by John Hardaway (@CoachHardaway)10/19/2023 11:04:10 AM
posted in: Skordle Sampler | 2,467 views
Is it really Week 8 of the Oklahoma Prep Football Season?
It doesn’t seem possible to be past Fall Break and heading down the home stretch of this season. The next three weeks will have plenty of massive district games as teams are fighting it out for playoff position so get out there to watch these games, or find them on the SKORDLE Network and enjoy all the excitement.
Last weekend, we made a trip out to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the annual Ballon Fiesta Celebration, which also happened to coincide with the annular eclipse.
We attended on Saturday, which was the premier day of the nearly two-week celebration, and it was an incredible experience we shared with about 80,000+ people.
The balloons start filling up and taking off around 6 a.m. with the Mass Ascension at 7 a.m.
What made this so cool was you can literally be 5 feet away from the balloons as they are taking off and at any given time there might be 50-plus balloons in the sky.
A very cool experience, perfect fall weather and an easy eight-hour drive straight west from Oklahoma on I-40.
As you can imagine, I was also very excited about the food on this trip.
I really like New Mexican style food with the red and green chili toppings. Being right in the heart of New Mexico meant I would be getting the best of the best.
I want to share the two best food stops we made on our trip.
Our first stop was at The Original Cocina Azul just west of the University of New Mexico.
This place was highly-rated online and when we arrived it became pretty apparent that this was a popular place, with a line to get in going out the door and onto the sidewalk.
We had to wait about 20 minutes to get inside and then were given a table quickly. I was scanning the room trying to see what looked the best and immediately the Green Chili Queso in the edible tortilla bowl and the massive burrito with “Christmas topping” (Red and Green Chili) had my full attention! The queso was perfect with very noticeable heat, but the best part of all was the edible fried tortilla bowl.
By the time all the chips were gone, the queso had partially soaked into the bowl and this was the best part!
This was basically a homemade version of the famous Mexi Dip and Chips from Taco Bueno.
For the main entrée, I went with the Brisket Burrito and this thing was massive!
What was impressive was how much brisket was in this thing and no space wasted on beans or veggies.
The burrito had quite a bit of heat as well, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My wife got the Creamy Chicken Chili Rellenos, and it was excellent!
Luckily her plate had two, so I was able to snag a few bites and honestly I ended up having some plate envy.
Our second food stop was for brunch at a place very near UNM called The Shop, which was also highly rated online and just like Cocina Azul, had a line running out the door upon our arrival.
This place was absolutely packed!
As I was waiting in line, scouting plates coming out of the kitchen, the New Mexico version of Eggs Benidict caught my eye.
The locals standing in front of us highly recommended this selection as well and this dish became unavailable soon after I ordered it and here is why:
This popular dish consisted of two massive homemade buttermilk biscuits topped with slow roasted pork shoulder in red sauce, two poached runny eggs and white queso.
This is probably one the best breakfast items that I have ever had in my entire life!
The biscuits were perfect, fluffy and buttery. The red sauce, was not overly hot and the slow roasted pork shoulder was fork tender and full of flavor.
The runny eggs and white queso just put the entire thing over the top!
Absolutely incredible food in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and if you are ever out that way, I would highly recommend these two places!