Sunday, October 29, 2006
FRIDAY NIGHT
Margaritas, chile rellenos and sopaipillas at Maria's
Dottie takes a swig of her first margarita...
...and doesn't quite make it to her sleeping bag...
"Uuuuuhh..."
SATURDAY
Sight-seeing and shopping around Santa Fe Plaza...
Left: Vintage Route 66 that runs through the Plaza.
Middle: Jewelry vendors in front of the Palace of the Governors. I did all my Christmas shopping here!
Right: Dottie models a pair of hammered silver earrings
...then green chile hamburgers - again! - at Bobcat Bite for a late lunch.
Bring your knitting, no matter the time of day, the wait is loooong
A woman sat next to me in the booth at Bobcat and ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. I know it's on the menu, and this is America and all, but I'm going to make a wild assumption and say it's there mainly for the kiddies who come in. With their highly carnivorous parents. Then...
WOMAN: I'd like a side of potato salad with that as well. Oh wait, does that have meat in it?
WAITRESS: [...] Uh. No. I'm sorry, but. Who puts meat in their potato salad??
WOMAN: Oh I know! I'm a vegetarian, just had to be sure!
WAITRESS, and ME: ?!
SUNDAY
Breakfast at Cafe Pasqual's, downtown Santa Fe
ME: Two eggs on corn tortilla, topped with fresh peas, fresh tomato salsa, feta cheese, black beans, green chile, and side of fried bananas.
DUCK: Chorizo burrito
Like Bobcat Bite, Cafe Pasqual's came at the recommendation of Scout. Thank you for making us as dependant on green chiles as ever! We'd passed by this place many times before but somehow I forgot about it. Thank goodness she brought it up last week when we were at her house, because this place is FAN.TAStic. A little on the $$ side, but totally worth it. There have a been a lot of great places that did not come up during my food research, whether it be in travel books or online, and Pasqual's is one of them. Strange. I'll have to revise my list of Best Restaurants. We're thinking of going back for dinner tonight to make up for our ignorance.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, or right after I finish this post
Laundry, cleaning, and packing.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Check out the yarn and WIPs and FOs I've accumulated since being here.
Most of them are from the usual online orders, a few are gifts, a few skeins are from the wool festival in Taos, and a couple skeins are from Needle's Eye here in Santa Fe. Those would be the bright blue and orange skeins at top right, colors of the sky and of the adobe walls, to remind me of our time here.
:-( Sniff sniff. But on the very bright side, The Boys await our return. OK not anxiously, but we can pretend.
Filed Under: Postcards from Dottie | Travel | Santa Fe
Friday, October 27, 2006
"How do you do?"
Dottie is a sweet little knitted kitty cat who is seeking a little adventure and fun overseas. Guess who will be the provider of said adventure and fun?
ME. Of course. Because I'm just chock full of both those things. Right?! But hold on I'm getting ahead of things...
"Across the pond and across the country in 2 days!"
Dottie hails from London. Yep, she has already had a bit of traveling under her knitted belt just to make it here.
"Hi. Let's party."
Dottie came with her own "sleeping bag" (hee hee), two Lion Bars (make that A bar. I just ate one) and a surprise skein of sock yarn from Curious Yarns!
So what is she doing so far away from home?
WELL, Dottie is here as a Travel and Adventure Ambassador on behalf of her mum, who is unable to travel and adventure herself. Just last week Hazel sent out a request for an adoption and I immediately responded. Like her, I agree this will be a very amusing swap. After a small flurry of emails, Dottie was quickly produced, packaged, dispatched, et voila! Here to party!
So for as long as Dottie is having fun, I as her host will be showing her around this grand country of mine, and post photos of her various shenanigans for her owner to see.
It's kind of like stealing your neighbor's garden gnome and sending photos back of him in various locales. Except this was a consentual swap, a drama-free and efficient adoption process. (Madonna probably should have considered adopting a knitted cat as well.) (Wait! I kid!)
"Hmm this loft is a bit of a mess."
Dottie has arrived just in time to spend a drunken last weekend with me in Santa Fe. Lucky girl! This afternoon we'll be doing some Christmas shopping in the Plaza, sipping margaritas and chowing on stuffed chiles at Maria's, and if I'm conscious enough afterwards, we'll get some knitting in before the night is over.
And in just a few days, Dottie will be on an exciting if butt-numbing 4-day road trip through the vast states of Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts - WOW! - before we settle again in Boston where I will introduce her to The Boys, the joys of steamed lobsters, clam chowder, and baked beans 'n molasses.
And, because this trip should be as much instructional as it is gastronomical, I will show her various sites where long ago American insurrectionists laid some whoopass on the Crown of England!
This is going to be a lot fun, and I imagine I'll be taking a lot of pictures of things I normally wouldn't otherwise. Sometimes I'm too lazy to whip out the camera, sometimes I have problems deciding whether a shot is worthwhile, other times I'm too self-conscious. Like taking a photo of your entree at dinner.
Not that photographing a knitted kitty in public won't seem a little odd, but she's an excuse to be just that. I can say, "I'm doing this for a friend! For a good cause!" You know? And hopefully Hazel will enjoy seeing them!
Just a few more hours until we take Dottie out and about. Until then, she surveys her new surroundings: the faux adobe, the brilliant sky and the snow-covered mountains in the distance. Soak it all in Dottie! For we won't be here long! More adventures await...
Filed Under: Postcards from Dottie
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Bleh.
Yet another mismatched pair, using Socks That Rocks. But these socks ain't so rockin'. The manly Poma using size 3 needles turned out much too big, so I decided to try out the stretchy Cable Twist Sock. Now it looks too small. Duck tried both socks and assured the fit was fine for both. Silly man, how is that possible? Meh. I'm not so happy with either at the moment.
And that's all the exciting knitting news I have.
Let's talk food again instead.
Pizza from Uppercrust Pizza, topped with Canandian bacon and duh, green chile.
There are only 5 days left in Santa Fe. 5 days to stuff our faces silly with as much green chile and sopaipillas as possible. Because we sure as hell aren't going to be able to find anything like New Mexican cuisine back home.
Here are our favorite restaurants in SF and our favorite dishes:
Maria's, for their spicy red chile salsa, steak and chile rellenos plate, and of course, their knock-you-out margaritas.
Guadalupe Cafe, for their ancho chiles stuffed with goat cheese and walnuts and smothered with more cheese and more chiles, their sangrias, and most of all, their sopaipillas. I've had sops in half a dozen places are so, and they're not all made the same! Some are too hollow, some are stale, some too crunchy. GC makes theirs with the perfect blend of doughiness and hollowness and crispness. I'm going to miss you guys the most!
Bobcat Bite, for their mouth-watering 10oz hand-ground-on-the-premesis-that-day hamburgers, topped with cheese and green chile of course! We were there for lunch yesterday and yet another small camera crew was on hand, filming back in the kitchen.
Green Chile Burger from Bobcat Bite. And a little grilled chile on the side. HOT!
The Chocolate Maven, for their chile hot chocolate, their desserts, their breakfasts, their sandwiches...
Mu Du Noodles, for their delicious pan-Asian menu, and for when you need a break from another chile-smothered burrito/enchilada/burger.
I'm not ready for a break from the green chile just yet though. Sigh. I'm going to miss those little spicy suckers.
Filed Under: Socks | Travel | Santa Fe
Sunday, October 22, 2006
I love our little Cultural Weekends here in New Mexico. I mean yes, the whole point of CW's has been to experience and see things we've never before, and yet somehow every weekend the new things we experience and see have consistently FAR EXCEEDED our expectations. We're like, ?!!?!!! From little things like the dancing poodle and the sopaipillas to big things like the bat flight, meeting online friends and the chance run-in with tarantulas, every little New Mexican adventures have just been incredible.
This weekend so far has been no exception, even as we stick to Santa Fe. For Sunday brunch we finally went to the famed Chocolate Maven after visiting there several times after work for their spicy chile hot chocolate. We were afraid the wait would be long at this popular joint, but the largish group of people milling around outside wasn't because the place was packed, but because the Food Network was inside filming a segment near the front door. Everyone approaching was asked to wait until they finished.
Giada filming a segment at the Chocolate Maven for her new show, coming in 2007.
Ever watch Everyd@y Italian? I've only seen it a couple of times myself. I'm not sure if it's one of the popular shows on the FoodNetwork but I do know that the host of the show is such a HOTTIE. Icy green eyes, an Audrey Hepburn nose, and rows and rows of perfect teeth. I'm in love! And she was really nice. They were shooting her going through the front door for the "first time," and after about the 20th entrance she yelled nicely to the director, "Can we let these people come in and eat now??"
The waiters and pastry chefs, the manager and owner of the place were all giggly about having the Food Network show up (apparently it was very last minute. The network called Friday to say they were going to be there today to tape), and everyone was excited at the prospect of being on camera.
By pure luck Duck and I got seated at a table near her's, where they would film her ordering hot chocolate and eating homemade granola. The owner said to me, "You might be on camera, will that be OK?" and I was like YEAH HUH!!
It was so interesting to watch the filming process. They had a little discussion as to how the waiter would suggest to her the Mayan Chile Hot Chocolate when she ordered a regular hot chocolate, which would make a nice segue into what a chile hot chocolate was and at the same time, show that that was the bistro's signature drink. She wanted to keep the waiter's explanation of it simple and quick.
"Just say something like, 'It has a lot of spices and comes with a kick', otherwise my audience will just tune out." EEENteresting.
She had a little sip of the hot chocolate (licked her lips afterwards and kept drinking more after the camera stopped rolling), and then a bowl of granola topped with fruit, and after shooting her commentary on that a couple of times, they had the waiters bring around a new mug of hot chocolate and a new bowl of granola for their close-up glamour shots.
Duck and I were sitting sort of behind her table. There were a couple of shots where they had the waiter sweep in from behind me (to serve her the hot chocolate and then the granola) so that with any luck, my frontside and Duck's backside will be on TV!!!! Duck's right earlobe is gonna be famous!
And yes I did manage to appreciate what I was eating in between bites of ogling Giada's movie-star profile. I had Cottage Cakes (pancakes made from less flour and more cottage cheese, and lemon rinds) and Duck had a sandwich consisting of ham, green apples and gruyere. Holy crap it was good. And then to top it all off, at one point Giada -- yes we're on a first-name basis -- turned around, we locked eyes, I grinned, she flashed a gorgeous toothy smile and winked.
HEE HEE HEE PRETTY LADY WINK AT ME!
After they finished filming the eating part, they were going to have Giada get up from her table with the camera following her out of the room. Which meant that I was going to be in the shot again heh heh!
But just at that moment when she swept behind me, I uncontrollably decided to PICK MY NOSE. They did another take, and again I pathologically HAD to touch my nose. And so naturally the camera man decided he didn't want to follow her out the room. She would get up, and instead of following, he would train the camera up and just focus on the pastry chefs working in the adjacent room (you can sort of see the work area behind the glass wall behind where Giada's sitting).
They did that take a couple of times and then the director decided she should wave at the pastry guys as she got up, and they would wave back. Good idea. Except the two pastry chefs were like, actually busy making stuff and couldn't really pay 100% attention to what was going on in the next room. They couldn't get that shot. At least not linearly. She would wave, but then only one of the chefs would see and wave back. Or she would wave, and this time the OTHER chef would wave. Or she would wave, and both of them would ignore her. Ha ha!
So they had to shoot them waving in a separate shot, after she was long gone. They waved to the director, but someone in the editing room will make it look as if they were waving to her.
After our meal, we were at the counter paying for some desserts for dinner at Scout's tonight (the adventures never end!). They were shooting Giada's entrance into Chocolate Maven*again* but before the camera rolled, the camera man leaned over to us and said "Thank you for putting up with us, we really appreciate it." Are you kidding?! It was the most awesome Sunday morning we've ever had!
So this new show is called something like Weekend Getaways with Giada. They're filming a few more restaurants in Santa Fe, and then will head to NYC, Honolulu, Chicago, Cabo, in that order. Not exactly geographically logical, but it seems like fun. Who wouldn't like to travel and eat for a living??
The show doesn't air until sometime in January 2007, so STAY TUNED!
Filed Under: Travel | Santa Fe
Saturday, October 21, 2006
HEE HEE LOOK!
taken from perezhilton.com
She was snapped in front of phildar! (Otherwise, who cares?!)
Filed Under: General Knitting
Friday, October 20, 2006
Well, they're gonna have to. I tried to knit something else, I did. A fast and easy pattern, but I was bored. I just didn't have the motivation to knit it, even though the sock yarn (Socks That Rock) are fast becoming my favorite. So I ripped out what I started and soon there will be another Pomatomus in this world. But for a man. Pomantomus. Heh heh.
Only 10 more days or so til we leave Santa Fe.
I have to admit I am starting to miss home a little. We went to see The Departed (aka The DePAAAHted. GREAT MOVIE by the way) recently and I can't believe I'm saying this but the Boston accents made me all homesick. The indescribable, almost unbearable, barely imitate-able unless you're from Boston, Boston accent. I thought about the state trooper and the city cop who live on either side of our cul-de-sac. They're accents are SO THICK and SO HORRIBLE, I always giggle and wretch at the same time when I hear them talk, but I miss them.
Those crazy Bwohston Myassachooosetts cwawps.
And I miss the boys.
Even if they may not miss me too much.
Filed Under: Cats | Socks | Pomatomus
Thursday, October 19, 2006
6:20 pm:
6:25 pm:
6:27 pm:
Filed Under: Travel | Santa Fe
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Last night:
A bottomless glass of wine, MI-5 and Matthew Macfayden on the tele, and good progress on your second plummy Ripple Weave sock. That's what is called a Perfect Evening. Although, it is a bit of a mental challenge to keep up with the complicated plot, the complicated pattern, while just barely maintaining sobriety. So if you try this at home, proceed with caution!
I wish I had a British accent. I wish I were a spy.
This morning:
Pattern: Ripple Weave Socks from Vogue Knitting Fall 2006
Yarn: Sundara Somewhat Solid sock yarn in "Plum Over Slate", one 350 yd skein with yardage leftover
Needles: US1 dpns
Love the socks, love the yarn. I am all over this twisted ribbing stuff. Are there any more out there, aside from Pomatomus? Maybe I'll sit down one of these days and come up with a twisted rib pattern of my own. Maybe. Til then, I have to think very hard if I will give these away and to whom. Sigh. No one is worthy. No one.
Mods: I did 2.5 chart repeats for the leg. It turns out 350 yds is plenty to have done 3 full repeats. (I have enough leftover which I'll use for cuffs and heels on variegated socks in the future.) I reduced the length of the heel a little bit and therefore picked up fewer - 15 - stitches for the gusset. It was kind of loose on the first RW sock I made. This pair now fits perfectly. On me. So I guess I'll have to keep it.
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks | Ripple Weave
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