June 11, 2022 Lunch - La Choza Dinner - With Barry, Grilled Rack of Lamb, Risotto, Salad, and Cobbler

June 11, 2022 Lunch - La Choza  Dinner - With Barry, Grilled Rack of Lamb, Risotto, Salad, and Cobbler

Suzette made a mushroom and Manchego cheese omelet for breakfast.

We then drove to Santa Fe at 10:00 and arrived at the Rodeo Grounds at 11:15

for the Folk Art Museum Flea Market.  I used my handicapped permit for the first time, so was able to park within 50 feet of the entrance.  There were two buildings full of stuff.

In the first building I found a Chinese carved ceramic evermore bowl for $6.00.

Then we went to the second building and went a little wild buying fabric and clothing.  We each bought three garments and fabric and a lovely hand made Pakistan tablecloth for $24.00.  Our total was 136.00.

At around 12:30 we drove to La Choza for lunch.  It was packed so we ordered margaritas and sat inside to wait for our name to be called. Soon we were offered chairs at the bar.  The bar is my favorite spot to eat.  The chairs are comfortable and there are often interesting people at the bar.

Today was not great but last time I sat next to an older couple who were really interesting. The wife had been Richard Feynman’s Secretary at Caltech and the husband had been assistant to Bruce Babbitt when he was Secretary of the Interior.

I ordered my usual, flat blue corn enchiladas with ground beef and double Posole.  Suzette ordered fish tacos and we shared.

                                       The bar tender holding a dozen wine glasses

We both ordered Negra Modelos, which was served from the tap with a slice of lime.

I have been eating at the Shed and later La Choza for over 50 years.

After we ate we drove to Taos.  We first stopped at 203 Fine Arts to see the Bob Ellis exhibit. I saw a silver point drawing by Earl Stroh of one of the large Cliff houses at Mesa Verde that I liked and bought it.

We then drove to the Mable Dodge Lujan House and settled into the Willa Cather room on the portal. After we rested for an hour we drove to Barry’s house on Juniper Rd. It is high on the hill with spectacular views of the mountain on the north and the valley and sunset on the west.

We brought a rack of lamb, the four fruit cobbler Suzette made last night, Georges (French cheese puffs) Susan made, cheeses, scapes, and lettuce Suzette picked fresh from her Center garden yesterday and fresh snow peas she picked this morning in our garden and a bag of green onion slices I cut this morning.

Barry had a balsamic and olive oil salad dressing and made his wonderful risotto.

We started with Barry making us Aperol and Prosecco cocktails with lots of ice and ate Georgues and cheeses.

Then we began cooking. Suzette grilled the lamb and scapes and I dressed and tossed the salad and opened the bottle of 2013 Calstar Sagiacomo Pinot Noir. Everything was perfect.  The wine was great it had strength, character, and a fruity sweetness.  Barry’s risotto was wonderful as usual and Suzette grilled the rack of lamb to a perfect medium rare (pinky red in the middle).

The fresh lettuces were wonderfully fresh. I think the only other time I had such a fresh salad was at the Greenhouse Bistro two weeks ago and in France, where the chef went to the garden behind the restaurant to pick the lettuce for the salad I ordered.

We ate at 9:30 and then around 10:15 we heated the cobbler and Barry added Scoops of Blue Bell ice cream for a perfect dessert.  Suzette made the cobbler with the sour cherries from our tree, the 12 apricots from our tree, marinated cherries, and blueberries

We ate outside with a view of the valley.

Finally at 10:45 we said goodnight and drove back to our room at Mable Dodge Lujan House.  This is the house Mable built in Taos that all the luminaries of her era visited.  We are staying in the room in which Willa Cather stayed.

This was as good a day of food as one could ask for.

Bon Appetit