Our Visit to Today's Hatch Chile Festival!

After an excellent breakfast of menudo (me) and eggs benedict (Bruce), we headed up Hwy 185 to Hatch (no boring interstates for us). We were very surprised to see so much agriculture in the desert of southern New Mexico (all driven by the Rio Grande, of course). We saw cotton, chiles, pecans, corn, and a bunch of stuff us city-folk couldn't identify. Field after field.

Came to a screeching halt in Hatch itself. Hatch is a teeny town, population less than 2,000. Their poor little village is completely overwhelmed on Labor Day weekend with cars. The fun part....the entire town joins the festitivies. Seemed like every other house or business on the way in had a chile roaster or gift shop or produce stand (or all three) out front. The festival is out at the airport, about a mile and a half outside town. Traffic jam the whole way.

Parking logistics did not appear to have been worked out in advance, so actual parking took a little time. Once settled, though, our first stop was the row of 8-10 local farmers, each one of which had a big roaster rolling out back. The smell of roasting chiles permeated the air throughout the festival. Not being in need of actual chiles (see previous post on Central Market's festival), we still found a lot to admire.

Ristras (upper right) were everywhere. For the uninitiated, a ristra is a braided collection of fresh or dried chiles. Some use it as decoration, but you can cook with the chiles. You can purchase fresh or dried; if fresh, the chiles will dry over time. We bought a beautiful tri-colored circular one for our kitchen.

We also visited several food and craft vendors and had green chile enchiladas (flat) for lunch. Very good flavors.

Unfortunately, we felt that the festival had grown too fast too quick, and it just didn't seem organized or well-planned. We are used to Fiesta (poor comparison, I know), but even the Becker Lavendar Festival is better organized than this one. Having said that, we are both glad we came. After all, the reigning San Antonio Hatch King and Queen can hardly say they've never been to the real Hatch festival.

Visited a late-1800s frontier fort (Ft Selden) on the way back. Douglas MacArthur spent a few years there as a young boy, when his father was posted there as a captain. There's very little left of it now, mostly snaggle-toothed walls. The ranger told us it will be gone in 40 years. It's not the rain. It's the erosion at the base of the walls from the moisture in the soil; it will completely undermine what's left at some point.

Made a bonus discovery today....the Southern NM Wine Festival is this weekend also! A blog from there tomorrow. FYI....I'm tweeting (with pictures) throughout the day. Follow me at www.twitter.com/laurabray.

Welcome Back to New Mexico!

We arrived this afternoon in Las Cruces, a nine-hour drive from San Antonio. That's one L-O-N-G drive, but we stopped in a few places, and started off right with breakfast at Bear Moon Bakery in Boerne.

White-knuckle portion of drive was just outside of Fort Stockton, headed into mountains, when we ran into a torrential rainstorm. That's the most rain we've been in for two years. At times, it was difficult to see out the front windshield. Then we had to try and pass a yutz who kept floating into our lane. Fortunately it didn't last long.

Once we got settled into our hotel, we went looking for some authentic New Mexican food. You would think it's not much different from Tex Mex, but you would be wrong. The dishes sound the same (enchiladas, chile relleno), but the flavorings are totally different. Lots of red and green chile sauces. Plus their enchiladas are flat and served "pancake" style (most of the time).

We ate at La Posta de Mesilla (pictured). We knew we'd picked well; as early as 5:00 pm (6:00 for us Central-time people), there was already a waiting list. It's an old stagecoach stop in historic Mesilla, once the largest town in the southwest between San Diego and San Antonio. I nearly had to take the chips and salsa away from Bruce. They were that good. After some fabulous margaritas, I enjoyed two tostadas compuestas, filled with beans and pork in a flavorful red chile sauce. Bruce had a combination plate with a taco, chile relleno (it had quite a kick!), and an enchilada with a beef and green chile sauce.

After such a long drive, we're both pretty beat, so an early evening for us. We head to the Hatch Chile Festival tomorrow! We're taking the scenic route up the river road, rather than the boring interstate.

I'm Back with a Report on the Hatch Chile Cookoff!

(Author's note: I'm back after a six-week burnout-induced absence. Unless and until I'm able to write full-time {still a dream of mine}, posting three times a week is probably a more reasonable goal than daily.......Laura)

The Brays have defended their Central Market Hatch Chile Ruler title! Bruce's "Nowhere Left to Hide Hatch Fudge Sundae" won the day at Sunday's Hatch Chile Taste-Off in San Antonio. One of the judges was Tanji Patton (pictured). Since I can't post a PDF using my blogging tool, you can find the recipe on Tanji's fabulous foodie site. The dish has five parts: a Hatch ice cream made with Young's Chocolate Stout, Hatch hot fudge, candied Hatch chiles, candied pinon, and a Hatch syrup (a reduction of the syrup that candied the Hatch and pinon).

Other dishes included a green chile stew, potato salad, a two-sided chile soup with ceviche, a flourless chocolate cake, and fried plantains with a raspberry coulis. The soup was easily the prettiest dish out there, and the competition between that dish and Bruce's was apparently very close. As defending champion, I got to crown (and kiss!) the winner. (OK, I wouldn't have kissed the soup guy.)

We had an amazing 13 friends and family in the tasting area, cheering us on. The fabulous crown was made by CM's floral department. Those are fresh chiles on there!

In addition to bragging rights, he won a $100 CM gift card, a nice gift basket, and a year's supply of roasted chiles. Our freezer is full to bursting.

Bruce was a finalist in the inaugural 2008 contest with a creme brulee, and I won last year with a key lime pie (sadly, only one entry per household). We've established a dynasty here! On to 2010!