Posole

I kept seeing people tweeting about eating Hopin' John today. I had to look it up and it turned out to be a traditional new years, rice and beans dish in the coastal south. My family was from KY and we also had a traditional New Years dish which was the last of the Christmas ham, along with pinto beans and I am not sure what else my grandmother put in there because as a child I hated beans and never ate it. Actually, I still don't care much for beans.

The traditional new years dish here in NM and probably most of the southwest is not ham and beans, like my family had, but posole. Posole is a dish normally made with red chili, hominy and pork and it is quite tasty. I was going to make a pot of it today, but it slipped my mind to buy ingredients for it when I was at the grocery yesterday. I will still make a pot sometime this week though. No need to miss out on such a tasty tradition.

New Mexico Magazine Current Articles

New Mexico Magazine Dec Issue. Includes lots of great stuff online and for free. Farolitos & Luminarias, Matachines Dancers, Los Comanches, Las Posadas, Feast of Guadalupe and more.

Also, Tamale recipes for those brave enough to give them a try. I have heard how much work it is to make tamales and have never been able to motivate myself to give them a try.

New Mexico Magazine Current Articles

My Favorite Places: Golden Pride/Frontier

I normally go to Golden Pride rather than Frontier because there is one near my house on east Central (old route 66). It is owned by the same people that own Frontier and has the same great breakfast burritos. I also adore their homemade green chili stew and all the side dishes there are great!

It is fast food, meaning that you get your order quickly, but everything so far as I can tell is homemade. For that reason Golden Pride is my favorite fast food restaurant.

Italy -- just like NM only with Pasta!

You Are Italy

You are incredibly chic. Your confidence and sense of style always shine through. You are obsessed with presenting yourself well. You understand how much first impressions matter. Your family is very important to you. You provide them with any emotional or financial support that they need. But more than anything, you just enjoy spending time with your family... especially when food is shared!

What Country Are You?

I know that seems to not have much to do with New Mexico, but I was happy to get that quizzie result because I love Italy.

One of the reasons I love Italy is that it reminds me a lot of New Mexico. They have a lot of traditions that seem superstitious and somewhat silly, just like we do here and they have many stories of witches. Also, like the Hispanic culture of NM they are very family oriented. Then there is also the food. Like New Mexicans they are always cooking something. Maybe it is big pots of pasta rather than big pots of posole, but the Italians make me feel right at home.

Hot Stuff

I am hoping we have plenty of jalapenos in the state that didn't come from Mexico. Otherwise that could cause us to declare a state emergency.

Having been to other parts of the country, like the midwest, I doubt that people understand what a big crisis being with jalapenos would be for New Mexicans. I doubt they also realize just how much spicy food we consume. Right now in my house there is a freezer packed with green chili, at least 3 jars of salsa and several jars of red chili sauce in the cabinet, 2 containers of jalapeno and pecan pesto in the fridge, dried red chili powder and probably a bunch of stuff I am forgetting.

I can't speak for all New Mexicans, but my love of spicy hot stuff isn't limited to New Mexican food. I also love curry, any asian dish with peppers or hot mustard, Cajun hot stuff -- you get it, anything hot.