Cooking in Paradise

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Our 2^ndday of cooking lessons, this was a demonstration lesson in Contemporary Southwest cooking. The teacher was one I’d hoped to get for a lesson, Lois Ellen Frank, part Native American, PhD in Culinary Anthropology. She, like us, uses organic produce, eggs, meat and so forth. Dr Frank has her own catering business and teaches at the local native colleges.

Dr. Frank gave us a lesson in native foods: pre-contact and then post as contemporary foods have changed as people have intermingled. She started with the 3 sisters: beans corn and squash and then built from there. Lunch consisted of grilled salmon, black beans, corn and chili tamale and flan for dessert.

The food from lunch was lighter than Thursday so we were not stuffed when leaving. Like yesterday we also had a glass of local wine with lunch.

From the school we had several places to visit before evening; San Miguel Mission, the oldest house and then Pecos National Monument. We hoped to get back in time to drink some chocolate at the Kakawa House.

The mission and oldest house were closed, maybe because of Easter, so we could only see the outside. So it was off to Pecos.

Wow!!! Pecos National Monument is an amazing place. It is about 25 miles east of Santa Fe and if you go allow a couple of hours. This monument was the site of a fairly large pueblo with a church. Of course, all that is left are perimeter walls, foundations and 3 of the church walls.

A trail starts at the Visitor’s Center where, first, there is a short film to watch then a museum to tour. The walk is all paved so it isn’t hard to walk; a little over a mile. There is some walking up to the ridge and then down but most can walk this. The path gets up close to the ruins of the pueblo and then you can walk into the ruins of the church. Parts of the ruins have been restored but much has not even been unearthed yet. Amazingly, part of the hill is the garbage dump from the Pueblo. Here many pottery shards are visible, everywhere. We took lots of time looking at various pieces of pottery, the designs and the glazes.

From the path, at the high point, high mountain peaks are visible, most with snow. To the other sides, hills are visible. The view from the 4^th or 5^th story of this pueblo must have been so great.

This is a pueblo where the Indians revolted and destroyed the original church. The ruins which remain are from the church built upon the old ruins in the 1600’s.

The paths are quiet now, just the sound of our footsteps and quiet talking.

The Kakawa Chocolate House was a perfect place to end the evening. They serve chocolate as would have been served during the ancient times. We had a demitasse cup of chocolate to end our afternoon.

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Photos

A Real New Mexican Lunch
Lunch from the Cooking School

Pecos Mission
The mission in Pecos National Monument