The Corridor Volume 2 Issue 2 - March 2016

COMMUNITY NEWS, VIEWS, AND MORE
The Second Annual
Corrales Wine Loop Wine and
Cheese Pairing Event
& BITES
Local books, food, drinks
&
news
Mark your calendars for Saturday and Sunday
March 12th and 13th 2016, and join us
between the hours of 12 to 5 pm for a cheese
and wine pairing event. For just $15 you
get to taste 3 wines paired with 3 cheeses at
4 of your favorite wineries. That’s 12 wine
tastings, and 12 cheeses for $15. Tickets can
be purchased in advance or during the event
at Acequia, Corrales, Matheson, or Pasando
Tiempo Wineries. See you there!!
http://acequiawinery.com/
corraleswinery.com
www.mathesonwines.com
www.pasandotiempowinery.com
14 | The Corridor - March 2016
The boardwalk on Kit Carson
near Eske’s Brewery in Taos
Overnight Getaway in Taos
by Debbie LaRouche
On our distribution run for the January/February issue of The Corridor we decided to make a little
staycation by staging in Taos for the night. We live in Eldorado, so the propect of the trip back down
the hill in pitch-black night through the Embudo Canyon is not our favorite. We booked a room at the
Historic Taos Inn in one of the many ground-level rooms, in one of the former homes that make up the
compound surrounding the hotel. We were given a wonderful room with a queen size bed, full bathroom
and a wood burning fireplace, complete with firewood. Our room had 2 comfortable Mexican
lounge chairs, a small table and a dresser complete with wine and beer glasses - even a corkscrew.
Our visit happened to coincide with the championship playoff game between the Denver Broncos and
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Our room was steps away from the hotel bar and restaurant. The bar had the
football game on and there was live music in the lobby of the hotel. As we planned to return to the
Hotel and restaurant for dinner later that night, we ventured out and took a stroll to Eske’s Brewery,
a funky locals favorite, where we enjoyed their nachos and a flight of beer samplers while picking up
bits and pieces of the game from one of their TVs, all the while taking in the local ambience and Taos
“vibe”. The beer sampler had some winners! Our favorites were the Green Chile Beer, Barley Wine
and Scottish Ale.
After a brief respite in our cozy room back at the hotel we decided to make the (very) short trek to dinner
at Doc Martin’s, the famous restaurant at the Taos Inn. We started with some drinks, a nice Pinot
Grigio for me and Marc declared that he had to try the Sazerac (an authentic New Orleans specialty
brought to the bar by a local NOLA expat), a concoction of rye whiskey, bitters and absinthe. This
drink has a nice kick and a faint sweetness from the absinthe, a licorice-style liquer. Not for the faint
of heart but an interesting experience! Our appetizers inculded Green Chile Stew and Seared Scallops.
The Green chile stew was wonderfully spicy, temperature hot and was the highlight of the meal. The
Seared Scallops were a bit undercooked, barely seared. We would have sent this back, but our waitress
was not very attentive and we only saw her at the beginning and end of the meal. My entree was
Doc’s Chile Relleno Platter. Tasty, not very spicy and, for me, way too much food for one. Either
share this platter or order the smaller appetizer version. Marc ordered the Local Lamb Shank, which
was prepared perfectly, braised with red wine, horseradish and mashed potatoes.
Overall our trip was quite successful. After “planting” an outdoor box on the Taos plaza and a rack
inside Cid’s Market for The Corridor, plus a few more stops, we made our way East for the next leg
of our journey delivering The Corridor. The visit to Taos was a fun adventure that we recommend to
anyone visiting our area as well as locals looking for a quick getaway.
. . . ON BOOKS
Of Pages and Paper
By Marty Gerber
(from Marty’s Blog)
Downtown Taos - view
toward Taos Mountain
Marty Gerber is the editor
and co-owner of
TerraNova Books
www.terranovabooks.com
Recently, I read a true paean to ebooks. “Last
summer,” the author wrote, “I read Heart of
Darkness on my cell phone. I read in line at
the supermarket, sitting in my dentist’s waiting
room, and even by sneaking peeks during traffic
jams.”
Now, granted that Heart of Darkness isn’t a book
of impressive length, I still consider this a pretty
impressive feat. Mainly it’s impressive for the
powers of concentration required by type that’s
maybe a sixteenth of a inch tall (as well as by
Conrad’s mystical, mystifying, and gripping
tale).
The proud phone reader, though, was quick to assure
us that actually, he goes both ways. (“I love
print books.”) But he’s still pretty boggled by the
fact that he remains in a distinct minority.
Our room in the Taos Inn
My guess is that it comes down to the eternal
thrust and parry between science and soul. You
can sure list a slew of reasons that e-readers can’t
be matched, from changeable fonts to synching
with a dozen other gizmos to toting around
the OED in your back pocket. But, at least for
anyone first captured by the magic of words on a
page when that page was made of paper, there’s
a look and a feel and a sense and a heft—and
yes, a romance—that transcends all the acknowledged
utility of electronic impulses.
But let’s face facts: We who once knew a world
without computers are dying off a lot quicker
than the kids we raised. And what happens when
the lights go out on the last folks in the hospice
who didn’t learn their ABCs on a screen?
For reading’s survivors, the habits they came
out of the playpen with are the ones they’ll be
shaped by. No need for the kind of relics consigned
to the little old shop in an out-of-the-way
neighborhood whose faded sign whispers “Used
Books.”
I can see the place now: an ideal setting for some
ambitious author’s fable for phone about the
long-ago days of paper, ink, and pages you’d feel
as you went from one to another. It would start
out, “Once upon a time ….”
www.thecorridornm.com