dehydrate

Red chile powder, black pepper, garlic powder and salt.



Seasoned meat and cookie press.



Jerky strips




4 hours later its ready.

Santa gave me a food dehydrator for christmas. I know it sounds jerky but hey. Two of my cousins went hunting and they each bagged an elk so there was plenty of it to go around. I used three pounds of ground elk to make these batches. I actually used two dehydrators each filled this full, had to, elk is hard to come by in NYC.



4 big bags of chile each with its own flavor and degree of heat, each from a different part of New Mexico, my folks take chile seriously.

sunsets

Sunrises, sunsets, luminarias and snacks.

haaku

Haaku is the word the Natives were told to shout into the canyon and when the word echoed back they would know that they had found the place to live. (you actually dont shout it but say it to the area and see if the area responds) it does.





Lava bed - actually called the Malpais Lava beds. This lava obviously flowed and it flowed many many miles, this is what fits in the frame we are surrounded by lava, but lava with scrub brush grown over, remember its over 15,000 years since it last erupted.



These are Bridal Ladders set up for the tourists.




The corrals are up against the cliff...makes sense

Tired of the Past?

This was today. We went to Coney Island for our yearly trek.

Hongos

The Rio Grande, the one and only that everyone sings about stretches from its starting point way up north with the Colorado River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and flows through my hometown of Bosque Farms, New Mexico. I found these mushrooms along the bosque near the river.






HONGO-It means fungus but it was also the word my grandmother used to describe mushrooms and until I was old enough to know better there were mushrooms and there were these guys- hongos-that grew on the trees in the winter and fall and mushroomy as they are they were hongos she would have me shimmy up the tree and get them, little did I know the 'shimmy' was about 6 feet up. (my granny was old and tiny)I found pounds of them and they are so good and meaty with the same texture as shitake and flavor that is mild and earthy, they can be dried and reconstituted too. We ate these as quesadillas with some of those fresh tortillas and melted cheese with green chile.