June 4, 2023 Lunch - Sugar Nymphs. Dinner - PPI Casarecce Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Chorizo
This was another fabulous day in Taos and on the high road back to Albuquerque.
We watched the news and brewed cups of coffee and Earl Grey using the paper
brewing mechanisms Willy gave us for Mother’s Day and split the almond and chocolate croissant we bought last Saturday at the Albuquerque farmer’s market.
Then we dressed and drove to 203 Fine Arts to meet Eric. We looked at several paintings and finally Eric said, “I have a number of watercolors by Wesley Rushnell”. I am a big fan of Rushnell and after looking at thirty or more watercolors, we picked three.
We talked about taking a side road home and Eric recommended eating at Sugar Nymph in Penasco, so we decided to drive the high road back to Espanola.
We turned and drove through Talpa and then up into the high country toward Tres Ritos and Penasco.
Looking north toward Wheeler Peak
We stopped at Sugar Nymph and ate at a table outside under a tree with speckled light since it was cool in the shade.
Eric’s comment that one of the owners was a good baker became immediacy evident when we were served flaky scones with a bowl of blueberry and raspberry preserves. Suzette ordered the Italian beef with baked polenta and I ordered the San Francisco scramble with a buttermilk biscuit and organic greens salad with a ginger vinaigrette. Suzette’s dish was beef and tomatoes slow cooked in red wine with three long rectangles of baked and sautéed polenta. My dish was a a scramble of eggs, goat cheese, spinach, ground beef, and carrots. I reacted to the sharpness of the grated fresh ginger in the mild mostly olive oil dressing but after a few bites my taste buds adjusted.
We shared the biscuit and the salad and I tasted Suzette beef and polenta, but neither of us finished our entree because Eric had strongly recommended the carrot cake, so we ordered a slice of that. It was a huge slice with three layers se pared by a cream cheese ganache, flavored with all spice and cinnamon, and studded with walnuts and small chunks of pineapple. We decided to take half of it home to eat with our leftover entrees.
We then drove through Trampas and Truchas and then down into the Rio Grande Valley.
When we neared Espanola we took the Yogi Bhagwan Memorial shortcut that cut off several miles and were soon in Santa Fe.
We stopped at Raven Consignment store where we found a small Buddha for the garden and then drove to Stephen’s where I found a Kilborn square serving plate.
We then drove home.
After resting until 6:00 we watched some of the Yankees versus the LA Dodgers baseball and game 2 of the NBA final between Denver and Miami and made a clafoutis. I pitted and halved 3 cups of fresh cherries while Suzette buttered and sugared a ceramic baking dish and scalded 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of heavy cream. Then she mixed 7 T. of flour with 10 T. Powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp. of salt and then mixed into the dry ingredients 3 eggs and the scalded milk. We then mixed the cherries with the custard and poured the ingredients into the buttered ceramic baking dish and baked the custard for 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven. The result was quite tasty. Suzette will take some of this clafoutis to her kitchen staff to copy for the June French meal at the Bistro.
We then watched a docudrama about the Panama Papers with Meryl Streep, Gary Oldham, and Antonio Banderas.
I ate the last of the PPI Casarecce paste with roasted vegetables and chorizo with a glass of Barbera. Di Asti.
Then Suzette toasted several baguette rounds and spread them with St. Andre cheese and we ate several of those with another glass of wine.
It was an enjoyable day of shopping and sight seeing.
Bon Appetit
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