Sweet Jonesie Girl

We lost our beloved boxer Jones on Sunday, September 20, which was also her 9th birthday. She will be truly missed, there was no better dog than Sweet Jonesie.

Amanda is back!!!

The doctor has release her Amanda is back to work with full force with baby Vanna in tow changing out all of the artwork, getting ready for weekend at the galleries and it looks amazing in here!!!!

GALLERY 400

Gallery 400, representing over a dozen artist, has new Gallery Hours. We are open Thursday through Sunday 11 am - 4 pm. You can also call for an appointment to see the Gallery work if our gallery hours are not convenient to your stay in Silver City.

I am very pleased to be showing new work from Fred Yost and Brent Flenniken. We have also started showing a new collection of Mata Ortiz Pottery. You will only find these amazing pieces of art at Gallery 400. The family that creates the pots resides in their ancestral home in the Chihuahua region of Mexico.

New Work is coming in all the time and we are gearing up for the exciting Weekend At the Galleries, Oct.9th -11.

A Time for Healing and Sharing

For each of the past 8 years, the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society has sponsored FORT BAYARD DAYS.

This year it takes place September 18-19, 2009. A Friday and Saturday event, mostly for teaching about New Mexico and Fort Bayard.

For the first time, we welcome the Chihenne NDE, Warm Spring Chiricahua Apache who will hold a "Time for Healing and Sharing" with the Buffalo Soldiers and their Officers".

http://www.fortbayard.org/

Two-Steppin' Into September

Get out your dancing shoes because this weekend is going to be a-jivin' & a-jumpin in the ol' town. We've got Louisiana's finest, two-time Grammy-Nominated Pine Leaf Boys and Fishtank Ensemble, LA Times calls them cross pollinated gypsy music. And lots of local favorites, too like Melanie Zipin. Friday kicks off the festivities with a Street Dance with Bayou Seco, The Silver City String Beans and The Dusty Buskers.

We kick it up a notch at the Bed & Breakfast with some two-steppin' in the kitchen, serving some down-home fixin' like Cheesy Grits Souffle, Southern Peaches & Cream Muffins, and lots more finger-lickin' good eats.

Call us at 575-313-7015 to reserve your room and have one heck of a weekend.

Heirloom Tomatoes, Zucchinis & Basil, Oh My, Oh My

I wish I could paint so that I could capture the true beauty of these heirloom tomatoes. I am very excited to taste them. And see if I can grow my own patch next year. I had a wonderful little chat with the young couple who grew these and I am hopeful, come January or February, that I might see some sprouts from these gorgeous fruits.

For now, they will part of a delicious breakfast tomorrow, along with fresh basil and fresh mozzarella cheese. I also baked some whole wheat bread to go along with. We are celebrating a couple in their seventy who just got married this weekend. Another guest is an organic farmer from Sonoita, AZ. I love meeting folks from all over and learning about what they do and where they have been in their travels. Breakfast is a buffet of lives shared on a sunny Silver morning with heirloom tomatoes.

Food, Glorious Food!

Is it Julia, the Harvest Season, local chefs and gourmands or inspirations from Gila House guests? What ever it is, I have been consumed by food...and consuming. And I am reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver.

So it is all coming together into some supremely delicious dishes. The wonderful organic peaches I bought last week from the farmer and his blue-eyed toddler son were truly the Perfect Peach. From that wonderful afternoon when I stopped on a whim, and got to meet this sweet little boy and his proud papa to bringing home my treasure and gently wrapping them in newspaper to ripen in time for guests on the weekend, to the days of pondering what I would do with the peaches that would do them justice and honor their purity to that morning when I finally composed a little masterpiece, the week seemed to fill with the golden hue mirrored in the peaches.

I cannot say enough about buying local. One of the primary reasons I moved to Silver City recently was because of the wonderful Farmer's Market and the home gardeners. When you know who grows your food, you have an intimate relationship, both with your food and with that farmer or gardener. They are producing something that will become part of you and your family.

When the taste of those sweet ripe peaches burst in my mouth, I was transported to a time when the days were more golden, when we did know our neighbors and shared the harvest with baskets of fruits and jars of pickles. The only words that could fully describe that moment when I took my first bite of peach crepe was - "I have died and gone to heaven." But really, I was just doing some time traveling. The 50 or so years that have passed since I last tasted something that moved me so melted away for a bit. I plan on doing some more time traveling and finding those delicious home grown delicacies that bring us all back to a time and place when we were not so distracted from what was really important.

Food, glorious food!
Hot buttered zucchini and mustard greens!
While we're in the mood --
Cold jelly and custard!
(With Free-Range Eggs, of course)
Smoky roasted chilies!

What next is the question?
Food, glorious food!
What wouldn't we give for
That extra bit more --
That's all that we live for
Why should we be fated to
Do nothing but brood
On food,
Organical food,
Farm Freshly food,
Marvelous food,
Fabulous food,

Beautiful food,

Glorious food

Lyrics liberally adapted from Oliver!