Penguin Droppings

Restaurant Review, St. Clair’s Winery and Bistro, Mesilla, NM

2012-02-16T15:40:00.000-08:00

I haven’t done a review for a while, at least since we moved tro NM, so I thought I would do one now. I am going to talk about the St. Clair’s Winery and Bistro in Mesilla.

Mrsfabp and I went out with a couple of friends for my birthday and after debating for awhile (favorite restaurant vs. something new) we opted to try the St. Clair’s Winery and Bistro. They had just opened within a couple of weeks and we thought it would be fun.

We arrived without reservations and found the place very, very busy. We were told we probably could not be seated as they had a number of reservations. It was not below my dignity level to “mention” it was my birthday. A call was made, someone else arrived and we were seated! A real plus for a review. Our seat was overlooking their covered patio, which will be opening in about a month.

Our waitress was very friendly, very knowledgeable about the food and wine, and offered us a sample of one of the wines made by St. Clair’s. It was a very good sweet red wine with some fruit flavors added. Mentally I made a note to pick up a bottle when we left.

Wine and beer was delivered in a snap and we set about to study the menu. We ordered an appetizer, the Spinach and Artichoke Dip. It was delivered quickly, it was hot and delicious, served with hearty, crisp tortilla chips. There was a lot of vegetable in it, better than a lot of filler.

For the main course, we all ordered different things. A Southwest Burger, Chicken Pot Pie, a Wine Steak and Pasta New Mexico. For the next 20 minutes or so, there was very little chatting going on as we really savored each and every bite. All four meals were prepared correctly with the steak and Burger grilled to perfection. We were all satisfied.

When our waitress returned at the end of the meal, she made a big deal about my birthday and offered a dessert on the house. I took the Chocolate Port Brownie, served with a topping of ice cream. I reluctantly shared with the others at the table but kept a close eye on them to make sure they didn’t take too much. As with everything else, delicious

Overall I was very impressed with the night out. The décor is understated but very comfortable. The staff, friendly and knowledgeable. Maybe the best part was the discovery of some good New Mexican wine at affordable prices. I had been to other wineries and a good bottle of something I like was about $15. At St. Clair’s the equivalent bottle was $7, a price good enough to by several bottles.

Overall, for the dining experience, I give it 4 Penguins…

Even More Random Thoughts on a Random Day

2012-02-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

-The other day, I got a package in the mail and the item was wrapped in bubble wrap to protect it. On the wrap was the words “Unbreakable Bubble Wrap.” Try as we could, we could not pop it. Why would someone do this? Why deny us the simple pleasure of making that cute popping sound when you squeeze one bubble? There is an App for that for the iPhone and Droid but that cannot be the same thing, could it? First they killed newspapers, then the US Postal Service, and now they are after our bubble wrap. What next?

- Can there be any prettier sentence in the English language then “Come back in 10 years” on the bottom of an endoscopy report?

-I hate when Doctor’s offices do not follow up on stuff they said they would. I was supposed to have a prescription faxed to my med provider ands it was incomplete. I am now calling the doctor a third time to get this corrected. Dammit.

-What do you get when you combine a cat, open kitchen cabinet, 2 bags of catnip and 8 hours of uninterrupted nighttime fun? A stoned cat, catnip strewn all over the cabinet, including stuck to the walls and all over everything else in the cabinet and one pissed off TFabP. The inside of the cabinet looked like a frat house after a huge, all weekend party. I wonder if Kanye is upset about all the attention that Skippy is getting and figured he would try getting into mischief to see what happens. It worked…

- It seems to me that water boiled in a microwave is not as hot as water boiled in a teakettle. That’s why I bought a teakettle for making my morning coffee. I am not sure why this is or even if its true or not, but that is my story and I’m going to stick with it.

-We took Skippy to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday, and he was well behaved the whole time. His favorite part was going to the Kettle Korn booth with us and cleaning up the stray popped kernels all around. He had quite a few and ended up leaving a few he had eaten behind when we left (if you know what I mean…)

-Since we got Skippy, Mrsfabp has been watching Animal Planet, a network she has never viewed before. It has given us several ideas as to things to do to lessen the cat/dog tension here on Sable Circle. Animal Planet has another show that I have heard on the TV. It is called “Hillbilly Hand Fishing.” This marks the end of civilization, as we know it…

-The New York Giants won this year’s Super Bowl against incredible odds. Among these odds was the fact that they only won 9 games during the season, the least of any Super Bowl winner, scored the least amount of points of any Super Bowl winner, and beat the New England Patriots is a way that was eerily the same as the Super Bowl they played 4 years ago. II love when a New York team beats a Boston team. No more needs to be said.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON A RANDOM DAY...

2012-01-29T15:45:00.000-08:00

- Last time I mentioned that there is nothing so funny as seeing Skippy running through the living room trailing one of Mrsfabp’s knitting projects behind him. Well now I know that there is nothing so sad as seeing Skippy run through the kitchen with the last two pieces of pizza in his mouth. Tragedy!

-We attended the Red Paint Powwow hosted by the Chiricahua Apache Nation, up in Silver City. There we were treated to several dozen Native Americans celebrating their culture, with traditional drums, songs and dances by people wearing wonderfully ornate, colorful and decorative clothing. This is a culture that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. They performed several types of dances and songs and it was announced that you could follow the singers on Facebook and Twitter. Talk about having one foot in the past and one foot in the future…

-To take this one step further, how difficult must it be to be a part of this cultural heritage that celebrates with such passion and going back hundreds of years while living in this modern world? How often do these ideologies collide? How often must difficult choices be made?

-While scratching Skippy’s belly, Mrsfabp was commenting on how nice his fur color was. Her exact statement ended with the phrase “for a mutt.” At which point Skippy stopped rolling around on his back and gave her the saddest face I have seen on an animal. She corrected herself by saying “for a mixed breed” and Skippy immediately began rolling around on his back again and smiling. Coincidence? I think not…

-It is like Christmas when you wake up and find a package on your doorstop that you have no idea about. Nothing beats the feeling when you discover it is 12 bottles of Casco Bay Beer and its already cold. Thank you CollegeBoy and MissNicole for the first of 3 Christmas surprises!

-I have used Apple Care 3 times, twice on the iMac and once on the iPad. All three times, issues have been resolved quickly and easily. By my account that makes it Apple Care 3, every other IT support I have ever used, Zero!

-Do you know what you get when you help someone in the parking lot of the Pan Am Center after a basketball game? Well Mrsfabp got a trip... off the curb and onto the pavement where she scraped her face, knee and jammed her finger. She also won another free trip... to the local fire department so that a few of the guys could cut her ring off her finger because it had swollen so much over night. They get a free tray of brownies coming to them for their efforts.

-This has not been a good week for wedding rings. I lost mine and have no idea where it could be other than at a local pawn shop. Now Mrsfabp had to have her's cut off her finger. It is a good thing our mariage is strong enough to get past this. Like Mrsfabp's sister says, "It could be an omen..."

I’M WAITING………..

2012-01-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a blog post just jumps onto the page, like the one recently about the Red Paint Powwow. Other times, ideas need to percolate a bit. I usually do this while waiting for something. Well this past week I have done a lot of percolating because I have been waiting. No, not the “mañana” kind of waiting that my friends Clair and Bill talk about. This was medical waiting room waiting, the worse waiting time of all.

When we were planning our move to Las Cruces, we knew that we would have to start up with all new doctors with all kinds of tests. However I should have realized what I was in for when I was in the hospital here on our last visit, because I spent 8-9 hours in the emergency room. But no, I didn’t make that connection until it was too late. So in the past two weeks I have had a total of 6 experiences and I am going to rate them.

For those newer readers who wouldn’t know, a long time ago, I developed a rating scale, based on a 0-5 rating of Penguins. All you really need to know is that you would want to be on the 5 end of the scale,not the zero end. For more details about the scale, see this post where I explain just how each level is come to.

I will not use names in this blog post. Listen, these are doctors that have my health and well being in their hands and I will not take any chances with that. But now, on to the experiences.

Primary Care:

I have been into his office 3 times, two visits and lab work. I have not had to wait more than 5 minutes any of those time. Outstanding, for medical experiences. He gets 5 penguins!

Cardiologist:

Despite having completed the paperwork before my appointment, I wait almost 90 minutes in his waiting room, then an additional 30 minutes in an examination room after a tech took my vitals. I thought this might be my worst experience. I was wrong. But for now...1 Penguin

Ophthalmologist:

I was scared because there were TWO waiting rooms, both filled. Thirty minutes at the outset before being seen by a tech and then 20 more to see the doctor. At least they had a TV in the waiting room. If I only spoke Spanish… 3 Penguins

Podiatrist:

30 minutes in the waiting room, then 20 more in the exam room, followed by 10m minutes to see the tech and 20 more minutes to see the doctor. However, bonus points for having three people in the exam room at one time, all doing things and discussing options with me. Plus, there was nice artwork on the walls to look at. 3 Penguins.

Gastrointestinologist :

15 minutes in waiting room, 15 after the tech work. Piece of cake. TV in waiting room to boot. 4 Penguins

Hospital for Pre Op:

This is the one that broke me. I was a quivering mass of anger mixed with rage stirred with disbelief. 15 minutes to see admissions person. 15 minutes while they checked my insurance then 15 more while they determined if there was going to be any additional fees. Then I brought the admission form to the ambulatory care area where I waiting for 60 minutes, with only one other person being called into the exam rooms, while several waited with me. When I finally got called into the area, I had a tech take basic history, that they already had from my primary care records, got handed a sheet of instructions and sent on my way. All that waiting for that! No TV, no music, no cell signal, no nothing. I could have done all that from the comfort of my couch, on the phone. ) 0 Penguins for you…

Only 5 wasted minutes reading this blog post…Perfect!

A CULTURAL CROSSROAD

2012-01-22T06:10:00.000-08:00

Whenever Mrsfabp and I talked about our dream of moving to Las Cruces, one of the ideas that really appealed to us was the fact that is a cultural crossroad of sorts. There is the Native American culture, the Mexican or Hispanic culture, we jokingly refer to the retired Americans culture and there are students and native New Mexicans to boot.

We were exposed to the Hispanic culture from day one including the language and foods, the friendly and helpful people, but it really became obvious when we attended Christmas Eve festivities at Mesilla Plaza. From the decorations to the little hidden grottos, it was easy to become immersed in it.

On Saturday, we went up to Silver City with friends to the RedPaint Powwow hosted by the Chiracahua Apache Nation, where we witnessed Native Americans celebrating theirculture, with traditional drums, songs and dances by people wearing wonderfully ornate, colorful and decorative clothing. There was so much to see and experience, it would be very difficult to touch on it all but I would like to share some thoughts about what we witnessed. (Unfortunately, photographs are not allowed to be taken of the participants so only the words and some stock images can help serve as reminders.)

First, there many elderly and many youngsters participating in the song and dance. The number of young adults and adults in their 30’s and 40’s seemed limited, as if the desire to participate in the traditional celebration of heritage had somehow skipped over a generation. But the heritage remains strong and vibrant.

Secondly, the Apache Nation, as well as other tribes, are so very patriotic. In the 3 hours or so we were there, the active armed forces as well as the veterans, were honored no less than three times, by name, by service and during the opening convocation. As this was going on I found it hard not to think of the mistreatment Native Americans had suffered and endured, yet were willing and honored to join the services. Real patriotism, not whether or not to wear a flag lapel pin.

An elder from the Mescalero Apache Nation, which is only a hundred or so miles away from where this Powwow took place, thanked all for coming, for preserving the tradition and apologized that more members of his tribe were not present due to a death in their “family.” He then said a prayer in their native tongue, and while there probably were not ten people present who could have translated his words, the sentiment and courage and honor and traditions flowed from his voice, over the crowd. A very moving moment.

There were a couple of young Army soldiers in front of us, who were married and who participated in some of the pre-convocation dancing. They got up and left after a while and my thought was that they only had a few hours leave and needed to get back. About an hour later they reappeared in full native costume and were two of the people honored as the convocation started. It must have taken all that time for them to don their apparel. Speaking of this, the clothing worn by most of the participants in the opening ceremony was some of the most beautiful and colorful and elaborate I have ever seen. The cloth, beads, metals, bells, headdresses and footwear was spectacular. Another note about this opening ceremony; as they were getting ready to begin, a man walked to the front platform with a beautiful Golden Eagle, the symbol of Apache Nation. Not a picture or stuffed bird but a live, flapping winged, majestic, bird of prey. Again, a spectacular moment.

One final note about this event. It was impossible to watch this and not think of other cultural celebrations that I have been to over the years and note the similarities. I have been to the Italian Festival at San Gennaro’s in Little Italy, and I have been to Polish Festivals in Ware, MA and Three Rivers, MA. All three of these celebrations hadtraditional music, dance, song, food, and a cultural and religious feel to them. All of these were enjoyed by everyone present. Additionally there was a striking similarity with some of the foods. The Apache Nation had their fry bread, the Italians, their zeppoli, the Polish, their fried dough. All three are served with a variety of toppings, including honey and powered sugar for all of them. I don’t think that these similarities are just random, I think this is the way proud people celebrate their heritage. I am so glad I got this opportunity to see thisApache celebration up close.

Photography versus Artistry?

2012-01-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

I like to take photographs. Not the “grandma’s 95^th birthday” type or the “whole gang at Uno’s” type. Not even the “Oh! Your grandson is soooo cute” type. I tend to lean heavily toward the historic/landscape/interesting angle type of photo. On more than one occasion, Mrsfabp has commented in a “where are the people in the photograph” sort of way.

The kind of photographs I try to get are more of the “unusual kinds of architecture”, or themes. Since coming to Las Cruces, I have started a “Portals” collection which is windows, doors and arches, a “Holiday” group which is local doors after a snow storm last month, and most recently, the Mesilla Balloon Rally, which really is about colorandcontrasts.

Just last week I was talking to a friend, Clair Z, also a photographer, about manipulating the images after taking them. She had a wonderful photo of the pecan orchard next to her adobe home that had some telephone wires in it. Someone she knew, used a photograph manipulation tool, Photoshop, to fix it and now this beautiful image has no distracting telephone wires any longer. Our discussion centered on whether what was done to this photograph constituted photography any longer or was it art, because the image was changed from the original one.

Just a few of my thoughts on this. Ansel Adams, perhaps America’s Greatest Photographer, once said that her would print negatives perhaps 75 times to get the shadows and contrast just right. He did not have the benefit of a computer, but is this so different than removing telephone lines from a photo – creating better shadows wherethere are none? There have been lots of articles about fashion photographers who usePhotoshop to make people better looking or thinner, or muscular, or, well you get the idea. Again, is this different than the telephone lines or shadows?

I thought I would show you a couple of examples of things I have done to photos, to show exactly what I mean. In this first photo from the balloon rally, this is the original picture:

I like it a lot but see several issues. First the color is flat. It was very early morning and the light was very golden and warm but that ends up muddying the picture. I used Photoshop to edit it by making it a bit less warm, intensifying the blues for the sky and sharpening it up a bit, top get this:

A bit corrected, and a much better photograph. It took about 45 seconds on iPhoto to do this.

Here is a second photograph that needs a bit more work:

Besides the color issues, there is a very distracting line of buildings in the bottom of the photo. So besides correcting color, I would, straighten it a hair, crop this one a bit and end up with this:

Again, a much better rendition.

Finally one more.

This photo is good but needs some work. Besides fixing color, the half paraglider bothers me as does the branch blurred at the very bottom. So I will do a little retouching to remove branches, crop out the half man, and see what I come up with:

I think this is much better.

So, is it photography or artistry? As a photographer, I lean toward the photographer end of the spectrum. I have no problem saying I do photography. I just cannot bring myself to say, I do art.

STOP INTERNET CENSORSHIP

2012-01-19T05:40:00.000-08:00

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I could not do what I do here, if this is here!