George grew up in Coney Island. “When I was little, I used to go out with my father. He would take me places. Not playgrounds and parks, but places like the docks in New York. I remember one time we saw, coming from a giant ship, these conveyor belts with burlap bags full of coffee. You could smell it! I remember asking my father, ‘Where did it come from?’ He said, ‘Brazil.’ I said, ‘Brazil! Where’s that?’”

Before striking out on his own as a photographer, George worked at an agency in New York. (“I had a wife, three kids and a mortgage—the full catastrophe, as Zorba the Greek said!”) Then one day he was sent to cover Leonard Bernstein conducting a rehearsal. “He was up on the podium, dancing! He was having the time of his life up there! I went up to talk to him afterward, and he said, ‘If it ain’t fun, it ain’t worth doing!’” George went home that night, wrote his letter of resignation to the agency and never looked back.

In one of his children’s books, Barrio: José’s Neighborhood, George documents life in the rougher sections of Jalisco. “I’ve gotten bundles of letters from kids in Mexico about that book—in English!—saying things like, ‘You are old, but you are cool.’ When I hear that my work has touched someone, especially a kid—!“ He grins, unable to finish. His book Helping Out shows children of all ages from lots of different cultures. “First of all,” George says, leafing through it, “the kid is with an adult; they’re working together. When you get to participate on your own level—hands-on, interactive—it’s very important. And it can be fun. Work isn’t such a terrible thing!”

He’s very grateful for the opportunities his own work has afforded him to enter so many diverse and fascinating life experiences. “I love to build relationships. Many of the kids at Acequia Madre were very shy at the beginning. I’d just keep my eyes open. Watch. I remember sitting on a straw bale and two boys asked, ‘Would you take our picture?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ They were friends so I took several. They said, ‘Can we see?’ I said, ‘I’m using film!’ and they said, ‘Huh?’” He laughs heartily.

“I started out at the school by talking to one or two of the classes and giving a slideshow about how I put a book together. That way I wasn’t a total stranger. All these kids and their families, we got close and it was very enriching for me. I want something with depth, I’m not interested in just entering somebody’s life and taking something.”

Inadvertently or not, Leonard Bernstein made an instant convert that long-ago day. “I love doing this!” George marvels. “I’m hungry for it, I feel as if I can’t lose a minute and then I feel good for the next few days. It’s a way of empowering children—and when you can do that, look out! I have an idea for a new book,” he confides parenthetically, “called When Boys Dance, Look Out! “Besides,” George adds, “this way I don’t ever have to grow up!”

“We helped in the garden today during choice time,” Jason, a kindergartener, tells him mom one day after school. “It was way better than doing choice time!”

The first two book signings for It’s Our Garden have been scheduled for: Saturday, April 20, 2:00-3:00, at Garcia Street Books, Santa Fe Sunday, April 21, 1:00-4:00, at Bookworks, Albuquerque

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the Need

to Knead

Photo: Gaelen Casey

story by CHEF JOHNNY VEE

J

ulia Child once said, “How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?” I grew up in the era when bread was exactly that—the Wonder bread of my youth could be wadded up in a little ball and thrown at a sibling without risk of injury. No one in my immediate family ever made homemade bread, a trend which inspired my sister to exclaim that she was going to bake bread for her family once her children arrived. Her solution was to purchase a bread machine and use boxes of mix; more of a half solution—but a start.

Once I got to college and to an exchange program in Leeds, England at the Leeds Polytechnic College I finally got a hunger for something more than Rochester, New York had to offer in the way of bread. Rescue came in the form of my favorite professor, a Mrs. Buntie Seeds, who over a three-hour class espoused the pleasures of making bread. “Feel the dough, connect with the dough,” she enthused. As a young American, the prospect of life without bread made my new found skill all the more important.

And it was Mrs. Seeds who first planted the thought that someday I would like to teach cookery.

Now a cooking teacher myself, for some 20-plus years, the one topic and technique that I think students most passionately connect with is bread making. There is something primordial about putting one’s hands in a moist, warm dough and pushing and nudging it into a multitude of shapes, sizes, flavors and results. Over the years I have taught novices, celebrities and other folks, all of whom suspected there was something mystical about the outcome when three or four ingredients were combined, prodded and flung into a hot oven. And in a sense there is. I even love that we use the word bread in slang to connote money and wealth; it’s an interesting association.

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Photo: © Sebastian Czapnik

Years ago I had the pleasure of teaching local celeb Shirley MacLaine this ancient art. After meeting her in Las Cosas and helping her shop to outfit the new kitchen in her house, I asked her if she needed a rolling pin and pastry board for bread making. She replied, “I’ve never made bread,” to which I offered, “Well if you ever want to, I’d be happy to come out to Abiquiú and show you.” The next morning MacLaine’s assistant called and said simply, “Shirley wants to make bread.”

The sunny winter day of our lesson was a highlight of my career. MacLaine’s books had taught me so much about the world of spirituality; it was great to give something back to her. She proved an eager student. We started with a basic focaccia bread, discussing the role yeast played in the leavening and practicing the important act of kneading. Despite the fact the house was a beehive of activity, with workers coming in and out of the kitchen as they finished the house and garden, Shirley was focused.

Her curiosity about the world that has fueled her writing career was evident in her inquisitiveness about this new skill she was acquiring.

We made baguettes, we made biscuits, we made brioche that we turned into cinnamon buns filled with pecans. (It was fun to watch her determinedly dig out the nuts stuck in the bottom of the pan and affix them to the buns. She wanted our buns to be perfect.) We kneaded throughout the afternoon until the flour ran out. As is the case with all her amazing journeys, MacLaine connected to bread.

People who bake bread professionally possess an almost otherworldly connection to it. I have hosted guest bakers who don’t even feel the need to measure the flour or water amounts they use; they sense the right volume by checking the texture of the dough as they mix it. They are all happy to discuss the merits of using starters for leavening (rather than instant yeast), in a move that harkens back 30,000 years when those early bread makers saved a hunk of dough to use as the yeast in the next batch.

To them, offering diners fabulous bread is as important (if not more) than serving up tasty food.

Home enthusiasts, too, can really catch the bread baking bug. I have also had the pleasure of hosting classes where these non-professionals share their skills, and they often make the instruction more accessible to neophytes. Some bakers get hard-core and insist that the best yeast for the job needs to be obtained simply from the air around us. Others scour the internet looking to buy 100-year-old starters, complete with certificates of authenticity.

To me bread making is the simplest of joys. It has a Zen quality to it, not unlike a meditation where the kneading becomes a yoga move. It doesn’t require a partner, a cell phone, a laptop, computer or app (although there are some). It’s just you and the dough, and the dough is a living thing.

There is a special language and vocabulary involved with this hallowed world, and knowing a few terms will make your journey easier. Gluten is the protein that gives bread its structure. When you knead dough, you develop and strengthen the gluten. The reason we don’t knead pie crust or biscuits and scones is that we want the gluten not to develop, hence tender crumbly baked goods. Baking without gluten is perhaps the greatest challenge facing the industry today.

Fermentation is what happens when you activate the yeast, usually with some sort of sugar. In my Kid’s Cooking Camp I do during the summer, here’s how I explain it to the kids: “The yeast is asleep until it is woken up with warm water and fed some sugar. When the yeast eats the sugar, it farts, and that’s what causes the dough to rise.” They get it every time!

Proofing the dough is placing it in a perfect environment that’s warm and moist to encourage the yeast to do its job. I like to boil a cup of water in the microwave and then leave it in there with the dough; it’s the ideal atmosphere.

Levain is the word often used interchangeably with “sourdough starter.” It’s a mixture of flour and water—and sometimes small amounts of yeast—left to ferment, and it’s what gives sourdough bread its distinct flavor.

Retardation is the act of slowing the rising down. Often breads are allowed to rise and then popped in the fridge to sit, forcing the yeast to work harder to rise. The harder it works to rise, the more tasty the bread.

Kneading is mixing of the dough by gently pushing it away and pulling it toward you on a lightly floured board. It is not done with your fingers but with your palms and cupped hands. The keyword here is “gentle”—no Schwarzenegger workout, please.

Scoring the dough with a few diagonal slashes across the top prior to baking helps the bread rise in the oven and creates more crusty outsides.

One of the most prized results you are trying to achieve is a loaf with good crumb (which refers to the texture inside the bread). A good French bread will have an almost creamy mouth feel, never dry or doughy, but with that yummy, crunchy exterior.

Some tools to add to your kitchen that will make your baking life easier includes a nice size pastry board (I like the John Boos and JK Adams brands available at Las Cosas), metal dough scrapers, sturdy cookie sheets (throw out the ones that warp in the oven), timers and a water spray bottle. Remember, making bread at high altitude (anything higher than 3000 feet) is actually easier, because, due to our thinner air and lower air pressure on the surface of rising dough, yeast and other leavened products rise faster. Usually what you are looking for is for the dough to double in volume. Once you reach that point, you are ready to continue.

There are a multitude of websites and blogs that will give you great tips and techniques. Two of my favorites are thefreshloaf.com and wildyeastblog.com. You will be amazed at how serious this former pastime has become. Also, YouTube offers many, many video clips to get you going. And, of course, attending a hands-on cooking class is highly recommended.

The very old skill of bread making has been around for centuries, and as long as gluten intolerance doesn’t destroy its joy, it will be around for centuries more. As technology takes us further and further away from our dexterous origins I see a yearning to return to a time when nothing happened with just the push of a button. But, oh the wonder of what happens when you push, then pull, then fold, then knead a mound of dough. So what are you waiting for?

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painting by Ellen Barbara Segner photograph by Fred Seibert

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This is a great French baguette recipe with which to begin your bread baking journey. It goes into a cold oven, which in effect facilitates a second rise as it heats to 400°. You will always get that prized crusty exterior that we covet in baguettes.

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2 packets active dry yeast 1 Tablespoon honey 2 cups warm water (110°) 1 Tablespoon kosher salt 5 to 6 cups flour 3 Tablespoons cornmeal 1 egg white mixed with 1 Tablespoon cold water.

Combine yeast, honey and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof until foamy. Meanwhile, mix the salt into the flour in a medium bowl and add to the yeast mixture a cup at a time, mixing with a spoon until you have a firm dough.

Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until it is no longer sticky (about 10 minutes), adding flour as necessary.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 45 minutes at high altitude).

Punch down the loaf and turn out onto floured board again. Cut dough in half and form two long baguettes about 3 inches in diameter. Place on baking sheet scattered with cornmeal and slash the tops of the loaves 3 times on the diagonal.

Brush with egg wash.

Place in a cold oven set to preheat at 400° and bake 35 minutes or until well browned and hollow-sounding when the tops are rapped.

Garden Herb Focaccia 2 teaspoons dry yeast 1 teaspoon sugar 1/4 cup warm water 1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt 1 cup hot water 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 3 1/2 cups flour 1 Tablespoon kosher salt for top 2 Tablespoons fresh herbs Freshly ground black pepper In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water; allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Dissolve 1 Tablespoon kosher salt in hot water.

In medium bowl, combine yeast mixture, flour and olive oil. Add salted hot water and mix to combine and form a fairly firm dough.

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THINK BUY STAY support

Turn dough onto floured board and knead until the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and cohesive, about 8 minutes.

Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover with damp cloth and allow to proof in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour (about ½ hour at high altitude).

Punch down dough and knead for 1 minute.

Roll out dough and form an oval shape 6 inches by 9 inches, 1 inch thick. Place dough on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover and allow to rise 20 minutes.

With oiled fingers create fingers holes over surface of dough. Rub with additional olive oil and top with herbs, remaining salt and ground pepper.

Bake at 400º for about 18 minutes or until crust is crisp and browned.

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a taste of life in new mexico

Bouche

Bistro

story by ERIN BROOKS

photos by KITTY LEAKEN

| Chef and Owner Charles Dale

T

he terrine of foie gras spreads over my toast like butter. As I savor the first bite, the crowded dining room and bustling kitchen seem to fade away, and I’m left with the super rich flavor of the terrine and its light, creamy texture. This is what foie gras should be—a heavenly experience—and this is just the place to have it: a traditional bistro full of people relaxing in worn wooden chairs, lively conversations competing with the clanking of pans from the open kitchen, carafes and bottles of wine dotting each table. The tin ceiling and mosaic tile floor are just what you’d expect from a Parisian bistro tucked away on a small avenue, but this is West Alameda Street and Chef Charles Dale is at the stove.

Talk about a chef with experience and talent. Born in Nice, France, Charles earned his culinary stripes in New York and has owned several restaurants in Aspen, Colorado. After more than three decades in the business, he’s written his own book, released a line of food products, been nominated for two James Beard Awards and worked with some of the best French chefs in the world. (He calls Daniel Boulud a friend and mentor and has spent time in the kitchens of Alain Sailhac and Jean-Paul Lacombe.) Charles spent the last five years as executive chef at Terra, before it became Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado. I tend to imagine award-winning chefs working in expensively decorated restaurants with spotless kitchens, filled with an array of top-of-the-line appliances, with a line of patrons dressed to the nines, waiting to be seated. But this is exactly what Charles didn’t want for his new restaurant, Bouche Bistro, which opened in late February.

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| Charles Dale offers a tasting of chocolate soufflé to his servers Elise Eberwein, left, and Elena Morales.

I ask Charles why he decided to stay in Santa Fe and open a small, cozy bistro, despite receiving offers in New York and Park City, Utah. He smiles and tells me, “There’s a reason I’m open only five nights a week—so I can have a personal life and enjoy the fruits of my labors and spend time with my family. For me, it’s not all about career and achievement anymore. It’s about balance, and I think Santa Fe is all about balanced life.

Don’t get me wrong, I still work 60 to 70 hours a week, but it’s easy. It’s four minutes to my house.” The people in Santa Fe are also an important part of the appeal for Charles. During his time at Terra, he developed what he calls “the larger family.” He says, “I have a wonderful group of friends and patrons who enjoy life the way I do and enjoy Santa Fe the way I do.”

For Charles, a bistro is defined by tradition and simplicity. “Bouche really is a bistro in the sense that the tables are fairly tightly packed. The energy is high. The food is simple, well prepared and flavorful, and it’s moderately priced. And that’s the key with a bistro.” At Bouche, Charles applies modern techniques to very traditional dishes, in a self-coined “modern rustic” style. The perfect example is the terrine of foie gras, which I was lucky enough to experience. The old traditional torchon method involves wrapping the foie gras in a towel and poaching it in chicken stock, then twisting the towel to press out the fat. Charles poaches the foie gras sous-vide, or in a vacuum bag, which preserves more flavor than the traditional method while creating less waste. The results? Classic French bistro dishes with a modern twist.

Charles believes that food should make you feel good, and this is precisely what bistro fare is all about. He tells me, “I think French food has been maligned because people think of French cuisine as the era of Escoffier, featuring lots of butter and cream, but really the food that we’re cooking is what’s called the ménagère, or bonne femme style —it’s the home cooking of France.” This is the type of food that makes you think of your grandmother (pretend she’s French). Onion soup “Les Halles,” confit of duck with white beans and kale, roast organic chicken for two with garlic spinach. This is food that makes you feel warm and fuzzy, not the kind of meal that leaves you heavy and wanting to sleep. Charles points out that you’ll use more butter on the house-baked bread at Bouche than is in your dish, and the only cream used in the restaurant is in the classic Demerara crème brûlée. “It’s a kind of cuisine that’s not fatty, it doesn’t go in and out of fashion, it speaks to our sense of comfort and home. It’s not designed to blow our minds, it’s just designed to make us feel good.”

A bistro, too, is focused on wine. Charles has chosen French and American wines for their food pairing value as well as price points. The whites range from seafood-friendly Sauvignon Blancs to fuller bodied whites like the Roger Perrin Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Rhône blend.

There is also a range of reds, from Pinot Noirs and Gamay to Syrah and Grenache from the Rhône and Provence, and even Napa Valley Cabernets for those so inclined. Servers at Bouche are passionate and conversant about wine, and Charles hopes they’ll lead customers to new and interesting bottles. About a third of the wines are priced at $35 or less. This, says Charles, was intentional. “The theory is that we’ll encourage people to try great bottles. We want people to try something different, but there has to be a level of trust for that and it has to be gentle on the wallet. Nobody’s going to take an $80 chance. But a $40 chance? Sure, why not?”

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| Braised Beef Short Ribs, Pot au Feu

The décor at Bouche is also designed to make us feel good. Charles wants his customers to feel not only comfortable but as though they had been transported to another time and place. The building itself is 70 years old, and he’s kept the original wooden floors in the dining room, alternately faded and scuffed, just like the chairs. “These are the original chairs. They’re beat to hell, but they’re comfortable. They’re curved and they have character. I visualized putting in new chairs and I thought, ‘Oh, no, it’s going to look like a new restaurant!’ I didn’t want that. I wanted it to look cozy and broken in.” It seems to be working. Charles says the restaurant has been full every night, and they are already seeing repeat customers. (Bouche currently seats about 40 and during the summer patio seating will expand this to 70.) He’s humble as he says, “The community has really embraced us, and I didn’t know if that would happen. This is a very personal expression. It’s the food I love to cook, it’s the food I love to eat, the kind of restaurant I would like to frequent. I wanted to build a restaurant that I would like to go to twice a week … where I would crave what they’re serving.”

The success of simple food is in the use of the freshest ingredients, which Charles achieves by ordering daily, doing business with local farms (right now, he features chicken from Pollo Real) and striving for farm-to-table ingredients. He has his own organic garden at home, which will provide Bouche with herbs, tomatoes, squash blossoms, beans, beets and carrots, among other items. The restaurant’s menu will be seasonally driven, and by April Charles hopes to have nightly specials. For these, he says, “I envision playing with some things that are a little bit more outlandish ... sweetbreads, kidneys, tongue, things you hardly ever see in restaurants anymore.”

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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| Escargots a la Bourguignonne

For now, you can depend on the most delicious olive oil– poached sole in town. I visited Bouche recently on a Thursday night. The dining room was full by 6 p.m., and the smell of steak frites wafted through the air. I ordered the sole, which arrived steaming hot and simply presented with tender asparagus. How he achieved fish this delicate is no secret—he told me; it’s the sous-vide technique!—but it’s still hard for me to believe fish can be so light and savory, when all my own attempts are not nearly so successful.

But this is part of the trust that Charles is hoping to cultivate. Soon you might find me at a table next to yours, enjoying the seven herb ravioli with crispy frog legs and drinking a cold glass of Picpoul.

Bouche Bistro is located at 451West. Alameda St. in Santa Fe. It’s open Tuesdays–Saturdays, 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. 505.982.6297.

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TaosHum

s t o r y b y TA N I A C A S S E L L E photos by LENNY FOSTER

In our regular column, Tania Casselle introduces us to the people who make Taos hum.

This month we meet two locals who embrace back-to-the-land traditions.

Rob Hawley Rob Hawley is a walking encyclopedia of herbal knowledge, much of it learned from Hispanic elders passing on their plant wisdom. Healing is a family occupation; his father was a doctor, and Hawley himself worked in hospitals and cancer research before opening Taos Herb Company with his sister in 1981. The store carries all kinds of herbs, remedies, smudging supplies and incense, as well as skin and body products.

In summer, Hawley leads field trips around Taos to introduce people to native plants, their properties, and how to prepare them, plus a dash of basic botany. “I teach traditional Hispanic uses of local plants and some folklore around that, and simple principles of herbal medicine,” he says. The herb walks also touch on foraging for edibles, especially if the group finds any en route.

In New Mexico Hawley reckons that “probably the most broadly useful and important plant is osha. The leaves are used for food, and even the seeds can be used in seasonings. The root is the main thing, primarily for coughs, colds, and sore throats.” You can chew the root or make a tea and gargle with it.

Spring through summer is “the craziest time,” when he’s coordinating pickers to gather herbs—including some that he can only harvest once a year and others of which he needs a large quantity. “That’s a challenge, to do in an ethical way that doesn’t damage the plant populations.” Wildcrafters pick for him in farther flung areas of southern New Mexico and Colorado, but he prefers to pick certain plants himself, noting, “It’s awfully nice to be out in the forest.”

Originally from Colorado, Hawley moved to Albuquerque in 1976, settling in Taos four years later. “I love living in a small town and knowing the people in my community. It’s such a rich, multi-layered fabric of cultures.” His spare time is spent gardening or in his garage building and repairing things. The healing instinct apparently runs deep. “I’m just kind of a fix-it guy,” he says. “I’ll repair anything that’s broken. I find that recreational.”

Taos Herb Company is at 710 Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Taos. 800.353.1991 or 575.758.1991. www.taosherb.com.

Hawley’s one-day herb walks ($75, reservations required) are scheduled for June 15, July 20 and September 7, 2013.

Kathleen Brennan Award-winning photographer Kathleen Brennan recognized three of her life interests at an early age. She first focused on photography as a ten year old, when her godmother gave her a Polaroid camera.”I was a pretty shy kid,” recalls Brennan, “and it was a way to create memories and imagery, hide behind the camera a little bit.”

She started cutting her dolls’ hair when she was five (although she had to wait a while to get her license and open her own hairdressing salon). And as a young teenager she longed to keep chickens, knowing in her heart that she didn’t belong in New Jersey but wanted to live out West.

The most frequent comment the adult Brennan receives on her landscape and portrait photography is that it stirs people’s emotions. “To me, the heart of my work is about connecting with things as they really are,” she says. “I always consider myself as a witness to what’s going on in the landscape, what’s going on in people’s lives.”

She recently branched out into video, “creating the space for people to tell their story.” Her first short video, The New Neighbor, about Dennis Hopper (who’s buried near her home), appeared at three film festivals in New Mexico and Canada and can be seen on her website. She’s now working on a video for the Taos Harwood Museum of Art about the creation of the exhibition Jim Wagner: Trudy’s House, opening May 18. “People really like to know what’s going on behind the scenes,” says Brennan. “What’s the process?”

Brennan moved to Taos in 1992. “I wanted to live in a small town, but I wanted it to have enough culture and people from different walks of life.” Her chicken coop houses a variety of breeds, including Buff Orpingtons. “They’re good layers and good mamas.” Chickens are part of Brennan’s ecosystem, providing manure for the garden and helping dig up soil, eating parts of vegetables humans don’t consume and laying eggs in exchange. “I love chickens! It’s just this wonderful give-and-take, and they’re a delight to watch. They teach you a lot about life.”

Make an appointment to see Kathleen Brennan’s work at her photography studio—under the same roof as her hair studio—by calling 575-737-5508. www.brennnanstudio.com.

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Wine Paraphernalia W

ine paraphernalia —for the wonk in us—can range from silly to sensible. Regardless of how you view it, and whether you prefer to open a bottle with a $10 corkscrew or a press of the finger, to decant or aerate, or to drink from a jam jar or lead crystal, the wine accessory business is experiencing a growth trend, placing at our disposal a vast array of accoutrements, tools, and sundry doodads you shouldn’t (or should) live without.

With the convenience and benefits of Stelvin screw cap closures, there’s a loss of the tactile, anticipatory pleasure of pulling out corks. (Yes, entire books have been written on the controversy — To Cork or Not To Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle, George M. Taber, Scribner). Frankly, the wing-style corkscrew ($5) is fool proof. As you twist the “worm” (the curled part), its handles rise like an Olympic diver, and the cork retracts with the downward push ($5). But, they aren’t sexy. A “waiter’s friend,” ($5 and up), as the professionals use, comes in a double-hinged style, (the most the popular and reliable) and brings the cork out in two quick and easy stages. Le Creuset makes a sturdy, ergonomic version ($25). The luxury brand is Laguiole (pronounced lay-yole). A town in southern France, Laguiole is also a generic name used by many companies within the region. Buyers beware: while all offer corkscrews with handles of common or rare woods, silver-plated, even stingray skin covered ($75-$800), there can be a vast discrepancy in quality. Research the manufacturer before shelling out.

Rechargeable electric wine openers and “cork pops” ($30-$40), which use compressed gas, allow you to do the work with a push of a button, but neither is recommended with synthetic corks. Lever styles (Rabbit, $40-$180), which come either hand held or mounted on stands, clamp the neck of the bottle and— presto!—extract the cork, shooting it off the worm in one down-and-up movement of the handle. Effective as these are, they can be cumbersome and have to be positioned carefully in order for everything to come out as expected.

Apply the proper tool rule. If you are serious about wine, you may need a combination of openers. With older vintages, a cork may be dry and compromised by age. The twist-type puller is a must ($20-$25). Its U-shaped structure is placed on the bottle’s neck. A separate T-handled, extra-long Teflon worm is slipped through the structure, and as you twist, the cork is pulled. An AH-SO opener ($5) is two flat strips of metal attached to a sturdy handle. It looks like a surgical tool. You slide the prongs between the bottle’s neck and the cork and muscle it up. Hard to get the hang of, but worth the effort.

When the British poet Basil Bunting said, “Always carry a corkscrew,” he wasn’t traveling in the 21st century. Though the TSA may soon relax airline carry-on restrictions of small knives, you’ll still have to put wine in checked luggage. Bubbled, plastic wine bags ($3-$8) protect your bottle and your clothes, but if you travel with a lot of wine, a foam-lined, hard-shell wine suitcase ($395) holds multiple bottles. To go to the neighbors’, a neoprene tote ($8-$25), the sturdy stuff of wetsuits, carries wine securely comes in one- or twobottle sizes, fun colors.

Decanters (Riedel, rhymes with “needle,” $50-$600) aren’t merely set dressing on “Downton Abbey.”

They’re useful and beneficial in enjoying and serving wines. The two primary reasons to decant a wine are aeration and sediment. Introducing air to a big, tannic wine—particular a young one, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Barolo, or a Priorat—allows it to open, or “breathe.” The reason you see people incessantly swirling their glass of wine is because it releases aroma compounds and flavors. Decanting is much more efficient. Simply removing the cork from your inky red monster won’t expose enough surface of wine to air, other than the nickel-size portion in the neck of the bottle. No need to be gentle. Literally, dump the wine into your decanter, as the more you toss it around the more it opens.

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story by JAMES SELBY

An older wine may have formed sediment, the solid particles of pigment and tannin that, with time, fall out of suspension in the liquid. While not harmful, if it gets in your glass, it’s like grit on your lettuce. Standing your bottle up the day (or morning) before you serve it will allow the sediment to fall to the bottom. Pretending you’re working with nitro glycerin, gently pull the cork without agitating the sediment and slowly pour the wine into a decanter. Place a lighted candle a few inches under the neck of the bottle, and as you come to the last of the wine, a dark trail of dregs will appear. Stop. You have clean wine in the decanter and the sediment remains behind. A third reason to decant is the charm of seeing the color of the wine, red or white, through clear glass, or use a brightly painted ceramic pitcher ($5-$20) to enliven an everyday plonk.

Wine aerators are handy gizmos to have. Sleek or global, they funnel wine though multiple interior channels, mixing air into the wine as it pours directly into a glass, essentially doing the job of a decanter with less fuss and ceremony. The Soirée aerator ($40-$50) is a glass globe with a gasketed stem that fits into the neck of the bottle. The cup-shaped Wine Weaver ($25) sits atop a glass and sends individual streams of wine into its interior like a Vegas fountain. Among the most popular is the sleek, hand held Vinturi ($25-$30).

Once the wine is opened and aerated, you may want to keep it fresh to enjoy again the next night. Vacuum pumps, both manual and electric ($15-$45), pull the air out of the bottle and are fairly effective, given that you don’t lose the stoppers that come with them. Many restaurants protect their open by-the-glass wines from oxidation with Private Preserve ($8), an aerosol can filled with inert, benign gases of nitrogen and argon. Heavier than air, the gas forms a seal over the top of the wine.

No matter how carefully you pour, drips drip. Wine bottle coasters ($10-$75) are not only attractive, but practical in this regard, and come in alloys, marble, silver, even from New Mexico’s own Nambé foundry. For the very Virgo, there are wine drip collars ($3-$25), which fit around the neck of the bottle and have an absorbent material lining the ring to catch drops before they stain your table cloth. Should a drip elude you, which they invariably do, keep a bottle of Wine Away ($8), a biodegradable, non-bleach liquid, to spray on red wine stains. If you’ve ever come away from a wine tasting looking like a vampire after a feed, keep some Wine Wipes ($7) in your bag or pocket. Small cloth-like disks in a compact container, they hold a solution of baking soda, salt and hydrogen peroxide that removes red wine stains from your smile. To prevent catching someone’s cold or sipping their backwash, give into the common sense of wine glass charms and markers ($5-$25). Charm identifiers fit around the stem of a wine glass and come in endless varieties, both kitschy and suave. Markers use non-toxic ink that easily washes off and are advantageous for stemless glassware or to write on a gift bottle.

What about glassware? That’s another story…

A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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story by GORDON BUNKER

Deep roots

“…green thumbs are not inherited.

They are earned.”

Rick Hobson

T

he relationships we have with plants run deep. Plants have provided nourishment for our bodies and souls since day one, so it is not surprising that our appreciation of home grown fruits and vegetables, or the beauty of a flower garden in bloom, is near universal. To garden is to care for the earth and for living things, and with this care see them flourish. There’s a great and very basic satisfaction in this.

As owners, respectively, of Jericho Nursery in Albuquerque and Payne’s Nursery and Greenhouses in Santa Fe, Rick Hobson and Lynn Payne are nurserymen, but first they are plantsmen. Both have been involved in gardening since childhood, and—please pardon the double entendre—they have plants in their roots. They (as do other nursery owners in Northern New Mexico) have deep commitments to their businesses and customers, and leadership sets the tone. At these businesses you will find selections of plants carefully chosen for this area, as well as expert help. They are a valuable resource to gardeners and the gardening community, definitely worth supporting.

“When we hit the bar of where we need to be, it’s time to raise the bar,” says Rick. “We truly have an interest in our customer’s success in their gardens. Our customers’ success is our success,” says Lynn.

You won’t find this kind of enthusiasm or commitment in a big box store.

“My first job was at Roland’s Nursery, where my father worked for 35 years,” says Rick, who showed business acumen at an early age. “I was five or six and would collect empty Coke bottles from around the nursery and bring them back to the machine for the guy who showed up with refills. They had a ten-cent deposit, and I got a nickel.” Rick went on to work for Roland’s for 26 years. When the business closed eight years ago, he and his wife, Jennifer, founded Jericho Nursery.

Rick’s family always had a garden. “I grew up growing vegetables. Honestly, I can’t get away from it.” After the demands of running the nursery, Rick says, “It’s very therapeutic to work in the garden. I like pulling weeds, I like getting my hands dirty, I like playing in the mud!”

Rick limits the size of his garden by the number of drippers on his irrigation system, otherwise it could get out of hand. “We do live in the high desert, and so it is extremely dry. Water is a precious commodity, but you can use some and use it wisely.” He grows tomatoes and peppers “without fail,” as well as chiles, cucumbers and squash. “I grow 30 tomato plants. No one else in our neighborhood bothers to grow any. We end up with so many tomatoes, everyone just comes and helps themselves. There is nothing that compares to a tomato you picked out of your yard,” says Rick. (Or someone else’s! But then I forget to ask where he lives…)

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How does someone like me, who struggles getting pretty much everything except weeds to grow, acquire a green thumb? “Water is key to success,” says Rick, “and green thumbs are not inherited.

They are earned.” When I ask how does one earn the pulgar verde, Rick bursts out laughing.

“They are earned by killing plants. You just keep killing plants and you’ll get there.”

He suggests starting with plants that are easy to grow, like squash. When I comment the squash I planted last year didn’t produce anything, Rick hesitates, then says, “Well, you’re now one season closer!” magazine.com

Clearly optimism helps, but it’s also a matter of finding what each of us has a knack for. “I grow orchids in my house, but I will not bring an ivy home because I’ll kill it. If you can’t grow a particular thing, don’t let that be a deciding factor. Grow something else.”

Rick is obviously quite proud of Jericho Nursery. However, he is quick to point out, “It’s not fair for me to take the credit for a great company. It started here, but everyone has bought into it that we’re going to do something extraordinary. Every year I am set back on my heels by commitments people make to make this business great. It’s humbling.”

I

n last year’s garden my squash may have withered, but the roses did well. There’s a special place in my heart for roses, and so it is for Lynn Payne.

Lynn paraphrases a quote from Abraham Lincoln, “You can either complain the rose bush has thorns or rejoice in the fact the thorn bush has roses,” a great piece of wisdom for living. “I come from a rose-loving family,” says Lynn. “It was my dad’s favorite flower.” His parents founded Payne’s in 1954. “At one point when my folks lived on San Mateo, they had a rose garden to the side of the house facing the street; there were about 350 roses in that garden.”

Lynn and I easily fall into conversation about our shared interest. He says, “I have two rose areas in my garden right now.

One has 15 roses in it, the other about 25. They’re easy to grow and drought-tolerant. In fact, roses should be considered xeric.” Lynn adds, “American rose producers have bred roses for disease resistance, but the disease gene is linked to the fragrance gene, so they’ve bred out the disease and inadvertently bred out the fragrance. They realize this now and are trying to correct it.”

Roses occupy only part of Lynn’s garden. His interests go across the board. “I used to plant vegetables in the traditional way, in rows, but now I mix them in with flowers throughout the yard. A big lush broccoli in the midst of flowers doesn’t look bad. It adds interest with the texture and color of its leaves.” His vegetable garden includes sweet corn, sweet peas, green beans, beets, carrots, chiles, peppers, tomatoes … and the list goes on. “I eat, sleep, and drink plants. I love them,” he says. “It’s my career, it’s my heritage. I just want to learn more and more. I enjoy going out in my garden in the morning with a cup of coffee. I’m so looking forward to spring.”

We touch on a wide range of topics: the appearance of vertical greenhouse gardening and markets in urban settings, a new technology where hybrid tomatoes are grafted onto vigorous root stock for a more disease resistant and productive plant, and organics. On this last subject Lynn says, “We need organic practices that are more nurturing to the soil than anything else. If you can provide a plant with healthy soil, and there’s a lot to that, a plant will grow and flourish and largely take care of itself. Mother Nature has done a great job of fending for herself for all these years.”

The enthusiasm these two plantsmen have for gardening has rubbed off. Spring is here. The miracle of new life is all around us, perennials peeking up and buds swelling on trees. I have roses on my mind— and tomatoes. And being one season closer, I might even try another hill or two of squash.

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Think local, buy local, stay local

SPRING GARDEN FAIR Saturday, April 27 – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Santa Fe County Fairgrounds - 3229 Rodeo Road

Albuquerque:

AHL Garden Supply, 1051 San Mateo SE, 505.255.3677, www.ahlgrows.com.

AHL offers hydroponic systems, indoor grow lights, and environmental control systems.

Alameda Greenhouse, 9515-B 4th St. NW, 505.898.3562, www.alamedagreenhouse.com.

Owner and master grower Steve Skinner has been in business almost 40 years, establishing the first greenhouse in Albuquerque that grows tomatoes hydroponically.

Helen’s Native Plants, 9121 4th St. NW, 505.792.4344.

Since 1980 Helen’s has specialized in exotic rare plants straight from the desert.

Jericho Nursery, 101 Alameda Blvd. NW and in both Jackalope locations, 505-899-7555, www.jerichonursery.com Says owner Rick Hobson, “Not all of my working life … all of my life has been in the industry.”

Osuna Nursery, 501 Osuna Rd. NE, 505.345.6644, www.osunanursery.com.

Since 1980, Osuna Nursery has fostered an appreciation of nature and earth and is dedicated to preserving and protecting the environment.

Rehm’s Nursery and Garden Center, 5801 Lomas Blvd. NE, 505.266.5978.

Rehm’s, also known as “the purple greenhouse,” has been in business for 75 years.

The Best Plant Sale in Santa Fe

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Rio Valley Greenhouses, 2000 Harzman Rd. SW, 505.242.4423. www.plantsalbuquerque.com.

Established in 1952, Rio Valley grows all their own plants locally.

Jackalope Nursery, 6400 San Mateo Blvd. NE, 505.349.0955 Plants of the Southwest, 6680 4th St NW, 505.344.8830, www.plantsofthesouthwest.com A native plant nursery and seed source specializing in drought-tolerant native plants.

Established in 1976.

Santa Fe:

Agua Fria Nursery, 1409 Agua Fria St., 505.983.4831, www.aguafrianurserynm.net.

Thirty years’ experience. Their motto is: “We speak plant!”

New Earth Orchids, 6003 Jaguar Drive, 505.983.1025, www.newearthorchids.com.

Ron and Cynthia Midgett bring perhaps the most exotic of flowers to the desert, with 40 years’ experience growing orchids.

Newman’s Nursery, 7501 Cerrillos Rd., 505.471.8642, www.newmansnursery.com A full-service nursery in Santa Fe for 34 years.

Payne’s Nursery and Greenhouses, 715 St. Michael’s Dr., 505.988.9626, www.paynes.com.

The Payne family has been in the nursery business since 1954, with two nursery locations and a separate organic soil yard.

Plants of the Southwest, 3095 Agua Fria St., 505.438.8888, www.plantsofthesouthwest.com.

With over 400 varieties of seeds in stock, “it’s fun to get a wild hair and just scatter mixes at random…”

Santa Fe Tree Farm, 1749 San Ysidro Crossing, 505-984-2888, www.santafetree.com.

Santa Fe Tree Farm specializes in the creation and development of sustainable landscapes and boasts an inventory of mature trees ranging up to 30 feet in height.

CERTIFIED ARBORISTS Tree Services • Lawn Care • Fully Equipped to Handle ANY Size Job! n n

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Taos:

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Petree’s Nursery and Greenhouses, 25 Petree Ln., 575.758.3021, www.petreenursery.com.

On the leading edge of the green industry in Taos, Petree’s has been in business since Superbowl 29.

River’s Source Botanicals, 730 Camino Del Medio, 575.779.1460, www.riverssourcebotanicals.com.

Offering rare, hard-to-find botanical herbs, natural extracts, medicinal herb seeds and a variety of cactus cuttings since 1993.

If we inadvertently missed placing your favorite local nursery on the list, please send the contact information to us and we will post it on our website.

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1409 Agua Fria Street • Santa Fe • 505.983.4831

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Tree Pruning Large Tree & Stump Removal Tree Installation Tree Transplanting During Appropriate Season Cabling & Bracing Disease & Insect Diagnosis & Treatment Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Organic Fertilization Deep Root Feeding Root Control Defensible Space Trimming

899-6666

www.bacastrees.com

Serving New Mexico since 1980. Fully insured and licensed. License numbers 0140 and 027681.

the

Guava TreeCafe s t o r y b y K AT E G E RW I N

photos by GABRIELLA MARKS

I

was parched for something new and stimulating, and my thirst was quenched by an island oasis in the heart of the desert: the Guava Tree Cafe in Albuquerque.

I had driven past this undiscovered gem, snuggled inside a renovated home on Yale, on a daily basis. I live less than a mileand-a-half from this treasure, but until recently had never ventured inside. Quite a shame—and an oversight that I will compensate for, as this is now one of my go-to spots for what I consider the holy trinity of restaurant dining: made-from-scratch cooking, a comforting atmosphere, and passion that is felt in the food.

On my first visit a beautiful smile from a little girl welcomed me.

She was cheerfully shuffling around, clearing dishes from a table and carrying a napkin caddy back to it’s home. I instantly felt as if I had just walked into a friend’s house for lunch. Caribbean island music played in the background, and a waft of savory smells rushed past me.

A chalkboard colorfully marked with offerings and a glass case filled with bright shiny pastries teased me with glimpses of what was to come.

There was a counter at which to place an order, but I was quickly invited to sit down and relax. A menu promptly followed, delivered by a man grinning ear to ear, who introduced himself as Diego Barbosa. He asked if it was my first visit as if he already knew it was. Later I realized why. He didn’t recognize me, and after observing him interact with the surrounding guests, I could see that this was a community gathering spot. Diego was entertaining his friends, not just his patrons.

I immediately spotted the words café con leche on the menu, and I ordered a cafesote, coffee in a big soup bowl. Later during my visit I learned that Diego is a certified barista from the school at the Costa Rican Coffee Institute, which came as no surprise. Bold and rich coffee complemented by both condensed and steamed milk, I would come back for the cup of coffee alone. This was a great first impression. I sat back with my cuppa joe, and perused the menu selections.

Guava Tree Cafe’s menu features cuisine from the Caribbean islands and South America. It begins with a selection of arepas, a prominent dish throughout South America made from ground corn meal (or sometimes flour) and grilled or baked and then stuffed or topped with a variety of ingredients, depending on the region. Deciding between the shredded beef and the vegetarian options was tough, considering that I had already targeted my object of desire, the sandwich I had been hearing rave reviews about. (More on that later!) But after discussing it with Diego, I decided to try Guava Tree’s most popular arepa, the Pabellón, with shredded beef, black beans, sweet plantains and queso fresco cradled between cornmeal patties that were hand-shaped, pressed and baked-to-order. Rich and savory beef was complemented by the slight sweetness of the plantains and balanced with the highlight of

| Diego Barbosa

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the dish, house-made hogao, a Colombian salsa of roasted onions, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper that are sautéed during the cooking process. The arepa, available with a side of plantains or salad, was filling enough for lunch on it’s own. I had to restrain myself from finishing it, though, because I knew what was coming next..... THE CUBANO! But first, I had to wash down the arepa. This is when I noticed a section on the menu offering real tropical fruit juices and fruit juice blends, either with or without milk. The guanàbana en leche was perfect. The slightly sour citrus flavor of the guanabana (also called soursop) cleansed my palate and stimulated my appetite for the next round.

I had heard about the Cubano sandwich at Guava Tree from a few foodie friends and had been meaning to come and sample it for myself. Boy, do I wish I had done it sooner!

House-roasted pork, sweet ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and yellow mustard, all warm-pressed on Cuban bread ... yep, just like the ones from Miami. (In fact, I would venture to say, better.)

The roasted pork was the star of the show. Marinated and slow roasted, it was succulent, juicy and cooked to perfection. The buttery, nutty Swiss cheese melded the flavors together and contrasted with the zip of the mustard and pickle. All I could think about was how many times I had driven right past the Guava Tree, and I lamented all the time I had wasted without it. I took my time and savored every last bite. I even thought about ordering one to take home with me.

As I sat on the patio watching the passersby, I thought that while not everything at the café was perfect, everything was certainly done with love. When Diego came over to ask about my meal, he cracked a proud grin, and I discovered that not only was he my server but also the chef in the kitchen—and, along with his wife, Maricarmen, the restaurant’s owner. And the owner of the beautiful smile that greeted me at the door was his daughter Aitana. Her artwork adorns the walls, and her enthusiasm for the family business has her serving water and desserts (as well as clearing tables) to help out her dad. I was starting to realize why I had felt so comfortable upon entering the café; I was at a friend’s house.

Maricarmen told me that the Barbosa family calls their guests amigos. “The stars of our place are our amigos; we love them so much!” she says. “We started as a small tiny restaurant and slowly built our menu choices, carefully gauging what our amigos tried and liked. Diego would come every night back home and talk to me about who all came and what each person ate and what they said. We’ve grown since those days, but it is still the same today. Every night when he comes back home, he’ll tell me about who came and everything about them.”

Diego was born in Colombia and met his Puerto Rican bride in Costa Rica. In 2008 the couple moved to the United States, and by 2010 the Guava Tree had sprouted. “Diego has natural talent,” Maricarmen boasts. “He learned to cook directly from helping his mom around the kitchen as he was growing up, so he has an intuition and mastery of the kitchen that you can only get from home cooking and family secrets.” I can only agree with her.

Although my lucky belly was completely content, my brain kept flashing to the shiny pastries I saw upon my arrival—and, of course, Diego confirmed they were all house-made.

The dessert decision was easy for me. One of my all time favorite sweet treats is tres leches cake.

I knew I had to order it ––but living up to the Cubano would be a challenge. A sponge cake soaked in coconut milk, cream and sweet milk, the tres leches was great—not overly sweet, as most tres leches cake I encounter tend to be, but rich and creamy. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help myself from finishing the whole thing.

Pura vida is a phrase used to describe modern Costa Rican culture. It literally means “pure life.” Maricarmen explains it best: “Pura vida basically means that everything in life is good, and come good or bad, we live by this.” The pura vida pours out of the food at the Guava Tree and into your heart. It’s contagious. There wasn’t a patron in the place who wasn’t laughing or smiling, especially when Diego was at the table.

Guava Tree Cafe is located at 216 Yale Boulevard SE in Albuquerque. 505.990.2599. www. guavatreecafe.com.

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Celebrating 20 years of carrying New Mexico’s best selection of natural & organic garden products

1051 San Mateo Blvd SE ABQ • 505-255-3677 • AHLgrows.com

I’ve been a retailer since 1977 and of all the different advertising I’ve tried, I’ve had the most response from my localflavor ad.

I really love the magazine. It has a long shelf-life and because of the recipes people really save it!

– Shauna Powell

| Maricarmen

Owner, Full Bloom Boutique

The best in world, folk & eclectic music www.ampconcerts.org APR

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7 THe eldeRs The Dirty Bourbon

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19 THe KleZMATICs APR

KiMo Theatre

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Warren Hood & the Goods The Dirty Bourbon

COmiNg SOON DaviD BromBerG

May 2 South Broadway Cultural Center

emmylou Harris & roDney CroWell

June 15 • The Downs of Santa Fe

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June 4 • In Concert & Conversation Outpost Performance Space

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November 8 • Kiva Auditorium

FREE CONCERTS SihaSin

Thursday, April 25 Juan Tabo Library - 1 pm North Valley Library - 4 pm

Tickets - Hold My Ticket (112 2nd St SW), 505-886-1251 and ampconcerts.org, 505-232-9868

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to live in the presence of

“

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.

“

Photo: Amiel Gervers

arks Photo: Gabriella M

Photo: Melyssa Holik

| Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Tribe

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Photo: Amiel Gervers

“

“

[People] farm for the love of farming. They love to watch and nurture the growth of plants. They love to live in the presence of animals. They love to work outdoors. They love the weather, maybe even when it is making them miserable. ….they like to work in the company of their children and with the help of their children.

The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard. | Joel Salatin, from Folks, This Ain’t Normal A Taste of Life in New Mexico

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“

Photo: Gabriella Marks

Photo: Amiel Gervers

Photo: Kitty Leaken

| Wendell Berry, from Bringing it to the Table: Writings on Farming and Food

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Stillhungry? s t o r y b y M E LY S S A H O L I K

s Chef Johnny Vee showed us on page 16, homemade bread is relatively simple to make and well worth the effort.

As your home fills with the intoxicating aroma of baking bread, you may start to fantasize about the taste, the texture, the warmth … the way butter seductively melts into each warm slice. As you pull your freshly baked loaves from the oven and curls of fragrant steam tickle your nose, you’ll no doubt want to eat it—immediately. You could, of course, just slice it up and dig in, or you could go one step further and whip up a little something to put on those lovely crusts of happiness. Each topping requires only a small amount of effort and pays huge dividends in the taste department.

A

Arugula and Pecan Pesto from Amy Hetager of Home Grown New Mexico Arugula is one of the first greens to come up in the spring. Here is a way to create a pesto with flavors of lemon, garlic and pecans to enjoy on bread.

2 cups of arugula (can be mixed with parsley or sorrel) ½ cup of pecans ½ cup of Parmesan cheese (cut in small slices) 1 lemon (1 Tablespoon of zest plus the juice the lemon) 2 cloves of garlic 4 Tablespoons of olive oil kosher salt and pepper Chop the arugula in smaller pieces for the food processor or blender.

Add the pecans, cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, and garlic. Close the cover.

With the motor running, slowly drizzle the olive oil through the top opening until the pesto is smoothly blended.

Taste the pesto and then add salt and pepper as needed.

Home Grown New Mexico is a Santa Fe-based community organization that exists to educate and promote awareness of nutritious, homegrown food. They offer classes, support community gardens and hold regular events like seed exchanges and coop tours, all to support their mission: “to enable New Mexicans to take personal responsibility for growing, raising, making and storing healthy food.” For more information, visit their website, www. homegrownnewmexico.org.

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Toasted Cumin-andCardamom Honey Butter from Chef Johnny Vee 1 stick salted butter at room temperature 3 teapoons honey ¼ teaspoon toasted and finely ground cardamom seeds ¼ teaspoon toasted and ground cumin seeds Mix all ingredients together with a fork in a small bowl.

Cover and chill until serving time.

Try it on rye or sourdough toast—perfect with a cup of chai.

John Vollertsen—in addition to being a regular feature writer for Local Flavor—is also a director of Las Cosas Cooking School in Santa Fe, a private chef, author and food critic, and passionate advocate for home cooking.

Simple Bruschetta from The Old School 3-4 medium tomatoes 1 red bell pepper 1/2 an onion, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon each of sea salt and black pepper 1 teaspoon honey or sugar 2 Tablespoons minced fresh or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, basil and thyme (or whatever herbs you have and like) lemon Roast tomatoes and red pepper over a flame or under a broiler, turning periodically until black and blistered all around. Cover vegetables to self-steam, peel when cooled, then dice.

Meanwhile, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, then add tomato and bell pepper mixture (including their juices) to the pot.

Grind in black pepper and sea salt. Add honey or sugar. If using dried herbs, add now, crushing with fingers to release more flavor.

Cook on medium-low uncovered until thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

If using fresh herbs, add now. Cool and add a squeeze of lemon juice, and zest if you can. Taste and add more salt if needed.

For a smoother spread, blend half or more of the mixture.

Serve over toasted bread, as a dip or even as a pizza sauce.

The Old School is an Albuquerque “hub of experts happily sharing their user-friendly skills to further the revolution of sustainable and frugal living.” The Old School has a regular schedule of affordable classes (some costing as little as $7) on subjects like canning, culturing dairy, local medicinal weeds, cheese making, chicken keeping, beekeeping, homebrewing and more. Find out more about The Old School at their website, www.abqoldschool.com or read Local Flavor’s feature article on The Old School at www.localflavormagazine.com/ old-school.

Creamy Goat Cheese Spread for Freshly Baked Bread from South Mountain Dairy 1 gallon of pasteurized goat milk (available from local farmers like South Mountain Dairy) juice of two lemons or ½ cup of apple cider vinegar ½ teaspoon kosher or other coarse salt minced fresh herbs, to taste If using raw milk heat milk to 146° in a stainless-steel pot and hold for ½ hour to pasteurize, stirring constantly to keep the milk from burning or sticking to the pan.

Bring temperature of milk to 100° and add juice of two lemons or ½ cup of apple cider vinegar.

Stir until you see curds form, much like cottage cheese. If you do not see curds form, add a bit more lemon juice or vinegar.

Add ½ tsp of kosher or other coarse salt.

Ladle the curds into a cheese cloth spread in a colander (cotton flour sack “tea” type towels work well for this).

Once you have ladled the curds into the cloth, tie up all four corners and hang over a bowl in the sink or refrigerator to drain for several hours to allow the whey to drain.

Remove the cheese from the cloth, discard the whey and place the cheese in the refrigerator overnight before tasting.

Adjust salt to your taste and add your favorite savory herb.

It’s that simple: you now have a delicious cheese spread for your bread!

South Mountain Dairy is located in the East Mountains of Albuquerque. It is a farmstead, artisan cheese business, meaning it uses only milk from goats raised on its farm and makes all cheeses by hand. Owners Donna Lockridge and Marge Petersen started the business because they love goats, and as they say at South Mountain Dairy, “It’s all about the girls!” For more information visit www. southmountaindairy.com.

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Theater Grottesco and The Center for Contemporary Arts present

EVENTUA a series of cutting edge performances FINAL two weekends: NOW t hru April 7

THEATER GROTTESCO ’ S exquisite absurdity: 30 years of looking forward Thursdays - Saturdays at 7pm sundays at 4pm APRIL 11 - MAY 4

Lisa Fay/Jeff Glassman Duo Sandglass Theater • Faustwork Mask Theatre Cole Bee Wilson • CHERYL At CCA’s Munoz–Waxman Gallery

1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505 Tickets & Information:

505.474.8400

or visit www.theatergrottesco.org Ticket Prices: $10-$25 Pay-What-You-Wish-Thursdays

This project is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts; the city of Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodgers Tax; and The McCune Charitable Foundation. D-Generation: An Exaltation of Larks is funded in part by the NEFA National Theater Project with lead funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the NEA.

jbakerphotography.com

INTERIOR DESIGN ELEVATED

+ home boutique Lisa Samuel ASID, IIDA, NMLID #313 428 Sandoval Street │ Santa Fe, NM 87501 │ samueldesigngroup.com │ 505.820.0239

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Loretto Loves Weddings

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image ©Twin Lens LLC

Contemporary Clothing for Women with Artisanal Taste

Mother’s Day Brunch Sunday, May 12 ~11:30 am to 3 pm

124½ Galisteo Downtown Santa Fe 505-982-1737 sfwg@textileaddiction.com www.textileaddiction.com Cotton & silk dress by YaccoMaricard Paper necklace by Begoña Rentero

photo: Kate Russell

Featuring Compound Classics & Seasonal Specialties

The Compound Restaurant: A Family Tradition 653 Canyon Road Santa Fe Reservations 982.4353 compoundrestaurant.com

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Local ingredients, served locally. We seek out the freshest, seasonal organic produce, meats and fish. Then we serve it up with flair and attentive service right in your neighborhood. Join locals supporting locals. Deliciously.

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