Santa Fe

I just visited New Mexico for the first time.  I was in Santa Fe for a work related conference.  Talk about perfect weather  - it was heaven!  No humidity, no bugs, cool evenings...... quite a nice change from Florida.   

Many interesting wind vanes.

As a side note, I flew in and out of Albuquerque, NM  and I kept thinking there was a song about that town, but I couldn't remember what it was.  During my travels it came to me... I'll give you a few hints and maybe you can guess it.
1. It was sung by a TV family who had a band. 
2.  They drove around in a multicolored bus.

YES.....The Partridge Family!
Point me in the direction of Albuquerque is not one of their big hits, but I definitely remember the chorus.  I was a fan of this show and thought my family should start a band too.  We didn't.




Although I spent most of my time working, I did get a chance to check out the town's food and shopping.  One night I had dinner at The Anasazi Restaurant located at the Rosewood Inn.  The food was excellent.  I want to recreate this entree but haven't clue if gnocchi is difficult to make or not.

Vegetable Gnocchi

Mexican Brownie

The local cupcake shop - Dream Cakes, had many flavors to choose from and they all sounded good.  At $4.50 a piece I was only going to try one. I got the Ebony and Ivory - half chocolate/half vanilla cupcake filled with caramel topped with half caramel and half chocolate buttercream.  It was beautiful, but not as flavorful and fresh as I was hoping. I still ate half of it anyway.

The shop I liked best was Oleaceae. They sell fresh olive oils, vinegars and sea salts.  It was such a unique place.   The entire store was filled with silver jugs of oils and vinegars that you could taste test, just like you do at the yogurt shop. Plus a large selection of flavored sea salts to try.

It was an incredible experience and I was fascinated by all the flavors.  I tried and liked many from the Tangerine/Clementine white balsamic vinegar to the Chipotle sea salt.

I decided on the Tuscan Herb olive oil and the Tahitian Vanilla dark balsamic vinegar.  I would have never thought I would like vanilla vinegar, but the taste is incredible! I have never eaten anything like it and am having trouble describing the flavor.  It has a savory/sweet thing going on and it tastes great drizzled on yogurt and fruit and is adding a depth of flavor to my summer fruit.

I did find a great pair of shoes here too, that I love.  They make me tall without killing my feet!

I even found $20 bill on the sidewalk during my morning walk through town!  There's nothing like that to make your day! As you can see I was nice enough to put it right back into the economy of Santa Fe.

The highlight of my trip was meeting and listening to the well known educator Ron Clark. He was Disney's Teacher of the Year, a guest on Oprah and the subject of the movie, The Ron Clark Story, starring Matthew Perry. He currently runs a school in Atlanta, GA.

He is an amazing speaker, moving around the entire time and even standing on chairs!  He was funny, inspiring and touching.  He makes you want to be the best  person you can be and to do what's right even when it's not easy. Teachers can make such a difference in the lives of children!

We were given an autographed copy of his most recent book The End of Molasses Classes and I can't wait to read it. 

This was a thrill of lifetime to meet him!