Maybe I'm not a poplar after all...

I admit. I'm a little disappointed. I re-entered my birthday and got a different tree and description each time. I have to say, this first one is the most like me (if I don't say so myself).

In lieu of my usual summertime recipe extravaganza (the house is still a mess, I am still falling over half-empty boxes and doo-dads everywhere) I have a couple of belated foodie related schpiels.

1. On our last trip to Chicago (*sob*), we tried not to revisit too much of our past haunts, refusing to think of it as the last time we go to Oysy Izagaya or Hey Sushi (mmmm....that enchanting and addicting orange (miso?) ginger salad dressing) we tried a mexican joint caled Mamacitas that boasted:

That's the *ahem* Best VEGETARIAN Mexican Food in Chicago. So we went for it. Why not? I stuck with the safest bet-- quesadillas, and Zips sprang for the veggie tacos, soft corn double tortillas festooned with shredded lettuce, carrots, broccoli (?!) and little else. The quesadillas were also stuffed with shredded carrots and broccoli along with the cheese. Both of us had some flavorless orange-ish rice and some runny refritos to accent our meals.Needless to say, I'm POSITIVE Chicago has something better. Someone should steal that sign and relocate it.

2. On a more positive note, one of the first places we ate here in NM together is in an old pony express stop in a charming little town square (Mesilla) called La Posta de Mesilla They're great. Often a little busy with tourists, but the food is excellent, and I can't wait until we start getting paid so I can try out one of their house margaritas. In any case, Zips got the vegetarian sampler that included (from top to bottom of pic) a chile relleno, a folded bean taco, some Mexican slaw, and one of their green chile enchiladas. I got a bean burrito smothered with queso and green chile sauce (I know, it looks more red than green). So far it's more or less the most appealing place for us to satisfy our mex tooth. There's another joint, called El Sombrero that has the BEST veggie tacos. I haven't had a chance to take a photo of them yet, they're always half-gone by the time I think to reach for a camera. Hopefully I'll be able to show you soon. Mexican-style slaw, by the way, seems innocent enough. But once you eat it two or three times, you start understanding that it would, in fact, go very well with nearly everything you eat. I was lucky enough to cobble together a recipe that tastes exactly like La Posta's!

Apparently I am a Poplar Tree

...according to the celtic horoscope.

You Are A Poplar Tree

People tend to look up to you, and it's a bit lonely at the top. Inside, you are not always self confident, but you show great courage. Mature and organized, you are reliable in any situation. You tend to have an artistic or philosophical outlook on life. You are very choosy in love and take partnership seriously.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

One of the Perks

This is pretty much our view each day. I forget that another amazing thing about living here is our proximity to beautiful craggy mountains. Zips never really saw clouds casting shadows on mountains before.

I admit the music is very "Highway to Heaven."

Buy Roberto's

I was in the grocery store and couldn't resist the pack of tortillas emblazoned with our new town. Good photo. Sucky tortillas (half the package was MOLDING when I opened it). Roberto's is a local restaurant that is also a tortilleria. SUCKY restaurant. Good tortillas. This is pretty suggestive of our new town.

Okay. Things I miss that I'll try not to dwell on:

• 3 Asian groceries in town
• Excellent frozen custard drive thru-- if you go, order a Tiger's Blood Old Fashioned Soda. then ship it to me on dry ice!
• Downtown farmer's market selling with concord grapes, sweet corn, watermelons, etc.
• Being 2 hours from Chicago
• Double features at the Lake Shore Drive In movie theatre in Monticello (we saw Kung Fu Panda there before we moved)
• U-Pick blueberries at Prelock Blueberry Farm (we moved before their season began *sob*)
• U-Pick strawberries at Pretty Prarie Berry Farm (we picked 27 pounds before we moved)

AND a provisional list of stuff I like here.

• $0.33 for a gorgeous bunch of cilantro.
• Our lovely house with my studio in the garage and an immense backyard for the kitties to explore.
• Being 3 hours drive from my parents
• The plaza in Mesilla
• "downtown" "farmer's" market selling neato crafts and southwestern jewelry. I'm developing a thing for turquoise. (They razed the entire downtown mall in the 60's for urban development that never happened. And the farmers here seem to grow chiles and zucchini and the occasional scrawny ear of corn. But they have some neato arts and crafts)
• All the wildlife in our backyard

Okay. I know it's a sad, short list. I said it was provisional, and I intend to add to it. I'm in driving distance to Roswell, NM, the UFO capital of the US. And Terminator 4 is filming near where my Dad works. And my mom had surgery and I was able to drive up and take care of her for a couple of days on the fly. These are all good things. I'm sure there will be more.

The Move is OVER!!

Serendipity: After days of toting boxes down flights of stairs and loading them onto a moving truck, the church next door provided this moment of irony. Check out the reflection of our yellow Penske truck. Really, God? Really?
So we have been moved for a month. In fact, it's a month to the day that we've been out of our beloved apartment in Indiana. Intending to rent a moving truck on July 1, we finished moving out of two third floor apartments (mostly without the use of any elevators, and entirely without any outside assistance at all), and finally got entirely packed and on the road on the 4th of July. We drove out of town at 10pm, desperate to make SOME attempt to leave the state. As we drove into the night, fireworks from the University and those fired off by locals in their subdivisions flew over the highway on both sides. It was like a celebration that our move was finally underway.

I'm so glad it's over. I lost 4 lbs. and developed some serious biceps, triceps, and forearms from this ordeal. And a wheeze. Here's hoping the dry desert air will cure me!

In our last desperate moments when I despaired that we would never get all of our belongings into the truck, I was able to appreciate how lovely our home was, with its arts and crafts built-in bar and cabinets. We so loved the clean white walls, high ceilings, dark wood trim, hardwood floors and beveled glass fixtures. Here Bijoux is doing the last walkthrough. Of course, I'm conveniently forgetting how much of an inferno it is in the summer, although we lived through it with a box a/c in the bedroom, and fans. And I'm willfully leaving out memories of the cast of unsavory neighbors living on the second floor and in the basement. I choose to remember how I would trot down the back steps to get a copy of the Sunday paper on Sunday mornings, and being walking distance to the downtown farmer's market, and discovering our proximity to the Trolley bus stop in March.
Last post I promised the Coldest Pop in Town! and here it is:If you're thirsty, it's in Nashville, In. Although I can't vouch for the coldness of said pop.

We actually made the trip across the country twice. Once to find a place to live, and then the move with the kittens and household. Househunting from 1500 miles away is impossible. But we found a beautiful house for rent with a eucalyptus tree and a rosemary shrub dripping down from the second tier of the backyard. It will be such a luxury to park in an actual garage. Zips made part of it into a workshop for me to work on paintings and crafty projects. There are ledges all over the kitchen to display vintage lunchboxes and for Zips to explore. In short, perfect.

For the real move, Mini was the most miserable, yowling and doing somersaults in her little cage all across the country. Zips did pretty well. She mostly slept and gave me little nose nudges through the bars.I think Mini has all but bounced back. Here Zips keeps an eye on her underneath the eucalyptus.

Next up, I will lament the things I miss most about the Indiana that I never expected to, and attempt to showcase things about this town I find promising.