Adventurous Dining in the Southwest

Making New Year's Resolutions

It is the time of year for New Year's Resolutions.  Instead of making the usual ones about diet and exercise (often broken by January 15th), my husband, Wayne, and I resolved to try as many different ethnic restaurants as we could locate in our home city of El Paso, Texas during 2018.

El Paso, a border city with Mexico

El Paso has bragging rights as the "Mexican Food Capital of the U.S."  And I do not intend to desert our favorite local Mexican food restaurants.   But El Paso isn't just a bilingual, bicultural border city— it is home to many different ethnic groups and nationalities.  I set out to make a list of culturally diverse cafes and restaurants we can visit in our own home town.

A Google search for "ethnic restaurants in El Paso" brought up even more locations than I had imagined:   Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Greek, Puerto Rican, German, Vietnamese, and Thai.  I stopped looking at this point, although I know we will discover many more now that we are on the lookout for a different dining experience.

I read through reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor to see if I could choose restaurants to put first on our list, concentrating on the food offerings. Wayne is a carnivore, and I am almost a vegetarian.  Neither of us wants to resort to eating the bread all night because we can't find anything on the menu that suits us (I speak from experience!)  Of course, it was impossible to ignore comments about the atmosphere and service.  And I was impressed when reviewers mentioned that the wait staff or even the owner were happy to answer questions about the menu.

Puerto Rico

The ethnic restaurant I chose for our first dining adventure was the Puerto Rican Sabor Boricua, or  "Taste of Puerto Rico."  The dish mentioned most often was mofongo, a dish based on fried plantains, which you can order with meat or chicken.  The guava sauce was praised by reviewers, as were the pastelillos (little filled pies).

Germany

Peter's German Grill and Bakery also had many positive comments from diners who ordered Wiener Schnitzel with potato salad or Bratwurst with sauerkraut and onions.  The pumpernickel bread and homemade desserts caught my eye.

Italy

Italian food is a bit more familiar to us, but I thought Mi Piaci (translates to "I like you") offered some special menu items.  Pistachio pesto pasta and vegetarian bruschetta looked promising,  not to mention that the pasta is homemade. 

Greece

Zino's Greek Restaurant is a fourth restaurant that may help us expand our knowledge of other cultures. The menu offers some dishes that sound vaguely familiar, like gyros, tabouli, hummus, pita bread and baklava.  Other dishes like falafel, spanakopita, and moussaka may take venturing into the unknown.

Other cultures have held a fascination for me since I was a child.  I probably won't have the chance to travel to every country I would like to visit, but a pleasant evening spent in a new ambiance with interesting local dishes may curb that travel longing for a short while.  I wonder how long it will be, though, before I just have to have a plate of huevos rancheros from my favorite El Paso Mexican food restaurant, the L & J?

L and J Cafe, El Paso, Texas

How we fight Old Man Winter in the Southwest

I'll be the first to admit that fighting Old Man Winter in the Southwest takes less effort than confronting him in other locales.  A friend who lives near Quebec, Canada wrote to me several weeks ago describing their swimming pool as a Popsicle.  And I regularly check the daily high temperatures of a friend in London, England, which are hovering in the 40's (F). 

Here in the Desert Southwest, in El Paso, Texas, we have yet to experience a killing freeze.  The outside plants do look a little chilly, I must admit. They shiver through the cold nights (cold=in the 40's for us), but they soon perk up as the morning sun warms them.  Then the 70 degree daytime temperatures make them forget how cold they were the night before.

As we are warned in "The Game of Thrones," winter is coming. Every day I consider bringing the more delicate plants inside.  But I postpone that unpleasant task.  One of these nights I'm going to be forced to throw on a heavy coat and rescue them from certain death. Then the plants can huddle inside the house around windows, searching for light and heat until mid-March.

The colder nights in El Paso, however, do give us an excuse to spend more time outdoors.  After all, our summers are so hot that sitting outside is not a pleasant option.   In  autumn and most of winter, all that is needed is a little extra warmth. Free-standing chimeneas (chimneys) are readily available and inexpensive in the Southwest.  We bought this chimenea to place by the jacuzzi so that bathers can move quickly from the warm water to a warm chair.

Chimenea by spa

We were so proud of our first chimenea that we bought another to put in the main courtyard.  It occupies a sheltered spot where you can have a hot drink and listen to the soothing sounds of the fountain.

Chimenea in main courtyard

My husband, Wayne, and a good friend built this kiva fireplace many years ago in what we call the barbecue courtyard.  Cooks and diners alike can keep warm while waiting for the brisket to come out of the barbecue pit.

Kiva fireplace in barbecue courtyard

Or Wayne may prepare breakfast in his cook shack on an old-fashioned stove.

Cook shack stove

But my favorite heat source for frosty evenings is an old wood-burning stove that heats an outdoor room that we call the bunkhouse.  No cowboys bunk here, but many a game of cards or dominoes has gone long into the night, thanks to the gentle warmth from the stove.

Bunkhouse stove

You can see why autumn and winter are my favorite Southwest seasons.  The blazing sun of summer has passed on, and the wailing winds of spring are yet to come.  As long as we can give Mother Nature a little help with creating heat for chilly nights, we can look forward to cozy evenings spent in the outdoors.

The Chico's Tacos Experience

Chico's Tacos, El Paso

I had not had a plate of rolled tacos at Chico's Tacos, El Paso, Texas for probably fifty years when my husband, Wayne, suggested recently that we go there for lunch. 

Chico's Tacos is synonymous with the true El Paso experience.  Many native El Pasoans have memories of their youth eating at Chico's after carousing on Saturday night or with the family on Sunday afternoon.  Out of town college students make a beeline for Chico's on their first visit home.  And family members returning home for the holidays make Chico's a regular stop.  It's THE THING to do.

Chico's knows it has a faithful clientele.  They don't have to make constant menu changes or pamper customers to keep El Pasoans coming.   And it is important to be aware of the rituals at Chico's if you don't want to be spotted as a tourist. 

First, Chico's instructs customers to line up to order.  A large red sign directs you to one of two lines.  Chico's is ready for a barrage of customers!  

You want to make sure that you have cash in your pocket.  None of this newfangled electronic banking business.  Chico's wants cold hard cash.

The menu is on a large board.  Rolled tacos are the first item.  Reading no further, we ordered two single orders (three rolled tacos), an order of French fries to share, and two iced teas.

When your order is ready, the man behind the counter calls your number in English and Spanish.  You collect your tray and find a table.

Ah, the tacos looked just as I remembered them. Meat tacos topped with shredded cheese, swimming in sauce (more about the sauce below!)

Extra napkins are already provided at the table.  They definitely come in handy.

Finishing my three tacos, I was in the process of completing the meal when Wayne said, "Are you drinking the sauce right out of the bowl?"    "Sure, look around at the other diners," I said.   It is de rigueur at Chico's Tacos to slurp up the last bit of sauce. And, I might add,  I think it is the best part of the dish.

As we left the restaurant, it felt good that we had successfully participated in a local ritual.  

Now if I could just convince Chico's to offer a vegetarian version of the rolled taco plate.  But who would want to mess with over fifty years of success?

From the Southwest to the Pacific Coast

If you have never been to the American Southwest, you may picture it as one vast desert offering only cacti, cowboys, and chile for entertainment.  But one of the joys of living in the Southwest is its geographical location within the United States.  A two hour flight from El Paso, Texas to Los Angeles, California takes you so quickly from the desert to the coast that it is hard for the mind to adjust.  

My husband, Wayne, and I took such a trip recently and pronounced it one of our easiest travels ever.  Leaving El Paso about 8:00 am, we were sitting at the Farmer's Market in Los Angeles, having a delicious crepe for lunch, that same afternoon.

Farmers Market, Los Angeles

 A major league baseball game at Dodgers Stadium on Saturday night provided us with a once in a lifetime experience in the big leagues.

An we weren't the only attendees at the game!  Great opportunity for people-watching!

Crowd at Dodger Stadium

Sunday morning found us at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles catching the Amtrak Coast Starlight train to Portland, Oregon.  We slept one night on the train and most of our waking hours were spent oohing and aahing over the scenery viewed from the large picture windows in the parlor car or our roomette.   

Coast Starlight rounding a curve

The ocean views, so close at times, were a delight for us desert dwellers.

Ocean view from train

And then we were treated to scenes with lots of greenery.  Another unusual scene for our eyes!

View from train

Arriving in Portland, Oregon all too soon, we admired the train station before catching an Uber ride to our hotel.

Portland, Oregon train station

A gondola ride high above the city gave us a chance to take a panoramic picture of Portland.

View of Portland, Oregon

We also enjoyed walking along the Willamette River, a special sight for those of us from a climate with only nine inches of rainfall in a good year.

Willamette River, Portland

Just imagine needing several large bridges to cross the water in Portland.  In my home town of El Paso, the Rio Grande is a mere trickle most of the year.

Bridge in Portland, Oregon

We found many enticing eating establishments in Portland, including Mother's for brunch.  But our favorite was a traditional restaurant, Huber's, where my husband ordered (and raved about for days) a full turkey and ham Thanksgiving dinner!

Huber's Restaurant, Portland 

In less than a week, we were back in the Desert Southwest, basking in the constant sunshine and craving Mexican food, but the realization that we can experience another part of our country with such ease is going to be a comforting thought when yearly spring dust storms make us long to be any place but home.

A New Twist on Using Green Chiles

Ah !  The aroma of roasting green chiles!  If only that pungent smell could be captured and bottled for future use.  Alas, like many pleasures in life, "essence of green chiles" can be enjoyed only for the moment.  

The chile crop matures around Labor Day each year in the Desert Southwest. Soon roadside stalls and even urban grocery stores are selling large cardboard boxes of long green chiles, roasted on site for an extra fee.

Chile roasting

My family buys and freezes about 50 pounds of these chiles each season.  This year, however, my husband, Wayne, checked our chile supply in the freezer and announced that we still have plenty of chiles left from last season.  How could this be?  Running out of chiles has always been a major household concern.  Now we have such a surplus that we don't have to shop for chiles this year?  Are we getting bored with the same old uses for green chiles?

Every Southwesterner can tick off ten uses for green chiles: Chile con queso, Green chile soup, Green chile stew, Chiles rellenos, Green chile enchiladas, Chiles stuffed with guacamole, Scrambled eggs and green chiles, Southwestern cornbread, and even Cranberry Sauce with green chiles.

Maybe what I need is a new cooking inspiration.  I checked the kitchen cookbook collection and discovered a book I hadn't opened in years:  The Hatch Chile Cookbook (1994) written by David G. Jackson and Mark Preston and published by B Publishers, Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Hatch, New Mexico, known as the Chile Capital of the World, is a small town about a two and a half hour drive from my hometown of El Paso, Texas.  I found three recipes that may make me wish I had replenished our chile supply.

The first is called "Freezer Salsa del Sol "(p. 49).  This recipe appealed to me because it looks incredibly easy.  Into a large stock pot, put the following ingredients:

8 cups chopped tomatoes
2 cups green tomatoes
2 cups chopped onions
3 cups diced green chiles
3 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 half teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cilantro

Bring ingredients to a boil and simmer, uncovered for five minutes.  Set aside to cool and freeze in freezer containers. Will keep for a year frozen or seven days in the refrigerator.

The next recipe for "Robert's Cranberry Chile Cheese Bread" (p. 159)  would be good to mix up on a cool autumn day.

Combine the following dry ingredients:

4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Then cut into the dry mixture 2 tablespoons margarine or shortening.

In another bowl, combine the following ingredients:

4 tablespoons chopped green chiles
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1 1/2 grated cheddar cheese
1 cup cranberries, halved
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange peel
Juice from 1 orange, mixed with enough water to yield about a cup of liquid.

Combine wet and dry ingredients.  Bake in two greased loaf pans at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes

And finally, I found a recipe for "Rice Stuffed Bell Peppers" (p. 167) that I must have made many years ago, because it had a large check mark and the word "Outstanding!" written beside it. (I often make notes in my cookbooks.)

4 green bell peppers, tops removed, deveined and seeded
4 tablespoons chopped onions
4 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper
4 tablespoons chopped green chiles
2 slices of bacon, fried and crumbled
3 cups tomatoes
3 cups cooked rice
butter or margarine
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice

Prepare bell peppers and set aside.  Saute onions, red bell pepper, green chiles and bacon.  Add tomatoes and break up with a spoon.  Add cooked rice.  If you like a spicier mixture, add a liquid hot sauce.  Fill bell peppers, top with butter, and sprinkle with brown sugar and lemon juice.  Bake in a glass casserole to which a little warm water has been added.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Long green chiles are plentiful, affordable, nutritious, and, of course, delicious.  They combine well with other tastes, even sweet tastes.

May your chiles last until next season!

Taking the Southwest to Los Angeles

A weekend visit to Los Angeles, California to visit family is on the calendar.  My husband, Wayne, and I worry about descending on relatives and causing a disruption in weekend plans. We hope to soften the blow by preparing a Mexican food dinner for them the first night of our arrival.

After long years of living in the Southwest in El Paso, Texas, I am pretty proud that I can prepare most Mexican food dishes without consulting a recipe. But in discussing a menu for the upcoming dinner, I realized we will be cooking in someone else's kitchen. Will they have a comal (Mexican style griddle ) handy?  Our comal has a permanent home on the stove. We use it to warm corn and flour tortillas, among other uses. 

Comal with chile pepper handle

Will their kitchen have a lime squeezer to prepare ice cold Tecate beer with salt and freshly squeezed lime?  I suppose you could get the juice out of a lime by hand, but it's been a long time since I used that method.

Mexican lime squeezer

And what about a tortilla warmer?  Will aluminum foil work as well?

Tortilla warmer

Our home freezer is full of roasted green chiles, ready to be thawed and peeled for any number of dishes, such as chile con queso (chile with cheese), chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles) and pico de gallo (fresh salsa). But then we live near Hatch, New Mexico, home of famous green and red chiles.  I know Los Angeles has plenty of green chiles, but I don't want to have to roast them that evening.

I love to make old-fashioned Mexican Rice that I learned about in Diana Kennedy's Recipes from the Regional Cook of Mexico (1978), pp.31-32.   But the dish takes constant attention to keep it from burning. Quite a risk in a strange kitchen, which I believe has a gas range.  (Our home stove is electric.) 

And I couldn't figure out how to carry a jar of homemade red enchilada sauce on the airplane. The thought of such a jar packed with my trip clothes in the checked luggage was scary.  

After much exchange of ideas, we decided on the following menu.

Mexican Food Dinner 

Appetizers and Drinks
  Mango salsa ( Joy of Cooking, 1997, p. 63 )
  Tostadas (bought)
  Tecate beer (bought)

Main dish
  Tacas (Not a misspelling! See explanation below)
  Lettuce and tomato (bought)
  Cubed new potatoes sauteed with onion and red and green bell pepper

Dessert
  Pineapple sherbet (bought)

Tacos (the real spelling) can be made with just about any ingredient you want to put in a corn tortilla. At our house, we often make a healthier taco by softening corn tortillas and filling them with ground meat cooked with onion and garlic and adding cheese.  But Wayne likes to make tacas, the way his mother used to.  And, being from Central Texas, she called them tacas. He fills a folded corn tortilla with the meat mixture and cheese and then deep fries everything.  They are delicious, but oh the cholesterol and the calories. So, if I can talk him into the healthy version, we have tacos.  If not, we have tacas.

We are looking forward with great anticipation to our Los Angeles visit and the ride on the Coast Starlight to Portland to follow.  It will be great to sit back, watch the scenery, and let someone else do the cooking.

It's Chile Season in the Southwest!

What's the big deal about red and green chile peppers anyway?  Can't you buy them in the produce department of just about any American grocery store year round?  Yes, you can.  But chile season in the Southwest is accompanied by sights, aromas, and nostalgia that a mere shopping trip to the local market can't hope to match. Each year I look forward with great anticipation to the chile season in August and September. 

First, for the uninitiated, we are talking about long red and green chiles. Our neighboring state of New Mexico is famous for having the right growing conditions to produce delectable chiles. The first harvest is for green chiles.

Green chiles are roasted, often in large propane cooking cages set up at vegetable stands and grocery store parking lots.

The distinct aroma of roasting chiles is the first hint of autumn in a land still sizzling with hot daytime temperatures. The blackened skin of the chile is removed, revealing a meaty, mouth-watering vegetable that can be mild, medium or hot.  A caution here!  One man's medium may be another man's hot!  Over the years, my family has moved from hot to medium down to mild. Our palettes just aren't as tough as they used to be.

Green chiles can be frozen for use throughout the year in salsas, sauces, and additions for just about any dish you want to perk up.  One of my favorite dishes is chiles rellenos, chiles stuffed with cheese, battered, and sauteed in oil.  A new use which I learned about recently is to cut green chiles in strips, cook them in a little oil, and add sour cream, or crema agria, found at Hispanic food markets, or even at our local Walmart.

The second chile harvest, which comes a little later, is for red chiles, which are the ripened forms of green chiles.

Red chiles are dried (sun dried red chiles are reported to be a gourmet treat) and can be reconstituted and cooked into a rich, thick red sauce for making enchiladas, huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, and many other Mexican dishes. Another use for red chiles is the chile ristra, a string of dried red chiles often found hanging by the door of Southwestern homes.

A story that I heard recently on a broadcast of the Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University is that in days past, a red chile ristra was a sign that the chile harvest had been plentiful enough for two harvests, one green and one red. A traveler could perhaps request a meal at a house with a ristra by the door. The chile ristra became known as a welcome sign.

And every chile season brings a wave of nostalgia for past seasons.  The year we packaged green chiles in dry ice to ship to a family member in Georgia.  The year Wayne, my husband, bit into a really hot chile after assuring friends from the East Coast that chiles weren't that hot. My kitchen as a disaster area after making red enchilada sauce the old-fashioned way by hand with a fruit and vegetable press. A pilgrimage with longtime friends to Hatch, New Mexico to buy chiles (even though chiles are plentiful at our local stores).

Buying, roasting, storing, and cooking with local green and red chiles has developed into a ritual for Southwesterners.  Wayne gets really stingy with our frozen green chiles if he thinks they are not going to last until the next harvest.

And I doubt if we will ever make it through a very large tow sack of dried red chiles that he insisted on buying last year.  The sack is stored in a corner of our sun room and emits a tantalizing odor when we have an occasional humid day.

Red or green? is a common question asked when ordering enchiladas in my home town of El Paso, Texas.  And in New Mexico, if you answer "Christmas," you are an insider who knows how to order your enchiladas half red and half green.  A very serious decision, to be sure!

The Desert Southwest - A Mecca for Early Music Lovers?

What images come to mind when you picture the Desert Southwest?  Multicolored sunsets, cacti, square dancing, cowboys, tumbling tumbleweeds? How about groups playing early music on recorders?  

Early music comes to us from the past, principally the Renaissance (1450-1600) and Baroque (1600-1750) periods of history.  The Renaissance has always held a special fascination for me, the music in particular.  Who would have thought that I could enroll in a beginning recorder class in my home town of El Paso, Texas?

That very opportunity presented itself to me this summer as I perused the catalog of class offerings from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), located on the campus of the University of Texas of El Paso.  OLLI offers a variety of courses to adults 50 + in a relaxed setting.  I signed up for a six weeks course, ordered a recorder and music book from amazon.com, and showed up for the first class session, still struggling with assembling my recorder. (I am careful to explain that my recorder is an Alto Baroque Recorder, a little bit of ego so that people won't think I am playing the recorder they played back in third grade!)

My new alto recorder and music book

Six weeks later, and I am hooked on playing early music.  Our instructor Ricky Vilardell, a local musician, introduced the class not only to the basics of fingering the recorder and reading music, but also to the history of recorders and their significance in ancient societies. One of Ricky's principal points was that early music was not written down in as much detail as modern music; therefore players can improvise, much as they do when playing modern jazz.  To quote Ricky, "...music before the end of the Baroque era allows for so much more creativity among performers."

Recorders are woodwind instruments.  They are generally available in the same ranges of those of the human voice, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.  The bass recorder must be a treat to play!

Girl playing alto recorder

The sound of the recorder is described as being clear and sweet.  I'll be the first to admit that I have a long way to go to be able to produce a sound of that description.  I'm just trying to avoid making squeaking sounds, which occur when you don't have the finger holes covered or you are not breathing gently enough.  Here is a classic engraving of what playing the recorder correctly should look like.

Playing the recorder

My plan is to practice daily so that I can eventually join the local Rio Grande Chapter of the American Recorder Society.  

Meanwhile, I can watch videos of recorder music and dream of someday making beautiful music.

Fantasia No. 7 for Recorder.

 

It's not Walmart; it's El Super!

Do you get weary of doing the marketing at the same old American chain stores?  Yes, it is comforting to know where the french fried onion rings are located, but do you find yourself plodding down the same old aisles and making the same old food choices week after week?

A trip to an ethnic grocery store may be just the inspiration to spice life up a bit.  In El Paso, Texas, my home town, we have several Hispanic grocery stores.  "El Super" is my favorite.  On a recent Saturday morning, my husband, Wayne and I were craving a coffee and Mexican sweet bread. We headed to "El Super" to have breakfast and buy a few specialty items. 

"El Super" grocery store

Upon entering the store, the sights, sounds, colors and aromas are a vivid reminder that you are in a new environment.  Large colorful murals adorn the walls.  Don't the fruits and fresh juices make your mouth water?

Mural at "El Super"

Our first stop was the bakery for sweet bread and coffee.  My favorite bread is the "concha " which has the shape of a big, round shell.

Bakery at "El Super"

I resisted the urge to buy "francesitos,"  the iconic Mexican rolls, crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.

"Francesitos"

We sat at a long picnic table to enjoy our food and drink while examining the very alluring produce department.

Produce department of "El Super"

Fruits and vegetables are attractively displayed in large, overflowing bins that remind me of cornucopias of abundance and plenty.

Chiles poblanos

One of the items on our shopping list for "El Super" was jamaica, dried hibiscus flowers used to make a cooling summer drink.

Jamaica, packaged or loose

To make Jamaica Flower Water, I use a recipe in Diana Kennedy's  The Essential Cuisines of Mexico.

Put 2/3 cup of  jamaica flowers in 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Continue to boil for 5 minutes over brisk heat.  Remove from stove and add one more cup of water, 1/3 cup sugar (or other sweetener) and set aside for at least four hours or even overnight.  (Overnight produces a full rich flavor!)  Strain the liquid into a jug, check the sweetness, and serve well chilled. I serve the drink over ice.   

Some people prefer more sweetener, others like a little lime added for tartness, and still others prefer a lighter drink by combining it with club soda.  The deep red color of  jamaica flower water and the rich taste will help you dream of a tropical vacation.

Our last buy was an impulse purchase.

Water jug

Water jugs were on sale at "El Super" for under $10.00!  We bought two for gifts and one for the house.  Mexican clay water jugs have a reputation for keeping water cool. If this jug can perform that miracle in the triple digit El Paso summer heat, I will be pleasantly surprised.  If not, I will still enjoy looking at the jug  on an equipale table in our front hall.

A trip to "El Super" was a lot more fun than Walmart!