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I was relaying airmac's note to my husband and he was like... "then what do they call chili"??? lol
Yeah, up here their 'hot sauce' is akin to pizza sauce or so laden with cilantro you can't taste anything else. And con Queso - forget it. They look at me like i'm speaking a foriegn language. I'm looking forward to the New Mex food and at least I'll be a bit closer to TX so maybe I can sneak in once in a while. MMMMM real mexican food... and sunshine... what a combo. We'll be in heaven.
Looks like our trip is getting moved to May instead of June. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Soggyinseattle,
I live in Salem, Oregon and I can definitely relate to the "sogginess" you feel. We have had rain for two weeks straight. At least living in Seattle, you have things to do...it's so boring here, watching paint dry is fun!
SoggyInSeattle, New Mexican cuisine is completely unique. It isn't mexican, Tex-mex, Californian, etc. New Mexico cuisine is a halfbread between Mexican and Native American. Our Chiles are local and are only used in NM (for the most part). If you are looking for a good ole bowl of Texas Chili, then you will be dissapointed. If you are looking for a spicy, interesting cuisine completely different than the rest of the world, you will be superbly happy!!!!
They're not kidding about the sunshine. I moved here from Florida because I wanted MORE sunshine. I didn't need sunscreen in FL, but boy do I need it here!
New Mexico was the original "Sunshine State", before Florida. Soggy, just remember to bring plenty of sunscreen and a hat and shades. Not only do we have lots of sunshine, but we are also at minimum 1 mile above sea level (most of metro ABQ), and if you venture north to Santa Fe, you'll be closer to 6,000 feet. That puts you a LOT closer to the sun. I have to admit..on those rare cloudy days, I get depressed. I love having a sunny day, even if it's cold or windy.
lol soggy.....we had sunshine too today. For Saturday, we have the same forecast as you..but so far, Sunday looks promising It might even hit 60 degrees wooohooo!
SoggyInSeattle, New Mexican cuisine is completely unique. It isn't mexican, Tex-mex, Californian, etc. New Mexico cuisine is a halfbread between Mexican and Native American. Our Chiles are local and are only used in NM (for the most part). If you are looking for a good ole bowl of Texas Chili, then you will be dissapointed. If you are looking for a spicy, interesting cuisine completely different than the rest of the world, you will be superbly happy!!!!
Some good intentioned friends of mine took me out to a 'New Mexican' restaurant in Northern Virginia (don't laugh...yet) for my birthday. I was still in Chantilly High School at the time, and didn't realize just how unique the cuisine I grew up with was. I excitedly scanned the menu for some favorites and spotted a combo plate with a 'Special Santa Fe' sauce. Wow! My home town... I don't remember any Santa Fe special sauces, but how bad could it be? I ordered it along with posole (a soup made from hominy with a blend of local spices and bits of pork. A favie of mine, I now use it as a measure of how serious a 'New Mexican' restaurant a place is, because it's easy to do this one fast and very wrong.) and a sopapilla (a pillow of chewy dough that's considered a desert. We generally rip the 'pillow' open and throw a little honey in.).
My first clue that something was awry was the white sauce drizzled over my burrito and flour tortilla enchiladas. My great Aunt actually wrote a book about New Mexico cuisine and I've had quite a few local meals over the years. I can't say I EVER had a white sauce on a burrito. Think 'Cool Ranch Dorito' seasoning mixed into a cream of mushroom base and you'll have some sensation of the horror that was creeping over my burrito, tacos and rogue enchilladas like a scene from The Blob. The posole looked and tasted exactly like egg drop soup (maybe it could've used some Special Santa Fe sauce.) and when the sopapilla arrived it wasn't a golden, fluffy pillow, but a deep fried flat tortilla with an illegal amount of cinnamon glommed on in a sort of dark honey glaze thing.
I learned two things that fateful night in a sad relic of an white adobe mission in Manasas:
One: never order New Mexican favorites outside of the state without being willing to accept whatever arrives and if you have the huevos to do so, keep it basic. ie: I'd like the two taco combo plate and could you please hold the 'Fiesta de Santa Fe zestamundo extreme' sauce?
And B: 'Santa Fe' is a marketing buzzword that is regularly used for things that have nothing to do with Santa Fe. Ordering anything 'Santa Fe' expecting a connection to our local cuisine is like buying an 'Eddie Bauer' edition truck at a used car lot and expecting Eddie Bauer to be in the truck. I don't actually know who Eddie Bauer is, but he's apparently quite the woodsman and to the best of my knowledge, does not come with any of the products he endorses.
Finally, yukon mentioned disappointment with the ubiquitous red chile that's served in this area. I never eat it as just a bowl but as an embellishment to something else:
drizzled over fritos with cheese and onions
drizzled over two over easy eggs
drizzled over a carne adovada burrito (oh, I'm getting hungry now...)
note the extensive use of the word 'drizzled'. I love the stuff. I would eat dried rabbit pellets drizzled in the stuff: "They're crunchy with that zesty northern New Mexico punch you have to try to believe!". Ok, that last part was a slight exaggeration, but you get my point.
> ... I'd kill for a good Tex Mex restaurant here, with real Texas chili.
What about those Texas chain restaurants along I-25 near Jefferson?
I bet you can get some good stuff there.
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Soggy too
I didn't need sunscreen in FL, but boy do I need it here!
Soggy too
