Winter Solstice

December 21, 2009

Winter Solstice in Santa Fe comes in colder, with the darkness sending me indoors to warm next to my fireplace. Bootsy, my wonderful husky, is loving the cooler weather and gets me up in the morning singing to go outdoors. All this cold and dark leads me to warmer, nourishing soups and stews. Hence this month's Chickpea Butternut Squash Stew.

It is a season of parties with old friends and new. For a smallish town, Santa Fe has a surprising variety in people, interests and things to do. As soon as I get used to the chill (it seems to take longer as I get older), I will put on the snowshoes and head to mountains, a very short drive away. A few weeks ago we had the Macrobiotic Pot Luck. 18 people came with fantastic foods and great spirit. Our little Santa Fe Macrobiotic community grows a bit at a time. One friend suggested it is time to start a center. We shall see what the year brings.

Warm Days/Cool Nights: Fall in Santa Fe

Fall again in Santa Fe and the macrobiotic cooking is good. The farmer's market overflows with produce and my fruit trees are bursting. This year I am making compotes from my fruit trees with apple, pear and plums. I freeze the delicious fruits for use during the long winter. I am also making and freezing slow roasted tomatoes from my garden.

The hatch chile roasters are back in town and are in the parking lots all over Santa Fe. I picked up a batch and left them in my car while I shopped. When I came back my car smelled just like Abuelita's kitchen (that means grandmother).

Chiles, tomatoes? Macrobiotics....well they make balance in our very dry, very high climate. It all depends on your condition at the moment. We have started our macrobiotic Santa Fe meetup group and are growing nicely. I look forward to a thriving macrobiotic community here in Santa Fe. It was wonderful to have Dr. Jonas Skardis join us. Dr. Skardis is a long time macro practitioner and his insight and experience are wonderful additions to our fledgling group.

Spring Arrives: sort of

April 1, 2009

As in many parts of the West, spring can come with sudden changes that keep us on our toes. So far in the month of March the weather has gone from balmy 70+ degrees to 6 inches of snow. The snow was badly needed, as we have had almost no moisture at the lower elevations all winter. My daffodils and crocuses look like an Easter (or Passover) parade nestled in white. While the snow at this time of year doesn't stay around very long, it stays so white, very different from my New York City experiences. Our farmer's market is pretty slim right now, but there are delicious prepared foodstuffs all made locally like green chile mustards and sprouts of all sorts. The sprouts lady convinced me how easy it is to sprout, so that is the spring recipe: Sprouted Lentils.