Photo by Wes Naman

Cecilia’s perfects the culinary art of New Mexico’s favorite food, with recipes from the family cookbook

 

By Shavone Otero
It’s not too often that I eat out at New Mexican restaurants. Truth be told, I’d rather go to my grandma’s for my chile fix, and nothing compares. I’m sure many native New Mexicans will tell you the same thing. However, I did find an authentic gem in Cecilia’s Cafe that made me feel right at home, and, boy, did that red chile pump my blood — nose running, forehead sweating, mouth watering for more and you just can’t stop, it’s oh-so-good. All my fellow chile junkies know what I mean.

If you’re reading Local iQ, I’m willing to bet that where your food comes from matters to you. You probably enjoy cooking with fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and you may have spent some time and money this month planning a garden, whether on your balcony, patio or raised beds. This spring I have offered some recommendations for specific grapes to explore (last month we went to Spain), but this month I want to help you connect with the world of wines that are produced organically or biodynamically.

Twenty years ago anything organic was only available to people of a certain income, which wasn’t very fair. Today it may be just as easy to buy “green” wine as it is to buy green food. Good news if you like to drink wine and you care about this beautiful blue planet!

By Jim Phillips
I knew it wouldn’t be easy. It isn’t. I tend to get ideas and just run with them. This project has been partly a desire to learn. It’s been partly a desire of  just wanting to do something new all the time. Lots of it is just me being stupid. I wanted to learn about eating well and learning about not just what, but how we feed ourselves. I guess that my heart is in the right place, even though my shovel is sometimes not.

After visiting Jemez Pueblo with a friend a few years back, talking to the locals, viewing the look of things, my mind became a bit of a Dutch oven. I was slow-cooking an idea that I knew was going to take over the lives of me and my wife.

By Robin Brown
Like public schools across the country, the University of New Mexico is struggling to pay its bills while addressing the concerns of staff, teachers and students.

 

To read the full story, visit nmcompass.com

Some poets move words, Logan Phillips (AKA DJ Dirtyverbs) moves asses. The Tucson, Ariz., resident recently breezed through New Mexico for some poetry and music performances in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

“Just about everywhere else in the world, folks are used to hearing media that isn’t in a language they speak natively. It’s all in the mix,” Phillips said. “In the States, we have this pervading sense of exceptionalism and entitlement — like it’s the world’s responsibility to subtitle everything in English. I love moving crowds into spaces where many of them won’t know the lyrical content means, but nobody can deny the bass, the horns, the movement.”

In the ’60s, my grandfather’s construction companies were responsible for the Sunport, Coronado Airport, the “original” Big-I and many state highways. Hence, wheels and transportation are kind of in my blood. So when I got a call from Leba Freed from the WHEELS Museum recently, I was quite intrigued.

Conchas Lake is a stark image of New Mexico’s extreme drought conditions

 

By Margaret Wright
Ed Wright has lived and worked at Conchas Lake for 21 years. Much of that time, snow runoff and summer monsoons fed the reservoir, which drew tourists from all over the Southwest. As an owner of the Conchas North Dock recreational store located northeast of Albuquerque between Santa Rosa and Tucumcari, he got used to a steady flow of customers. Anglers, boaters and campers stopped in for groceries, fishing licenses and boat maintenance. But starting in 2000, Wright noticed annual rainfall tapering off. The lake began to shrink, and so did the stream of visitors.

By Jeff Berg
So far, in this young year, Angels’ Share takes the prize for my favorite film of 2013, just ahead of The Company You Keep.  At once a believable drama blended superbly with a dry wit and flecked with outright comedy, director Ken Loach has done well in switching gears.In the past, most of Loach’s work has focused on heavy drama, leaning heavily on socialism, soccer, and Irish politics. With The Angels’ Share, he shows a knack for blending the absurd with the believable, which brought him the Jury Prize at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for this work.

By Todd Rohde
Now in his fourth decade of writing, David Morrell has written more than two dozen novels and is a #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author. He is most recognized for his debut novel, First Blood, which would later be adapted to the big screen as Rambo. The “Father of Rambo” recently sat down with Local iQ to talk about everything from his hit novel, First Blood, to his latest work, Murder as a Fine Art and everything in between. Morrell will be appearing at the inaugural Southwest Book Fiesta along with other local and nationally recognized authors and publishers for three days of readings, demonstrations, and presentations.

Documentary delves — too deeply — into the many theories surrounding the famous Stanley Kubrick film 'The Shining'

By Jeff Berg

Ever see The Shining? I have a couple of times, and thought it was OK. I’ve liked some of director Stanley Kubrick’s other films much more (and by the way, did you know that he got his start doing short documentaries including The Flying Padre, which was shot around Tucumcari?

 

I did like some of what could be construed as abstract meaning or turgid symbolism in The Shining, but nothing like what the five — sadly (mostly) unseen — narrators of Room 237 claim to see. For those who haven't seen The Shining or don't recall, room 237 is the hotel room in the film that no one is supposed to enter. In this documentary it serves as a symbol for the quirky theorists and Shining obsessives who provide the focus for the film.