First Stop- Albuquerque

On the way to William's sister's wedding in Phoenix, we stopped in Albuquerque to visit my parents. My brother and his wife flew in from Seattle while we were there, so we had a sort of mini family reunion.

It was a great visit! Very relaxing, considering how short a time we were there. Sunday, William and I had some time to ourselves and went and wandered around our old haunts. Since it was just going to be the two of us, Dad let us borrow his convertible.

Nob Hill, where we met at work;
While at UNM, we conveniently visited the Center of the Universe...
Zimmerman library, also at UNM, my alma mater:




and it wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the Frontier for a plate of Huevos Rancheros with fresh tortillas!
We finished the night by going back to my parents and Dad & I had fun photographing my quilt,while William and Coleen warped the loom she got for her birthday. (While going through Lawrence, KS we stopped at the Yarn Barn and bought a Kromski Fiddle rigid heddle loom).She warped and finished her project all in one night.
Monday, we ran a couple of errands(including a second trip to Frontier) after we went to visit my parents new church building, which is quite beautiful,
with a stunning view of the Sandia mountains.Then went back to their house and had a birthday party complete with a spumoni cake
Since we were all together we celebrated Coleen's and Cat's birthdays together.
Coleen had a lot of fun with the treasure hunt my parents concocted.
Tuesday morning on our way out of town, we stopped and had breakfast at Weck's (another favorite from when we lived there) and saw this hot air balloon take off in the field next door.

Making tortillas

One of the things I missed most when I moved from Albuquerque was being able to get fresh flour tortillas.

There is a restaurant called The Frontier right next to the University of New Mexico. It is a student dive with good, cheap food and the best tortillas. You could watch them go through a machine. They'd go in as balls of dough, be rolled flat, puff up as they cooked and come out steaming hot and delicious!

I went there often when I was a student and I would never leave without a dozen tortillas in my bag.

When we moved to California, I just couldn't be happy with store bought tortillas, so I learned to make them on my own.

Here's a recipe:
2 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 Tbs shortening
2/3 cup warm water

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of mixer. Add shortening and mix until there aren't any big lumps. Add water and mix thoroughly. Dough should be pliable. Let sit for 30 minutes. Divide into 9 parts and roll into 8" circles. Stack them as you roll them out - sprinkle a bit of flour on them to prevent sticking.

When they are all rolled out, flip the stack over and begin heating a 12" frying pan over high heat. Let it heat until very hot.

Put the tortillas in one at a time.

They will develop bubbles.

When they have puffed, flip them over to cook on the other side.

Sometimes, they will continue to puff after you flip them until they are just pillows of air


When done, remove and place in a clean kitchen towel to keep warm.

Sit down and enjoy. Great with chile, beans, posole, enchiladas, burritos.

And if you want an extra special treat, take one that is still warm, spread butter on it and then liberally drizzle it with honey. Yum!

Photo of frontier from ushlambad's flicker album