Texas Caviar and Katy

My friend Katy had been planning her trip to New Mexico from New York for quite some time. She purposefully booked the trip for late January, knowing that I would be over the holiday rush at Macy's and then the dreaded inventory the few weeks after. This way, I could take vacation time and spend some quality time with her.

The day she arrived, was an unfortunate one for her and a fortunate one for me. The first couple of days were pretty much a blur to me and I don't remember what I ate. I do remember what I drank- vodka/soda. Katy could not drink at all, as she is 7 months pregnant, so bless her heart, all she could do was watch me drink and console me.

She proved to be fantastic at the consoling and in no time, I was back to my normal self. We toured Old Town Albuquerque, where we had lunch at a place where I once took my grandmother, we visited a few boutiques and souvenir shops before heading to the Albuquerque Museum. The Albuquerque Museum is on old client of mine and I remember it being a little run down and low-budget. I don't remember great exhibits, that's for sure, so I didn't expect much. Little did I know that it had expanded and renovated into a beautiful, full-size, art museum! I was ecstatic to see the improvements. The exhibit was New Mexico Now which consisted of artwork of all media selected from artists throughout the state. We had an amazing time, until they decided to kick us out at closing.

The following day, we took the Railrunner train from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and spent the day walking around my old hometown. After the flea market, we walked to the Cowgirl Cafe, one of my favorite hangouts. We sat by the fireplace and we ordered Texas Caviar before having our lunch. Texas Caviar is nothing I had ever heard of before the Cowgirl, but it is basically a simple salsa made with black eyed peas. Sitting at the Cowgirl with Katy, my margarita (on the rocks, no salt) and my Texas Caviar and chips made me feel so comforted. I felt safe and felt excited about the new opportunities I would find.

Katy had to leave two days later, but the memory of sitting at that table, in that restaurant, at that moment will stay with me forever.