Roswell Adventures

As 2013 winds to a close, my thoughts go towards reflection on the year. I try not to dwell on things that happened outside of my control. Rather I like to focus on my actions...and in-actions.  As I travel through a year's worth of reflections, one things stands out. Areas in which I had well-formed, clear-cut goals are the ones I feel better about.  For those areas where I did not have goals set I discovered something interesting. Either I was disappointed in the outcome, because I somehow did not measure up to an unstated goal, or I patted myself on the back for an achievement, which in retrospect was not a very challenging one. One area that really stands out as a disappointment to me is that of setting last year's New Year's Resolution. It was a really good idea - write more cards and letters to those I care about, with a special focus on the women in my life. Oh, I sent lots of cards to my female friends over the course of the year. I especially love to find cards...

I love Brussels sprouts. Of course had you suggested such a concept to me even a dozen years ago, I would have called you crazy. But it is official...I love Brussels sprouts! We have enjoy them a variety of ways... Steamed with a good, aged balsamic vinegar Roasted with olive oil Pan-seared with cranberries and blue cheese Hash...with bacon One day last week I peered into the fridge and noted some bacon and Brussels sprouts.  Mmmmm...hash! But then I noticed I had half a bag of cranberries left. Why not combine the recipes?   I cut the bacon into small chunks and started that cooking while I rinsed, trimmed, and quartered the sprouts. I rinsed and picked through the cranberries and chopped the onion.   When the bacon was cooked, I pulled it out of the pan and sauteed the onion in the bacon fat.   When the onion was translucent, I tossed in the sprouts and cranberries. I sauteed them a few minutes while I boiled so...

So, back before Thanksgiving we looked around at nearly 3 dozen large, ripe tomatoes needing to be used soon. We were heading out of town and knew we could get rid of a dozen or so, but that left us with about two dozen with an unknown future. I remembered talking with my dad about freezing tomatoes and decided to give it a shot. I rinsed the tomatoes and literally just stacked them on the dish towel-covered freezer shelf and left them there. I have since learned that additional prep can be done, but we were literally getting ready to wait for the roads to open so we could leave, so I wasn't up for anything that took much time. I knew I was supposed to wait until they were frozen and then put them in freezer bags, and I had good intentions of following through. However, it was really easy to convince myself that wasn't necessary since they wouldn't be there that long. So I let them set...until today. We really needed the freezer space and decided it would be awesome to ...

The Great Tomato Caper of 2013 started modestly with 6 heirloom tomato plants being planted in 3 straw bales. Expecting a season similar to 2012, Chuck built cages out of bamboo. And after a month or so, the tomato plants broke out of their cages and proceeded to produce pound after pound of tomatoes. We're guessing about 300 pounds of tomatoes...but that is a total shot in the dark as far as estimates go. Right before the first freeze we picked well over 100 pounds of green tomatoes. We fried some up and also made some green tomato pickles. Neither of these impressed me much - but it could be due to the inexperience of the chef. (a.k.a. Me). Here we are in the second week of December, and I was looking around the house at a significant number of red tomatoes - the ones we picked green but decided wanted to ripen. I had to do something, so I looked up into about making tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes...and this is what I morphed those ideas into... I started by slicing two med...

This year's tomatoes grown in straw bales exceeded all expectations! We planted 6 heirloom tomato plants in 3 bales. I only remember one variety - Brandywine. The other two were labeled at their base...but then the plants exploded out of their cages, and we couldn't find the markers.   We harvested over 100 pounds of fruit that we ate fresh - mainly with fresh mozzarella and basil along with olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar. We gave away lots more. Then the weather started to change, and in the middle of November we harvest over 100 pounds of green tomatoes. After giving away many, canning a bunch of green tomato pickles, and trying fried green tomatoes for the first time, we still had tomatoes ripening. So, when we had more than a dozen ripe when we got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Tucson, I had to get busy. I have made pico de gallo many times, I haven't tried a blended fresh salsa...so here goes! Start off by chopping medium-size tomatoes and cut out ...

Winter storms came early to Roswell and all across southeast New Mexico, closing the roads that would have carried us to Tucson for Thanksgiving break. Since our time at home has been extended at least a few hours - and since I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand - I decided to toss together a batch of Christmas Salsa. Christmas Salsa? Does it have pine boughs and holly? Actually, the name comes from the colors. The official question of New Mexico is: Red or Green? This refers to chiles and/or chile sauce. And if you want both, you order "Christmas." So, this Christmas Salsa is red & green...but don't start looking for tomatoes, because you won't find any in this sweet/hot salsa. So, grab your bag of cranberries (red) and your jalapenos (green), and let's go! The first step is to rinse, sort and rough chop your cranberries. Since they like to roll and jump when you cut them, I placed my cutting board inside a jelly roll pan. It really helps...

We love Road Trips! It is refreshing to go new places, meet new people, experience new...well...experiences. It has been a few years since we have had an opportunity to do a real road trip. We didn't expect to be able to fit one in this year, but Chuck has a couple of speaking engagements, so here we go! Day One - we left Roswell at 7:15 AM, anticipating a travel time to Denver of about 8 - 9 hours (depending on stops and such). Well, it didn't quite work out as planned. We did take the route we had mapped out - through Santa Rosa then cut north to Las Vegas, NM. It was a nice drive, and we were able to avoid the freeway most of the way. We had an early lunch at in Las Vegas, NM. They make their own tortillas (I cant indulge because of the gluten-thing, but they smell great)! We had green chile cheeseburgers (I brought my own bread along) and fries. The food was really good, the service excellent, and it's just a neat place to hang out for a while. The trip went smoo...

When we purchased our Roswell home last spring, we moved into a beautifully re-done house built in 1955. The yard, however, looked every bit like a construction site. Odd pieces of construction debris lying around - or lying in wait for us to dig a hole to plant something. Hard pan ground that laughed at us when we tried digging it up...alternating with sections of pea gravel as deep as 6 inches. Crab grass moving in from under the fence. After a while we discovered there was more to the yard than we thought. Springing out of this seemingly lifeless dirt were scores of baby elm and locust trees, springing up from the roots of trees, most of which were long dead. So, we began a program to remove roots from our yard. I think the roots were laughing right along with the hard ground. Earlier this week I decided to dig up a root that had been sending up little ones on the side of the house. I uncovered the offending root rather quickly. However, just as quickly I discovered t...

My adventure in Roswell started on Memorial Day in 2011 when I moved here from Tucson, AZ. A lot has happened since then... A job at new Mexico Military Institute... A new house...and all that goes with it... Expanding my cooking repertoire to include green chiles and jalapenos... And I will be sharing this and more in the weeks to come :)