Hot or Cold Christmas?

The fluffy members of our family get into the Christmas Spirit

Growing up in South Africa I was only used to having Christmas in Summer. Since then, I've been lucky enough to have celebrated the holidays in white/winter destinations like France (Avranches, Normandie), London and Colorado, USA, and I must say that the whole experience of a white and chilly Christmas was thoroughly enjoyable, but not more so than a summery Christmas. I always hear Europeans and Americans saying  "Christmas won't be Christmas if it is summer", but to me, it was/is just normal. 

South Africans tend to keep the festive season as traditional as possible, with Christmas trees (mostly fake), presents, Santa Claus/Christmas Father and reindeer pulling the sleigh. (how else would the old man be able to deliver all the presents to good little children all over the world???). The only difference is that our Santa sometimes wears a bathing suit and Hawaii-style shirt in advertisements and a lot of people dine outside on Christmas day (at home or at a restaurant), so not everyone slaves away in a too-hot kitchen cooking a huge traditional meal. (and the town where I grew up gets REALLY hot - 90-100+ degrees Fahrenheit, so even though I love cooking, this is not the time of year when I want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen on time-consuming meals).

We usually try to travel back to South Africa for Christmas, to share it with our families, but that isn't always possible. Luckily for us, this year it will be and in 2 days time, we will be taking the extremely long trek down to Cape Town. Door to door, takes about 36 hours, but once you get there and the worst of the jet-lag wears off, it is so worth it.

As usual, Christmas Eve will be spent with my in-laws and Christmas Day with my parents. I'm not sure how that happened, but somehow, we've just created this tradition over the past few years. I'm so looking forward to spending some time with our families and friends during this magical time. After all, isn't that what the Festive Season is all about, spending time with the special people in your life, whether it be your husband/wife, family and/or friends. Hot or cold weather, to me it doesn't matter, as long as I can be with loved ones, I'm happy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!  

Red or Green - take 3

 Another skew sign...(or rather, the photo is skew, not the sign)

Del Charro, located in Inn of the Governors, was our last lunch in Santa Fe. As mentioned on the previous post, 2 different locals suggested that we go there for lunch and the local score was 2 out of 2. (1. Tia Sophia, 2. Del Charro).

Del Charro is a saloon with a great big welcoming bar and an outside patio with a fireplace. We walked past the place (before we got the recommendations) and I thought, "This would be a cool place to come to for a drink", and the idea of having a meal there didn't cross my mind, but luckily those lovely locals told us how yummy the food was (and how extremely well-priced the menu was - nothing was over $9 or $10.)

The Bar at Del Charro

I love me some buffalo wings. This is not something that is very big in South Africa, people enjoy it, and you can find it at a few places, but my true love affair with buffalo wings and blue cheese dressing started when I worked at a ski resort in Winter Park, CO, just after I finished university. The staff all went to a dive bar on Wednesday-Wing-nights (if I remember correctly), where they served wings at 10cents each. That was so cheap, even us sorry underpaid hotel folks could go and pig out on the yummy wings. (off course they more than made up that money with the copious amounts of alcohol that we consumed with the wings, so it was a win-win deal).

Del Charro from the outside

Now the whole reason for my "trip-down-buffalo-wing-memory-lane" is the following: I had the BEST wings EVER!!! at Del Charro. They were not Buffalo Wings. Instead, they were Chipotle Wings - Yum yum. (Chipotle is a smoke-dried jalapeno chili). The wings were served with ranch dressing (very American) and even though I usually prefer to eat my wings with blue cheese, I didn't miss the blue cheese at all on this occasion, because the wings were awesome. In fact, they were so awesome that I asked the chef for the recipe, which he gave to me and no, I will not share it with anyone - I made a promise. (if you want the recipe, you'll just have to go eat there and earn the right to ask them yourself).

The rest of the food, was also great. I had the salmon wrap served with a red pepper coulis, creme fraiche and cucumber relish and my hubby had the chef's burger with guacamole and bacon . Both excellent dishes and extremely well priced.

We will go back to Santa Fe, NM one day, and when we do, we will definitely go back to Del Charro, Cafe Pasqual and Tia Sophia!

Red or Green - Take 2

We saw the sign...okay - in real life it is upright, but you get the idea...

 

The best dining tip I can give anyone in a new city is to ask the locals. They usually know where you can get the best food at great prices and that way you can stay away from the typical tourist traps. I will admit, there are times, that I don't mind dining in touristy areas, because the view might be stunning or it might be a great vibe, but very often, I find mediocre food at tourist hangouts, because the restaurants know that they don't have to rely on returning business.

As we were walking around in a great little shop called The Chile Shop, we started chatting to the guy who worked there. He was very friendly and eager to help us by answering any questions we might have had without being pushy to get a sale. We asked him for some restaurant suggestions in town and he immediately said "Tia Sophia" and "Del Charro". That night, we had drinks in the hotel bar and as we were chatting with the bartender, she told us that if we were looking for great food at excellent prices, we should go to "Tia Sophia" and "Del Charro", and that is exactly what we decided to do. After all, 2 locals suggested the exact same places...it was a sign.

That night I googled both restaurants and I'm very happy that I did, because I realized that Tia Sophia was not open on Sundays and they only served breakfast and lunch. That helped us plan our second day in Santa Fe. (yes, I am that girl who will plan my day around the restaurant that I'll be visiting.)

The door to yum-ness

We arrived at 12 noon sharp. The reviews for the restaurant were very positive for the most part and all of them said that you had to be prepared to wait if you arrived a bit later, so we got there early and got a table within 10 minutes. Now let me tell you about the decor...I wish I could, but I don't really know what to say about it. It looks like that is the way the restaurant looked when it first opened up and nothing has changed. There are no frills, no fancy things, just basically tables and chairs or booths and a few odd things hanging on the walls. Someone called it “homey”, I don’t know what to call it. Even though I usually like a bit of a nicer ambience, the unpretentiousness of the place just really appealed to me. They don't really care about faffing the place up, or over-friendly service - their goal is to serve excellent New Mexican cuisine, at fantastic prices – and that is exactly what we got. The clientele was a great mixture of visitors and locals and that, mixed with the “let-it-be décor”, the fact that they are not open on Sundays, the fact that people are willing to wait for a table and the great food, are all the clues you need to know that this place has a winning recipe. (or a few, from what we tasted)

The sopapilla was fab - just a bit of honey and I was in doughy-goodness-heaven. In fact, right about now, I'm seriously craving one. The rest of our meal was great too. We both ordered combo’s, the chili rellenos and enchilada combo and the enchilada and chicken taco combo (both come with sopapillas – a type of fried pastry served with food or as a dessert). Both combos were great, both super tasty and both well priced. In fact, I don’t think I saw anything on their menu over $10. Bargain!

In my opinion, every visitor who comes to Santa Fe and would like some honest traditional New Mexican food, should come to Tia Sophia – they won’t be disappointed.