I was 'off to see the queen,' the stewardess lingo we use when
working a London trip. I packed my tall boots, a few jackets and
scarves. I was invited to join a friend from London for dinner with a
small group at the famous old oyster bar "J Sheekey." I was, for once,
concerned about what I would wear as my friend, Tim is a famous London
tailor with a shop on Savile Row as well as shops all over the world.
He dresses David Beckam and Tom Cruise and I certainly did not want to
embarrass myself with some sort of 'get up' from my usual suitcase
wardrobe.
As I was getting out of the shower that evening, I heard the fire alarms going off. Too many times I have called downstairs or left my room, only to discover that it was a false alarm. But I was having visions of Mumbai and quickly threw on the pajamas I had laying on the sink, grabbed my purse, put on my coat and ventured into the hallway. There was a little old Japanese man passing by my door and he sort of put it all in perspective in his heavy Japanese accent, "When in doubt, it is best to get out." I followed his lead and joined a group descending down the stairwell. When we got to the first floor, a security guard directed us down a long hallway that lead to the garage.
We knew nothing about Fado other than that our friend, Mark Miller, who had lived in Lisbon for a year and basically planned our recent trip to the city, said it is "a must". He promised great food from a host and hostess who will treat us as family and sing traditional Fado songs. "It will be a long night," he warned, "but still you must go to Sr. Fado." He then added, with a touch of a smile, that he should make the reservations. Sr. Fado is hard to get into but over Mark's year living in Lisbon, he and the owners had become close. He called. We were in.
My husband, Bill Rollnick, and I were part of an American Red Cross team traveling to Madagascar to help implement the global Measles and Malaria Preventive Initiative. In October, our team was part of a joint partnership led by the American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, UNICEF, CDC, WHO and the Malagasy government in which millions of Malagasy children, ages 9 months to 5 years, received measles vaccine, Vitamin A, de-worming medicine and insecticide-treated mosquito nets.
A trip to Santa Fe is at once exhilarating and embarrassing. You say to yourself, “how can I be so corny and fall in love with the food, the shopping, the art, and the
physical beauty all over again?”. And yet, you do, embracing it all as
you roll your eyes at your own enthusiasm. The food, of course, is of
superior class with an emphasis on how we want to eat today: local and
seasonal. And each Santa Fe friend has their own passionate reason why
their favorite restaurant has the best green chili. But there is more
to the palette of Santa Fe food than traditional Northern New Mexico
cuisine, as good as that is. Here are a half dozen of my personal
favorites. One of the great things about them all is their unique
points of view on feeding you. Unique, like Santa Fe itself.
Like my ancestors before me and their great ancestors before them, I like love food. The members of the Santiago clan aren’t known for being particularly picky about their cuisine. Eat first, ask later (or ask while eating). But eating anything in China is like a blindfolded taste test. The labels are written in Chinese, so I sit and I poke and I prod.