Monday, February 24, 2014

Guadalupita Volunteer Fire Department and Auxiliary

Mickey has joined the Volunteer Fire department. I helped form the auxiliary or support team.
Saturday was a clean up day and hot dogs were our catered lunch.
About twelve of us showed up.
We cleaned and organized everything in the building.
The guys worked outside washing the fire trucks.
Team work is essential in a volunteer fire department.
And this team worked!

Clean and ready to roll. We were all exhausted that evening.
Today, Mickey received his first fire call. He headed out to Hwy 434 between mile markers 14 and 15.
This was a car fire that spread to a neighboring pasture.
Fortunately, there was no wind. 

Saturday, February 15, 2014

A day of fun!

That drive from Mora through Tres Ritos and beyond is always beautiful!
Lunch at Sugar Nymphs in Penasco was our first stop.
What a cute place! The same building houses The PeƱasco Theatre.
We girls had a fabulous green chili cheeseburger. The guys had grilled chicken BLT. It took all the will power that I could find to walk past the beautiful chocolate cake and out the door. The winery was calling with a barrel tasting that included chocolate!
We headed down the road a little ways to the dry side of the mountains. Traveling beside the Rio Grand River to Velarde, we found the Black Mesa Winery and an educational afternoon of wine tasting. It was an unbelievable mid-February day, warm enough to sit outside for a while.
Bittersweet Highway provided the entertainment.
There was a chocolate fountain with strawberries for dipping, chocolates with raspberry filling, assorted chocolates and Girl Scout Cookies!
The barrels are not numbered, but labeled by location or names randomly selected by the owners and employees. This one seems familiar. We tasted wine in various stages of development from the barrels.
We met and visited with the owners. 
The glasses came home with us, along with some cheese and a few bottles of wine and great memories of a fun day with Sierra Bonita friends, Carol and Jones.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Vanilla Update

The vanilla update brings disappointment. It's not dark enough. There is not enough vanilla flavor, but the vodka flavor is not really there, either.
Surely, it can be salvaged.
I ordered more vanilla beans and set out to rectify the disappointment.
Ten more sliced beans went in today. In a few weeks, I hope to be bottling my delicious vanilla.

In addition, vanilla sugar sounds like a good idea. The recipe? One vanilla bean covered in 4 oz of sugar and wait for a couple of weeks. Coffee, anyone?

Outside, a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the upper 40s called to us.
We loaded the little trailer with firewood, left by the driveway.
It is now neatly stacked and waiting for the splitter. We are expecting more sunny, mild days in the next couple of weeks. This can wait.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Super Bowl and Snow

The drive to Angel Fire Saturday evening...
It was so pretty.  There's more snow here than in our neighborhood.
We had dinner with friends from Amarillo at their cabin, then stayed over night.
Our drive to church Sunday morning was really short.i
While the Super Bowl game was a little disappointing,
the food and the company of neighbors was great!
These Sweet Emotions Cookies were a special delivery from Amarillo.
Today's weather sometimes.
Today's weather at other times.
We are grateful for the snow and the sun is a come & go event.

Prime Rib Soup

Harrigan's Prime Rib Soup is my favorite.
We were on their call list for this delicacy. On the days that they had left over prime rib, we received a phone call and headed there for lunch. Much to my disappointment, Harrigan's closed it's Amarillo doors several years ago. 
We had some prime rib left overs this week, so I searched the internet for the recipe and found it.
It was good, but not what I remember. I will not give up. If you have never had Harrigan's, you may really like it. As for me, I will keep looking for and trying to recreate.

Harrigan's Prime Rib Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
3 - 4 cups cooked prime rib and drippings 
1 carton sliced mushrooms
Garlic
6 cups beef broth
2 cups sour cream 
(1C sour cream & 1C half&half)
salt and pepper to taste
green onions
a good helping of worstichire sauce.

Directions:
This is ideally for leftover prime rib. Pour any drippings left into the soup pot. 

Cube the prime into small pieces. Cook in skillet with seasoning and LOTS OF GARLIC. 

Pour meat and drippings into soup pot or slow cooker. 

Saute' the mushrooms in olive oil.

Add the mushrooms and then beef broth,

Add a good helping of worstichire sauce.

Bring to a slow boil. Add sour cream and stir to blend.

Reduce to a simmer and cover. 

Add more garlic if desired, and season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Keep at a low simmer until ready to serve.

If desired while cooking you can add bovril.

Garnish with onions.

DO NOT BOIL.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Winter

This is the quiet stillness of snow.
The beauty of the white and clean.
The coldness of a frozen stream.
The flocked trees up on the hill.
The pot of chili on the stove.