Mom's 74th Birthday

I made a cake and brought it to mom's house to celebrate her 74th birthday.

STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
1 box strawberry cake mix
1 pkg instant strawberry creme pudding mix
1 and 3/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips with a mixer until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.Pour into greased 10x15 baking pan or 9x13 cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Cool completely. Frost with whipped cream. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Independence Day

PATRIOTIC LAYERED DRINK
Choose 2-3 drinks with different sugar content for the layers (for example: 30g sugar, 15g sugar, 0g sugar). Fill cup with ice all the way to the top. Pour the drink with the highest sugar contest into the cup, filling it approximately one third full. For the second layer, pour the second drink with the lower sugar contest slowly through the ice to fill up to 2/3rd of the glass. Finally, pour the sugar-free or lowest sugar drink slowly through the ice until you've reached the top of the glass. Suggested: Sobe Pina Colada, Gatorade Fruit Punch, G2 Blueberry-Pomegranate). We did not find those choices at the store so went with Big Red, Big Blue and Sobe Pina Colada. The blue and red worked great, but once we added the white - it kind of lost the layers (we were trying hard to not pick a sugar-free option).

Mom had everyone to her house at 4pm for dinner. We brought the cake pops that Cheyenne and I had made, plus we made a Red/White/Blue fruit salad. Finding the red (watermelon) and blue (blueberries) was easy. Finding a "white" melon was hard, but we picked up a Canary melon and it worked great.

John brought some rockets to play with after dinner - that entertained the group for quite awhile. Then we headed home and watched "Independence Day" with Will Smith - a great patriotic movie!!

Father's Day Celebrations

For Father's Day we celebrated all weekend! Saturday we went downtown to the AMC theaters to see Edge of Tomorrow. It starred Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise. Cruise played a military officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is dropped into an alien war. Killed within minutes, he finds himself in a time loop, forcing him to live out the same combat over and over. With each battle he increases his skill and begins to work alongside the Emily Blunt, a Special Forces warrior. The movie had lots of action, suspense and even some funny moments.

Afterward we headed back to where we parked, but stopped to check out the recently renovated Huntington Park. The park features viewpoints where you can see the lower Spokane Falls below the new City Hall Plaza. Signs tell you about the hydroelectric history of the region.

Next up was lunch (or breakfast) at Old European restaurant. Audrey got the crepes filled with sweet cream, I got potato pancakes served with applesauce and John ordered a club sandwich.

Because John had meetings on Sunday, we decided to do the present opening on Saturday. Sidney Kitty even decided to help. John got 2 new dress shirts and a couple of blu-rays, including the Oceans Trilogy. The bag labeled "Dad's secret stache" was full of candy bars that Audrey had bought for John.

Sunday: John asked me to make Chicken Enchiladas for dinner. This is an oldie-but-goodie recipe that I had not made in awhile. Then the Cleaver's had us over for homemade ice cream that evening. Alyx made a cinnamon crunch ice cream (with rice krispies) and a raspberry sorbet. *I'll update the post if I get the recipes from her :)

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS
3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
Grated cheddar cheese
2 cans (10 3/4 oz) Cream of Chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
1 onion, chopped
1 can (7 oz) diced green chilies
1 pkg flour tortillas
1 can olives, sliced

Brown chicken, onions and chilies in a pan. Add soup, sour cream and cheese to mixture. In a greased 9x13 pan fill flour tortillas with sop/chicken mixture. Roll and fill entire pan, with seam down. Pour remaining soup/chicken mixture over top. Cover with cheese. Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until well heated.

Mother's Day Saturday

Today we went to the Browne's Addition neighborhood for the annual MAC (Museum of Arts and Culture) Mother's Day tour. Each year they choose a different neighborhood to highlight and provide the historical details of the homes. We don't go every year, but when we do go - it is a treat!

This year's tour featured six homes in Browne's Addition. Established in 1883, Browne's Addition was Spokane's first neighborhood and considered one of the oldest in Washington. For decades this neighborhood was the home of the city's elite residents. The tour included a wide array of architectural styles:

• The Campbell House (2316 W. 1st) was built in 1898 for Amasa B. Campbell, who made his fortune from the mining industry in Idaho. The home was designed by Kirtland Cutter and features elements of the Tudor architectural style including its steeply-pitched roof, wood shingles, decorative bargeboards on the gable ends, half-timbering, and diamond-paned windows. 
• The Reid House (2315 W. 1st) was built in 1899 and designed by architect Albert Held for Charles Hoffman, a real estate and mining broker. Reid House is a Craftsman Bungalow with elements of Tudor Revival. Notable features include a clinker brink living room fireplace and inglenook, a wraparound front porch, a butler's pantry and a second floor sleeping porch.  
• The Page-Ufford House (364 S. CDA Street) was constructed in 1896 for Alba and Flora Page. Page was a wealthy financier who specialized in loans, investments and mineral properties. The home features Queen Anne style including bay windows, wraparound porch, steep-pitched roof, and a turret. It was one of the earliest homes constructed in Browne's Addition.
• Westgate Apartments (2306 W. Pacific Avenue) were constructed in 1908 for the Kaminsky family and it a three-story multi-family building with six Pullman-style flats. The Pullman style is names after sleeping car trains designed by the Pullman Company in the early 1900s. The space is a long and narrow, and commonly seen in Chicago and other Midwestern cities. Built in the Spanish Colonial architectural style, the Westgate features small arches on the second floor frontal facade to each side of the large central arch above the entrance.. 
• Clark Mansion (2208 W. 2nd) was designed by Kirtland Cutter in 1898 for Patsy Clark, an Irish immigrant who made his fortune in the mining industry. The exterior of the 3 and 1/2 story home suggests Spanish and Moorish influences, including rounded corner towers and arched loggias. A few of the rooms include a French drawing room, a foyer with Moorish style influences, a dining room constructed in an English Medieval theme, and a Chinese-inspired gambling room. The home housed the Patsy Clark Restaurant from 1982-2001. Today the mansion house a law firm, but the main level is available for private events. 
• The Loewenberg- Roberts House (1923 W. 1st) was designed in 1889 by architect W.J. Carpenter for Bernard Loewenberg, owner of Loewenberg Mercantile. The stock market crash of 1893 bankrupted Loewenberg and by 1898 he agreed to trade houses with Empire Builder E.J. Roberts, the chief engineer of the DC Corbin Railway Systems and founder of Union Iron Works. The home is an example of the Queen Anne design with features such as decorative spindle work, square-cut granite foundation, a second floor gallery extending out to create a porch, and a round turret. The home is now a bed and breakfast. 

Afterward we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown for lunch. I ordered the baked lasagna, John got a Roy Rogers and pasta with meat sauce while Audrey got an Italian soda and pasta with marinara sauce. We love the spumoni that comes with the end of the meal!  What a wonderful day before Mother's Day!!

April Fools Day

Today while at work I got a call from Cindy, our warehouse admin, letting me know that I had a delivery. I certainly was not expecting anything and was extremely surprised it was from ProFlowers. When I saw they were from John, those in her office wondered what the occasion was. I had no clue! I took the box back to my office to open the card. Here is what it read: Happy Un-April Fools day. LAJ. They look great with my Easter table decorations. Thanks honey!!

Audrey Birthday Movie

Today we celebrated Audrey's birthday with her choice of movie and lunch. Audrey and I went downtown with Misit Munns, Kathy Cutler, and Shaylin Munns and met up with Mariska and Tyler to see the movie Non-Stop. (John was busy helping a friend, but was able to meet us later for lunch).

Non-Stop is about a US air marshal on a flight to London who receives a series of text messages demanding that he instruct the airline to transfer $150 million into an offshore account or a passenger will die every 20 minutes. There was a lot of suspense throughout the movie - you did not know who to trust or what to believe. Good action / thriller.

After the movie we headed to the valley for Cafe Rio. And to finish off our day we went to Steve and Angela's for dinner (lasagna, bread and salad). Great day!

Audrey is 21

This is what we woke up to on Audrey's birthday - Let it snow!

Audrey enjoyed her birthday and opened presents at home. She is saving her birthday movie / meal for early March when the movie she wants to see is released. Audrey got CDs (Saving Mr Banks, Frozen), a Lego Marvel XBox game, Disney plush (Bambi, Pooh, Eeyore, Scamp), Apple TV, and a vintage style drafting table.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was a Friday this year and also the start of a 4-day-weekend for many, so John and I decided to celebrate early and went to Black Angus on Wednesday 02/12 instead. Happy birthday Abraham Lincoln!

Audrey says I have a "problem" - - see below...they had a sale on my very favorite candy so I had to stock up!! Russell Stover Dark Chocolate covered marshmallow hearts are the best. At Easter, they have marshmallow eggs. The shape does not matter, but must be Dark chocolate (rather than milk). Yum!

Super Bowl 48

Super Bowl XLVIII was the first Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold-weather city (New Jersey) and the first game that I watched in its entirety.  The Seattle Seahawks played the Denver Broncos. The game featured the top offense (Denver) against the top defense (Seahawks), something that last occurred in the 2003 Super Bowl.

Here we are ready for the game and decked out in our Seahawks gear! Even the kitty has prepped herself by taking full control of the remote!

On the first play of the game, 12 seconds into the game, the Broncos snapped the ball, it flew past Peyton Manning into the end zone, where Seattle picked up a safety. The quickest score in Super Bowl history (2-0). Scoring results by quarter: Seahawks - 8|14|14|7 and Broncos 0|0|8|0 .  The Seahawks defeated the Broncos 34-8, the third largest point differential in Super Bowl history. This became the first Super Bowl victory for the Seahawks!!

I thought the game was enjoyable to watch, but true football fans felt it was a tad boring. However, it was the most watched television program in US history with 111.5 million viewers! The halftime show featuring Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers was entertaining. And of course we had to have our snacks ready. We had chocolate football cupcakes, Ruffles with onion dip, Spinach Dip with French bread, Little Smokies in BBQ sauce, and Hot Cheese Bean Dip with tortilla chips.

Hot Cheese Bean Dip
1 can (16oz) refried beans
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup green onions, diced
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
2/3 cup salsa (extra liquid drained)
1 can (4oz) diced green chilies (drained)
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Mix everything together. Place in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees until bubbling on the sides and golden brown on top, about 45-60 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips.

Spinach Dip
1 package (10oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 (16oz) container sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 package Knorr Vegetable recipe mix (the yellow package)
3 green onions, chopped finely

Make sure spinach is thoroughly dry. Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Optional: can add diced water chestnuts if desired. Serve with French bread.

Belated Birthday Celebration

December certainly gets busy, so we held off on my birthday movie and lunch until today.  Saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (second in the series) at AMC. Loved it! Of course Audrey made me watch the first movie (An Unexpected Journey) before we went so I would be "caught up". I had read the J.R.R. Tolkien story as a youth so was familiar with the plot line. Knew the spiders were going to make an appearance! Audrey laughed when I was squirming in my seat.

Then we went to Clinkerdagger's for a late lunch. They seated us by the window.

Audrey ordered the fettuccine and John ordered the turkey combo sandwich. He started eating before we could snap a picture! Audrey thought hers was too spicy (it was) so John traded with her halfway.

I ordered my favorite, the open-faced crab sandwich with the Broadway pea salad. Yum!

Christmas Day 2013

When we got home on Christmas Eve, we did open the presents Santa left for us. Always thoughtful! John got a Griswold Family Christmas t-shirt, Audrey got Batman pajamas, I got new slippers and PJs, and the cat got lots of paper to swat around the room.

We woke up on Christmas morning and opened presents. Audrey got some Xbox games, some Disney blu-rays, and a Wacom tablet and case. John got the Good Wife series, the Bond series, and a new winter coat. I got a pashmina (if you don't know what that is you must listen to the humorist Jeanne Robertson on Youtube "Men Don't Know the Style in NYC"), an EWU turtleneck, Crock-pot hook-up set, some serving dishes, a french rolling pin and a shortbread baking pan. John wanted to put something in our stockings and got Poo-Pourri for each of us - "Spritz the bowl before you go and no one else will ever know". (Another for you to checkout on Youtube called "Girl's Don't Poop - Poo Pourri ad")

For our Christmas meal we had prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry fluff, fruit salad, and more of the pimento cheese stuffed celery. Then we watched Christmas movies for the rest of the day, enjoying time with each other.

Cranberry Fluff
1 cup cranberry juice
16 oz whole berry cranberry sauce
3 oz package raspberry jello
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Heat cranberry juice in a medium saucepan. When boiling, add Jello and stir until dissolved. Stir in cranberry sauce. Chill until thickened. Fold in whipped cream and serve

Creamy Fruit Salad
10 ounce can pineapple chunks, drained
11 ounce can mandarin oranges, drained
1 medium apple, cored and chopped
1 cup grapes, halved
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

Combine the fruit in a large bowl, tossing well so the apple can get coated in the pineapple and orange juice to prevent browning. Stir in the sour cream and coconut, gently tossing to coat. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours prior to serving to allow the flavors to meld together. Serve chilled.

Christmas Eve

We went to mom's for Christmas Eve. Everyone brought a couple items to add to the menu of appetizers and desserts. Note for next year - we each only need to bring one thing... way too much (yummy) food!  We brought Cougar Gold cheese and crackers; pimento cheese stuffed celery; Jalapeno Popper Dip; and two types of meatballs (Swedish and BBQ). Recipes are at the end of this post. Yup, we could have brought less food!! Note John taste testing the cheese? He's wearing his new Christmas t-shirt (Chile Dogs) that we got in New Mexico. See the green and red chiles on the dogs? Refers, of course, to the "Red or Green" salsa question you have when eating in New Mexico.

The Cougar Gold cheese is a great story. I tried to pick some up at the WSU Spokane bookstore and they said they would be out of stock until January. I sent an email to my Safeway store manager in Pullman asking if he would know how to get some. He (Ray Stirling) and the Assistant (Rob Knapp) went to the WSU creamery, bought 2 cans ($30 each), brought them up to Spokane and then would not let me pay for them! Said "No.. drop it....we love you". Sweet!  PS - as an interesting side note, John reminded me that while we were in New Mexico in the gift shop at Los Poblanos, they had WSU Cougar Gold cheese in their cooler. They had to include the cost of shipping, so their retail was $49. Interesting to see a bit of the Pacific Northwest on our trip to New Mexico.

Cheyenne entertained us with some piano music. She does not look thrilled, but I think she enjoys sharing her talents. I thought this picture of Mariska and Cheyenne was great!!

Below are pictures from our gift opening. Top photo: tree in library, Grandma, the girls - Cheyenne, Mariska, Audrey. Bottom photo: Tyler and Mariska, the group (Dakota, Mom, Audrey, Shaune). Grandma got Audrey a Susan Boyle CD, a WSU Cougar key chain and some earrings. She gave John pistachios and gave me some earrings and a light aqua, (very soft), knitted scarf. We gave her some DVDs for her movie collection and some lavender items from our Los Poblanos stay.

This was the first year that we did not do a gift exchange between families (only to/from grandma), so we made sure to have some activities to keep everyone entertained. One of the activities was a clay thumbprint showman ornament. Supplies included Polymer clay (white, black, orange, and assorted colors for scarves), eye-hooks, and thumbs!  Roll three balls of white clay. Stack them closely together. Press the thumbs evenly into each of the balls. Add decorations. Insert the eye-hook. Bake the ornaments according to package instructions. Cool. Optional: Paint a thin coat of glaze over ornament. Mom's is the red scarf, mine is the blue scarf, Cheyenne's is the pink scarf. Then Michelle got off work and she and Mariska made the cutest ones - the ones along the bottom.

Then things started getting silly. Dakota was heard to say "Someone had too much eggnog". Cheyenne was heard to say "Grandma, your butt fell off" because her ornament needed some TLC before going into the oven.

Dakota and John played the slapping game. John is quite good, but I think Dakota gave him a run for his money. John was heard to say "Tell me when you've had enough".

Michelle had specifically asked if we could do Whoville hair like Cindy Lou Who on the Grinch movies. Michelle started with my hair - I thought she did an awesome job! Then Mariska did Cheyenne's hair and then Michelle and Cheyenne did Grandma's hair. Michelle was heard to say "Shaune, I need some wire cutters" as she made her way to Grandma's tree....shhhh!!

John was heard to say "Shaune, nice nuts!"

Cheyenne scared me with this fake mouse

We had a great time, a crazy time, a goofy time. Let's do it again!!

Grandma Whisler's Pimento Cheese Stuffed Celery
1 (4oz) jar diced pimentos, drained
Mayonnaise
Cheddar cheese, shredded (small shreds best - mixture of medium/sharp cheese is good)
Celery

No amounts - this recipe is by taste. Wash celery, pat dry. Mix pimentos, mayo and cheese in a bowl. Spread mixture on celery stalks. Cut into chunks. Can use leftovers on bread or crackers, but tastes best on celery.

Jalapeno Popper Dip
2 (8oz) blocks cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup Mexican cheese blend, shredded
1 cup Parmesan cheese (divided)
4 oz an chopped green chiles (not drained)
40 can chopped jalapenos (not drained)
1 cup Panko bead crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
Dried parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 2-quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Using an electric mixer, mix together the cream cheese, mayo, Mexican blend cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, green chiles and jalapenos. Mix until smooth and totally combined. Spread the mixture into the casserole dish. In a separate bowl, mix together Panko bread crumbs, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, parsley and melted butter. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over dip filling. Bake for 20 minutes (on the middle rack). Do not overcook. Topping should be golden brown and the dip should be gently bubbling around the edges. Serve with your favorite crackers.

Swedish Meatballs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 cup soft bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon pepper
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup butter, cubed

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Crumble beef and pork over mixture; mix well. Shape into 1.5 inch balls. In a large skilled, cook meatballs in butter in batches until no longer pink. (Or bake in 350 degree oven in rimmed cookie sheet for 30 minutes or until no longer pink). Remove and keep warm.

Dill Cream Sauce
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dill seed
In a bowl, combine the sauce ingredients until blended. Stir into skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve over meatballs.

New Mexico: last day

Our flight left super early, so we did not have time to have breakfast at the inn. However, they packed us a to-go-breakfast and left it in our room fridge, included things like granola, fresh fruit and energy bars. (Note: The bars were local - Taos Mountain Energy Bars www.tmebars.com - and yummy!) That was nice! So we left the inn, returned the rental car and took the shuttle to the airport. We had another layover in Denver (had a snack at Woody Creek Bakery & Cafe) and arrived in Spokane. Audrey picked us up from the airport. It was good to get away - but great to be home. Three souvenir spoons from the trip: Sandia Peak, Route 66, and New Mexico state. And later, I had the miracle staircase from the Loretto Chapel mailed to me, making it 4 spoons.

New Mexico: Day #5

Today was my favorite breakfast menu! I would have enjoyed either choice. John ordered the Eggs Benedict (house made English muffins, sauteed vegetables, smoked ham and hollandaise) and I ordered the Cardamom Aebleskivers (danish pancakes served on house made apples preserves). One delicious item I had never tried was celery root, which happened to be one of the sauteed vegetables on John's plate. I need to find out how to prepare celery root. See the gorgeous breakfast room? That's where we got to enjoy gourmet breakfast each morning.  See the yummy homemade granola? Another recipe to find!  Los Poblanos Organic Farm - Our menus are rooted in what comes from our farm as well as our food shed. We call it Rio Grande Valley Cuisine and feature many ingredients from Los Poblanos. Among them are fresh eggs from our chickens, bacon and pork belly from our own pigs, honey from our honeybees, as well as, stone fruits, jujubees, figs, cardoons, and a variety of greens and vegetables. In the winter we harvest root vegetables from the fields and use microgreens from the 1934 Lord & Burhom greenhouse. 

Since John served his LDS mission here, we did need to locate an LDS chapel! We found it on our way out of town, right before fueling the rental car.

Today we headed to Santa Fe and met with John's brother, Duane, and his family. They live in Farmington, New Mexico, which is about 200 miles from Santa Fe. We only had to go about 65 miles from Albuquerque, so we ended up getting to Santa Fe before they did.

We walked by the Loretto Chapel and decided to take a tour of the miraculous staircase. Below is the picture of a model that makes it easier to show what they describe regarding the physics of the actual staircase. When the Loretto Chapel was completed in 1878, there was no way to access the choir loft twenty-two feet above. Experts at the time felt a ladder was the only solution. Legend has it that after the sisters prayed, a man appeared at the chapel looking for work. He completed the elegant circular staircase, and then disappeared.

At the end of the Old Santa Fe Trail stands the Loretto Chapel. Inside the Gothic structure is the staircase referred to as miraculous, inexplicable, marvelous and is sometimes called St. Joseph's Staircase. The stairway confounds architects, engineers and master craftsmen. It makes over two complete 360-degree turns, stands 20' tall and has no center support. It rests solely on its base and against the choir loft. The risers of the 33 steps are all of the same height. Made of an apparently extinct wood species, it was constructed with only square wooden pegs without glue or nails."

About the time we were done with that tour, we were able to meet Duane, Anngela, Zach, Blake, Gabi and Eva at the Cathedral Basillica of Saint Francis of Assisi. We toured the Cathedral and checked out some of the shops in the plaza. At Duane's suggestion we went to the Blue Corn Cafe for lunch. Fabulous suggestion! Everything that we ordered was great - would go here again if I had the opportunity.

After our meal we headed toward the Santa Fe railway station where they had a Santa Village. Activities included reindeer games, miniature train rides and pictures with Santa! It was a neat opportunity to see the kids play since we live so far from them!

Thank you Anngela & Duane for bringing your family so far to spend the day with us. We had an absolutely wonderful time!!

We headed on the road...quick note about the "cute" Fiat? Cute - - but gutless. It really did not care for the mountain terrain we drove today - I was missing my Zoom-Zoom car as we had to stay to the right for everyone else to pass : )

For dinner we went to the Flying Star Cafe when we got back into town. It was the place we were going to have breakfast a few days ago, but it was too busy (flyingstarcafe.com). Ended up not being quite as busy when we got there tonight. I ordered the fish tacos (seasoned, grilled wild Atlantic haddock, avocado, crisp slaw, pickled vegetables, chipotle sauce on 3 little tortillas corn or flour). Tasty, but they definitely had a peppy-kick to them that I was not expecting. John went mellow and just ordered a chocolate shake.

New Mexico: Day #4

We again had breakfast at the inn. The first choice today was Blue Corn Polenta with two eggs any style and sourdough toast - John ordered that. The other choice was Breakfast BLT served open faced on sourdough toast, lettuce, aioli, tomato, and eggs any style. And that's what I ordered. They also served a quick bread each day - today was an olive oil cake with lemon zest. I must try to find that recipe! Ate it before I took a photo : )

Today we visited Albuquerque's historic Old Town (www.AlbuquerqueOldTown.com). "Experience the grace & charm of Old Town Albuquerque! The focal point of community life, founded in 1706, by Governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdez. Old Town follows the traditional Spanish pattern of a central plaza and church surrounded by homes and businesses. Many of the historic homes are still standing and some have been renovated into shops, galleries and restaurants." 

Old Town is located between Mountain Rd and Route 66 just east of Rio Grande Blvd. We had fun exploring the plaza and the shops. See photo below - John said hi to the Hulk and Leonard from the Big Bang Theory (hah). The tree? Completely made up of empty plastic water bottles and lit with miniature lights at night!  The church near the central plaza was San Felipe de Neri Catholic church, but there also was a smaller chapel down one of the brick paths called Capilla de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. We checked out t-shirt and souvenir stores, jewelry stores, art galleries, basket & rug shops, antique markets and cafes.

New Mexico's official state cookie is the biscochito, a spicy, anise-flavored, crisp cookie. They were first introduced to Mexico by Spanish settlers who brought the recipe from Spain. They are a holiday cookie staple in New Mexico. We had to try them!

Biscochitos (bis-co-CHEE-toe)

1.5 cups lard (can substitute butter, but will not be as crisp or moist)
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 eggs
2 teaspoons anise seeds
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
About 3 tablespoons apple juice or milk
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat lard and 1 cup sugar in a bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and anise seeds, beat until very light. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cream mixture along with the apple juice. Mix thoroughly to make a stiff dough. Place dough on one end of a long piece waxed paper (3 feet). Fold wax paper in half (so dough is between) and press to about one inch thickness. Refrigerate until chilled. Roll out dough between waxed paper to just under 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with flour dusted cutters into 3-inch rounds or the traditional Fleur de lis shape. Combine the 3 remaining tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon in a shallow bowl. dip unbaked cookies into the sugar-cinnamon mixture on one side. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until tops of cookies are just firm. Cook on wire racks. Makes 4 dozen.

The Christmas Shop was a fun 2-level store with any ornament you could imagine. In addition, they had a Nativity gallery. I thought this was especially cool - with 9 separate pieces intricately carved.

Next up? Route 66! We just walked the portion of Route 66 that is in downtown Albuquerque, along Central Avenue.

"Route 66 in New Mexico is a special place. New Mexico is indeed the Land of Enchantment. For many people traveling the old Mother Road during its hey-day, New Mexico presented the first glimpse of the exotic cultures of the southwest. For the Route 66 traveler coming from back east it was as if they had entered another country. The fascinating Native American and Spanish cultures encountered along New Mexico's Route 66 presented the adventure of discovery - from the old Indian Pueblos dating back to days before European colonization to the old town plazas of Santa Fe and Albuquerque."

Route 66 was first commissioned in 1926 (utilizing existing roads when possible) with the first route alignment running north-south through Albuquerque, part of a giant S-curve. This original section was 506 miles of mostly unpaved road. They pushed for a straighter route, and in 1931 with federal money, it was realigned to a more east-west direction. By 1937, the entire route from Chicago to California was paved.

"Route 66 was fixed in the memory of many by John Steinbeck's novel, "The Grapes of Wrath" and Bobby Troup's lyric "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" as well as CBS Tv's "Route 66". Today I-40 runs over much of the original roadbed, but many parts of the old highway can be seen today just beside I-40."

See Photo Below:

• Top picture is Route 66 pop - we saw this display and had to take a picture for our pop-addict Audrey!!
• Buildings - Middle row, left to right: Bliss Building (now Lindy's) circa 1929 Art Deco style, J.A. Skinner Building (now Villa di Capo Ristoranto Italian) circa 1931 Art Deco style. 
• Buildings - Bottom row, left to right:  People's Flowers circa 1944. KiMo Theater circa 1927 Pueblo Deco style. Maisel's Indian Trading Post and Brigg's Drug store and Soda Fountain (now Nick's Crossroads Cafe) circa 1909 Victorian style.

The KiMo Theater was built in 1927 as an extravagant Art Deco / Pueblo-styled showplace for movies and shows. For decades it delighted both travelers on Route 66 and local audiences, but by 1977 it was in such disrepair it was scheduled to be torn down. Thankfully the city bought it and restored it to its former glory.

We stopped at the Standard Diner (320 Central Ave SE) since it was on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (February 2009). I had not seen that particular episode, but thought the traditional diner classics on the menu would be good for our Route 66 afternoon.  They are billed as classics with a modern flair, so we were intrigued. John ordered the Diner Burger (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle) and I ordered the Meatloaf Sandwich (bacon-wrapped, aioli, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, bun). We both got the side-salad, but we could have ordered the "soup of the moment" (changes daily)!