Thurs, Jan 1, 2009 - Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque

9.13am - The patio in front of our room in Taos. Love the adobe style.9.29am - more of that great home made granola, w/ peaches, yogurt and soy milk

9.32am - a small home baked cinnamon bun that we shared

9.37am - baked egg with chili and cheese

scrambled egg w/ home made red chili.

This was our last breakfast here - bye-bye Taos!

12.45pm - home made tamales from La Tiendita, a small greasy spoon that comes attached to a gas station on the way from Taos to Santa Fe. Ate these in the car.

2.32pm - A joyful lot, them New Mexicans. Hard to imagine Californians bothering to paint freeway overpasses...

2.59pm - shared a carne adovada burrito, at the Burrito House in Santa Fe. Not nearly as good as the carne adovada we had last night at Orlando's, and what's worse, it left Ritesh all New-Mexican'd out, so he didn't want any more of this kind of food for the rest of the trip...

Santa Fe, New Mexico

8.11pm - dinner in Albuquerque: Vietnamese rice cakes w/ basil scrambled eggs, peanuts, and a tasty dipping sauce, at Kim's Vietnamese Restaurant, which was a fabulous find. The owner/chef lived and cooked in France for 20 years and has a really nice spin on some traditional Vietnamese dishes.

8.18pm - lemongrass lotusroot beef soup, super spicy and fantastic

8.25pm - and an amazing Vietnamese veggie curry w/ apples! All the veggies were as perfect as can be - this was just outstanding! We were very impressed, and lucky enough to be able to chat with the owner/chef for a little while. Very smart, cosmopolitan woman - if we lived in Albuquerque, I'm sure we'd go eat and catch up with her every week. Would be great even to take some cooking classes with her, she's so good.

8.45pm - her fabulous chocolate-coconut flan. Incredible. She told us the secret behind its light and airy texture - now we'll have to try and reproduce...I'll let you know if it works!

Wed, Dec 31 - New Year's Eve in Taos

9.10am - the breakfast spread at our B&B in Taos, NM9.12am - home baked peach-blueberry muffin - I don't really like muffins but these were special, more like scones. Loved it.

home-made coconut granola w/ peaches that tasted like they were home-preserved, tart and crunchy, plus some fresh yogurt and soy milk, yay!

green tea and OJ

scrambled eggs with a home made chile rojo and home made tortillas. Very nice indeed. Looks like the canned food days are behind us for good...

1.30pm - veggie soup and hot turkey sandwich, at the Taos Ski Valley Lodge, before going snow shoeing 3.06pm - somewhere above 9000ft.

4.57pm - back at Taos Ski Valley Lodge, imbibing hot liquids while waiting for the sun to go down and the skiiers' torch parade down the mountain to start. Ritesh's was a Mexican spiced hot chocolate, hence the M, mine just a regular dark.

5.35pm - Ritesh's scotch, my green tea. Guess who was warmer after this...

5.37pm - still waiting...

6.02pm - and here we go! Twenty-something skiiers slaloming down a mighty steep slope, without poles, twirling a torch in each hand instead. Plus the moon and Venus looking on. The picture doesn't do it justice - it was really quite magical.

6.24pm - New Year's Eve Fireworks! I could have tried for a better shot but my fingers were frozen. Very happy, though - fireworks were beautiful and went on forever.

7.48pm - After the day's snow shoeing workout, we needed a hearty, substantial sort of meal and ended up at Orlando's New Mexican Cafe, which came warmly recommended, and for a reason.

8.11pm - my platter of blue corn shrimp enchiladas w/ beans, pozole, salad, tortilla and red and green chili sauce - hit the spot!

8.11pm - Ritesh's platter of carne adovada (pork medaillons w/ a special red chili sauce) - fabulous, and apparently a true New Mexican specialty. We shared both, of course.

8.45pm - a New Mexican biscochito - kind of like an anise sugar cookie

8.45pm - and they had avocado-lime pie! My all-time favorite! The last meal of 2008 ended on a decidedly happy note...

the ambiance at Orlando's while waiting for the check

10.45pm - we were so pooped from the day's high altitude work out, we got an early start on the champagne... you never know - would hate to doze off and miss it!

12.10am - but yay, we made it into the New Year! This is us watching "Dinner for One" on the iPhone. Happy New Year everyone!