USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Foxfyre]

In Albuquerque when you go out for Mexican food the waiter will always ask if you want red or green chile. Most prefer green but red is available for those who want it. Those who want both just say "Christmas."

New Mexico is the chile capital of maybe the world. There is none better anywhere than our Hatch green chile. The chile roasters are in operation all over town now and the aroma is wonderful.

Ah.....I wouldn't eat either one. I don't go out for Mexican food (or stay in for Mexican food).

Your choices would be limited in Albuquerque.

I guess it's good I have no plans to go to that area.

Although, really, I don't eat out much anyway.

There are a lot of Mexican/southwestern/New Mexico cuisine restaurants here, but we really do have a wide variety. I would guess there are as many Asian restaurants as Mexican ones plus we have all the usual chains: Applebees, Chilis, Pappadeaux, Olive Garden et al, and some good steak houses, barbque places, local Italian, etc.

But almost all of our Mexican/southwestern cuisine is the real deal, very different from the Texmex style that is more common in most of 'gringo' country.

When I lived in Albuquerque, there were 2 Taco Bells in town, which I found rather ridiculous.

There are probably more than that now. We still prefer their tacos to all others and I love their little cinnamon crispy thingees for a quick junk food dessert.

 

[ChrisL]

Good morning!

I stood outside and watched that silly eclipse for some time but I didn't see anything. It just looked like the sun to me. I looked at it through my cell phone camera. Hope that's okay! Well, I'm not blind today, so I guess it is okay.

It seemed to get a little dimmer outside, but we also had a thin veil of cloud cover.

It wasn't a good idea to look at the sun through your camera, but that's true even if it's not an eclipse. It's not that the sun is more damaging during an eclipse, it's just that it is easier to look directly at the sun during the eclipse, so people tend to look longer, which can cause damage. A quick glance at an eclipse should be no more dangerous than a quick glance at a normal sun overhead, so far as I know.

Since I'm talking about the eclipse, I did not know that there is a thing called eclipse crescent shadows. You get crescents of light, which doesn't seem to make sense. A friend posted a picture of some on facebook, and at first I thought it was a joke. I looked it up, and apparently it's a real thing, with the leaves of trees being natural pinhole cameras.

I looked at it through my camera a whole bunch of times and I'm fine.

Hope so. They say not a good idea to look at the sun through the camera but most say it is because you can damage your camera without a sun filter made for that purpose. I haven't a clue but if you feel okay you're probably okay.

You got a bit over 50% of the eclipse up where you are which would probably not be noticeable if you didn't know it was happening.

View attachment 145566

We got between 75-80% and it was barely noticeable here.

I was looking for it but didn't see anything. I did get a shot of a little blue shaped half moon thing below the sun, and I heard that was a reflection of the eclipse, but the sun itself just looked like the sun. Needless to say, I wasn't that impressed.

 

[ChrisL]

I think I've eaten at Taco Bell one time, and there was hardly no meat in the taco!

 

[ChrisL]

We had about a 90% coverage here. I took my little Canon Power shot out and used an old welding mask for a sun filter, and using my tripod this what we saw at the max exlipse...

I didn't see anything like that. Lol.

 

[Foxfyre]

I think I've eaten at Taco Bell one time, and there was hardly no meat in the taco!

I'm not a big meat eater and yes, it can be pretty skimpy but I enjoy the other stuff--lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion--more and I like their sauce. And they use a corn tortilla shell that holds together well but is fresh tasting, tender and easy to eat and I like the flavors better than any other taco place. We make good tacos here at home too.

 

[ChrisL]

I think I've eaten at Taco Bell one time, and there was hardly no meat in the taco!

I'm not a big meat eater and yes, it can be pretty skimpy but I enjoy the other stuff--lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion--more and I like their sauce. And they use a corn tortilla shell that holds together well but is fresh tasting, tender and easy to eat and I like the flavors better than any other taco place. We make good tacos here at home too.

I think the taco meat is the best part! I love taco seasoning. I make taco lasagna sometimes too.

 

[ChrisL]

 

[Foxfyre]

Looks good. Recipe?

 

[ChrisL]

Looks good. Recipe?

There are tons of recipes online, but I usually just lightly oil the bottom of a backing sheet, lay down a layer of soft taco shells, then some meat and cheese and some taco sauce, the repeat until your lasagna is complete. Bake in the oven for about 1/2 hour and then serve with your choice of toppings. It is pretty awesome. You can put beans in there too, but I prefer it without the beans.

 

[ChrisL]

Looks good. Recipe?

There is also taco salad which is awesome, basically like a taco but in a bowl. You can just break up the hard tortillas and put them in there, or you can use Doritos. I usually have my taco in a bowl anyways. It is much neater to eat that way.

 

[ChrisL]

Looks good. Recipe?

There are tons of recipes online, but I usually just lightly oil the bottom of a backing sheet, lay down a layer of soft taco shells, then some meat and cheese and some taco sauce, the repeat until your lasagna is complete. Bake in the oven for about 1/2 hour and then serve with your choice of toppings. It is pretty awesome. You can put beans in there too, but I prefer it without the beans.

I should say baking pan, not baking sheet. A baking sheet is way too shallow for lasagna.

 

[Foxfyre]

Looks good. Recipe?

There is also taco salad which is awesome, basically like a taco but in a bowl. You can just break up the hard tortillas and put them in there, or you can use Doritos. I usually have my taco in a bowl anyways. It is much neater to eat that way.

We enjoy taco salad too. Most served in restaurants around here come in an edible bowl.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Everybody is talking about favorite pets that have passed on so I will tell you about Fluffy. When I was 5 years old I had a little white fluffy haired dog that was named Fluffy because that is what he was. He looked like a small bale of cotton that had a couple of busted bands. One day when my Dad was backing the car out of the garage he ran over Fluffy with the car and the accident killed him instantly. I went wild crying and laying on the floor over come with grief. My Dad, being the wise man that he was, took Fluffy down to the local Taxidermist and had him stuffed in a standing position. He then put wheels on the bottom of his paws and tied a string to his collar. I used him for a pull toy for about 3 years until I outgrew him.

 

[ricechickie]

In the Flame Zone they are discussing dreams and here, people are recounting pet stories. Well, I can mix the two.

I don't dream often about my husband (at least not that I remember) but he has showed up on two dreams that I really remember, accompanied by pets we had together that are no longer living. One was a dog, and the most recent one was a pet rat, if you can believe it. I enjoy those dreams. During the dream, I don't necessarily feel like it's anything special, but when I wake up, I feel like I didn't get enough dream to suit me.

 

[Gracie]

In the Flame Zone they are discussing dreams and here, people are recounting pet stories. Well, I can mix the two.

I don't dream often about my husband (at least not that I remember) but he has showed up on two dreams that I really remember, accompanied by pets we had together that are no longer living. One was a dog, and the most recent one was a pet rat, if you can believe it. I enjoy those dreams. During the dream, I don't necessarily feel like it's anything special, but when I wake up, I feel like I didn't get enough dream to suit me.

Don't know if you believe in it or not, but your husband and your pets communicated with you just to let you know they are still with you. Karma jumps on my bed every night to sleep with me. I feel the bed jiggle and it only happens when I am between awake and asleep..that one milisecond before dropping off. WIGGLE. Its karma. And I still make room for her next to me and pat the mattress telling her its night night sleepy time and that I love her. And she comes just as she always did.

 

[Gracie]

Speaking of dreams...I never have good ones any more. Not for a couple of years, anyway. And I remember most of them. But last night was an exception. We were back at the beach. Two people I don't know won the lottery and bought a big house and didn't want to live in it alone. They offered us half the house to live in. It was near the street the apartments we used to manage, overlooking the bay. When I asked to see "our rooms", it was a complete apartment. Persian rugs on the floor, lots of windows, sea breeze coming in and flapping the sheer drapes. It was beautiful..and it was a whole apartment. Kitchen, bathroom, living room, two bedrooms. I asked her if she was SURE $600 per month was ok, and she said yes. It was fine.

Instead of constantly dreaming of driving, looking for home in fog shrouded streets like the usual dreams, this one was bright, sunny, crisp and smelled of ocean air. I didn't wanna wake up. But...MrG was talking to housemate too loud and I got jerked out of the only good dream I have had in forever.

I am not a morning person. I am grouchy. Today, I was grouchier than usual cuz I didn't want to leave where I was at.

 

[ricechickie]

In the Flame Zone they are discussing dreams and here, people are recounting pet stories. Well, I can mix the two.

I don't dream often about my husband (at least not that I remember) but he has showed up on two dreams that I really remember, accompanied by pets we had together that are no longer living. One was a dog, and the most recent one was a pet rat, if you can believe it. I enjoy those dreams. During the dream, I don't necessarily feel like it's anything special, but when I wake up, I feel like I didn't get enough dream to suit me.

Don't know if you believe in it or not, but your husband and your pets communicated with you just to let you know they are still with you. Karma jumps on my bed every night to sleep with me. I feel the bed jiggle and it only happens when I am between awake and asleep..that one milisecond before dropping off. WIGGLE. Its karma. And I still make room for her next to me and pat the mattress telling her its night night sleepy time and that I love her. And she comes just as she always did.

Honestly, I don't know if I believe it or not, but I like those dreams. So, even if it's my brain playing games with memory, I am grateful for it.

 

[007]

Speaking of dreams, my most favorite hotrod I ever own in my life was a 1970, AMC, AMX. It had the "GO PACK" for the gear heads here like me, which was the 345hp, (under rated back then for ins reasons), 390c.i. engine, a T-10 close ratio 4-speed and a posi. Had a Hurst shifter in it too, all from the factory. I used to love driving that car, and I had dreams about driving it years and years later, and I mean decades later, that were so vivid, I'd have to look out in my driveway to make sure it wasn't sitting there.

 

[007]

Well, I just got a call from my Ma and she said she just got a call from my older sister in Montana, and my brother is in an ambulance headed for Butte with a blood clot near his heart. Now we're all on pins and needles waiting for an update because that can kill you in an instant, and here I was planning on going out there on the 2nd for a couple weeks. I hope I'm not going to a funeral. My brother in law is a good guy.

 

[Ernie S.]

Ah.....I wouldn't eat either one. I don't go out for Mexican food (or stay in for Mexican food).

Your choices would be limited in Albuquerque.

I guess it's good I have no plans to go to that area.

Although, really, I don't eat out much anyway.

There are a lot of Mexican/southwestern/New Mexico cuisine restaurants here, but we really do have a wide variety. I would guess there are as many Asian restaurants as Mexican ones plus we have all the usual chains: Applebees, Chilis, Pappadeaux, Olive Garden et al, and some good steak houses, barbque places, local Italian, etc.

But almost all of our Mexican/southwestern cuisine is the real deal, very different from the Texmex style that is more common in most of 'gringo' country.

When I lived in Albuquerque, there were 2 Taco Bells in town, which I found rather ridiculous.

There are probably more than that now. We still prefer their tacos to all others and I love their little cinnamon crispy thingees for a quick junk food dessert.

I'm addicted to their chalupas, but the whole idea seemed absurd to me when there were so many great authentic Mexican restaurants.