On the road again

Traveling is really an extended opportunity, in my mind, to eat. And as I am once more working out of town, I intend to take full advantage. This time I have a per diem, which really makes it a kind of moral necessity. So here once more, I will document these notches on my steak knife, as it were, sharing with you my tales of gastronomic conquest.

I just finished driving 1400 miles in 36 hours and I am incredibly proud of my little bucket of bolts for having done such a stellar job. You’d never guess it to look at her but she is a trooper!

The first leg of my journey took me to Albuquerque where I stayed with my dear friend Knykir whom I have not seen for far too long. She lives with my friend Kim and over the back fence from her sister Maren who lives with Kim's sister and nephew, a cozy arrangement! When I arrived at dawn, Maren had just done a rather unfortunate faceplant from her bike into the driveway and snapped off half her front tooth and cut up her face rather badly! She was looking as lovely as always (with the addition of her flesh wounds, that is) and assured me it was "no big deal". She gave me a warm hug and invited me to go to the parade the next morning then wandered home in a bit of a daze, shrugging off attempts to take her to the hospital.

Upon waking the next afternoon, I wanted to take Kim and Knykir out for a bite to thank them for being such lovely hosts. They were all set to refuse when I reminded them that I had a car (a convenience they have been without for some time) and that we could go anywhere and I really would love to sample some New Mexican cuisine. They shared a conspiratorial glance and said in unison, "The Range Cafe!"

We arrived and ordered combo platters, I ordered one and they ordered one to share. Kim carefully chose which chile sauces to go on which items and me, the newbie, had to order the NM classic "christmas"(meaning both red and green chile sauces on everything) on general principles. What a plateful! 2 beef enchiladas, a chicken tamale and a chile relleno with a thick blue cornmeal crust. Each was a paragon of excellence, a recipe perfected over decades. Bold flavors and subtle nuances intertwined in perfect focus, iconic flavors playing hide and seek amongst each other. The classic red enchilada sauce was a new highmark for me. The green chile sauce was redolent of smoke and fire. There is something magical that happens when you fire-roast a green chile and when you start with the best NM chiles and prepare them perfectly, magic barely begins to describe it. The blue corn crust on the relleno was a revelation. The contrasting textures of the coarse-ground deep-fried cornmeal and the barely-done snap of the chile was exquisite. Luckily, I had remembered my lactase enzyme so I didn't even need to leave ALL of the cheese on the plate and savored the rare pleasure of gooey cheese! The tamale was perfumed with the corn leaf it had been steamed in to point of having almost sarsparilla overtones! Exquisite!

Whilst wrapping our mouths around these moist forkfuls, the elderly woman who had been sitting behind us sidled up to our booth, gripping the sides of the table with both hands. She had remarked (loudly) on Knykir's t-shirt as we seated ourselves and seemed to greet us as old friends. We had exchanged pleasantries and settled into our respective tables. Now standing at our table, she launched into a verse of "Yes, We Have No Bananas". She looked like she was attempting to channel Rita Hayworth as she eyed us all in a manner that can only be called seductively. The three of us exchanged a shared glance of mystification and we turned back to her. She explained that she had been singing and playing piano at the local veteran's hospital ("Three hours... Every week!) and concluded, "They are a VERY appreciative audience" with a rather lewd eyebrow wiggle punctuating that VERY in way that left some question as to what exactly it was she was talking about, but certainly alluded to something we weren’t sure we were comfortable imagining. After suppressing our giggles that almost erupted after another shared glance of mystification, she bid us adieu as her 50-something daughter looked on with a look of apologetic embarrassment.

We returned to their place and as I gathered my things to get on the road again, they gave me samples of the baked goods they have been making for a local café. They were devoured so quickly no photographic evidence remains but each was more delicious than the last. A raspberry streusel bar, a pumpkin cheesecake loaf and a banana-blueberry bread. All accompanied by an iced chai from their secret recipe. I could taste the cardamom but couldn’t pick out the NM red chile until Kim pointed it out to me. Warm hugs ensued and I hit the road once more.