September 16, 2021 Lunch - Gutiz’ Dinner - Chili with Tamales and salad

 September 16, 2021 Lunch - Gutiz’   Dinner - Chili with Tamales and salad

We woke up at 7:00 and packed our grip and several bags of food and an ice chest with wine and beers and the elk Bourguignon and cheeses and salami and a slab of Gravad lax.

Rahim came by and I printed out his corrected POA again and gave him an instruction sheet from the consulate general - Houston.

After Rahim left we drove to Costco to fill the Highlander with gas and we’re one tip he road a few minutes after 9:00.

Suzette drove us to Espanola and I drove us to Gutiz’ in El Prado at the north end of Taos.

We waited about fifteen minutes for a table while we perused the menu, so when we were seated on the patio we ordered immediately since we had become rather hungry.  Suzette ordered a crepe and I ordered a Croque Madame which is a Croque Monsieur with a poached egg on it.

Suzette ordered a Bellini Prosecco and I drank water until I tasted her drink and ordered a Bellini Prosecco also.

Both the crepe and the Croque were filled with slices of ham, so the only difference was Bechamel sauce was spread between the slices of bread for the Croque and the crepe was filled with cheese and ham and served with a yellow red sauce, somewhat like a hollandaise sauce with a dash of paprika.

After lunch Suzette drove us north, since the road was one she knew well since she used to drive it often when she lived in Colorado.

When we arrived in Fort Garland I took over and drove to La Veta where we saw Billy and Elaine waiting in the line to buy produce when we arrived just after 3:00, so we joined them in line.

                                                The road into La Veta with the Spanish Peaks

We bought green beans, a red onion, and fresh chèvre cheese to eat with the mission figs we brought with us.

We then looked at the rest of the Farmers’ Market booths and then Fort Francisco and the girls got ice cream at Charlie’s market.  Suzette was kind enough to share her mint chocolate chip with me.

Then BIlly drove me to their cabin in Cuchara and Suzette and Elaine followed in the Highlander.

After we unpacked our food and clothes, we opened the bottle of Gruet Chenin Blanc and drank a glass on the patio with its view of the fast running creek beside the house.

 

The Chenin Blanc wine tasted more like chardonnay, but we drank it.

We then went up to our bedroom and napped until 6:20.

When we came back down Suzette worked on her computer and I tried working the TV until I determined that I could not access any current station, only pre-recoded news features, except for the Bloomberg news channel.

BIlly was in the kitchen heating the chili and tamales he brought for dinner while Elaine was making a salad with the butter lettuce and tomatoes she bought at the farmers’ market in La Veta this afternoon plus the avocado we brought and the avocado they brought.

Billy’s chili was a combination of black beans, pinto beans, hominy, and cubes of pork.  It was very delicious and served my favorite way of eating it, with a heated tamale.  I shucked a tamale and lay it in the bottom of a bowl and ladled chili over it and spooned salad onto a plate beside it.

We ate our dinner on the small patio overlooking the Cuchara River as the cool evening air breezed down the canyon around us.  I began to be chilled so as soon as we finished dinner we went back inside the cabin and sat in the living room and read and talked.

After a bit Elaine played a humorous segment by Andy Borowitz about a life saving operation he had to correct his knotted colon and whose humor I receive daily from the New Yorker via Internet.

I read some of The Night Watchman and then Elaine made mint tea and we drank hot mugs of tea and a slice of the lovely fresh peach galette they bought at Ryus Ave. Bakery in La Veta.

Suzette went up to our bedroom to read and I joined her at 9:30 to blog and we went to bed at 10:00.

I checked the general market on Bloomberg and it seemed to be another strongly down day in the market, but I am detached from the movements of the market due to no live feed on TV or the Internet now that we are on vacation.

Bon Appetit