The Bobcat Paw

The Bobcat Inn        New World Cuisine is the new exhibit coming to the International Folk Art Museum in December. It will feature the histories of Chocolate,Mate,y Mas. (and more). The exhibit will run from December 9 through January 3rd,closing on the 4th. The museum is closed on Mondays and also Christmas Day and New  Years day.         This exhibit will show the earliest cultural mestizaje (mixing) of foods to take place in the Americas.This will highlight foods that were brought over from Europe via Spain and Asia via the Spanish.Chocolate and Mate are the two foods that are being featured and will trace the history of these two drinks and show how they became so popular during the colonial period as well as today.Mate is prepared by heating water and adding mate powder or leaves  and then straining it. It is drunk from a shared gourd or vessel with a silver straw. Sharing mate is a ritual and has it's own rules.The exhibit will include over 300 objects related to food gat

The Bobcat Inn      I had the wonderful opportunity to witness two unique artist Andrew Garcia ,Silversmith and jeweler and Manuel Chavez , a very talented leather moccasin artist this week. Robbie O'Neill has started a new business called Cultural Treasurers here in Santa Fe. She organizes small groups to visit and talk with Native Americans about their art, history, culture, food and family in their home setting at different pueblos.      We met Robbie at the Ohkay Owingeh Hotel and then followed her to the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo where we first visited with Andrew Garcia who is a fifth generation artist in this pueblo. He said he watched his grandmother make pottery and learned the art of being a silversmith on his own. He taught classes at the Institute of Indian Arts on Cerrillos Road and has a very facinating story. We watched him intricately cut out a deer pendant and use natural stones to ornate the pendant and then buff and polish it.       Manuel Chavez showed us how to