New Mexico! Arizona! California!

Albuquerque!  Santa Fe!  Los Alamos!  Abiquiu!  Sedona!  San Francisco!

Not to mention all the towns we passed through.  Kingman AZ!  Merced CA!  Fresno!  Bakersfield! 

Yes, a "vacation."  The V-word struck, and off we went.  Many aspects were spectacular.  Much of the driving was too much of the driving.  There was art and science and commerce involved, and I'm sure if you've been following the RIKLblog for any length of time, you're eager to be regaled with tales of Western Adventure.  And regaled you shall be, beginning today.

A Santa Fe Surprise

Santa Fe, New Mexico.  A new city for me, and a new state as well.  Santa Fe has a tourist area with the usual T-shirt shops,  jewelry, indian artifacts, and western goodies.  Imagine my surprise when I spied, nestled among the tourist emporia, a genuine French bakery. 

So, what are those mysterious round objets with the three holes?  Is the leftmost pastry truly pouting or is it just a coincidental juxtaposition of sugar and jam? I can't answer the second question, but I can elucidate the first.  According to the French person within, they are Linzer tortes!  As you know, one of my research interests is that very same comestible, and so, despite their atypical morphology, I purchased one for subsequent analysis.  Brief summary:  Totally yummy!

The Plaza Bakery, on the Plaza, has more trad. fare.  Although they had them on display in the front window, there were none in the cases inside.  When I asked about getting one, they offered to assemble it from the pre-made halves, and did a few minutes later.  I have to assume that they weren't pre-jellied. Alas, the single exemplar that I procured suffered an ignominious fate at the pincers and mandibles of insects various that got to it before I had more than a few crumbs.  I have it on good authority that many of them subsequently drowned.  I cannot in good conscience render a more nuanced opinion on the torte than "OK."

If you find yourself in Santa Fe, New Mexico, you will find food.  Perhaps in a future blog I shall feature a photograph of the perfect poached eggs and exquisite tea offered at what appeared to be a small, ordinary cafe that promised little more than temporary sustenance.  And, perhaps a few words about the remarkably good restaurants as well.

But, as you can see, first things first.  Later:  red rocks, atomic bombs, rain on the roof, and more.

NP: "Don't Turn Away" The Collectors

TotD An HP computer salesperson brought me this shirt.  It has a lot of blue, and I was very into HP computers at the time.

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