At the heart of northern New Mexico tomatoes

At the heart of northern New Mexico tomatoes

Posted on by Pat and David
We first visited northern New Mexico back in the 1990s to write about chile peppers being bred at New Mexico State University's extension service farm. Rather than develop hybrids, the breeders were cross-pollinating traditional chiles with desirable characteristics to develop chile peppers with various heat levels that were suitable for different growing conditions. In other words, they were taking a scientific approach to seed selection the way farmers have been doing it since the advent of agriculture roughly 12,000 years ago. This fall, at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market, we discovered that the practice is alive and well with all sorts of plants. We spotted a chip-n-dip bowl with three piles of diced tomatoes and a jar of toothpicks. “Free samples” the sign advertised. Post-It...Read More
Eating at the omphalos of the breakfast burrito

Eating at the omphalos of the breakfast burrito

Posted on by Pat and David
At the temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece, a round stone covers a deep hole that plunges into the earth. According to myth, this well stone is a sacred spot that marks the center of the earth — the bellybutton from which all creation sprang. If you like breakfast as much as we do, Tia Sophia’s (210 West San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM; 505-983-9880, tiasophias.com) is the omphalos of the breakfast burrito. A breakfast and lunch stalwart just off the plaza in downtown Santa Fe since 1975, Tia Sophia's specializes in New Mexican comidas nativas, or local cooking. Founders Ann and Jim Maryol aspired to create a casual diner serving good food at good prices and catering to local tastes. This was back...Read More
Short and sweet, fika keeps Swedes on an even keel

Short and sweet, fika keeps Swedes on an even keel

Posted on by Pat and David
In a country where the compound-noun penchant of the Swedish language makes many place names inscrutably complex for foreigners (think Fjäderholmarna or Malmskillnadsgatan) it's a relief to find short words that are nonetheless key to daily life. Take takk, for example, or hej. (‶Thanks″ and ‶hi,″ respectively.) Fika is just as important as a social lubricant. It's usually translated as ‶coffee break,″ but it is much more than a quick snack. It's an occasion — maybe even a ceremony — that happens at least once a day and usually involves socializing. Going for a fika essentially means catching up with a friend or colleague over a cup of coffee and a snack (usually sweet). Although Sweden doesn't begin to rival Finland for coffee consumption, Swedes...Read More
Ferry, bus, and nature hike lead to beachside lunch

Ferry, bus, and nature hike lead to beachside lunch

Posted on by Pat and David
Sometimes we go to great lengths for lunch. Literally. After two fun excursions by ferry, we were eager to get back out into the archipelago. But we were hoping for a less obvious journey. We found a good option on the Stockholm city tourism website, VisitStockholm.com. Called ‶A day trip with the commuter ferry,″ the suggested itinerary combined a long ferry ride with a bus and a hike that ended at a beach on Lake Mälaren. There was, of course, lunch at a lakeside cafe. We caught the first #89 ferry of the day from Klara Mälarstrand, close to City Hall, since we knew it would be a day-long outing. As we set out on a carefree trip, we felt a bit sorry for all...Read More
Vaxholm summer Sunday feels like a garden party

Vaxholm summer Sunday feels like a garden party

Posted on by Pat and David
We chose a sunny Sunday morning for our next excursion into the Stockholm archipelago. We were hardly the only ones with that idea. The ferry from Strömkajen was full of folks out for a day on the water or decamping to their summer homes for a month or more. On the 90-minute trip to Vaxholm, the ferry stopped about a dozen times to let people off. For us it was a great way to get a better sense of the physical layout of the archipelago itself. We also got a peek into the way of life for people who live in the midst of this floating garden. The water was very placid. David observed that compared to his days on the Maine coast, the tidal...Read More
Summer idylls in Stockholm’s archipelago

Summer idylls in Stockholm’s archipelago

Posted on by Pat and David
Talk about a civilized country. The U.S. could do worse than to emulate Sweden's vacation practices. The Annual Leave Act guarantees workers 25 paid vacation days every year. It also permits them to take four consecutive weeks off between June and August. No wonder every third Swede seems to have a country home! Mind you, that home could be a mansion on a lake or it could be a cabin in the woods with primitive plumbing. In either case, it's an excuse to get out of town.. But even Stockholm dwellers without their own (or their family's) country home can make quick getaways by hopping one of the many commuter ferries to the islands in the Stockholm archipelago. When we followed suit, we learned that...Read More
In the land of great meatballs

In the land of great meatballs

Posted on by Pat and David
As anyone who's ever eaten at the cafe in an Ikea store knows, meatballs are a cornerstone of modern Swedish cuisine. Once we arrived in Stockholm and started paying attention, we realized that köttbuller are ubiquitous. Most restaurants serve them. Huge bags of meatballs filled the ready-to-heat coolers in the supermarkets, and if that weren't enough, they were also sold frozen. Not reading Swedish, we were never sure what form of meat was involved, though Google Translate did suggest any or all of the favorite Swedish meats: beef, pork, lamb, elk, moose. Sometimes even chicken. What we did understand was that meatballs in gravy is the Swedish equivalent of American mac 'n' cheese — the ultimate national comfort food. Airbnb has changed the way we...Read More
Kebab pizza — it’s a Swedish thing

Kebab pizza — it’s a Swedish thing

Posted on by Pat and David
Despite our diligent gastronomic research before heading to Stockholm, we had never heard of the kebab pizza. That's quite a surprise, really, since it turns out to be one of the most popular pizza choices in Sweden. Unlike other seminal food inventions (the hamburger comes to mind), no one has come forward to claim authorship. Apparently, the kebab pizza just sort of happened. Chalk one up for open borders and a national policy of welcoming immigrants. When new Swedes from the Middle East and the Balkans began to flood into the country in the 1980s, many of them followed the time-tested immigrant entrepreneurial path of opening up fast food joints. Many of those spots served both kebabs and pizza. It was only a matter of...Read More
In praise of the Prinsesstärta

In praise of the Prinsesstärta

Posted on by Pat
When I was in my late 20s, I lived in Pasadena, California. At least once a week, I would head to the very exotic-seeming Konditori where I would always order the same thing: a beautiful slice of Princess cake. I left Pasadena and Princess cake behind after a couple of years. I remembered it fondly but never encountered it again in my travels in the United States — or in western or even eastern Europe. It is an understatement to say that I'm delighted to discover that Prinsesstärta is practically the national dessert of Sweden. There are tempting slices and whole cakes at every konditori in town — and there are plenty of them. There are even whole cakes in the grocery stores. Could the...Read More
Launching a Stockholm stay at the farmers market

Launching a Stockholm stay at the farmers market

Posted on by Pat and David
When we travel for extended periods, we like to rent an Airbnb that gives us a taste of what it's like to live someplace, rather than just visiting. For a couple of weeks in Stockholm, we found a one-bedroom flat in the Kungsholmen neighborhood close to public transit. It's in a circa-1900 building with some Art Nouveau (Jugenstil) touches. Our apartment occupies the attic level — 5th floor by European reckoning, 6th by American. (A vintage open-cage elevator takes us most of the way up.) Whoever renovated did a great job coping with the angles and niches beneath the roof, giving the whole flat a bright, contemporary Scandinavian look. Even more fortunately, we have an outdoor patio with an electric grill and a thoroughly modern...Read More