Inspiration from an old cookbook

Xochi's Bookstore and Gallery is located in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, a pleasant two and a half hour drive from my home town of El Paso, Texas.  It boasts 14 rooms filled top to bottom with rare, vintage and antique books.

Entrance to Xochi's Bookstore

I was just walking out the door of Xochi's, empty-handed,  when my eye fell on yet another cookbook:  The Essentials Cuisines of Mexico, copyright 2000.

When I saw the author's name, Diana Kennedy, on the cover I knew this was no run-of-the-mill cookbook.  I had found a treasure.  Diana Kennedy is one of the foremost experts on Mexican cuisine.   Two of her books, The Tortilla Book and Recipes from the Regional Cooks of Mexico, are already in my (embarrassingly large) cookbook library.

You might well ask why I need three cookbooks about Mexican cuisine.  You might also well ask why I still buy cookbooks at all, with recipes galore available through the Internet.  It's because I love to read cookbooks, and I bet I'm not alone in the world.

The Essentials Cuisines of Mexico takes me on a journey through Mexico, a country I plan to visit again in the new future.  Diana Kennedy includes anecdotes describing where she first encountered a dish or praising the Mexican cooks who taught her how to use a special cooking technique.  Her visits to local markets sound a lot more exciting than my grocery buying trips to Super WalMart!

Are you now going to find me in my kitchen, apron tied around my waist, pounding spices in a molcajete like the one pictured below?

Probably not.  Some things in life need to be experienced vicariously. 

Leafing through my new cookbook, I find recipes that are instructive from a cultural standpoint but probably will not ever emerge from my kitchen:   homemade lard (too fattening),  Cuiclacoche con Calabacitas Estilo Querétaro- Corn Fungus with Zucchini (too exotic), or Chiles en Nogada (too complicated with a two and a half page recipe). 

But I am nevertheless inspired to branch out for my grocery shopping and cooking.  El Paso boasts several Hispanic grocery stores with alluring displays of fruits, vegetables and seasonings. 

I could make Chilaquiles de Guanajuato (pp. 12-13) after buying guajillo chiles and tomatillos. If I find unhulled and raw pumpkin seeds, I can attempt a dip with an unusual name, Sikil P'ak (pp. 4-5). Or I can easily find mangoes during the summer season to make a flambéed dessert,  Mangos Flameados, (pp. 435-436).

Knowing my love of books, however, I will probably opt to fix a large glass of hibiscus flower water and sit down to read and daydream of the Mexico I knew in my youth of pristine beaches, tropical foliage, and sumptuous meals served with an ocean view.

Summertime fun -out and around

Some mysterious force in summertime, even in the very hot desert Southwest, calls us to venture outside for entertainment.  Yes, the temperature is now officially scorching hot in my home town of El Paso, Texas, but where's the fun in sitting inside under the air conditioner?  Outdoors is where life is happening - plants blooming, lawns turning a brilliant green, and puffy white clouds decorating a serene blue sky . Here are a few outdoor activities that my husband Wayne and I have been enjoying recently.

Alfresco! Fridays in the downtown area offers free concerts in a variety of musical styles.  On a recent evening Rod Crosby and the Intruders entertained the crowd with old time rock and roll sounds.  And our longtime friend, Skip Clark (white shirt), joined two other music fans to provide back-up singing. Rock and Roll has a long tradition in the El Paso area, and concert attendees (admittedly a slightly older crowd) showed their support by dancing enthusiastically to the rhythmic music.

Another enjoyable outing was a short hike and picnic in Franklin Mountains State Park, the largest urban state park in the nation. An upward walking path led us to expansive views of the surrounding area.

A laid back lizard kept us company.

And these native Little Leaf Sumac bushes with bright red berries added color to the desert landscape.

If outdoor activities become a bit much as the mercury hovers around the 100 degree mark, air-conditioned Mexican food restaurants provide a cool respite along with fiery food.  Nachos are our favorite late afternoon snack (as long as they are not those fake nachos made with liquid cheese! Ugh!)

So grab sunglasses, water bottles and sunscreen and venture out to enjoy the Desert Southwest!  It may be hot, but it's a dry heat, or so they say!

Tasty oatmeal for a hot Southwest morning

It didn't take long for spring to turn into blazing summer in my home town of El Paso, Texas.  The mercury has already hit 100 degrees this year, making us believers that it is indeed really, really hot in the American Southwest in June.

The rising temperature may be why the thought of heating up the stove or oven for meal preparation drove me to reconsider using my small kitchen appliances for meal preparation.  I searched under the counter and located the old family crock pot.

This family appliance may qualify as an authentic antique. I have no recollection of its origin. The lid was broken many years ago, but my husband rigged up a temporary wooden lid we have used for probably the last ten years.  Numerous searches in second-hand stores for a proper glass lid replacement have yielded no results, so here is a picture of what the crock pot still looks like today.

The pot has no fancy inserts or warming settings.  You fill it up,  plug it in, choose low or high setting, and ignore it for the time specified by the recipe. The first recipe I attempted was oatmeal. Why oatmeal, you may ask, when it can be cooked in less than ten minutes on the stove?  Because this crock pot oatmeal is truly special.

Here is the basic recipe.  First spray the inside of the pot for easier clean-up. Then add one cup of steel-cut oats.  (I have read that steel-cut oats are healthier because they have a lower Glycemic index than regular oats,  but I seldom choose steel-cut because of the longer cooking time required on the stove top.) The liquids come next - four and a half cups of water and one-half cup of milk.  Then the seasonings - two tablespoons of maple syrup and one-fourth teaspoon salt. Stir and let cook on low for seven hours. Before serving, add one-half teaspoon vanilla.

You can of course get creative with the recipe and add dried fruit, like figs, raisin, or cranberries during the cooking time, or toast a few walnuts to add to the serving bowls along with butter, heated milk, and brown sugar.

One of the benefits of crock pot oatmeal is walking into your kitchen in the morning with breakfast already prepared. It's almost as if someone else is serving you breakfast. You can have that second cup of coffee and read the morning paper at your leisure.

My husband, the oatmeal hater (I think his mother served oatmeal too often!) has only words of praise for this crock pot oatmeal recipe.  He says the oatmeal is smooth and creamy with a taste not at all like regular oats.

Now I'm ready to experiment with more crock pot recipes! Does anyone have a heat beating recipe I can try this summer?

Branching out in your home town

Auckland, New Zealand,

Los Angeles, California,

 and London, England

are world cities I plan to visit again and again. I love the fact that each of these cities is composed of distinct neighborhoods, and each neighborhood offers its own atmosphere, culture, shops, music, and restaurants.

Would it be possible for my husband Wayne and I to discover a new neighborhood in our home town of  El Paso, Texas, where we have lived for many years?

Wayne had recently done business with a tool repair shop in a section of our city that we seldom visit, an older, established neighborhood near the downtown area.  The shop owner recommended  "El Jacalito"  ("The Hut")  as the best restaurant in the neighborhood.

As part of our ongoing research to find the best huevos rancheros in the city, we decided to seek out "El Jacalito" for breakfast.  (For the uninitiated, huevos rancheros  are eggs served on a fried corn tortilla and topped with some variety of chile sauce.)

The exterior of the restaurant looked promising as we drove up and parked.

And the interior had a decorative 1880's type metal ceiling that is often found in older buildings in the Southwest.

The restaurant walls were colorfully decorated.

 "El Jacalito" appeared to be a local eatery, with solitary diners, groups, and families all having a quiet breakfast.

The service was swift and efficient, with new steaming breakfast dishes emerging quickly from the small kitchen located at the back of the large dining area.

Wayne couldn't resist the traditional huevos rancheros plate.

  I ordered the migas, scrambled eggs with chiles, onions, tomatoes, and tortilla chips.

The food was delicious, but the best part of the meal was having it in a different restaurant located in a different neighborhood of our town.  

It wasn't Auckland, Los Angeles, or London, but it was a new cultural experience for us.  I'm now convinced there are more adventures to be had closer to home if we are willing to explore and place our trust in serendipity. 

A Sunday Afternoon Stroll Through the Past

"Storytelling"  read the headline in the Saturday, May 2, 2015 edition of the El Paso Times. The 1st Annual Old El Paso Historic Home Tour would be held on the following Sunday afternoon.

As I joined in the walking tour, I picked up pamphlets and information sheets about seven historic buildings near downtown El Paso, my home town.. These were the official stories from the tour organizers, the El Paso Preservation Alliance. But the more intimate stories were those that I caught snatches of from fellow tour participants, chatting about family memories of life in El Paso a century ago.

The first stop on the tour was the building that is now the International Museum of Art.  It was designed by an architect responsible for many unique buildings in the Southwest, Henry C. Trost. This classic building greeted me with a touch of elegance as I purchased my tour ticket and printed guide.

International Museum of Art, 1211 Montana Ave.

Just about a block down the street was another building in the Classical Revival Style.  It now houses a very attractive studio.

Lara and Company Creative, 1317 Montana Ave.

Next door was a tour home of a different style, the American Foursquare.  I was intrigued by the front gate and fence.

1318 Montana

My favorite architectural style came next, Spanish Mediterranean.  This building has always been a working photography studio.

Achilles Studio, 1330 Montana

A charming Victorian house, meticulously restored, was the last stop on Montana Avenue.  It is now an attorney's office.

1420 Montana Avenue

Just a few streets over on Rio Grand Avenue, I toured a well preserved house of mixed styles that could boast of several colorful El Paso residents as past owners.

801 E. Rio Grand Avenue

The last stop on my tour was a short drive to Kansas Street to view a house with a Prairie-Style exterior and an Arts and Crafts interior.  It is now the law office of Terry Hammond.

1401 N. Kansas Street.

What an entertaining way to spend a quiet, sunny El Paso afternoon, thinking about the richness of El Paso's history and the value of preserving and restoring items from the past.  I celebrated the day's experiences with a pears and cream gelato from Gufo de Milano.

My favorite gelato flavor

And I suppose I wanted to do my small part to preserve the past. Inspired by the tour,  I  engaged a piano tuner this week to work on our over sixty year old Wurlitzer piano which was my childhood piano.  The past washes over me every time I sit down to play it.  

Al Fresco dining in the Southwest

"Al fresco dining" or "eating outside"?  Which sounds more elegant to you?  I"ll take al fresco dining, even though the two expressions mean essentially the same thing.  (And by "eating outside" I don't mean just strolling around the back yard munching on a fold over peanut butter sandwich.)

"Al fresco" means "in the cool air" in Italian, but don't use the phrase in Italy if you want to dine outside.  In Italian, 'al fresco" means "spending time in jail."  Say all'aperto.  If you are in a Spanish-speaking country, you will want to use the phrase, "al aire libre."

Al fresco dining brings up all sorts of pleasant images.  First, the weather must be temperate and the winds calm, no chattering teeth or flyaway napkins allowed.  Next, dining in the open air suggests a casual style, with come as you are dress. And probably most importantly, al fresco dining is about more than just consuming food and beverage.  It's festive.  Time to PARTY.

Last Sunday, my husband Wayne and I took advantage of an usually lovely spring day in El Paso, Texas, our home town, to have brunch at Ardovino's Desert Crossing, located just across the border in the neighboring state of New Mexico. Al fresco dining is offered on their patio.

Patio at Ardovino's

The owners of Ardovino's are advocates for use of plants native to the area in their landscaping, so the dining experience was also a horticultural lesson.  Many native plants bloom in early spring, putting on brilliant and often aromatic blossoms.

Colorful native plants

Ardovino's isn't just about food and plants.  This old water tower on the property is charming.

Water tower

Another delight of dining al fresco at Ardovino's is the possibility of catching a glimpse of a train as it glides around the nearby mountain.  

Train viewed from patio

And sometimes you can even hear the plaintive sound of a train whistle.

Brunch menu offerings at Ardovino's add to the feeling that you are doing something special.  Baja Vegetable Crepes, Berry Belgian Waffles, Pancakes Dolce, Trailer Park Biscuits and Gravy (one of my favorites), Skinny Breakfast (which in retrospect I probably should have ordered) and much more.

Once more, I must crow about living in the Desert Southwest, where spring arrives early.  But what about the 35 to 40 hour winds that rear their ugly heads in springtime, turning the world gray and dusty?  Well, yes, we have those days too.

But I'll keep a pleasant al fresco dining experience at Ardovino's in my memory to make it through the next sandstorm.

There's no place like a Southwestern home

Travel is a good thing.  It broadens the mind (and sometimes the hips, depending on the food delicacies that you find).  Travel also provides novel images and thoughts you can use to make a comparison between life style at home and other life styles.

I recently spent a good bit of time in Los Angeles, California in a beautiful area near the historic Farmers Market and the upscale Grove Shopping Center.

Early morning in Los Angeles

My husband Wayne snapped this shot while sipping Cuban coffee in a Los Angeles cafe.  Very exotic to our Texan eyes!

Coffee customer with friend

Los Angeles can boast of palm trees, avocado trees, luxuriant bougainvillea vines, and gigantic, larger than life succulents.  What a feast for the eyes of a gardener!

But when I returned home to El Paso, Texas (located in the high desert), I also found treats for the senses in my own back yard.

View of  grapevines in late afternoon

The extra room we have dubbed "The Bunkhouse" is waiting for visitors to play dominoes, listen to music, or write a novel.

The Bunkhouse

The horno (oven) stands ready to bake a pizza or a recipe of camp bread.

The Horno

And when I arrived home on Good Friday, the plants told me it was springtime.  A large butterfly had found the claret cup cactus in the front yard.

Butterfly atop claret cup cactus

The honey mesquite trees had put on their bright green feathery finery.

Mesquite tree

 It was good to be home.