Goodbye to great breakfasts
cute babies who endure mardi gras photo shoots
And their older sisters who enjoy it a little more
To domesticity
To Mad Hatter bridal showers
That migrate to the Buffalo Bar
Goodbye to all that and the lovely people of Silver City. It’s been an amazing month and I can’t wait to come back!
Until then,
Hello, Roatan.
It’s gonna be all diving and islands and adventure for the next 5 months. Stay tuned!
I didn’t have a real appreciation of taco trucks until I moved to Tucson. There I discovered that some of the best Mexican food in town was served in parking lots under makeshift umbrellas and out of dusty trailers that looked like they’d driven all the way from Argentina. Three words: Sonoran Hot Dog.
In New Mexico, it’s hard to find true Mexican food because New Mexican food is its own cuisine. Most Mexican restaurants in Silver City serve New Mexican dishes that all come with green chilies and lots of smothering sauces.
Except at the taco truck
Chip’s taco truck is an unassuming little trailer
set up in a former autobody shop with a shady overhang and little picnic tables for dining alfresco
Jen swears by the #1 combination with brisket and carne asada tacos but I’m partial to the #4 with queso quemado veggie tacos.
Queso quemado is cheese slapped on the grill until it’s browned and melting and then plunked on corn tortillas and topped with sauteed green peppers and onions.
And lots of salsa.
His salsa bar is outstanding
With pickled onions, fresh cabbage and salsas ranging from red and green “greasies” to mango salsa and spicy pico de gallo
There’s nothing glamorous about a taco truck, but sometimes really good food needs to be eaten with your fingers outside while the sun beats off the blacktop and grease drips down your hand.
When that’s the case, go visit Chip.
Dear Kate Marie,
We’ve been waiting for you all week. Your Gigi and Papaw came all the way from Nashville to be here for your birth and I came from Tucson.
It snowed on Sunday and I was sure you were going to be born. But you weren’t ready.
Your mom was very tired of being pregnant by this point. For the past week, I’ve told her good night every night by pressing on her belly and saying “Baby, come out!”
Your mom had contractions on and off for several days but you weren’t ready to be born. This made her cranky. She made muffins on Sunday and then she threw them when they burned.
In other news, your older sister Ruby also throws things when she’s angry. We don’t know where she gets it.
Today, I was writing about Michelle Shocked when I got a call from your Gigi saying “You better come.” So I did.
Your dad came home and your mom was in labor.
Everything got really intense around 11am and your mom said “I can’t do this!” a lot but we all knew she could.
At 12:30 your Gigi sent your Papaw out for tacos because everyone was hungry. I didn’t go because I didn’t want to miss anything. Your Papaw walked in the door at 1:10 with 4 boxes of tacos and we said “Hurry!” He got there just in time to watch you come out.
Your shoulders got a little stuck but your midwife, Shauna, reached in and pulled you out. Your Gigi nearly fainted.
At 1:11 on April 16, 2012, you were born.
You were very purple and we were all a little scared but Shauna breathed into your lungs so you could breathe and you started crying and we knew you’d be ok.
We talked about you all day. Then your sister, Ruby, came home to meet you and tried to feed you a carrot. She thinks you’re pretty great until you cry.
We’re all so happy you’re finally here.
Welcome to the world, little girl.
It’s a pretty crazy place but I think you’ll like it here.
Love,
Auntie Kaitlyn
I met Virginia last summer in Silver City, New Mexico.
I had gone to The Curious Kumquat for dinner by myself, intending to write about it and sell the article to the New Mexico Magazine. So, I sat alone and ordered the chef’s tasting menu.
The first course came out; the waitress described it to me and left. 10 seconds later I saw her bring that same course to someone whose table was in the next room and describe it to them.
The waitress delivered the second course to me and I had a few questions that she didn’t know how to answer. She delivered the second course to the other person and then came back to me and asked if I could do a better job describing it than she did. So I poked my head around the partition and described the course to lovely Virginia sitting by herself at a table in the next room. When the third course arrived, Virginia and I were trying to compare notes about the food while sitting at two different tables in two different rooms so I asked if she wanted to have dinner with me and she said yes.
We finally left 4 hours later after a long conversation covering every topic imaginable. Both of us are writers, both of us are working on our first books, neither of us live in Silver City and we both love food. With those topics alone, we could have talked for 4 weeks but we didn’t have that much time. As it was, we stayed for so long that we left a big tip and felt that even that wasn’t enough. So Virginia drew a picture of me:
And I wrote a thank you extravaganza about her and we left them for the chefs of the Curious Kumquat who subsequently posted them on their blog.
In the year since then, Virginia and I have kept in touch and shared our writing back and forth. This summer, almost exactly a year from when we first met, we’re both unexpectedly back in the Southwest for the month of July to focus on our writing. Virginia drove through Tucson on her way to Silver City and we had dinner tonight. It was such fun to have dinner and know that we’ll be geographically close for the next month and be able to follow each other’s writing path.
Sometimes fate throws people into my life. Virginia is one such person for me. Greta is another. I love meeting people by accident. I love even more when those people are doing interesting things. It’s so fun to watch the evolution of creative projects and creative careers. It inspires me in my own projects and makes me feel very fortunate.
As I said before, keep an eye on Virginia and remember her name. You’ll see it in print soon enough.
