All Wrapped Up in a Big Box Canyon

Telluride, Colorado is a beautiful tiny little Victorian mining town in a box canyon with quaint shops and not one Walmart, McDonalds or, well, Goddamn American Conglomerate in sight. It's where Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank... oh and it's freaking expensive! Real estate and groceries are not for the faint walleted here (supposedly Oprah's got a place up here... nuff said). It also happens to offer up some of the loveliest skiing in America.

We spent a lovely Christmas holiday here, where it was cold, yet sunny - so not much snowfall on the slopes... According to the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die" the town's free Gondola up to Mountain Village, is one of the best freebies in The States.



We were spoiled enough to enjoy four days of skiing, stuffing our faces with yum Christmas food and playing Scrabble. One cannot complain at that can they? (Can ya see my mom & dad in the photo???)

In the end, I had to end my SouthWestern adventures by heading to the teeny tiny Telluride Airport (oogling all the tiny private jets while waiting to board) and flying off the cliff and into the sunset. And back to Dublin I went. *sigh*

Mountain Retreating

At the start of week two in the Southwest we left Red Mesa - all covered in a thick layer of fluffy snow, past Teec Nos Pos and their cool Post Office and Trading Post (where I did end up picking up a 5lb sack of Bluebird Flour) and headed North towards Colorado.


I loved driving past the small cowboy towns and bizarre looking mountains jutting through the snow. We ended up in Durango to pick my brother up at the airport. His flight was nearly six hours delayed so we spent a lot of time in the cute mountain town with their "Polar Express" train and river walks and enormous horse ranches and Bald Eagles hovering over the river. We enjoyed an amazing lunch at the Serious Texas BBQ and had tasty coffee in the local cozy shop.


Finally, after hours of delay and panic that he might be removed from the plane (some people were... two days before Christmas... nice one US Airways) my brother arrived at Durango Airport and we were on our way to the even cuter and cozier mining town of Telluride.

Monument Valley & Red Mesa

After another 5.5 hours on the road from Phoenix back to Red Mesa I was starting to think that Southwestern Roadtrips had somewhat lost their lustre. And I wasn't even the one driving!

However the landscape never failed to intrigue: surreal, vast desert moonscapes, mesas occasionally jutting out of the ground, up into mountains and the snow-covered fir trees. Lucky for us, the car-sick-prone doggie didn't barf, and we arrived without encountering too much snow & ice as we headed North past Flagstaff and Tuba City finally making it back into Red Mesa.

We took a weekend drive to that most epic of Southwestern locations, Monument Valley... which really... well... it speaks for itself.

Couldn't resist taking a photo of the Duke as a cardboard cut-out!

I spent the rest of the week doing a bit of work, and just relaxing, running & walking with my mom & Lucky in Red Mesa. And then one morning, it began to snow. Lovely light snow covering all that burnt siena colored ground. And the dog was in heaven.

December like a Phoenix...

Home again, but still in dreamy holiday mode, and for good reason.

Oh hello, new friend, why... who are you?

Indeed, out of the ashes of a horrible November, December comes up in spades. My Dad is healthy, and I have an awesome new future to look forward to and just get to work on. Can't really complain now, can we?

Now to continue the adventures in the Southwest that I had begun in earlier posts...

I got to know my parents new digs - Red Mesa on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, its Hogans, vast expanses, horses, dogs and goats.



My Dad had a hospital appointment so we took the nearly six hour drive to Phoenix, AZ - A sprawling desert American metropolis. We arrived nervous and left beaming. In between I got work done, bonded with my mom's new doggie, Lucky (the luckiest dog on the Rez) and we ate some of the most delicious food and wine that I can only describe in drool.


To those interested in one of the hottest pizza joints in America, we celebrated my Dad's good health news at Pizzeria Bianco, one of the toughest restaurants to get into. They only take reservations for parties of six to ten, and these are generally booked months in advance. Everyone else gets a table by queuing up outside until seats become available - the wait can be up to THREE HOURS! We were lucky that we turned up about 30 minutes before opening time, enjoying the brisk evening with bottle of wine while queuing outside. We managed to get in at the first seating, happy to be sitting at the bar.

We enjoyed amazing roasted veg antipasti and fresh fennel, orange & pomegranate salads - and then of course the amazing wood-oven pizzas that were fresh and light and just... delicious. Below you can see the Pizza Bianoverde - a white pizza with Fresh Mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano, Ricotta, Arugula (rocket!) YUM...

If you are in Phoenix, it is required dining: www.pizzeriabianco.com/


All this talk of pizza, I must feed myself.

Southwestern Food Fix

As I attempt to piece together more stories to regale you about the Southwest, I'll start you off with a pretty South-Westerly recipe, perfect for the cold winter nights we all seem to be having right now... I might be in the desert, but it's freaking COLD! Snowed overnight and for most of the day... but it's peaceful and very festive.

This recipe is pretty darn easy, a lot of the stuff comes from cans, can be made veggie or meaty in a million different varieties. How American eh? If you're a wannabe foodie like me, you'll go all organic and as local as possible - it's pretty easy with this one. However, I warn you, I'm not sure where you can get the mild chili powder outside the States- Erg. Onwards.

Hearty Homemade Chili to ward off the chill.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
500 grams (1lb) ground beef, turkey or quorn
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can black beans, drained
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons chili powder – the American non-hot stuff as illustrated above
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce or hot chili powder
1 teaspoon salt or Creole salt seasoning
1 medium red or green pepper, chopped
Any other favorite vegetable, it could be chopped carrots, corn, broccoli or all of the above…
Feel free to add any other seasoning you like such as parsley, basil etc.

The best thing about cooking yourself? You get to do it exactly how YOU want to... so please, add & subtract ingredients however you like.

In a big aul pot, heat up the garlic in the olive oil, without letting it get too brown and add the onions until they’re nice & sweaty. Throw in the meat getting it nice & browned. Drain off any excess water or fat from the cooked meat.

Throw the canned ingredients in the pot with the meat mixing them together well. Add the remaining ingredients – and as I always say, do not hesitate to taste, making it as spicy, salty or mild as you like.

It should be a thick liquidy consistency – the tomatoes making up the majority of the liquid – if it’s a bit too thick or dry you can add a little bit of water, but don’t add too much, making sure the flavor remains full of your seasonings.

Leave the pot on for a while at a low simmer with the lid on, around 30 minutes, to ensure your veggies are cooked through. Since it’s chili, feel free to cook it even longer – as long as it’s a low heat and the lid is on it shouldn’t burn or lose any moisture – it’s one of those dishes that sometimes is better the longer it’s left on as it has more time to get the flavors going.

I like serving it up on tortillas with some grated cheddar, but in a bowl on its own is still delish, and it’s also good over rice. This also freezes & re-heats really well so you can make tons of it to re-heat later on.

YUM & pretty darn healthy.

Bluebird Flour - FAIL

As an outsider, I've noted there are certain signature items of the Navajo people...

turquoise & silver jewelry

amazing woven wool rugs

sand paintings

mud hogans

dogs, sheep, goats, horses

Blue Bird Flour...

Now that last item is more an item for the Navajo people as opposed to tourists buying overpriced items in the area... The sacks themselves are iconic for anyone who has come in contact with them or the open vast expanses of the Rez. The Rez is desolate to say the least... the question I had to ask my folks was, before the traders, what the HELL did they eat out here? There is NOTHING! Anyways, to get back to point... nowadays, and for the last century or more, one of the main staples of the Navajo are fry bread made from Blue Bird Flour. Blue Bird is sold in giant 10, 15 & 25 pound cotton sacks with iconic silk-screened logos. I love any of that old-fashioned style of selling goods, and of course, anyone familiar with me knows I love the idea of upcycling & recycling. So my mom & I, thinking about fun (cheap) Christmas gifts, thought it would be amazing to make items out of used Blue Bird flour sacks, but for the life of us, we can't find anywhere that actually sells them at a reasonable price.

Sure, we could go to the Red Mesa trading post & buy a couple of 25 pound sacks... but they would be complete with flour. Me, assuming EVERYTHING could be bought online was certain we'd get them there. No luck. Dilemma indeed.

What I want to know, what happens to the used sacks? Are they recycled? Sewn into other things? They're certainly not for sale as far as I can tell.

Maybe maybe maybe we might make the trek to Cortez Colorado where the flour is actually produced - maybe then we could buy the empty sacks and make some aprons or shopping bags or something. I dunno.

If anyone else out there knows anything about getting a hold of actual used cotton flour sacks (not vintage per say, as they're so WAY over priced) pluh-leeese let me know.

x

Observations in Amer-i-keh

Happy Holidaze to everyone! I've been a bit off-grid lately as for the past week I've been in the deepest depths of the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

My parents moved out here for work 6 months ago and have been building a new life on the res, which makes for fascinating reading. (I'm trying to convince my mom to start her own blog). The day that I was made redundant I got some pretty bad news about my Dad's health, and once my new un-employment status set in, I no longer was constrained by vacation time. Long-story short, my most-awesome boyfriend insisted I go back and visit and be with the family during the holidays and gave me money towards my ticket as a Christmas/Birthday pressie. Am I lucky or what?!?

So here I am, a week into the adventure and a lot has happened. I flew to Albuquerque where my mom came and picked me up - we drove back towards their town, Red Mesa, which is in way North Eastern Arizona near the four corners, where the borders of Utah, Arizona, Colorado & New Mexico meet. On the way, we stopped at Canyon de Chelly as you can see in the attached photos. Four and a half hours later, we made it to Red Mesa... more photos to come.

We stayed in Red Mesa for a night and then it was off to Phoenix as my dad had to be in the hospital for some tests... bring on another six hours in the car. Sheesh! In the end, all the test results were fantastic and my dad got a pretty clean bill of health which was a seriously fantastic Christmas present for all of us. I'm going to update more of our adventures including adventures in food, travel and just being in America in general.

I've also had time to think about this poor neglected blog and it's lack of direction. I'm getting some ideas to keep it rolling out. But for now, expect some updates of the traveling in the Wild West.
xoxo

The photo up above in the post is of White House Ruins in Canyon De Chelly.

First photo below is my mom's newly adopted res-dog, Lucky.

Photo below that is also Canyon De Chelly,

and then of course, the Google map to show you exactly what I'm talking about!




View Larger Map

Pitfalls of self-employment

Oh me oh my...

my poor neglected blog. But neglected for good reason I suppose, as previously mentioned, I have recently been forced to go out on my own and forge a living without the security of a monthly paycheck. Eek!

So far, it's been quite the learning experience. And it's been good... and tough at the same time. I certainly won't yet call myself an expert of the self-employed world, but in the few weeks that I've been here I've learned a few tricks and stumbling blocks. Shall I share?

#1 - Get out there - The very first thing I did when my employment fate was given to me was to hit the ground running. I told everybody I knew about my new status. This satisfied the immediate need to open up and talk about it and freak out and bitch - but it also helped to let as many people out there that I was available. I was going to try and not fall into the rut of slowing down and feeling sorry for myself, but instead just let people know I'd do anything and everything. The result? I have been re-donkulously busy with freelance projects that are much more interesting than the day job, which is also why I haven't been adding too much to my blog as of late. Yeah, they're jobs that aren't gonna pay huge money, but in the field of video and editing and multimedia - one thing indefinitely leads to another.

#2- Get out of bed - DO NOT SLEEP IN! It sounds so silly and obvious - but getting up at the normal time for work - say, working by 9:30am - makes the day so much more productive. Especially now that it's winter in Ireland, it's very difficult to get stuck in to work when the sunlight is disappearing. My first week of "working from home" was spent sleeping a lot... perhaps that's also down to the slight depression anyone would get when one loses their job. But needless to say, now that I'm outta that routine, I've gotten a million more things done.

#3 - Shower & Get Dressed. Again, like #2 this seems pretty obvious, but when you don't actually have to meet people face to face - especially in a professional manner - you kinda feel like... meh.... unfortunately just somehow mentally I've found it so so hard to work consistently on work while greasy and in my jim-jams. Also, there are many moments where you realize you do need to pop into town, or at least the shops, and when it's 3pm and you still haven't dressed, these small tasks grow a bit more insurmountable.

More obvious advice moments to come...