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Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

By
Abdul Rafay
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0
Three slices of pumpkin cheesecake on brown plates are arranged on a multicolored surface, each slice topped with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

As autumn casts its golden light over us, the classic pairing of pumpkin and spice returns to center stage…here in cheesecake form.

At this time of year, pumpkin spice appears everywhere. From complex coffee shop lattes crowned with frothy, pumpkin spice-dusted foam to boutique shelves heavy with spiced candles, the aroma is inescapable. At TABLE, however, we prefer an elegantly DIY approach with delicious outcomes. This pumpkin cheesecake leans into warm, aromatic spices. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove signal fall’s arrival, especially when folded into a velvety cream cheese filling. A crisp ginger snap crust offers a subtle, buttery bite beneath. Baked slowly to preserve its silken texture, it’s a dessert that feels as special on a weeknight as it does after a holiday feast. If you bake one, we will join you. We will bring the the coffee beans, and the forks. And maybe a swirl of fresh whipped cream for the final flourish. Sharing the season’s best flavors is what makes them unforgettable.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

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Three slices of pumpkin cheesecake on brown plates are arranged on a multicolored surface, each slice topped with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

  • Author: Cheryl Alters Jamison
  • Yield: Makes one 9-inch cheesecake, serving 8 or more 1x
Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

For the Crust:

  • 1 3/4 cups (about 12 ounces) gingersnap cookie crumbs
  • 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling:

  • Three 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 15-oz can pumpkin puree
  • 3 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt

Instructions

For the Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  1. Stir together the crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl. Mix in the butter.
  2. Press mixture evenly into the bottom and about 1-inch up the sides of a 10-inch springform pan.
  3. Bake crust 8 to 10 minutes, until slightly deeper in color. Set crust aside to cool.

For the Filling:

  1. Blend cream cheese and sugar together in a stand mixer until smooth and somewhat fluffy.
  2. Add the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla and spices. Mix until smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  3. Pour filling over crust. Tap the pan gently a couple of times on the counter to release any air bubbles.
  4. Bake cheesecake about 1 hour 15 minutes, until the cheesecake looks slightly puffed and burnished, and the center is just set. Tiny cracks may be visible at the outer edge.
  5. Cool the cheesecake on a baking rack. After it has cooled 10 to 15 minutes, run a thin-bladed knife around the edge of the cheesecake to separate it from the pan sides. When cooled to room temperature, cover and refrigerate overnight. Slice and serve chilled.

Making your own Pumpkin Puree:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  1. Select a pumpkin of about 2 to 2½ pounds, grown for flavor rather than jack-o-lantern looks, perhaps a sugar pumpkin, cheese pumpkin, or other “pie” pumpkin.
  2. Cut off the stem and slice the pumpkin into 4 or 6 wedges. Scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp.
  3. Place wedges on a silicon mat-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 50 minutes, until very soft.
  4. When cool enough to handle, scoop pumpkin meat away from the skins. Puree the pumpkin in a food processor. Remove any fibrous strings that remain. You should have about 2 cups of pumpkin puree, good for any of the recipes here that call for a 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree. It can be kept refrigerated for a few days or frozen for several months.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

Recipe and Story by Cheryl Alters Jamison
Styling by Anna Franklin
Photography by David Bryce

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New Mexico’s Wine Festivals Coming This Autumn

By
Abdul Rafay
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0
A woman wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat is holding a glass of white wine with

Chris Goblet, Executive Director of New Mexico Wine & Grape Growers Association, has been promoting the state’s more than 400-year-old wine making industry for almost a decade. The non-profit was founded in 1991 but growing grapes and making wine in the Land of Enchantment goes back to Spanish Conquistadors and the Catholic priests and monks who accompanied them in the 1500s.

Autumn Wine Festivals in New Mexico

Harvest Wine and Music Festival, Las Cruces, August 31-September 2

“New Mexico’s first wine festival was in Las Cruces 33 years ago,” says Goblet, “and with that success, Albuquerque launched one in Bernalillo a couple of years later. The impetus for both was that no one would carry New Mexico wines in stores. So NM Wine created the festivals as a way to sell directly to and educate the public and promote the wineries. Now we do have retailers who will carry local wines. But the festivals are so popular. And growing into traditions.”

A hand is holding a black and white checkered paper container filled with a pile of nachos topped with pulled pork and a drizzle of barbecue sauce.

Goblet says the two Labor Day weekend festivals have distinctly different feels. The Las Cruces event has a family friendly picnic atmosphere. You will find play areas for kids with yard games, entertainment, and music for younger crowds, and samplings for adults. Plus, everyone can shop to stock their holiday cellars.

Southern New Mexico State Fair & Rodeo
Albuquerque, August 31-September 2 Balloon Fiesta Park

By contrast, the northern event, now held at Balloon Fiesta Park, is designed for those 21+. You’ll need to be an adult to partake in this fun afternoon of wine sampling. Silent discos and a putt-putt golf station add to the spectrum of grown-up fun.

New Mexico’s wine culture is aging well. 55 wineries, 75 tasting rooms, and these and other festivals draw some 50,000 attendees to enjoy themselves. In fact, New Mexico Wine will open a new tasting room in Old Town Albuquerque this fall (date TBD) that will serve as a welcome center, retail outlet, and an education and event space.

Story by Kelly Koepe

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Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Chèvre, Pomegranates, and Pepitas

By
Abdul Rafay
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0
A colorful roasted pumpkin salad is presented on a plate with red and green lettuce, goat cheese, and pomegranate seeds.

Fall salads call for a bit of heft, for which chunks of fresh roasted pumpkin are perfect. Combine the pumpkin with bright bits of pomegranate and crumbles of cheese over sturdy greens, and top it all off with more pumpkin in the form of crunchy pepitas, or hulled pumpkin seeds. You can buy the pepitas, but instructions follow for preparing your own, if you wish. However you garnish the salad, and whatever other ingredients you use to customize it, your Roasted Pumpkin Salad is sure to be a hit on an autumn afternoon.

How Do You Roast a Pumpkin?

1. Prep the pumpkin

  • Preheat oven to 350 °F.
  • Slice the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Save them for roasting on their own!
  • Leave the skin on because it’s easier to separate the flesh from the skin after roasting.

2. Season the pumpkin

  • Place the halves flesh side up on a baking sheet.
  • Rub olive oil into the flesh and sprinkle a little salt. Or use vinaigrette dressing (see below).
  • If you’re feeling fancy, sprinkle a bit of sweet paprika on, as well. 

3. Roast the pumpkin

  • Bake for 45–50 minutes, until soft (like a properly cooked potato). 

4. Scoop and serve (or save)

Use immediately by placing the pumpkin making mashed pumpkin in a stand mixer, adding butter or olive oil, salt, black pepper, and a dash of dried sage. Or refrigerate in a sealed container until you’re ready to use it in a recipe like the Roasted Pumpkin Salad below!

5. Pair your Roasted Pumpkin Salad with a lovely wine!

A classic rosé from Provence, replete with minerality and dry with just a touch of fruit, will complement the natural sweetness of roasted pumpkin.

Roasted Pumpkin Salad Recipe

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A colorful roasted pumpkin salad is presented on a plate with red and green lettuce, goat cheese, and pomegranate seeds.

Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Goat Cheese, Pomegranates, and Pepitas

  • Author: Cheryl Alters Jamison
  • Yield: Serves 6
Print Recipe

Description

A salad that sings the flavors of fall.

Ingredients

Scale

For the Vinaigrette:

  • ½ cup vegetable oil or other neutral-flavored oil
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar or white vinegar
  • 1 small shallot, minced
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt

For the Salad:

  • One 2½– to 3-pound sugar or pie pumpkin, cut into 6 wedges and seeded
  • Several handfuls frisée or another sturdy green lettuce
  • Several handfuls red oak leaf lettuce, leaves of red endive or radicchio, or more frisée
  • 6 oz creamy goat cheese like chèvre, crumbled
  • ½ to ¾ cup pomegranate arils (about 1 pomegranate)
  • ¼ cup toasted salted pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
  • Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or fleur de sel

Instructions

For the Vinaigrette:

  1. Place all the ingredients in a glass bowl and combine. Stir well with a small whisk or fork until the ingredients are mixed.
  2. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

For the Salad:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking sheet or line it with a silicon mat.
  2. Place the pumpkin slices on the baking sheet, brush each with about a teaspoon of vinaigrette and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until soft.
  3. Let cool briefly. Slice the wedge lengthwise into three thinner crescents, then slice the skin away from the pieces.
  4. Arrange a bed of the greens on a platter or in a large shallow bowl. Tuck red lettuces around the greens. Tuck pumpkin pieces around and throughout the salad. Drizzle with more vinaigrette. Scatter cheese, pomegranate arils, and pepitas over the salad, sprinkle with salt, and serve.

To Prepare Pepitas from Pumpkin Seeds: 

  1. Rinse pumpkin goo away from the seeds as best you can.
  2. Put seeds in a pan with water to cover by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil and boil for about 10 minutes.
  3. Drain seeds and lay them out on a clean dishtowel or paper towels. Let cool and dry on the surface. Roll over the seeds lightly with a rolling pin or wine bottle. The outer shells will crack and, with your fingers, you can then work out the green seed pods, the pepitas.
  4. Toss the pepitas with just a touch of oil. Sauté in a small heavy skillet until just fragrant, and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

Recipe and Story by Cheryl Alters Jamison
Styling by Anna Franklin
Photography by David Bryce

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine’s print edition.

Cafe Pasqual’s Gallery Celebrates 30 Years with Four Artists 

By
Kylie Thomas
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0
A painting of mountains and skies in New Mexico at Cafe Pasqual's Gallery.
Photo Courtesy of Sarah Grenzeback

Four artists – each working in their own unique media – are brought together for a don’t miss moment at Cafe Pasqual’s Gallery in downtown Santa Fe. While their materials vary and include copper, textiles, canvas, and micaceous clay, they all employ pigment in some way. The show called Four X Four All Terrain Artists refers to the powerful influence that the land around them has on their work.  

A pottery vase with leaves and a branch coming out of the top.
Photo Courtesy of Harlan W. Butt

Work from Harlan W. Butt’s series entitled The Odyssey Vessels will be one of the four on display. Professor Butt’s work takes inspiration from Homer’s epic poem. Each piece uses enameling techniques in variations of blue, white, and silver inspired by the waters surrounding the Greek islands. He then inscribes poems he writes into the ten lidded enameled containers.

A blue background with white printing on top.
Photo Courtesy of David Mendoza

What started as a ten-day visit to Bali in 1998 has turned into a lifelong love affair for David Mendoza. Mendoza works with a small team of talented Balinese artisans to make indigo dye paste from plants which grow there. The batik process involves hand stamping with exquisitely carved stamps – both antique and contemporary. He’s amassed a collection of close to 200 stamps and his indigo painted and batik textiles are also breathtaking. 

A painting of mountains and skies in New Mexico at Cafe Pasqual's Gallery.
Photo Courtesy of Sarah Grenzeback

Santa Fe and Abiquiu-based plein air oil painter Sarah Grenzeback takes inspiration from the open skies, pure light, as well as rich colors of the New Mexico landscape. “I am grateful that painting gives me a way to interact with the natural world. To witness, to be present, and to have a relationship with the land that surrounds and holds us through everything,” she says. She typically paints on site in one session. Through this, she captures the ever changing landscape, creating works that draw the viewer into them. 

A brown pottery vase with a red and black design on it.
Photo Courtesy of Lorenzo Mendez

Lorenzo Mendez creates hand-built coil and scrape mica clay flameproof painted cookpots. He draws on the ancient traditions of the Jicarilla Apache as well as Northern New Mexico Pueblo artisans for his pieces. You can use his pieces directly over heat, in the oven, with gas, electric, or induction stovetops and even in the microwave. While his work is utilitarian, it is also masterfully created and decorated, resulting in pieces that can be both treasured and used. 

Four X Four All Terrain Artists 

Opening Artist Reception August 9 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. 
Cafe Pasqual’s Gallery 
103 E. Water Street, 2nd floor 

Story by Julia Platt Leonard
Photos Courtesy of the Artists

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Modern Art and Politics In Germany 1910–1945 Exhibit Comes to Albuquerque Museum

By
Abdul Rafay
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0
A portrait painting of a woman with short dark hair, wearing a black dress and a light pink flower pinned to her shoulder, sitting at a table with a bucket holding a champagne bottle.
Christian Schad, Sonja, 1928, oil on canvas. Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin © Christian Schad Stiftung Aschaffenburg / ARS, New York, 2024, photo: Jörg P. Anders © Neue Nationalgalerie, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

The second stop on its United States tour, Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910-1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, traces German modern art from the early twentieth century avant-gardes through the Nazi dictatorship. This powerful and timely exhibition features 72 paintings as well as sculptures. These come from notable names like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Käthe Kollwitz, George Grosz, Max Beckmann, Hannah Höch, and Paul Klee, as well as experimental European artists of the period: Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Giorgio de Chirico, and Salvador Dalí.

Modern Art and Politics In Germany 1910–1945 Exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum – August 23, 2025 – January 4, 2026

“What’s important about this exhibit is that it focuses on both the objects and the artists that made the objects. The story is not just from a political vantage point, it’s from an art-focused vantage point, too. The text of the exhibition raises hard questions about humanity as depicted by the artists,” says Andrew Connors, Albuquerque Museum Director.

A Surrealist oil painting with a large landscape background and a foreground featuring a bust of a woman's head on the left, and a profile of a woman in a red coat and fur hat on the right.

Salvador Dalí, Portrait of Mrs. Isabel Styler-Tas (Melancolía), 1945, oil on canvas. Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin © 2024 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society, photo: Jörg P. Anders © Neue Nationalgalerie, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.

Interestingly, many exhibition artists had works in both the 1937 Degenerate Art show, which condemned “anti-German” modern art and ideas, and the competing state sanctioned Great German Art Exhibition featuring art aligned with Nazi ideology. The last section of the exhibition focuses on artists trying to reestablish their careers after WW2.

Even with the somber and sobering themes of repression, discrimination as well as prejudice, the exhibition features many works celebrating color, new ways of observing the built and natural environments, and the creative talents of artists of the time.

“I’m powerfully moved by the way the German curators of the collection are adamant that the horrors of German history are told in a straightforward and truthful manner with the sincere hope that nowhere else in the world the same mistakes will be duplicated or replicated,” Connors adds.

Story by Kelly Koepke
Photos Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum

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Tamales and Tradition

By
Samuel
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0
A black bowl filled with traditional tamales wrapped in corn husks, with one unwrapped tamale on a smaller plate showing a rich, red filling. Beside the plates are other New Mexican foods, including empanadas and biscochitos.
Tamales, biscochitos and empanaditas are important holiday traditions for the Martinez family of New Mexico.

To talk about the tamale is to talk about time writ large through food, to recognize interwoven histories across centuries, continents, and generations within families.

The word “tamale” is derived from the word tamalii, an Aztec word meaning, “wrapped food.” This compact creation of corn masa, filled with any combination of meat or vegetables and wrapped in corn husks, has satiated appetites dating as far back as 5,000 BC. Migrating north in the packs of Spanish soldiers, the tamale came to the land now known as New Mexico, where the hardiness and portability of a self-wrapped meal is perfect daily sustenance for the modern-day college student or grandma on the go.

Tamales and the Tradition That Surrounds Them

In Santa Fe, you can find tamales every day of the year. Yet come the winter holidays, tamales serve as more than a mere meal. When made traditionally, this deceptively simple dish is labor and time intensive – an endeavor made easier with many hands. As Christmas draws near, families in New Mexico gather around the kitchen to form a
culinary assembly line, spreading masa, placing the filling, wrapping the corn husks, and steaming the finished tamales.

The tamalada, or tamale-making process can take an entire day, beginning with preparing the corn flour masa. Then there are the fillings, often but not limited to slow-cooked, fall-apart tender chicken or pork seasoned with a sauce made from dried red chili powder (Chimayo Red is a local favorite). Corn husks must be soaked until pliable to wrap and tie. The family circles around, making dozens at a time for the holiday. Try their delicious recipe for Traditional Tamales here.

A Personal Experience

Although she grew up in Pojoaque, just north of Santa Fe in northern New Mexico, Theresa Martinez recalls making her first tamales in her early 20s with a friend. But she had eaten them throughout her childhood when the December tamale “harvest” was a family ritual marking the holidays – a time to make copious amounts of food to share
with family and neighbors alike. Theresa likens the custom to decorating the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving – moments that define how a family observes this special season.

Now a mother herself, Theresa makes sure that her daughters, Aurora Martinez-Rivera, 24, and Lola Martinez, 10, make the tamales, together with her mother, Lola Thompson, 72, and even her grandmother, Della Ryobal, 95.

What Else Goes With Tamales?

In addition to tamales, [Theresa’s grandmother] makes her biscochitos – a crisp lard- or butter-based cookie, flavored with cinnamon and anise. Theresa tries time and again to reproduce those cookies, but she thinks that there is something unique to her grandmother Della’s hands — part chemistry, part technique. Try her recipe for New Mexico Biscochitos here.

Theresa feels deeply that for her daughters to carry on this tradition is integral to the future of her family so that her girls can teach their own children. It can be a thorny route to navigate, when personal expressions of gender and gender-specific roles, specifically in the kitchen, are constantly shifting and changing. And perhaps that’s where culinary traditions carry such significance. Theresa’s daughters may dress and dance and even speak far differently from their great-grandmother. But, the smells of the tamales steaming and the cookies baking are senses that will always carry them back to the same place. That is what happens when four generations of women and girls gather together in the kitchen to make tamales as their ancestors have done before them.

Traditions are a pathway not only to the past but a wayfinding route for the future – as the family gathers around the table, telling stories, making the best kinds of messes, sticky fingers, stained aprons, and far-flung dough galore – memories are made for years to come.

Finish off your celebration with Theresa’s recipe for Authentic Empanaditas.

Story and Photography by Gabriella Marks
Styling by Robert Nachman
Food by Theresa Martinez and family

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Crafting Spanish Metalwork with Larry Madrid

By
Keith Recker
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0
Spanish metalworker spoon with patterns.

A conversation with Las Lunas metal artist Larry Madrid lightens your day with his sunny disposition and humorous take on life, work, and family. He traces the roots of his craft to 19th-century great-grandfathers who were metalsmiths. However, his own exploration began with his first paying job at nine years old, making ornamental window grates with a blow torch. Life on his family’s farm also demanded practical problem-solving. He recalls, with humor, helping his father adapt their horse-drawn Sycamore plow to work with a 1940s tractor, which had them bouncing around like popcorn as they worked the fields.

Larry Madrid’s Spanish Metalwork

Madrid credits his mother as the source of his fascination with comals and spoons, the useful and attractive metalwork objects he now makes for his Spanish Market clientele. “She just knew what worked, and I learned just about everything from her,” he remembers. “She would make tortillas at a wood stove with a metal comal, and she wanted every one of them perfect: not burned, cooked on the inside, but soft enough to fold.”

Creative Comals

Larry’s comals feature fine cuts in the metal, which allow extra heat to create patterns in the tortillas—stars, sacred hearts, and Zia symbols. Because of this distinctive touch, he has sold them to buyers as far away as Australia. Yet he insists they remain practical for everyday use and inexpensive enough for anyone to purchase. “They catch the eye, and that’s what gets people into my booth,” he explains.

Crafting Copper Spoons

Madrid’s copper spoons are another Spanish Market treasure. Each copper bowl is joined with a single rivet to a sturdy iron handle. “They’re simple, but they require technique,” he says. Copper sheets must be annealed to burn away impurities and to soften the metal. This process takes time, but, the result is worth it. “If you’re in the kitchen all day long, taking pride in feeding your family, you deserve something nice to look at while you’re there.”

Story by Keith Recker
Photography by Tira Howard

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Zeitgeist Dance Theatre Celebrates Santa Fe’s 20 Years as a UNESCO Creative City 

By
Kylie Thomas
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0
A Zeitgeist Dance Theatre dancer stands in the center of three other dancers stretched out around him.

This summer, over 70 dancers and choreographers will call Santa Fe home for a three-week residency led by Santa Fe-based Zeitgeist Dance Theatre. Acclaimed choreographers and Co-Artistic Directors Francisco Gella and Yusha-Marie Sorzano are working with ZDT trainees – all of whom are accomplished and aspiring dancers aged 17-24 – as well as professional members of the company to create a series of dance performances and community events. 

A group of Zeitgeist dancers dance under a spotlight on stage.

Zeitgeist Dance Theatre’s Upcoming Shows 

A highlight is the premiere of a new piece, Lineage, that celebrates contemporary weaver and artist Emily Trujillo, a descendent of the Trujillo family of weavers.  

In exploring the Trujillo legacy, Gella says they discovered striking parallels between weaving, choreography, and dance. “While weaving creates something permanent and tangible, dance exists in a fleeting, ephemeral moment – yet both are rich in rhythm, pattern, mathematics, and design,” he says.  

The 2025 residency culminates in an evening-length premiere of Lineage at the National Hispanic Cultural Center’s Albuquerque Journal Theatre. For Santa Fe dance enthusiasts, there is a preview at the Railyard Performance Center.  

A group of dancers from the Zeitgeist Dance Theatre dance on a green stage in white outfits.

Preview of ZDT’s Lineage Concert 

Saturday, July 26, 7-8 p.m. 
Railyard Performance Center, 1611 Paseo de Peralta 
Tickets are free but must be reserved. 

GROOVE Sunday: Let Your Body Move! 

Sunday, July 27, 10:00-11:30 a.m. 
Aspen Ballet Studios, 550 St. Michael’s Dr. 
Ages 18+ 
$15 entry. Limited space, first come, first served.  

Lineage World Premiere Concert 

Saturday, August 2, 7:00-8:30 p.m. 
National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th Street SW, Albuquerque 
Reserved Seating.  

Story by Julia Platt Leonard
Photos Courtesy of Zeitgeist Dance Theatre

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Reservations for Irony: Native Wit and Contemporary Realities at the Institute of Contemporary Art 

By
Kylie Thomas
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0
A drawing of a woman in a dress with an apple head.
Forbidden Fruit, 2016 by Geralyn Montano

Satire, humor, and resilience are the focus at Reservations for Irony: Native Wit and Contemporary Realities, opening on August 9 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Santa Fe. The exhibition is produced and curated by Trotta-Bono Contemporary and features work by leading Indigenous artist including Kent Monkman, Nicholas Galanin, David Bradley, Cara Romero, Diego Romero, Tony Abeyta, Geralyn Montano and many others.  

A painting of the land of lakes Indian holding a dollar bill.
Land O’Bucks, 1990-92 by David Bradley

Events Schedule Reservations for Irony: Native Wit and Contemporary Realities

Paintings, sculpture, photography, and installation explore and confront identity, colonial narrative, and social and political realities with wit, humor, and irony. Where language can be inadequate, the artists illustrate that art can reveal deep and often painful truths – all seen through a lense of humor and resistance. 

A painting of a mountain range and lake with Indians about.
Study for The Annunciation, 2024 by Kent Monkman

The show that runs through August 30. It also includes a panel discussion and a stand-up comedy show near the night of the opening reception.   

Reservation for Irony: Native Wit and Contemporary Realities Show

August 9-30 
Institute of Contemporary Art 
Reception: Saturday, August 16, 5:00-8:00 p.m. 

A white stick art piece with an eagle chain hanging from it.
American Talking Stick, 2023 by Nicholas Galanin

Indigenous Humor as Resistence: A Panel Discussion 

Friday, August 15, 10:30 a.m. 

A monkey balances a ball on its head in sculpture form.
Unstable World, 2020 by Roxanne Swentzell

With All Due Respect: Stand-Up with Ricardo Cate & Friends 

Saturday, August 16, 8:00-10:00 p.m. 

Story by Julia Platt Leonard
Photos Courtesy of Institute of Contemporary Art

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Sara Breckenridge-Sproat’s New Mexican Red Chile Pecan Pie

By
Abdul Rafay
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0
Two freshly baked pecan pies, adorned with decorative pastry leaves, are on a baking sheet, with dried red chiles and scattered pecan halves beside them.

Sara Breckenridge-Sproat’s winning pecan pie was scented with red chile. The filling rested in a buttery crust enhanced with sweet little pastry autumn leaves. Because husband David loves heat with sweet, she decided to add New Mexico’s hot stuff to her holiday pecan pie. This winning combo was born!

Sara retired to Santa Fe in 2017 after three decades of military service as an Army nurse with the rank of Colonel. She met her husband, an Army family medicine practitioner, in her first post, at Fort Lewis in Washington State. When Sara married, a savvy friend implored her to master pie crusts. The admonisher said that they weren’t as difficult as they were made out to be. Plus, homemade was more delicious than store-bought. Sara has been baking pies in her own buttery pie shells ever since, along with cookies, and a crusty sourdough, too. She doubled down on baking during Covid and says that the couple hasn’t bought commercial bread since 2020.

Red Chile Pecan Pie Recipe

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Two freshly baked pecan pies, adorned with decorative pastry leaves, are on a baking sheet, with dried red chiles and scattered pecan halves beside them.

Sara Breckenridge-Sproat’s New Mexican Red Chile Pecan Pie

  • Author: Sara Breckenridge-Sproat’s
  • Yield: Makes a 9-inch pie 1x
Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

For the Pie Crust:

Makes two crusts (save 1 for next time)

  • 2¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • ½ cup chilled vegetable shortening
  • 12 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
  • 6–8 tbsp ice water

For the Pie Filling:

  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup dark corn syrup
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
  • 5 tbsp melted butter (71g)
  • 2 tbsp prepared red chile sauce (I use my own, but Bueno brand can be used)
  • 2 tbsp packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp ancho chile powder (divided use)
  • 1–2 tsp cayenne, or to taste (divided use) (I used a total of 1 tsp – if you are feeling bold, add more!)
  • 1¼ cup chopped New Mexican pecans
  • 1 tbsp powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Pie Crust:

  1. Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor.  Add shortening, and process until the mixture looks like sand.
  2. Scatter butter cubes over the mixture and pulse lightly so that some butter chunks remain. Sprinkle with about 6 tbsp ice water, and pulse until combined. Add more water if needed to form a dough ball. Dump dough out onto a floured surface, divide into two fat disks, and chill at least 30 minutes.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out one of the disks of dough slightly larger than the pie plate. Place in freezer for 20-30 minutes.
  4. Blind bake the crust. Line cold crust with foil all the way up the sides and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Par-bake crust 20-30 minutes. Leave the oven on. (If you wish, cut any remaining dough into leaves or other decorative designs to add to the pie later.)

For the Pie Filling:

  1. In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs with a hand mixer until airy and light colored. Then beat in corn syrup, granulated sugar, melted butter, prepared red chile sauce, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, cocoa powder, 1 tbsp of the ancho powder, and ½ tsp cayenne until slightly airy.
  2. Toss pecans with powdered sugar and remaining tsp ancho chile powder and half tsp cayenne until covered.
  3. Combine pecan mixture with the beaten egg-corn syrup mixture, stirring lightly only to cover the pecans with the corn syrup mixture evenly. This keeps the pecans suspended, instead of sinking to the bottom of the pie. Spoon mixture into the par-baked crust. Cover with foil and bake in the preheated 350-degree oven about 40 minutes until set.
  4. Uncover, place any dough decorations you wish. If you do so before this point, they will sink into the pie. Continue to bake uncovered until set, but slightly jiggly at the center, about 45-50 minutes more. Transfer to a rack and let cool at least 4 hours or up to overnight. Slice and serve.

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Recipe by Sara Breckenridge-Sproat

Story by Cheryl Alters Jamison

Photography by Tira Howard

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