There is a restaurant near our house called “El Azteco,” that has been in this town, in one incarnation or other, since I was in elementary school. Suffice it to say that I have not been in elementary school since Richard Nixon was in the White House. When I was in high school and college, “El Az” as it is called by us hip natives, was located in a basement. Since we live in a large college town, the lines to get in on cheap Margarita night frequently snaked up the stairs and onto the street. Aside from the Margaritas, there was a full menu of “New Mexican” food including burritos, enchiladas, enchiladas, and flautas. Nothing was fancy (except maybe the Blue Corn Enchiladas and the Enchiladas de Jocoque which are splendid), the cups were red pebbled plastic, and the floor was always a little sticky. The radio was usually tuned to the All-Janis-and-Jimi-all-the-time station. It seemed very glamorous to me when I was in high school because smoking was still allowed, and there were people in the dark, tall wooden booths smoking clove cigarettes and drinking.

When I was older, and worked in town, I was grateful for a place to have a filling lunch (always a bean burrito and water with ice) that cost less than $2.00 with a tip. Several years ago, the restaurant moved to an above-ground location within 20 feet of the old spot, and gained a roof deck where I can now legally enjoy a Margarita (but no clove cigarettes) and a cheap meal on a warm summer evening. It is also a favorite spot to meet friends, particularly at this time of year when there are often live performers on the plaza outside. The cups are the same, the menu is the same, and the food is still good in the same unpretentious way it always was. There is still a sort of 70s vibe, and I have yet to hear a syllable sung by Justin or Jessica while digging in to my chips and Dos Equis. My favorite things to eat there are the Cheese Dip and the Topopo Salad. Although I still have a special place in my heart for the thousands of bean burritos that allowed me to save money for more important things, I am now generally able to afford “the higher priced spread.”

I have the real recipe (I think) for the Cheese Dip, given to me by my a reader, after she swore me to secrecy. She got it from a former El Ez employee who (you guessed it) swore her to secrecy. This is a big deal. I am guessing on the precise recipe for the Topopo (although “precise” in the context of El Azteco is a somewhat surreal concept), but I have eaten enough of the giant nachos- cum-salads that I think I can make a good guess. waring 40 oz 2 speed blender wpb05 Mix the sour cream, cottage cheese and add Worcersterhire sauce, garlic powder, and onion soup mix. vitamix blender vm0100 Add the vegesrables and the Monterey Jack cheese.hamilton beach blender 51101b vs 51103

Refrigerate at least 2 hours; Topopo Salad – Or Very Close To It “Topopo” means volcano, and as prepared at El Azteco, this is a HUGE salad for two people. You may, of course, choose to spread the ingredients over several plates. First, mix lettuce, peas, white cheese, chicken, jalapenos, green onions and tomatoes in a large bowl. kitchenaid artisan food processor (kfpm770) - brushed nickelIn a jar ow bowl mix canola, rice vinegar and sugar to create a vinaigrette dressing. oster bpst02-b professional series blender blackAdd a small (!) amount of vinaigrette, no more than 1/4 cup to salad mixture. oster blender 6808You are not really “dressing” this, just holding it together and adding a bit of flavor). cuisinart smartpower blender spb-7 tx

Mix again to coat very lightly with vinaigrette. You may decide that you want to use more dressing next time, but you really don’t want it to be more than a hint of background flavor and a binder for the salad ingredients. Warm refried beans in microwave or on top of the stove. On the bottom of a large plate, place a hearty layer of tortilla chips. Warm refried beans and layer evenly over chips. Top with cheddar or jack cheese and run under the broiler to melt. Top melted cheese with guacamole spread evenly, and then a cup of the of salsa. A true Topopo is presented with the salad on top of the nacho base in a pyramid. (You remember: the whole volcano thing). Begin piling your salad mixture on top of the nachos to cover completely, gradually adding less and less as you build upwards to form a pyramid. Serve with additional salsa on the side. I am sure about everything here except the dressing on the salad part, which I will investigate further. In the meantime, this will still be pretty darned tasty.

Edited to add: I have now checked with several Topopo-eating sources, all of whom agree that the dressing is a 2:1 oil to vinegar combo. One friend adds a squeeze of lime juice for more flavor. Thanks to Chris N. and Kristin B.B.!A List of Currently Acceptable Words to Query By: No pages were found containing "food?tag=food".Ikea Herb GardenIkea GardeningHerb Window GardenHerbs GardenKitchen Herb GardensKitchen GardenIkea PlantersIndoor Window PlanterDiy Hanging Planter IndoorForwardBITTERGURKA hanging planter - Use a single one or hook a few planters together to create a vertical herb garden indoors. Hang your herbs by a window, then unhook and bring to the table or cooking pot for fresh herbs with every meal. Porter Prize for FictionThe Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetrystndth sheet of leaves climbing up the backyard fence of my curious 1920's house. are sleeping now, under a white blanket, but as the Tree promised, will beHow wonderful to love a thing that comes back.

A Black and White Situation Victory in the Valley of Eshu The Hereford mappa mundi is one of the most famous maps in the world. It is dated around 1300, and is probably the largest medieval map (5.18’ by 4.36’) still in existence. I previously wrote (on the blog) about another mappa mundi and its general form, but the Hereford mappa exposes even more because of its size. Although all mappa mundi are fanciful depictions of the world (and yes, Medieval people knew it wasn’t flat), mappa mundi offer our only way to see how creatures and places existed in the medieval imagination, contextualized in space. Though stemming from imagination, these artifacts offer a glimpse into how imagination was transposed upon the physical world. One of the things that I find so interesting about the Hereford mappa is that it actually charts out cities and locations—it is the first known map to represent the Farroe Islands. All mappa mundi have some sense of geographical location, as Jerusalem is always in the middle (and to medieval thinkers, this was one of the structures of the corporeal world), but the Hereford explodes with place, mixing locations of biblical and mythological importance (Noah’s Ark, Eden, the Minotaur’s labrynth, etc.).

And stretching even further than this, it explodes with creatures, plants, and glossing about all of those things. This past week, the ongoing projects of Factum-arte and The Folio Society to document the work were launched on an interactive site. The site allows exploration of some key features such as the unicorn, blemmyes, and sciapods, giving a totally new and intimate experience with the artifact. I hope that the digital project expands, and eventually includes all of the glossing and characters. I wonder how we really interact with maps. A video about the Hereford mappa led me to a link on Grayson Perry’s 2008 Map of Nowhere, which is inspired by the Hereford mappa and presents both a map of his own body and of a sort of urban experience. He states that the piece is a “world view, but also a sort of personal world view.” I would go on to say that all world-views are just that. Seeing the tensions in the vellum makes me think of the deep violence and comfort that is writing and creating;

here it is literalized on the back of a calfskin. And this is what writing was in the Middle Ages: either impermanent, scratched on a wax sheet that one can rub or melt away, or codified onto the bodies of dead animals, each scratch of a writing instrument making punctures in flesh. There is something analogous in our digitized world. These words that we write seem less significant; they have no tangible existence, living instead on tiny bright light filling up a screen, and yet, we know that somehow they are deeply permanent. Nothing is leaving this digital space. //HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Hereford-Mappa-Mundi/\A more thorough outline of images:http://cartographic-images.net/Cartographic_Images/226_The_Hereford_Mappamundi.htmlImages The Hereford MappaGrayson Perry's Map of Nowhere Marsh’s piece, “The Bowl”, focuses on middle-class New Yorkers during the Great Depression era, which is a much different approach from the focus on poverty stricken people. Middle class New Yorkers during the Depression Era were much more privileged than their poorer counterparts and were able to go to Coney Island for leisure time.