July 7, 2023 Lunch - Opuntia.

 July 7, 2023 Lunch - Opuntia. 

We got up early and dressed and I ate a bowl of granola with milk and tropical fruit salad and yogurt for breakfast and dressed and drove and parked at Gold and 8th and walked to the Railrunner station.

On the way we stopped at Knead, the new bakery in the old Gold Street Cafe location.  I bought three doughnuts and a coffee for Suzette.

When we arrived at the Tracks, Melissa was waiting for the 9:15 train to Santa Fe.  I ate a doughnut on the way to Santa Fe to build my carb quotient and gave the other doughnuts to the conductor, who thanked me and said he would eat them for his lunch.

We arrived at the Santa Fe Railyard at around 10:45 and walked to the International Folk Art Market south of Peralta and Site Santa Fe.

Suzette and Melissa went ahead and I lagged behind but we all were admitted without waiting. I looked at the best of the best and saw a Panama hat for $100 that was very finely woven so I went to booth 74 were the maker had lots of hats. When I got there the owner was eating lunch so I went past the food court and to the rest room and returned to booth 74.  I turned out that the hats were $250.00 and the owner was a really difficult person, so I left and called Suzette and Melissa because it was 12:45 and we had agreed to meet for lunch at Opuntia at 1:00.

I walked back to an Algerian rug dealer who was living in Portland and selling mainly tribal rugs who I talked to until Suzette and !Melissa arrived and we then walked to the restaurant.

I was able to walk without any pain and reasonably good mobility for the several miles we walked today.

Opuntia is a large airy dining room with a lot of succulent plants and a casual dining Santa Fe menu.

Suzette ordered a sweet potato noodle bowl with lots of mushrooms and red bell pepper.  Melissa ordered ceviche tostados.  I ordered a Thai fried chicken sandwich with coke slaw, chipotle aioli, on a brioche bun and House made pickles plus a pile of sweet potato fries. 

Suzette ordered a Mexican beer, Melissa ordered ice tea, and I ordered a Mexican coke to drink.

We enjoyed lunch and decided to go to one gallery and then walked to the Railrunner station past Flying Saucer Coffee to take the 2:45 train back to Albuquerque.

Melissa saw that the Blue Rain Gallery was now located in the Railyard, so went there and were pleasantly surprised to find a new exhibit of works by Erin Currier, one of our favorite contemporary artists. The new works had fewer ephemera collage elements, so perhaps Erin is traveling less these days

We then walked back to the train station and took the 2:45 train back to Albuquerque.

I was exhausted so I sat and waited for Suzette and Melissa to walk the 8 blocks to the Highlander and return to pick me up at the station.

We drove Melissa home and then drove to Cafe Istanbul where I bought mint kefir, pickled turnips, No. 1 Bulgar, a package of pita bread, a kilo of chocolate halvah, and a small amount of double Danish Feta cheese.

We then drove to Tortuga Gallery at 901 Edith to see an group exhibit of books and art related to books, called Libros in which one of Suzette’s artist friends was showing works.  I enjoyed the exhibit but continued to lack any enthusiasm to buy anything.

                             Cut out hands decorated with collage

We drove home at around 6:30 and watched the news and went to bed at 8:00 after a long busy day.

I did not eat dinner but drank some kefir.  Suzette ate a few bites of chicken.

Bon Appetit