This won't be particularly RR related other than through the late Vera's culinary association with railroaders. But I think that this is a good time to light the fuse on the difference between REAL New Mexican food and the wimpy fare our neighbors to the east try to pass off as "authentic".
IMHO opinion, true New Mexican cuisine is heavily influenced by the hundreds of years of semi isolation from the mainstream Hispanic culture. As a result, you can bet your sweet bippy that anything "red" in authentic New Mexican cuisine will be red chile - not tomatoes. Although there are some exceptions - like salsa. Sopapillas, I understand were borrowed from the native Indian cultures, although generally regarded as being northern New Mexico Hispanic.
And for obvious reasons, nowhere will you find seafood in true northern New Mexican culinary delights.
Like some of you here, I was very priveleged to be able to Vera's delightful dishes when she had the restaurant on Terrace Ave. in Chama. The green chile was to die for, and not for the faint hearted. And it was capable of curing warts and holding up socks. Good stuff.
And this held true after she moved her restaurant farther down toward the "Y". But today, although still good, the food served at Viva Vera's is a mere shadow of times past. Vera even admitted to me one time that she had to tone down her dishes to prevent the touristas from screaming in agony. Something has gotten lost.
Vera will be missed.
In the same vein is the passing of Ethel Mundy. I had the pleasure of meeting her once. She gave the impression of elegance and good breeding, and it came as a surprise to find out here about her cattle ranching background. Her husband Bill, was another matter. No one would mistake him for anything but what he was. I had lunch with him one time at the Elkhorn and was startled at the sight of a sawed off shotgun he had clipped to the seat of his car. That's how rough things got during the land grant wars.
So times have changed very much in Chama over the last three decades. For better or worse? You decide.
So with the passing of Vera and Ethel went an important chunk of Chama history. May we never forget them, and those like them.
CJ
