Visions of Santa Fe

Whoever thought of sticking a three day weekend onto the beginning of summer and again at the end of the summer was a genius.  Period. And what is it about having just that one extra day off that makes everyone want to take a mini vaca?  The traffic heading north on I-25 yesterday tells me I am not alone in this.  If you kick off summer in the desert with Memorial Day in Vegas, then you might as well end it in the desert as well. And while Vegas is the desert, it hardly seems like it with it's artificial landscaping and imported palm trees.  Santa Fe on the other hand--it's all southwestern desert.

Santa Fe's Farmer's market is touted as one of the top 10 Farmer's Market in the nation. That is enough to bring a girl tears of joy. 

Finding out it's only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays is enough to bring tears of sorrow. What's that about anyway? We settled for all of the artisan markets and that legendary Santa Fe Art. Santa Fe is definitely an art lover's mecca.  Take a drive up Canyon Road and you pass gallery, after gallery, after gallery. 

A long day in the hot New Mexico sun calls for a stop at a local shop for some frozen refreshments. 

Mock me for spoiling this puppy if you will, but just try and deny how cool this yogurt is. Puppies need acidophilus too and it's best served up blueberry and vanilla bean style.

And while it wasn't an art mecca for me necessarily, it was a pilgrimage of another sort.....

The hour spent within this store could quite possibly have been the happiest hour in a long time.  Sad, but true.  I have a TJs receipt total that surpasses all of the expeneses of the entire trip that testifies to the joy found within. And I was the good one.

 "Why, oh why can't we have a Trader Joes in Colorado?!?!?!" whined the crazy woman who buys her dog frozen yogurt.

Road trips are just plain exhausting.  It's good to be home.

Hope everyone had a phenomenal and safe Labor Day Weekend!

Thai Tea Ice Cream

I was in the mood to give the thai tea cupcakes another try when the temp soared into the 90s. Definitely not baking weather. So instead, I opted for a cooler version of a thai tea treat and gave ice cream a shot. While the cupcakes need another round of experimentation, the ice cream was a hit from the start. We finished off the entire batch without blinking. I take a certain consolation in saying we finished rather than I finished. Without company, I would have finished off the ice cream myself. Unlike the cupcakes which had a mild tea flavor, the ice cream was like eating a frozen version of the drink--yummy.

Thai Tea Ice Cream

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup thai tea leaves

2 egg yolks

Heat milk in a saucepan until it simmers; remove from heat and add thai tea leaves. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain milk and tea mixture through a mesh strainer and again through a yogurt strainer to filter the fine pieces out. Pour back into saucepan and add cream, sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks. Whisk. Return to med heat and cook for 5 mins stirring constantly. Chill in refrigerator until cold and process according to ice cream maker instructions.

Cookbook # 68 Cook Yourself Thin Faster

I don't know why I have this cookbook, except that I've caught the show a few times and really enjoyed it.  Nothing earth shattering--it's all pretty common sense changes to make the recipes a bit healthier.  Sadly, none of the recipes acknowledge the beauty of chia.  I fixed that.

The cookbook promises over 75 new recipes I can make in a flash.  While it was the White Pizza with Roasted Mushrooms and Pineapple Mojitos recipes that caught my eye--I gave into the siren call of the lemons on my counter. On one hand, anything with lemon is divine.  On the other hand, I can't get enough raspberries when they are in season.  Put your hands together and you have Raspberry Lemon Tea cake.  Sigh.

 

It all starts off with a bit of chia seed gel (pureed instead of whole this time) and a bit of yogurt straining.

Raspberry Lemon Tea Cake

Adapted from Cook Yourself Thin Faster

1 ½ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
¾ cup strained plain yogurt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
1 pint raspberries, washed
1/3 cup pureed chia gel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Oil and flour loaf pan
In a small bowl whisk dry ingredients
In a medium bowl whisk yogurt, eggs, vanilla, sugar and lemon zest. Stir in dry ingredients taking care not to over-mix. Fold in raspberries and finally, chia gel.
Transfer batter to baking pan and bake for 50-55 mins or until golden. Cool for 5 mins before running a knife around edges and flipping loaf onto cooling rack.

A Little Bit Dramatic

Could this turn into one of those blogs where I post pictures of my pets ad naseum?  Potentially.  But trust me here--these pics of are far more compelling then a picture of the takeout chopsticks accumulating on my counter, which would be the extent of my food experiences recently.  If I actually were to do a food post, it would be about this fascinating:

Night one: order takeout from Sushi Kazu

Night two: order takeout from Pho Saigon

Night three: order takeout from Thai Lotus

Nights four through six: Consider throwing Hoong's Palace into the mix, but instead repeat above cycle.  Again.  And again.  And again.

In the puppy world, we did attend our first Super Puppy class this morning. Girlfriend is Mensa material.  I'm just saying is all. 

Socially, it was a whole 'nother story.  As we passed pups around the circle to socialize them to people, someone asked "Is Brooklyn is going to be all right?" And there she was shaking uncontrollably in some stranger's arms while her dramatic mama had tears in her eyes.  We'll see if Brooklyn or Mary toughens up first. I'd put your money on Brooklyn. 

Puppy class is exhausting.

Brooklyn Soho Midtown Bronx

I know, it's been awhile but I really do have a good excuse this time around.  Or a couple of mediocre excuses at least.  See, About a month ago, I gave my notice.  A couple of weeks ago, I started a new job.  That's a lot in and of itself.  And just this week, a new roommate moved in. 

While some roommates are helpful, Brooklyn is not.  In fact, she's quite a bit of work.  But as she reminded me...when I was 9 weeks old, I was far from perfectly trained myself.  We'll let her play her cuteness card for a bit.