January 7, 2017 Lunch – Lambert’s. Dinner – Common Fire. Nibbling our way through Taos We stayed at Kylene and Barry’s house with its fabulous view of Wheeler Peak and Taos Valley. For breakfast we made cinnamon toast with slices of the fresh Fano baguette I had bought warm at 10:30 hot from the oven as we were leaving Albuquerque. We stopped in Santa Fe for lunch after we found that Lan’s was closed due to the weather. I guess snow on the ground is anathema for luscious Vietnamese food. So we went to see the Earl Strohs at Aaron Payne Gallery and spoke to Aaron for a few minutes and then walked to the Shed where there was no line and we were seated at our favorite table, the middle table in the sunny south facing alcove filled with plants and open glass. We split a Number 5: blue corn enchiladas with ground beef, double posole and red chili sauce, and a piece of Josie’s famous chocolate mocha cake for dessert. We then drove on to Taos and settled in at the house on Juniper Rd. And ate cheese and pate appetizers of PPIs from the Christmas Party (Jill Duval made a wonderful Baked Chicken Liver pate with chopped onions, chopped egg, and French seeded mustard) and Jeff, Suzette’s brother and his wife, Kathy, sent a lovely selection of cheeses including a delicious aged goat cheese that we enjoyed on toasted slices of Fano baguette with butter with the pate and a 2014 Cabernet franc from Saumer Champigny Reserve de Vignerons (Total Wine $11.69). Later we ate bowls of a mixture of sherried Mussel soup, smoked salmon chowder and lobster bisque, sort of a mass up of three meals we made with PPIs since Christmas that we brought with us. Saturday morning I was finally feeling good. My diaphragm function seemed to be back to normal and there was no longer any congestion in my lungs. After eating the light breakfast of cinnamon toast and an orange we drove to Taos by way of Kit Carson Rd. We stopped at a few galleries on Kit Carson Rd. And a Suzette drank a coffee at Tazzo. I was interested to see lots of Don Brackett’s oil paintings at Parson’s Contemporary Western art Gallery. We then went to 203 Gallery.but found that it had moved, so went to The Harwood, but arrived at 11:48 and it did not open until 12:00, so we drove to Bent Street and went to Robert Parson’s Gallery. He was showing works by artists featured in the big Mabel Dodge Luhan and Company exhibit. Later I spoke to Robert and found out that a number of pieces in the exhibit were from his collection like the 1932 Plasterer by Emil Bisttram, which was one of my favorites. At Parson’s Gallery we saw an interesting Bisttram watercolor of Kachina Dancers and Mary called Robert for me and we spoke about the piece which was marked $12,500, but Robert offered to me for $10,000. I told Robert I would think about it and we walked next door to Lambert’s for lunch. We both picked starters, Suzette choose sweet pea sprout risotto and I picked a bowl of Raman with beef and pork meatballs, Kimchee and a partially hard boiled egg in a light broth. I loved my dish but Suzette and I both found the risotto to be too al dente. It seems that we like our risotto overcooked to the point of being uniformly soft and Italians eat their risotto rigidly al dente. As we sat eating. I received a call from Robert Parsons to tell me that he had just bought some Von Hasslers from a family in Farmington and suggested that I return to the gallery and ask Mary to bring them out of the offices do if I liked them he would sell them to me at wholesale. So after lunch we went back to the gallery and looked at the Von Hasslers. There was one lithograph, one small oil on board and one medium sized oil on canvas of a building in Tomay ( Tome’) that had a dozen small nicks in the canvas that would need to be conserved. Robert previously sold me an Emil Bisttram in a broken frame with holes in it that I conserved and put in a nice frame and like very much, which he called “a project”. I enjoyed the process of another repair project and bringing a worthy work of art back to life. So when Robert said, “You are from Albuquerque, so you should appreciate Von Hassler,” he was right. I bought the three pieces and two couples who were in the gallery asked me if I would sell the oil on board one on the spot. When I said I wanted $4,000 they became cooler, but I gave them my card. I told them I might trade with them for the Von Hassler when they said they had bought an Olive Rush at Stephen’s Consignment. We loaded up our new Von Hasslers and drove to Mission Gallery and chatted with Reva until 3:00. She knows everyone and told us about the writer of the catalog for the Mabel Dodge Lujan exhibit named Milan Davis, who used to be a curator at the NM Museum of Fine Arts. Reva told us that the best new restaurant is Common Fire at Quail Run. So we drove there and ordered a roast beef French Dip sandwich with an order of grilled heirloom carrots. The carrots had a distinctly different taste that was richer and creamier than a regular orange carrot. Our knowledgeable waitress told us they were rainbow carrots, which must be correct because they were three different colors, red, rainbow white, and purple. Both starters were wonderful, especially with glasses of Barbera de Alba. We spoke to the owner/Chef, Andy, about the four meals he is planning for Wednesday through Saturday of the Winter Wine Festival and were taken by his excitement. After our snack at Common Fire we ate a chocolate and Earl Grey Pot a Crème that was flavored strongly with oil of bergamot and then we returned to the house and watched the TV news and a documentary on Iris Apfel, a 93 year old fashionista you Albert Maysles. I later ate some ham pot pie and we ate bits of the chocolate bars we had brought. Bon Appetit

January 7,  2017 Lunch – Lambert’s. Dinner – Common Fire. Nibbling our way through Taos

We stayed at Kylene and Barry’s house with its fabulous view of Wheeler Peak and Taos Valley.

For breakfast we made cinnamon toast with slices of the fresh Fano baguette I had bought warm at 10:30 hot from the oven as we were leaving Albuquerque.

We stopped in Santa Fe for lunch after we found that Lan’s was closed due to the weather.  I guess snow on the ground is anathema for luscious Vietnamese food. So we went to see the Earl Strohs at Aaron Payne Gallery and spoke to Aaron for a few minutes and then walked to the Shed where there was no line and we were seated at our favorite table, the middle table in the sunny south facing alcove filled with plants and open glass.  We split a Number 5: blue corn enchiladas with ground beef, double posole and red chili sauce, and a piece of Josie’s famous chocolate mocha cake for dessert.

We then drove on to Taos and settled in at the house on Juniper Rd. And ate cheese and pate appetizers of PPIs from the Christmas Party (Jill Duval made a wonderful Baked Chicken Liver pate with chopped onions, chopped egg, and French seeded mustard) and Jeff, Suzette’s brother and his wife, Kathy, sent a lovely selection of cheeses including a delicious aged goat cheese that we enjoyed on toasted slices of Fano baguette with butter with the pate and a 2014  Cabernet franc from Saumer Champigny Reserve de Vignerons (Total Wine $11.69).

Later we ate bowls of a mixture of sherried Mussel soup, smoked salmon chowder and lobster bisque, sort of a mass up of three meals we made with PPIs since Christmas that we brought with us.

Saturday morning I was finally feeling good.  My diaphragm function seemed to be back to normal and there was no longer any congestion in my lungs.

After eating the light breakfast of cinnamon toast and an orange we drove to Taos by way of Kit Carson Rd.  We stopped at a few galleries on Kit Carson Rd. And a Suzette drank a coffee at Tazzo.  I was interested to see lots of Don Brackett’s oil paintings at Parson’s Contemporary Western art Gallery.

We then went to 203 Gallery.but found that it had moved, so went to The Harwood, but arrived at 11:48 and it did not open until 12:00, so we drove to Bent Street and went to Robert Parson’s Gallery.  He was showing works by artists featured in the big Mabel Dodge Luhan and Company exhibit.  Later I spoke to Robert and found out that a number of pieces in the exhibit were from his collection like the 1932 Plasterer by Emil Bisttram, which was one of my favorites.

At Parson’s Gallery we saw an interesting Bisttram watercolor of Kachina Dancers and Mary called Robert for me and we spoke about the piece which was marked $12,500, but Robert offered to me for $10,000.  I told Robert I would think about it and we walked next door to Lambert’s for lunch.  We both picked starters, Suzette choose sweet pea sprout risotto and I picked a bowl of Raman with beef and pork meatballs, Kimchee and a partially hard boiled egg in a light broth.  I loved my dish but Suzette and I both found the risotto to be too al dente.  It seems that we like our risotto overcooked to the point of being uniformly soft and Italians eat their risotto rigidly al dente.

As we sat eating. I received a call from Robert Parsons to tell me that he had just bought some Von Hasslers from a family in Farmington and suggested that I return to the gallery and ask Mary to bring them out of the offices do if I liked them he would sell them to me at wholesale.  So after lunch we went back to the gallery and looked at the Von Hasslers.  There was one lithograph, one small oil on board and one medium sized oil on canvas of a building in Tomay ( Tome’) that had a dozen small nicks in the canvas that would need to be conserved.  Robert previously sold me an Emil Bisttram in a broken frame with holes in it that I conserved and put in a nice frame and like very much, which he called “a project”.  I enjoyed the process of another repair project and bringing a worthy work of art back to life. So when Robert said, “You are from Albuquerque, so you should appreciate Von Hassler,” he was right.  I bought the three pieces and two couples who were in the gallery asked me if I would sell the oil on board one on the spot.  When I said I wanted $4,000 they became cooler, but I gave them my card.  I told them I might trade with them for the Von Hassler when they said they had bought an Olive Rush at Stephen’s Consignment.

We loaded up our new Von Hasslers and drove to Mission Gallery and chatted with Reva until 3:00.  She knows everyone and told us about the writer of the catalog for the Mabel Dodge Lujan exhibit named Milan Davis, who used to be a curator at the NM Museum of Fine Arts.

Reva told us that the best new restaurant is Common Fire at Quail Run.  So we drove there and ordered a roast beef French Dip sandwich with an order of grilled heirloom carrots.  The carrots had a distinctly different taste that was richer and creamier than a regular orange carrot.  Our knowledgeable waitress told us they were rainbow carrots, which must be correct because they were three different colors, red, rainbow white, and purple.

Both starters were wonderful, especially with glasses of Barbera de Alba.

 We spoke to the owner/Chef, Andy, about the four meals he is planning for Wednesday through Saturday of the Winter Wine Festival and were taken by his excitement.

After our snack at Common Fire we ate a chocolate and Earl Grey Pot a Crème that was flavored strongly with oil of bergamot and then  we returned to the house and watched the TV news and a documentary on Iris Apfel, a 93 year old fashionista you Albert Maysles.

I later ate some ham pot pie and we ate bits of the chocolate bars we had brought.

Bon Appetit