Santa Fe Style

Welcome back from the holidays and into 2017! More on this year coming soon, but for now, I take you back to some favorite spots from my trip to Santa Fe this holiday season.

Santa Fe is a great town for tourists, but the main reason I go is to visit my parents. There are always lots of dog walks, favorite foods, hanging out and catching up. I'll highlight some great restaurants here that are vegan and gluten free friendly and some ideas for activities around town.

A snowy Christmas Day dog walk with Mom and Bert

Perhaps these ideas will help you on your next visit to Santa Fe!

Food:

In order to conquer the jet lag, I make frequent visits to the nearby Java Joe's. My preferred drink is the spicy chai, with almond milk and a couple of shots of espresso. This place has three types of chai (sweet, spicy and ginger) and lots of options for milk.

El Comal is a cozy Mexican restaurant near my parents' house. It serves great Mexican food and makes incredible (and very large) glasses of sangria. I had the vegetarian enchiladas (no cheese) and they were delicious.

Mom and Dad and Beverages

After some errands, Ma & Pa and I visited Valentina's for lunch. Another homestyle Mexican place, with delicious food. I enjoyed the Camarones al mojo de ajo (Shrimp in garlic sauce), that came with rice, beans, grilled veggies and corn tortillas.

¡Qué rico!

Harry's Roadhouse offers an inviting restaurant space and many drinks and menu options. Some of the dishes are classic, but classy pub fare while others are more traditionally southwest. If you are there in nice weather, request to sit out on there patio.

On the day after Christmas we went to Tune-Up Cafe. This is a tiny, funky spot. I loved the Moroccan Stew and hot cider spiked with port and fruit, but be forewarned that it is not the place if you want a quiet or relaxing meal.

My parents' favorite Mexican fast food place is Burrito Spot. It's basically fast food, but I had some tasty bean tostadas and you can't argue with the price!

Activities:

Mom and I picked up an old tradition with tickets to the Nutcracker at the Lensic. The Lensic is a beautiful historic theater and the production was beautiful. Thanks, Mom!

Dad's Christmas present to us "kids" was an afternoon at the interactive art exhibit/mystery treasure hunt at Meow Wolf. It's a difficult place to describe and I actually think you wouldn't want to know too much before checking it out, but if you are ready for a different afternoon, go!

Sis and I howling at Meow Wolf

I always love picking up some local produce and checking out the arts and handicrafts at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market. Some favorites from this visit were fresh garlic, fingerling potatoes and goat's cheese.

The Jean Cocteau is a historic theater, but what gives it an extra twist of interest is that it belongs to George R. R. Martin. It shows mostly independent films, but the new episodes of Game of Thrones also premier there before HBO! We saw She Sings to the Stars, which I recommend if you get the chance to watch it.

A stroll around the historic downtown is a must-do on any visit to Santa Fe. A few snaps from our night outing of the plaza and church.

Going out:

I don't think that Santa Fe is world famous for its nightlife, but there are some fun spots for those who head out after dark. The "kids" visited Secreto Lounge inside the St. Francis Hotel and warmed up in front of an open fireplace at Del Charro.

Decked in plaid, ready to go out!

Just finished reading:

Chameleon in a Candy Store - This is the sequel to Diary of an Oxygen Thief. In it, you learn how the author-character published and publicized his first book and how he entered the world of online dating. I read the whole thing on my international trip from Yangon to LA.

Reading Again: 

My book club selected Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being for our January book. It's a longer one, but totally worth it and I am enjoying my second run-through.

Five Fabulous Fotos

Last spring, a colleague and friend suggested that we all bring five photos from our spring break adventures to a happy hour and project our memories onto the wall. Five is enough to get an idea of what your friends did, but not so many to overwhelm the viewers, especially if the gathering fills one of our apartments.

Thus, the 5 Fabulous Foto Fests were born and the tradition has continued. After summer break, we decided on five categories in which to share pictures:

1. Family
2. Food
3. Friends
4. Fun 
5. Fiscellaneous (you get it, right?)

What follows are the five pictures that I selected for the Foto Fest and a few stories about them.

I was fortunate to visit lots of family over my break, but the family member who was most exciting to see was one I had not met before: my niece Jozy! Isn't she adorable?

Jozy n me

Although there were many great meals this summer, the food shot that wins the selection comes to you from Antigua, Guatemala. I spent the last few days of my three week trip to Guatemala in Antigua before flying back to the states. This was my second visit to Guatemala and it proved to be an amazing country once again. Beautiful nature, friendly people and plenty of Spanish!

Gluten free vegan falafel on pita bread in Antigua.

Friends was a hard category for me. There were so many fun moments with dear ones and it was challenging to choose a favorite. I hope your feelings won't be hurt if you aren't here. :) Really this photo was my selection because it was an amazing shot, showing my three new Spanish friends and it gives you a glimpse of the beautiful Lake Atitlán in Guatemala.

This picture won the best all-around photo by popular vote at the Foto Fest!

Sara and Violeta look on as Pablo back-flips into Lake Atitlán, near Santa Laguna

In Seattle, my friend Yasmin was kind enough to allow me to use her house to host an afternoon reunion my second day in town. This was a great chance to see a lot of people in my former home city. I love the light and sense of fun in this picture...and of course all my friends! I deem it runner-up in the friends category.

Like the previous categories, there are plenty of pictures in my library that could be classified as fun. This shot of me (photo credit: Violeta, who has a fancier camera than I do) is another one from the lake, at a jumping spot near San Marcos. I like the way it looks like I'm stepping on a cloud. We spent a weekend in San Marcos and a lovely afternoon in this national park. After jumping and swimming we hiked to the top of the ridge, to take in views of the lake and check out Mayan offering sites. The evening ended with live music at our hostel. It was a pretty perfect day.

Doing something a little bit scary is good for you.

For the Fiscellaneous category, I chose a panorama shot of Lake Atitlán, my home for three weeks this summer. I spent two in Panajachel, living with a host family, attending four hours of language school a day, making new friends and exploring. This photo was taken from a hike out to some Mayan caves on a ridge above the lake. My Spanish teacher and I hiked out here during my last day of class. You can see the lake, the town and one of the volcanoes; these sights filled my view and my mind during my time in Guatemala.

Guatemala, I miss you!

School is well underway at the time of writing this - we are almost finished with first quarter already in Yangon. I took the Foto Fest idea as inspiration and created an assignment for my Spanish 3 and 4 classes in which students brought in pictures from their summer and shared them with the class, describing them in Spanish, of course!

My next Foto Fest with work friends is scheduled for early November. I'll let you know how it goes. 

What camera am I using for all these great photos? This Olympus Tough one.

What I'm Reading:

• Just finished Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon, her memoir is fascinating on music, fashion, art and feminism levels.
• Also just finished We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Everyone should read this short essay, especially folks with kids.
• Working on the young adult novel by the author who I obsessed over during my thesis-writing days at UW, Ray Loriga, El bebedor de lágrimas.

What I'm Listening to:

• The Mynabirds, What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood
• Sonic Youth (inspired by Kim Gordon's book, mentioned above)
• The New Division - awesome LA-based band that I discovered on a night out in Seattle
• Screens, The Pink Hooded Falcon, another Seattle-discovery (Yes, I miss the live music scene in Seattle A LOT.)
• Desaparecidos, Payola

Some Food I'm Eating:

• Thanks to my sister for these healthy breakfast cookies! Peanut butter vegan and gluten free and protein-packed.
• Another one from my sis, to-die-for-vegan FUDGE.
• Loving the tropical fruits in Yangon: pineapple, mango, papaya, pomelo...

Where I'm going next:

• Bangkok, for a visa renewal, shopping and hanging out!
• Ko Lanta: beach bound for Fall Break!

Stay tuned to hear about these trips!