pinto beans, chilies, tortillas and cheese...

..the essential ingredients of Southwestern cuisine.

Today we focused on the Four Corners area, home to the great ancient civilization of the North Americas, the Anasazi. They occupied the area for about 2400 years, until long years of drought conditions apparently forced them to abandon their settlements. David and I just happened upon Mesa Verde Park during a long road trip three years ago; we made a left turn at the sign, after a night in Durango, and spent one of the most interesting days of our trip exploring the area and viewing, from a distance, the magnificent cave dwellings carved out of the side of the canyons. Long before Mexican or Spanish visitors, the Anasazi (ancestors of the Navajo and Pueblo peoples) cultivated corn, beans, squash, and chilies; they foraged for mushrooms, herbs, cactus and berries; they were proficient hunters and utilized every part of their catch, be it bison, buffalo, antelope, rabbit, deer, moose or birds.

Chef Patricio addressed the controversial topic of cannibalism (disputed by some scholars) by saying that "People go crazy when they are not having enough food, enough nutrients. They were not in their right minds. Who knows what we would do in the same circumstances?"

We cooked breakfast: a fabulous Southwestern breakfast with four kinds of salsa; two fresh fruit salads (mango and banana, papaya and strawberry, each dressed with honey, lime juice and a pinch of cayenne); scrambled eggs and cheese; fried potatoes with chorizo; tortillas, rice, and beans; and sopapillas. Derrick made terrific hot chocolate, and I'll have to use his method next Christmas, when we traditionally have Ibarra during the present-opening ceremonies: he heated non-fat milk, dissolved the grated chocolate in it, and added honey, sweetened condensed milk, and a roasted habanero, which he was careful not to crush or bruise.

Here's the demonstration plate that Chef put together, featuring a breakfast burrito:

After breakfast, we cleaned off all the shelves in the kitchen. Derrick, Andrea and I sorted the herbs and spices and took inventory. Others cleaned out the fridge and organized the bottles and boxes of ingredients. Chef made it clear that we're "kicking it up a notch" next week, as far as his expectations are concerned, and the week will end with two days of "compentency" dishes. But now, it's the weekend. I'm thinking about jerked chicken on the barbecue, and a mojito.