Seeing My Home Town Through New Eyes

Out of town visitors were on the way!  I live in El Paso, Texas  a mid-sized city on the US-Mexico border. My home town has its attractions, but it is not New York City by any means. What could we do to entertain our Canadian visitors to repay the hospitality they had shown us during a visit to Quebec province?

My husband Wayne and I sat down to plan, trying to see our city as visitors might see it.  We brainstormed activities in several categories- outdoors, history, and dining.

Mother Nature was kind in mid-February and favored us with several days in the 70 degree range and, most importantly, calm winds. The first activity with our visitors was a picnic in Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site, located a few miles east of El Paso. I warned our visitors that this park did not fit the more usual image of a park, with trees, flowers, and grassy areas. But the spectacular rock formations and natural rock basins were new and intriguing.

Next, a dose of old El Paso.  Our city and the surrounding area are rich in more than four centuries of history that include native Indian tribes, Spanish conquistadors, the establishment of missions, the arrival of the railroad, gunfighters, madams, gamblers, and the Mexican Revolution of 1910.  We visited the Magoffin Home State Historical Site in downtown El Paso.  

      

I never tire of this historical site that is beautifully restored and decorated with many original furniture pieces of the Magoffin family from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The thick adobe walls and images of graceful living found here always bring a peaceful feeling to my soul.

Our next stop was for more panoramic view of history provided by Digie, the digital wall located at the El Paso Museum of History.  It is a collection of images and videos of past and present El Paso that are presented on 3D touch sensitive TV screens.  We clicked on our personal interests, be they sports, dance, or music.

We hope our Canadian visitors liked spicy food, because as we considered our menu options, chile kept popping up as a main ingredient.  Wayne cooked and served his favorite breakfast dish called migas in his outdoor kitchen.

Migas are eggs scrambled with onions, garlic, tomatoes, jalapeño chiles, and tortilla chips.  And they are delicious.

We also wanted to have a  bread on hand for tea and coffee breaks.  Wayne remembered an old recipe of his mother's called Hobo Bread, baked in coffee cans.

I tweaked the recipe for more modern tastes.

Combine two cups of dark raisins, two cups of boiling water and four tablespoons of soda.  Let stand overnight.  In the morning, add the following ingredients.

two cups sugar (I used one cup sugar and one cup Splenda)

four tablespoons oil

one-half teaspoon salt

one teaspoon nutmeg

one teaspoon cinnamon

four cups flour (I used three cups regular flour and one cup whole wheat flour)

one cup chopped pecans.

Then comes the fun part.  Grease and flour three one-lb coffee cans (or other similar cans), fill

one-half full, and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  Let cool for 30 minutes.  You have a cake that can be sliced into rounds for serving.  It has a taste similar to gingerbread and freezes well.

We gained a new respect for our home town and all it can offer, using an open mind and a little creativity.  Now I'm inspired to seek out some more hometown adventures as winter slowly turns into spring.

Seasons and Seasonings of the Southwest

Am I the only person who looks forward to the changing of the seasons?  Surely not.  As each season makes its appearance year after year, I can't help feeling a surge of energy, an anticipation of newness-the temperature rises or falls, plants bloom or go into hibernation, seasonal dishes appear in the kitchen, and even the colors of clothing offered for sale in stores become paler or darker.

So I  decided to put together a book about enjoying life in each of the four seasons in my area of the United States. I entitled the book Seasons and Seasonings of the Southwest. Some may claim that the Southwest doesn't have four true seasons, but my belief is that we do, although the transitions between seasons may be less dramatic than in other parts of the country. 

The book includes commentary, short essays, and recipes for each of the four season.  A few sample entries are included below.

S P R I N G T I M E

In my home town of El Paso, Texas springtime is practically non-existent.  The spring I am daydreaming about is one with gentle breezes and yellow daffodils putting on a show.  But in El Paso, one day it is winter, and the next day suddenly it is summer.  Recently I forgot that fact and ordered some big, wooly clothes on the Internet. Our weather had been in the 50’s in the daytime and the 30’s at night for what seemed like an eternity.  I was fed up with winter and being cold.

About the time the UPS man delivered my new sweatshirt and long fleece lounger, the mesquite trees in the front yard started to show signs of life.  When the mesquites leaf out, winter is over in this part of the country, no matter what the calendar says.  In what seemed like a very few days, my husband Wayne was talking about having the home air conditioners serviced.  First we had days with highs in the 70’s, and very soon they would be climbing into the 80’s. 

What spring does bring to El Paso are the winds.  And oh my, how they do blow, often bringing swirling dust and pollen. We watch the nightly TV weather cast religiously, not to find out the temperature highs and lows, but to prepare for the wind speed.  I myself am not satisfied with anything over 10 mph.   I make plans to be in a dark mood when the winds kick up. So, into the kitchen I go to create a little of the springtime I dream about. 

S U M M E R  

Mango Guacamole  I found the recipe below recently on the children’s page of the local newspaper.  Just my speed, I thought!  I made some alterations and came up with a pretty good lunch dish for a hot summer day.  Mangoes are plentiful this time of year, and they have such a lovely aroma and taste when ripe.

Mash three medium avocados.  Add one-fourth cup diced red onion, one diced mango, one tablespoon fresh lime juice, one-half tablespoon salt, and one minced clove garlic.  I didn’t have the three tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro that the recipe calls for, so I added three tablespoons of cilantro paste that I found in the refrigerator.  Chill for one hour and serve.

The recipe calls for serving the dish with tortilla chips, but since my husband and I are on a health kick, I heated some corn tortillas in a tortilla warmer for two minutes in the microwave instead.  My husband pronounced the dish as tasty, but a little lacking in flavor, so we added red chile powder until the dish had a slight kick.

 

I was glad that I had recently bought a new bag of red chile powder in New Mexico. The flavor was far superior to the one that had been in the freezer for more years than I care to count.

I'm hoping for suggestions and comments from readers of this blog as to whether the type of book I am in the process of compiling may have some appeal. What would you do differently and what other types of information would you include?  Responses will be appreciated!