Viva Las Vegas, New Mexico

Between my parents visiting for 11 days and working a lot, I haven't had time to catch up on blog posts.  We all had a wonderful time with my parents and their dog Shiloh visiting.  They enjoyed their time in Santa Fe and we miss them already.

During their visit, my parents got to experience all of Santa Fe's Spring weather:  warm sunny, cool sunny, windy, breezy, really windy, light rain, hard rain, graupel, thunderstorms, and some dramatic cloudy skies.











We took them all over downtown Santa Fe and to our favorite local restaurants, including Whoo's Donuts, which is definitely in my top 15 favorite things about Santa Fe. Maybe in the top 10 because their Boston Cream donuts (top row) are to die for as is their Dulce de Leche (third row).

Now that we are all hungry, let's move on to some sightseeing reports------














One of the nearby towns I have wanted to visit is Las Vegas, NM, located about an hour from Santa Fe on the east side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  So my parents and I took a day trip to do some sightseeing.  Las Vegas is a great historic downtown with shops, restaurants, museums, and a town plaza.

Las Vegas, NM train depot 

Historic fire station

Historic Kiva Theater

Las Vegas has an amazingly intact historic Fred Harvey hotel right next to the train depot.  It's called the Hotel Casteñada and is being rehabilitated for use as a hotel again.  I can't wait to see the completed project in a year or two.  This photo only shows half of the building, the building is U-shaped with another wing.

Many films and movies were filmed in Las Vegas
including one of my favorites--the Coen brothers movie "No Country for Old Men" at the Plaza Hotel.  











Currently, the TV series "Longmire" is being filmed again in Las Vegas and Santa Fe.  You may recognize this building as the county courthouse in the show, which takes place in Durant, WY (left half of building).  On the right half of the building is ThreadBear Quilt Shop.

Such a bonus to have a wonderful quilt shop in a wonderful historic downtown.  I love the large quilt block in the display windows and their beautiful intact storefront.  

I just loved this shop and hope to return again soon.  They have a good varied selection of fabrics, patterns, & notions; friendly staff; good prices; and a good selection of knitting supplies and yarn too.

Mom and I were lucky to find some older French General lines for projects we are working on.  Mom picked out some French General fabrics for a new project she is working on (a Bunny Hill snowman quilt). And I snagged some sought-after Rouenneries to make a new purse.

More sightseeing on the next post but I'll end this one with a photo of Shiloh.

Tourist Season Begins

May is the start of tourism season in Santa Fe. From now through the Fall, artists markets, the Santa Fe Opera season, numerous festivals, and cultural events bring tens of thousands of tourists to town.  The biggest event is the third week in August when 150,000 people come to the Santa Fe Indian Art Market, the largest Native arts market in the world.  Wow! That's a lot of people for a town of approx. 68,000 residents.  I am looking at that with some trepidation let me tell you.  Being new residents to Santa Fe, we are having fun exploring all there is to see and do in town.

Our own little tourist season at Casa Stella Bella Quilts has started this month too.  This past week, E. (Mr. SBQ's son) arrived from Georgia and spent a week site-seeing around town and sampling a lot of wonderful New Mexican food.  I joked that I was going to have E. eat his weight in green chile before he left LOL!  We had breakfast burritos at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market, huevos rancheros at the Burrito Company, fajitas on the Plaza, and green chile cheeseburgers just to name a few examples.  (Good thing we did a lot of walking to and from downtown to wear off all that food LOL!)

My favorite dish is Salvadoran-- steak pupusa and chicken tamale in a banana leaf

We also went to Tune Up Cafe, one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants a short walk from our house. YUM!

Tres leches cake which we started devouring before I remembered to take a photo

Santa Fe is home to about 10 wonderful museums right in town.   We are slowing making our way through them.  On a gorgeous Friday afternoon, we took E. to visit the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. A short distance from downtown is Museum Hill, where several museums and the botanical garden are grouped together.  This makes a great way to see lots in a day or a few exhibits here and there. The Indian arts museum has an amazing permanent collection of Pueblo Indian pottery and we saw two special exhibits--Native American Portraits (historic photographs including some by Edward Curtis) and Turquoise, Water, Sky (an amazing exhibit of turquoise jewelry). No photographs allowed inside but here's some photos of the sculptures and gardens outside.

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

I just love these yellow flowering shrubs. They smell wonderful.  It's called Spanish broom and is grown a lot around town.

View from Museum Hill.
















We were sad to see E. go back to Georgia after a fun-filled week.  Hope he can visit again soon.

Time to prepare for our next guests.  This Friday, my parents are coming from Michigan for a two week visit with their travel trailer and their dog Shiloh.  I can't wait!  During their visit, we'll be celebrating my mom's retirement and her birthday weekend too.  I'll post photos of our adventures and hopefully some quilt shop visits (wink!)

Still Life: A Quiet December

Quilt Blocks:  pieced blocks from the pattern "A Long Road Home" by Red Crinoline Quilts
Tea:  Allegro's Organic Breakfast Blend with a smidgen of honey
Cookies: one of my absolute favorites -- Chewy Sugar Cookies #2 from Food 52

Savannah Trip

 Well I am still two weeks behind on everything so I'll go ahead and post photos of my Savannah trip from two weeks ago :)

S. and I escaped for the weekend (Sept. 7th-Sept. 9th) for a very relaxing trip to Savannah.  

It was the best kind of trip, no where to be at a certain time, no place in particular to go, we have both been to Savannah numerous times so it was fun to just walk around and enjoy the end-of-summer weather and eat lots of good food. 

Savannah is the most walkable place in Georgia.  

I think it one of the prettiest places too. 

River Street

Gen. James Oglethorpe monument in Chippewa Square

 Savannah is famous in recent pop culture as the location for movies, books, ghost tours, food, famous people on the Food Channel, St. Patrick's Day green beer festival, etc. etc.

Savannah is also famous among architectural history and urban planning geeks for its historic plan (1733) that is laid out into squares. 
This is one of the best aspects of Savannah in my opinion. 






 Along with amazing architecture. 

Congregation Mickve Israel (est. 1733, building dates to 1878)

Savannah Row Houses

 

Colonial Cemetery (est. 1750)

Colonial Cemetery 

This ice cream is TO DIE FOR!!!  Coffee Chocolate Chip with Hot Fudge

One of my favorite houses

More from NC Trip--Places to Stop

On the way to Snowbird, we always stop in Franklin, North Carolina, to have lunch and do some shopping in the historic downtown. Franklin is a great little town.  We were very sad to see that our favorite restaurant, The Frog and Owl, had closed and a sandwich shop and gift shop called Rosebud Cottage replaced it.  We ate there and the sandwiches were good. We also found out that the owners of the Frog and Owl had opened an Italian restaurant (Rana Rinata) just outside of downtown so we'll have to try that next time. Some of the antique stores had closed.  The wonderful yarn shop, Silver Threads & Golden Needles, was still on Main Street.  There is a great bookstore called Books Unlimited with new and used books and a bookshop cat.  I picked up a Dr. Seuss book for Mackenzie there.

 Franklin also has a great quilt shop called Deb's Cats n Quilts.  The shop had expanded and added an addition since I was there in March 2010. 

In the lower level addition, there was a huge selection of reproduction and Moda fabrics, lots of samples, and a huge classroom space.

 The shop also is a participant in the western NC quilt trail program. We saw lots of other quilt blocks on barns as we traveled to Snowbird. 


I highly recommend a stop by the shop if you are in the area.  The staff is friendly and they have a large selection of cat (and dog) fabric. 








Of course I *had* to help out a local business.  Here are my purchases--on the left, all of this was from the sale area (bonus!) and on the right, some Civil War reproductions for the FWQAL & CW BOW I'm working on.

 On the way home, we stopped by a great big farm stand north of Gainesville, Georgia, called Jaemor's Farm. I loaded up a cart full of peaches, blueberries, blackberries, lady peas, cantaloupe, and mayhaw jelly.  Some peach fried pies to take home and some of the most super awesome peach ice cream rounded out the trip.   

Freezing Cold Atlanta

OK who forgot to pay the heating bill for the metro area?  It is f....r...e...e...z...i..n...g!  Yesterday, I don't think it got above 40 F.  Last night I made matzo ball soup and cookies to help warm up the kitchen.

I also discovered a new use for blue painter's tape--taping the edges of drafty windows and taping dish towels to window sills to keep the wind out. A five second fix. Although it would look better if the tape was color-coordinated to my kitchen.  I think I'll ring up Martha and suggest she do a line of painter's tape for Home Depot.    

Fun Weekend

Halloween b-day cake!

It's my b-day weekend! And I'm having lots of fun watching movies, hanging out with friends, and of course, fabric, food, and cake are all in there somewheres too.

Sarah (no blog), Karin and Becky

Melisa at Sweet Home Quilt Co. was having a big sale on her porch.  Lots of quilters and Silver Thimble members showed up to stock up on patterns, books, and fabric. I bought some yardage for backings and a kit on sale.


S., E. and I went to Fox Bros. BBQ last night to celebrate my birthday.  I love barbecue and have several favorite BBQ joints around the metro area.  Fox Bros. is Texas-style BBQ and is always packed (you have to get there early or wait and wait and wait). 

A pint of local brew and fried dill pickles with ranch sauce--YUM!

E. had beef short ribs (looks more like something from the Flintstones!!), fried okra and Frito pie (Frito chips, chili, and cheese served in the little bag).

I think I'll eat salad all next week!

 S. had chopped pork and I had chopped beef brisket.  Their mac n' cheese is wonderful, the jalapeno cornbread with honey butter is to die for, and so is their banana pudding (made with real custard instead of box pudding). We left stuffed and with lunch for later. I had my banana pudding for breakfast :)


Last night we watched the movie Zombieland. It's a very funny movie (if you like zombie movies) and was filmed in Georgia so it was fun identifying all the locations.

Hope everyone is having a great October weekend!!!!

Fall Baking!

On your mark
Get set
Start your baking engines ovens!
With the cooler weather here in the ATL, I start thinking of all my favorite cool weather foods--stews, roasts, breads, roasted root vegetables, and any sort of baked goodies and anything apple.

If you add oatmeal, you can call anything breakfast.

I found some delish organic Bartlett pears at the market last weekend.  After sitting them out for a few days until they were perfectly ripe, I made a crisp with the pears and some local Gala apples.

To make this dessert even more healthy, I added a couple of handfuls of rolled oats to the brown sugar-butter-flour-cinnamon topping. 


This recipe is super fast and super easy--slice up some pears and apples to fit your dish (I used 5 pears and 2 apples but use whatever you want), add 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, couple sprinkles of cinnamon, 1/2 cup cold butter cut into little cubes, couple handfuls of rolled oats.  I pulsed this a couple times in my food processor and poured it on.  You can cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blenders or fork or mush it around with your hands if you feel like it.
Bake at 350F for about 25-30 min. Eat warm with a big spoon.  Vanilla bean ice cream or fresh whipped cream would make this even better I bet.

Recipe based on apple crisp recipe in The Joy of Cooking. Pears and oats are my additions.

Nearly Mid-Week Randomness

Oh I wish it was Friday!! Not much happening around here. Morpheus is doing much better and I haven't told him that he gets to go back to the vet on Friday (another car ride!). The vet wants to make sure Morph's tooth extraction site is healing OK. Morph is much too clever for his own good and it has been series of tricks to get him to take his antibiotic (liquid and yucky tasting I'm sure).

Gomez is waiting for the next quilt project. I need to work on my jelly roll BOMs and Scrappy Nines so look for more Gomez helping fun soon.

We have been eating vats of homemade salsa.
Another great use for Vidalia onions and tomatoes! Just chop up tomatoes (these are Romas and yellow-ones-I-don't-know-the-name-of and I leave the seeds out), onions, jalapeno peppers (de-seed these too), fresh cilantro, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and just a smidge of a smidge of sugar. Mix well and let sit for a bit for the flavors to meld. Eat tons with tortilla chips because it's veggies and good for you! Still no rain here so I don't know how much longer the tomatoes will continue.

I keep forgetting to post a photo of my make-do bird bath for Becky (Quilting Booklady). If you look close (and ignore the fact that I took this from inside the house), there is a robin splashing around in there. S. created this bird bath by stacking some large clay pots and 2 clay saucers. Easy to clean and fill. No cost because we already had the pots. We have seen lots of bluebirds, robins, blue jays, and even squirrels splashing around.
My cats are inside-only cats so they enjoy watching from the windows.

Randomness over and out!

Of BLOTs and Blueberries

Well it's another scorcher of a weekend (week, month, summer) here in the ATL. I am staying inside where it is much too hot to clean house but tolerable to sew all day. After getting the electric bill last month, I bumped the A/C up (?) down(?) whatever it is to 80F.

Along with lots more sewing now during this one-job time, I do a lot more cooking and baking (still to hot to clean house though...). The Stella Bella Organics Recession Garden: Year Two is looking rather heat-blasted except for the tomatoes which are coming in pretty steady. The catnip is even too dry to eat so no catnip for Gomez.

One of my absolute favorite meals in the summer is BLOTs. Now you may be familiar with plain old BLTs (bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches). Here in Georgia, one of our state specialties is Vidalia onions. The best onion on the planet! It's a sweet onion only grown in south Georgia and its name is trademarked. Hence BLOTs--bacon, lettuce, onion, and tomato sandwiches. Here's my version
Cook bacon until done but not too crispy. Slice up a Vidalia onion into thin slices. Slice a tomato into rounds. I used a yellow tomato fresh from the garden. Make sure you use good bread and toast it. Layer bread, bacon, lettuce, onion, and tomato. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. And voila! Dinner or lunch or breakfast. I like to eat it while the bread is still warm. I don't use mayo or butter but I guess you can if you must...

I love this little bright lime green cutting board! It's made from recycled plastics (mostly toothbrushes! Check out the link for a cool company that recycles toothbrushes. No affiliation, I just like the company. And yes, they make good toothbrushes too) I like this little size for cutting up one or two things. Found it at Target if you need one.

Another summer kitchen activity is putting up fruits and veggies for later. I found some wonderful Michigan blueberries at Whole Foods on sale so bought a bunch for freezing (blueberries don't grow very well in Georgia). Wash the berries, dry for awhile, spread them out in a single layer in a baking pan or sheet (with sides!!! Don't think that berries that don't roll when fresh will stay un-rolly...), and stick in the freezer. Wait until frozen. I like to measure out in 1 cup portion and put in little baggies, then put all the little baggies in a big freezer bag, label and date.
Little frozen bursts of Michigan ready to be made into pies later. I feel so much like Judy at Patchwork Times right now! Do you read her blog? Love it--she always makes me laugh.

OK off to more sewing. I should have a finish later today woo hoo! In the meantime, check out Karin's killer scrappy Scrappy Nines quilt. It's gorgeous!

Red Nine-Patches and Yellow Tomatoes

Along with complaining about the heat and humidity resulting in heat indexed of 100-110F all weekend, I sewed the 899,000,000 little bitty nine-patches I had left from this post. I am determined to finish Scrappy Nines so I can start on a new project. I nearly finished sewing all those nine-patches (actually I have 24 left to go. Somehow I just decided to stop after 899,898,976), squared all those bad boys up, and started sewing the blocks.

With help of course... Mr. Gomez is looking too cute for words!

Here's a stack of blocks.

I also spent a large part of the weekend finding recipes for fresh tomatoes. Stella Bella Organics heirloom tomatoes are everywhere in the kitchen! Romas, Cherokee Purple, and some kind of yellow tomato that I can't remember what is the name. We are having tomatoes in everything. Example #1: homemade free-form thin crust pizza with fresh basil and tomatoes (from the garden) and fresh mozzarella (from the store!) I don't have an "after" baking photo because this was g-o-n-e in about 2 seconds YUMMY!