tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81004421456761666502012-02-04T11:33:53.633-07:00Wine making: Gardening in the desert: Wild social life in a town of 1000: The importance of independent newspapers: and what ever else seems relevant about living, working and playing in rural New Mexico.Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-32385851390811758672010-07-03T20:27:00.002-06:002010-07-14T13:48:58.827-06:002010-07-14T13:48:58.827-06:00

I made some fake breakfast sausage links today and I have to say they are really good. Maybe not so good if you are expecting a greasy Bob Evans link but good for just sausage. I put slices on pizza with green chile (a local favorite pizza topping) and enjoyed it immensely. Ate all the leftover bits, too. I'm not sure what to do when I go visit my Dad this fall, though. I don't think I can get

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-59331442970329995812010-06-17T20:41:00.003-06:002010-06-17T20:44:25.080-06:002010-06-17T20:44:25.080-06:00

More about trying to eat healthy in the land of tamales. I did not figure I would actually be "vegan" but I thought I would give it a shot under the premise that no matter where I start, I will eventually lose ground. Best to set the bar high. I  have developed a few concerns beyond the risk of B12 deficiency. Concern #1. I was thinking food and health and "vegan" is a term specifically coined by

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-4544469361870252872010-06-12T09:34:00.000-06:002010-06-12T09:34:55.445-06:002010-06-12T09:34:55.445-06:00

I have decided to try a more plant-based diet as the burgers just kill me these days. Our ever expanding waistlines are also cause for concern and sweetie has decided that he's lactose intolerant. I've already quit using so much cheese (and I love cheese! I got no problem with cheese!).  My self-serving theory is that eating healthy most of the time means we need not feel guilty when we don't. So

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-19763547976460799912010-05-28T10:40:00.000-06:002010-05-28T10:40:50.807-06:002010-05-28T10:40:50.807-06:00

10:30 Friday morning after spring semester is over and summer session hasn't started yet. Not a great deal to do here to earn my pay. I've been reading my favorite forums, updating my profiles, looking up Chuck Brodsky songs on YouTube and now I'm on my blog. I'd feel guilty but I've also done a couple small financial reports, answered a real phone call, helped a student place a supply order for

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-81470293833890556002010-04-17T09:35:00.001-06:002010-04-18T06:45:17.194-06:002010-04-18T06:45:17.194-06:00

We are more than halfway through April already. In the valley, everything has been green long enough to start losing that vivid spring color and is settling into the deeper summer green. Flowers and people in shorts are everywhere. A couple thousand feet higher - where I live - it's much, much earlier. The weather gurus will not promise that it won't frost until May 21. I remember thinking that

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-71307480721169196782010-02-06T13:47:00.001-07:002010-02-06T13:54:11.545-07:002010-02-06T13:54:11.545-07:00

The long awaited WinExpert Limited Edition Trio Blanca arrived ("blanca" with an "a" on the end. That sounds wrong to this hispanic girl) and spent 6 days in primary before being racked to the secondary. Now, I've been been kind of dismissive of the kit wines as in "I've made this! and that! and this other! Oh, and a Malbec but it was a kit." Husband points out that there are plenty of ways to

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-88206951622029988332010-01-28T11:24:00.001-07:002010-02-06T13:01:01.715-07:002010-02-06T13:01:01.715-07:00

It's snowed more than it oughta and it's been cold. Snowed in today, in fact and I would mind less if I weren't paid by the hour. Spring and gardening seem forever away and I am oh-so-antsy. Fussing with - or I should say obsessing about my various concoctions is the only thing keeping me from going nuts. So because this is the only thing I want to think about whether or not anyone else cares,

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-69285003544293209742010-01-24T07:17:00.001-07:002010-01-24T08:21:55.076-07:002010-01-24T08:21:55.076-07:00

My favorite way to cook is to have a lot of random raw materials and then, 30 to 60 minutes before I want to eat, I look through the pantry, the fridge and the freezer and put something together. Occasionally they are flops but most of the time it’s good to fantastic. This one was on the high end of good for flavor and texture though a little low visually (very important!) so just as well I didn’

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-79966796310029667792010-01-17T15:58:00.000-07:002010-01-17T15:58:21.816-07:002010-01-17T15:58:21.816-07:00

Chile wine didn't sound good to me until someone on the WinePress forum mentioned using it to marinate mushrooms. Then another WinePress friend, Wade, surprised me with a couple little bottles of his chile wines. His Hot Spot was a little hard to drink straight up but a splash in the cheap jug wine was fantastic. Plus, it did lovely things to pork and mushrooms. I was going to wait until I could

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-51140406485654141462009-12-26T10:23:00.000-07:002009-12-26T10:23:01.665-07:002009-12-26T10:23:01.665-07:00

Well, I was unsatisfied with the quality of the ingredients for the batch I started a couple weeks ago. This is meant to be a birthday present for my Dad so it needs to be the best. My friend Nicole sent me a facebook message the other day that a local grocery had gotten in some organic meyer lemons. I was there within an hour picking through the pile (and leaving no decent ones for Nicole!). I

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-79392449488264117822009-12-15T18:27:00.003-07:002009-12-19T10:17:01.308-07:002009-12-19T10:17:01.308-07:00

The melomel may be in trouble and the Winepress forum is down. I could have a dozen good answers in an hour otherwise but I am just going to have to flail about on my own. I'm probably worrying too much but I thought I would document the process of worry, test, tinker, worry some more, tinker some more, etc. That's what makes wine making so dang fun! I just got the first jug of Joe's Ancient

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-57071578108568863242009-12-10T13:35:00.009-07:002009-12-12T16:25:04.233-07:002009-12-12T16:25:04.233-07:00

The one and only time I had Limoncello (an Italian lemon liqueur) was a year and a half ago at a friend's house. About 3 months ago, though, my Dad starts raving about some he had. I'd seen several posts about it on the Winepress forum but it's not wine, so I wasn't overly interested.But, if Dad wants Limoncello, I am by God going to make him some! Dad's 80-something now and complains he no

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-36456172637948257802009-11-17T11:39:00.006-07:002009-11-17T12:22:55.590-07:002009-11-17T12:22:55.590-07:00

...well, the more they change! I can't think of a time when things ever stayed the same for long and that's just fine. That's interesting. Sure, also "challenging" but so what?So the little ole Mountain Mail newspaper went down, then rose back up again. Still locally owned and operated - a rare and beautiful thing. The new owners have brought back color pages - I've missed that! New editor, new

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-29575940900247129512009-09-09T21:21:00.006-06:002009-09-09T21:58:37.182-06:002009-09-09T21:58:37.182-06:00

The last regular issue of the Mountain Mail newspaper was uploaded to the printer tonight and will be distributed tomorrow.I always thought I would talk more about the paper in this blog but I never could do it. Too distressing. My husband has been the main reporter - sometimes the only reporter - for five years. It was a huge part of our lives even before I started helping out up front twice a

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-46537425257426757332009-08-11T07:44:00.011-06:002009-08-14T21:26:32.429-06:002009-08-14T21:26:32.429-06:00

The bucket of incipient home-brew blueberry wine, that is.I'd heard blueberry was tricky primarily because of the acid content. There were better recommended yeasts and more elaborate recipes to compensate but I blew all that off. I blew off all testing and correcting too - not out of confidence but to save a few bucks. I figured I'd follow the basic recipe and if it didn't work, no big deal to

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-26297011516614245242009-08-01T09:15:00.008-06:002009-08-01T09:43:15.994-06:002009-08-01T09:43:15.994-06:00

The dragonfly nymphs in the lotus pond have started to emerge. I'd read that some stay nymphs for years so I didn't know when to expect this but yesterday, on my morning tour of the gardens, this is what I found:Brand-spankin new, still transparent and gorgeous! Well, in a scary sort of way. Of course, my attention drew the attention of the cats. I turned to check on some plants and when I turned

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-42950045585488023572009-07-27T11:52:00.006-06:002009-07-27T12:59:06.232-06:002009-07-27T12:59:06.232-06:00

The summer monsoons are here! Normally, that generates a "YAY!" but there is sure a notable exception. Hail. It was bad enough last year when I just had my 8 foot stocktank water garden to worry about. Hail and lily pads do not mix! I recall shrieking for John to come help me fling a tarp over the tank. It was painful but we got the tank mostly covered and the damage wasn't too bad.Earlier this

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-12723362433992425152009-07-09T07:15:00.003-06:002009-07-09T07:43:28.784-06:002009-07-09T07:43:28.784-06:00

There are some things that, if you allow yourself to outgrow them - well, it's damn shame. Raising tadpoles is one of them.So I have this sherbet tub on the back porch with 20 or 30 tadpoles in it.My neighbor stopped me in the street to congratulate me for attracting frogs to my pond. I had no idea because they didn't start singing till about 10 pm and I couldn't hear them from the living room. I

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-3758425559324490002009-07-07T17:29:00.002-06:002009-07-07T17:48:05.255-06:002009-07-07T17:48:05.255-06:00

I'd built what I think is a really nice real estate informational site, I wanted to put on all the gizmos that I wanted on the main Old Westland Realty website but I had no control over it. Well, I guess it's mostly about control. I like it!Still, it was limited because it was a free site through the local ISP and through the business account. If something happened to either of those things, I

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-12154040240827332082009-05-21T09:02:00.004-06:002009-05-21T09:57:21.587-06:002009-05-21T09:57:21.587-06:00

I've gotten two calls in less than a month from out of state owners of lots at Rio Grande Estates. Granted, two isn't exactly a trend but I expect more.First off, Rio Grande Estates (which I'll now call "RGE") is a development partly in Socorro County, partly in Valencia County that was platted and sold about 50 years ago. Hundreds of relatively tiny lots in the desert. Apparently, the developers

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-969766236499167752009-05-11T19:36:00.005-06:002009-05-11T20:36:24.883-06:002009-05-11T20:36:24.883-06:00

It's not uncommon for people to ask plaintively - "But what is there to DO in Magdalena?"Well, if you're looking for the nightclub scene or pro-sports, you'd be better off elsewhere. We make our own fun here.Last weekend Magdalena Steel (formerly Magdalena Steel Chicks but they have some roosters now) held a fundraiser party at the home of one of the organizers to send a promising young musician

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-35926601666900446352009-05-05T09:38:00.003-06:002009-05-05T09:47:20.022-06:002009-05-05T09:47:20.022-06:00

Well...depends. Do you want a golf course-like sea of fertilizer-enhanced emerald green that causes you to shriek at the neighbor kids for walking across your lawn? Then sure- if you’re insane. The amount of water and chemistry that requires is nothing short of irresponsible. And it’s futile, really. Our springs are amazingly sunny and dry. Kentucky bluegrass just won’t happen like it does in

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8100442145676166650.post-33102856077733272362009-05-04T11:31:00.001-06:002009-05-05T09:55:44.753-06:002009-05-05T09:55:44.753-06:00

Last summer I drove out to Tee Pee Ranches southwest of Datil to scope out a potential new listing. I thought SURELY I could find this lot - they're all numbered. Well, I couldn't even find the road. Actually, I do recall seeing it but it was so over-grown, I thought it was an unused driveway so I took a right instead and bottomed out the Corolla on the boulders. FYI: Avoid passenger cars in most

Vanessa Quinoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751558565404703441noreply@blogger.com0