To Infinity and Beyond!

A shout out to my good friend Melly-Mel (That's your alias. No one will ever figure out who you are. Heh heh.) who just got her dream job in the Big Apple. So, it's not Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but just you wait. That will be next year. Congratulations!!!! Can we go see Cats now? How about something with Bette Midler?Just kidding.

Christmas in New Mexico

I cannot think of a better, more magical place to spend Christmas than New Mexico. (Except maybe Florida, as I glance at the outdoor thermometer registering 25F here in the balmy North Valley of Albuquerque.) The snow on the pines in the mountains of northern New Mexico, the luminarias on Christmas Eve lighting up entire neighborhoods, the brilliantly lit botanical gardens, the Christmas pageant in Taos.... There is so much to see and do, one would be hard-pressed to get to it all. But here is a sampling if you ever find yourself in the Land of Enchantment over the holidays.

For starters, where are you going to stay? I am a big fan of Bed & Breakfasts, and there are many charming ones right here in the Albuquerque area (don't pass us up on your way to Santa Fe!). A personal favorite of my family, and where they will be staying again this holiday, is the Hacienda Antigua. Although not inexpensive, the place is extremely charming, well furnished, and serves delicious breakfast. It has a rich history as well: it was built on El Camino Real (the original trade route between Mexico City and Santa Fe) and was a trading hub and stopping point along the route. The building is over 200 years old. As with traditional buildings of its time, it has an inner courtyard, with the rooms situated along the sides.

This is one of the bedrooms with fireplace.

The patio along the inner courtyard is a lovely place to eat breakfast in the summer. I don't think we'll be doing that in December, though.

As for activities, the luminarias in the Country Club area of Oldtown Albuquerque are not to be missed. The entire neighborhood puts these traditional paper bags filled with candle lights all over their front lawns. We used to live in this neighborhood, and in fact, we were warned that, more or less, there would be a lynching if we did not participate. These folks take their luminarias very seriously.

The celebration begins Christmas eve after dark. There are many ways to view the lights. The city buses do a tour if you don't want to fight the traffic. There are lots of cars and they move very slowly. Other popular options include riding your bicycle (decorated with lights, of course) or parking a little farther away and walking through. Don't forget your camera!

After all of the gift giving and eating on Christmas day, you may be ready for a little exercise. My favorite way to burn off that turkey is to take a short hike at Tent Rocks. The name was given to these teepee-shaped rocks because of a geological phenomenon where boulders perched atop the "tents" protect the softer rock below as it slowly erodes, forming this conical shape. When the boulders are displaced, the whole formation gradually erodes, and will eventually lose its unique shape.

The park is open in the winter from 8 to 5, and costs $5 per vehicle. Here are the directions according to the BLM website:

From Albuquerque, take the exit for Santo Domingo/Cochiti Lake Recreation Area (Exit 259) off I-25 onto NM 22. Follow the signs on NM 22 to Cochiti Pueblo and Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. Turn right off NM 22 at the pueblo water tower (painted like a drum) onto Tribal Route 92, which connects to Forest Service Road 266. Travel five miles on a gravel road to the national monument’s designated parking/picnic area, fee station and trailhead.

There are gobs of other great things to do in the state in the winter months. It's impossible to list all of them here, but check around and take advantage of the ample opportunities for fun and adventure if you happen to find yourself in New Mexico this holiday season.

For those of you who celebrate other holidays or no holidays at all (bah, humbug!), be forewarned that New Mexico is largely catholic, and thus all of the Christmas happenings are hard to avoid. Nevertheless, despite the occasional blustery cold, this is still a great place to visit in winter, whatever your inclinations.

I highly recommend a weekend trip of skiing, either at Santa Fe ski basin or at Taos (although I actively boycott, as they don't allow snowboarders). Pajarito in Los Alamos is another great local area. Head to Ten Thousand Waves, an awesome Japanese spa just outside Santa Fe, for an hour soak in one of their amazing private outdoor hot tubs. By this time, your tummy should be grumbling. Stop in at El Farol for an excellent dinner of tapas and nightly live music in the cantina.

Shake your bootie in the cantina at El Farol. Doesn't that look like fun?

The KitchenAid is resurrected

Sure, it's the wrong holiday for resurrections, but who cares. Soon I will be back in the kitchen, flour flying everywhere, dog happily gobbling up scraps of dough on the floor, and me with a dazed smile on my face as I finish my twelfth batch of cookies for the day. It may be a wee bit optimistic, but a girl can dream.

Here is the wounded beast in the "before" picture. I don't have an "after" picture, but go to any of those department stores and look at the nice shiny new ones, and that's how my baby now looks. Minus a little shine, from all the grease and flour that went flying at one point or another. Folks, we are back in business!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

There appears to be some kind of cold snap going on across the country. The number of tongues frozen to light poles in Wisconsin has reached a record high. Here on Horton Lane, where all of the houses use passive solar heating (alas, I do not exaggerate) we are freezing our tuchises off. (I had to look up tuchis. I had no idea how to spell it, even though I say it all the time. I'm just a yiddish copping shiksa.)

Anyway, here's the deal. We do have backup heating, but it's those electric baseboards. They don't do much, but cost a small fortune, so we really don't use them at all. This makes our electric bills blissful. Less than $80 a month for all of our electricity and heating needs (there's no gas line into the house). But the kitchen, when I came home this evening, was 50 F. It will most likely be down to 45 F in the morning. These are the times when you can't cook with the olive oil, because it has already solidified in the bottle. Oh yeah, it's bad.

All of this long-winded verbage was to justify why I am still not making cookies. The replacement gear did come today, so I don't have that excuse anymore. But the mixer is still in a million pieces on the counter. Actually, turning on the oven might be just what that kitchen needs. But no, I say. Not tonight. I am tired of my teeth chattering. I am tired of wearing my wool coat around the house. (I am wearing it right now.) I am tired of living in one room. At least it's the computer room, heh heh. Oh sun, couldn't you move just a little bit closer?! In the meantime, I am going to don my jammies and read more Julie & Julia, curled up in my bed. The cookies will just have to wait. Sigh.


Okay, Tom has just informed me that there are not enough pictures on my site as of late. What? Aren't you all just enthralled with my prose? Well, to humor you I have included a picture of me in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, summer of 2002, to really give you the sense of how cold I am feeling right now. I'm the one in the middle. Doesn't it just look bone chilling? Believe me, it was. In eleven straight days, I never thawed out. The shower at the end of that trip was one of the most precious, satisfying, delightful gifts I have ever received. I would've cut off my pinky in exchange. But back to the picture. Perhaps you are wondering what the heck we are all doing. Well... we had spotted some young carribou who had never seen a human before. They looked at us like we were space aliens. (Kang and Kronos, if you're a Simpsons fan.) We thought we would put them at ease by pretending we were carribou, too. Our arms are supposed to be a rack of antlers, get it? It didn't really work, but it was fun trying.

Tin Can Christmas Lanterns

All family members: DO NOT READ THIS ENTRY!!! (You don't want to find out what you're getting for Christmas, do you?!)

I'm taking a break from this cookie business while I wait for replacement parts for the mixer. In the meantime, my holiday home-ec inklings are still holding strong. I have decided to embrace my southwestern location, and make some tin punch lanterns. Perhaps you have seen these. They're pretty simple to make. Any kid could do it, as long as they don't have the propensity to smash their fingers with a hammer. (Actually, many of us adults have that problem as well. Especially after a pint of Jack Daniels. Just kidding!)

Here's all you need to do to make your very own old-timey tin lantern. Save all of your old veggie cans (that is --gasp!-- if you eat CANNED vegetables, god forbid.) Or your Folgers coffee cans (even worse, I know.) Wash the inside of the can, remove the label, fill the can with water and freeze it overnight. Now you get to be creative: design your own pattern on a piece of paper. Simple line drawings and geometric shapes work best. Then, using a hammer and nail, after you've taped your pattern onto the can, punch the holes following your pattern. Remove the pattern, remove the ice, add a candle, and admire your fine craftsmanship.

At this point in the process, I was noticing that my lantern still looked a lot like a vegetable can. I'm going to the hardware store tonight to see if I can find some spraypaint that will give it an antique finish. Black paint also works well to bring out the pattern in dimly lit areas.

Send me pictures of your designs!

The Cookies Have Crashed and Burned

I honestly tried to keep the cookie project going. I made it three days. Out of 25. Maybe I'm just not cut out for insane cooking jags. Last night I just couldn't bring myself to bake gingerbread men (and women -- even baking must be politically correct these days), so I made spicy shrimp with udon noodles instead. Asian comfort food was far more satisfying after a hard day of internet Christmas shopping and addressing 50 Christmas cards by hand. I also made stockings. Look out Martha Stewart, here I come! Not to fear, there will be more cookies, but no longer at the insane pace. Besides, I am still waiting for the replacement gear to fix the KitchenAid.

Tea and Strumpets

Day 3 of the 25 days of cookies: The KitchenAid mixer is still broken. None of the appliance repair places around here seem to be able to fix it, so Tom got curious and took it apart. I always thought that KitchenAid had a bombproof reputation, but there was a plastic (!) gear inside, and of course that was the one that broke. We found a replacement part online for $14 (plus $15 shipping and handling to get it here in two days). In the meantime, my noodle arms are holding strong. I find that a wire wisk does wonders as a mixer substitute.

I had to play catch-up today and make day 2 and day 3 cookies. The "raspberry strippers" turned out pretty darn good, and I made a batch with some orange fruit spread from Trader Joes as well. Those were spectacular.

The day 3 Junior Mint brownies required some improvisation as I had no Junior Mints lying around the house, but I did have some peppermint patties left over from last Valentine's day. There weren't quite enough, so I threw in a couple of milk chocolate hearts. You are supposed to melt them with some butter in the microwave, and then stir the whole thing into a smooth, creamy consistency. I ended up with liquid chocolate with glops of minty stuff that would not dissolve, no mater how much I waved it. But I pushed onward anyway. I haven't actually tried it yet. It's still on the counter cooling. The middle is a little collapsed, and I don't know if that's because I used a 9-inch pan instead of an 8-inch pan (I can never remember which one I have, and I'm far too lazy to actually measure it.) or because I live at 5,000 ft elevation. Hey, as long as they're chocolatey, I really don't care if they collapse in the middle.

I peeked ahead to tomorrow's recipe: gingerbread men. We are planning to do all of our Christmas shopping tomorrow (online, of course). I really don't have time for gingerbread men. I am beginning to doubt the complete-ability of this project. Perhaps I will just swap oatmeal spice cookies for gingerbread men, but when am I ever going to have time to do gingerbread men? Only time will tell... For now, I have a big tupperware full of macadamia butter blueberry cookies, "raspberry strippers" (the name never ceases to amaze me) and mint brownies to pawn off on my husband and coworkers. It should keep them happy and complacent for awhile, until I can get to those @#$^%$#!! gingerbread men.

Julie & Julia Wanna-Be

We've spent enough time talking about travel. Let's get back to the important stuff: food. But first, some background. I have found the greatest book. Probably many of you have heard about it or read it. It's getting a lot of press lately. Julie & Julia is a fabulous example of how one quirky blog can win you a book contract. Moreover, I am especially in love with this book not only because it is incredibly entertaining, but because Julie Powell, the author, is living my pipe dream. Stuck in a dead end job & generally in a rut, she takes on a bizarre year-long project, to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She blogs the whole project, resulting in a small cult following, and eventually landing her a sweet deal to write a book about the whole thing. I am so insanely jealous. Words simply cannot express the pangs of longing I have for a deal like this. But alas, I have no quirky project. I do have a blog, but there are a few problems. Number one, I am not even close to writing daily entries. Who can hope to sustain a loyal blog audience if they have to wait two weeks to read another entry? And number two, I am all over the road when it comes to subject matter.

So, enter my new plan. It is pathetically wimpy when compared to the scope of the MtAoFC project, but for a pathology resident who is supposed to be mastering cytopathology, applying for boards, finishing a research project, and writing a manuscript, this is the best I can do at the moment. Perhaps when I retire from pathology, and take on my fantasized Martha Stewart persona, I will tackle something much more epic. For now, I am content with my cookie plan. It's not even my own original plan, I confess, but who doesn't love cookies? Yeah, I was browsing on the Cooking Light website when I noticed their "25 days of cookies" link. I love Christmas, and I love cookies, so I simply could not resist the 25 days of cookies project. And it started on December 1, yesterday, the day I was browsing the website. Perfect timing. So I printed up the first and second recipes, and made a trip to the grocery store after work.

The first recipe, "Macadamia Butter Cookies with Dried Cranberries," was hilarious because of the reviews on the website. The recipe very clearly states "Place nuts in a food processor, process until smooth.... Combine Macadamia butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar..." Surely any simpleton can deduce that Macadamia nuts processed until smooth equals Macadamia butter, right? But there were about 20 comments on the website saying, in essence, 'where is the butter in the recipe? I can't find the butter!' Ugh. Those who were not fooled by the 'Macadamia butter' instructions declared that the cookies were yummy, sealing my fate that, yes, this was a good idea to dive into the cookie project.

I made the Macadamia butter, I combined it with the granulated sugar, and some very old, very hard chunks of brown sugar. And then I turned the KitchenAid mixer on. One nanosecond later, kachunk. The engine was still desperately grinding, but that blade was locked against one giant rock-hard piece of brown sugar. I shut off the mixer, pulled out the brown sugar, replaced it with some other smaller, but still rock-hard pieces of brown sugar, and turned the mixer back on. Nothing. I had killed it. Crap! How am I going to make 25 days worth of cookies without my mixer? I cannot possibly do this the old fashioned way of stirring the dough with a spoon. I have noodle arms. Well, more like noodle arms in a layer of fat, but noodle arms, nonetheless. Maybe this could double as my new workout.

Before I gave up on the mixer entirely, I removed every screw I could find on it, in the hope that I could just remove the cover, slip some gear back into place, and voila! I'd be back in business. No such luck. No matter how many screws I took out, I could not get the cover off. I put them all back into place, and sulked. I felt like a failure. I couldn't even get the first batch of cookies done. I thought, there has to be some way I can still do this electrically. So I finished the job with the dough attachment on the food processor. That did a mediocre job, and I finished adding the rest of the ingredients with, yes, none other than the wooden spoon and my noodle arms. I do believe I'll be able to enter one of those body building contests by the end of the month. Well, maybe not, but one can always dream.

Another funny thing about my cooking "style", if you could call it that, is that I am really into substituting ingredients for the sake of using up weird leftover foods lying around the house. It must be my frugal Scottish heritage. This recipe calls for dried cranberries, but I decided to use our leftover dried mini blueberries instead. The recipe called for 1/2 cup. This probably would have been the right amount for the cranberries, but with those teeny tiny blueberries, you can pack a lot into that space. By the time I mixed them into the dough, I had more blueberries than dough. Forming them into little balls was an interesting process. I had to squish each individual blueberry into the dough just to get it to stick. The final product was admittedly a bit bizarre. Sweet, but weird. I probably won't make those again, but it has not deterred my will to finish the 25 day cookie project.

As for the mixer, I called KitchenAid, and they informed me that my $250 mixer only has a year warranty. What kind of crap warranty is that for such a pricey item? If you buy a $200 watch, you can get something like a 10-year warranty. But they still wanted me to pay $25 for a "shipping kit" to send it to their factory in Ohio (!) (I live in Albuquerque) where they could fix it in three weeks. What about my cookies?! I asked if they had a loaner mixer program. He said they used to (back in the good old days when people were kind, and did things out of sheer goodwill), but not anymore. So I found some appliance repair places here in town, and I'll take it in tomorrow to see if I can get it fixed a little faster. In the meantime, I'll carry on with my noodle arms.

So, alas, it is day number two and I have not made cookie number two. It is Friday and I am tired. I just want to curl up on the couch and watch the movie that we rented. My plan is to make two batches tomorrow, after I take the mixer to the repair place. After all, Saturday is a great day for two batches of cookies, don't you think? At this point, you're probably thinking that the 25 day cookie project is not going to fly. Have a little faith! Cookie number two is called, "raspberry strippers"!! I just cannot pass up a cookie with a name like that. I will prevail!