davepolaschek

Wood. Food. More.

Sunset over Eldorado at Santa Fe, 29.

It seems like it’s been quite a while since we’ve had a normal #sunset here. Between the smoke from the fires, and then the storm last night, there was always something. But tonight we got back to normal, after a fairly normal day. There was a storm that threatened around 5pm, but all we got here was some wind.

Sometimes normal can be awfully nice.

#photography #NewMexico

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Sun setting behind rain viewed from our veranda.

A storm hit just before #sunset tonight. The rain is super welcome since we just finished working compost into the area where we’re going to put in some plants tomorrow.

The sunset was kinda pretty, too.

#photography #NewMexico

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Two chicken enchiladas with sauce and cheese, resting on a glass plate, which is resting on an oak table.

Made some chicken enchiladas this evening. They came out pretty tasty. More Minnesota heat than New Mexico heat, which suits our palates just fine.

Enchiladas are a two part meal (three if you’re making your own tortillas, but I’m not that hardcore yet). Filling is meat or cheese or beans, which gets wrapped up in tortillas, and then covered in sauce and cheese.

The #recipe for the filling was just basic taco meat seasoning, with some sautéed chicken. We make our own, but the packets of taco seasoning from the grocery store are fine, too.

The sauce is something I’ve never made before, though I’ve done a lot of sauces. A couple chiles and some diced onions, sautéed until they were nice and tender (I should’ve had roasted chiles, since it’s that time of year, but I’m out); four tomatoes from the neighbor’s garden, chopped up pretty good; a teaspoon of garlic; and a cup of chicken broth. Put it all in a saucepan, cook for a while, then hit it with the stick blender to smooth it. It wasn’t thickening as quickly as I liked, so it got a heaping teaspoon of corn flour to encourage it. It was a more tomato-y sauce than you get at most places in New Mexico, and it had a little more heat than you see at places in Minnesota, so I figure I did ok.

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Made these to go with dinner tonight. I got the spice just about right, so I want to save the #recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ C finely chopped onion
  • 2 roasted green chiles or poblanos, seeded and diced
  • 2 cups diced zucchini
  • 2 cups diced summer squash
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Directions

  • Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
  • Add onion; cook, stirring, until soft, about 4 minutes.
  • Add zucchini, summer squash, peppers, and salt; cover and cook, stirring once or twice, until tender, about 3-5 minutes.
  • Remove from the heat and stir in cilantro (if using).

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Three small loaves of poblano corn bread sitting on the cooling rack on a brown granite counter

Made some bread this morning. The #recipe was:

  • 2 C bread flour
  • 1 C corn flour, plus a couple tablespoons while shaping the loaves
  • ¼ C minced roasted poblano peppers, seeds removed (about 4 peppers)
  • 1 Tbs bacon fat
  • 1 Tbs dark wildflower honey
  • 1 Tbs bread machine yeast
  • ½ Tbs salt
  • 1½ C water

Throw it all into the stand mixer and mix it on low until it comes together as a dough, then increase the speed to medium and knead for 10 minutes.

Let proof in the mixing bowl until doubled in size. Turn out onto the (floured) counter and punch it down. Divide into three equal parts and roll into small loaves and place into three small greased loaf pans.

Let rise until the top is just spilling over the top of the loaf pans. Bake for 22 minutes in a 425F oven and turn out onto a cooling rack to cool.

Once cooled, enjoy!

This has (just) enough heat that you can tell there’s peppers in there, but the #bread still tasted great wrapping a ham and cheese sammich.

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We spent a bunch at the local Farmers Market yesterday. Got tomatoes, peppers, and a bunch of other goodies. Then supplemented them with a trip to the grocery store today for some green onions and cilantro. Mixed up a batch of salsa that’s pretty tasty to us! Here’s a picture of our “taster bowl” which didn’t last very long…

And this morning, our neighbor who has been leaving us care packages of tomatoes said he has more than he can eat again, so we should expect a visit with more garden-fresh tomatoes later today.

Guess we’ll be making more goodies!

#NewMexico

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It was an interesting #sunset tonight. The smoke gave us a big red ball setting to the horizon, but a thicker layer of smoke caused the sun to disappear from view before it dropped behind the distant mountains, which you can just see in the photo.

The sun sets by going behind a layer of smoke

Even on the evenings when the sunset isn’t the most beautiful, it still manages to be interesting.

#photography

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Smoky sunset over Eldorado at Santa Fe

The #sunset the past few evenings hasn’t been much to look at. Mostly the smoke from distant fires has blocked it out for the last half hour or so before the sun actually set behind the mountains.

Tonight the sun managed to peek through for a few minutes, dimmed enough by the smoke that it was possible to look directly at it. Don’t see that too often around here.

#photography

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Today we went up to the Dalton Picnic Area on the Pecos River for a picnic lunch to celebrate my birthday.

The Pecos River near the Dalton Picnic Area

I was a little worried that the smoke from the Medio Fire would make it too smoky up there, but the winds were in our favor, and the air was fairly clear.

Smiling by the river

It wasn’t anything too fancy. A couple bowls of food (I had a chef’s salad, and my sweetie had a bowl of rice, beans, corn, chicken and salsa) from the deli at the local grocery store, and a couple Mexican cokes to drink.

“There’s a pine cone on my head!”

We ate our lunches, put the cooler back in the truck, took a few photos to commemorate the day, and then headed home.

“It’s pretty out here”

We need to get out like that more often. It was good for our spirits.

Grinning by the river

#photography #NewMexico

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The sunflowers around here are in bloom lately. The Mexican sunflowers for about a month, but the sunflowers I’m used to seeing from other parts of the country have started blooming this week, too.

Here’s one that’s growing in the ditch near our house.

Sunflower blooming along the side of our street

#photography #plant

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