Vintage Thingie Thursday - Carlsbad Caverns, a boy in a basket!

Carlsbad Caverns

White City, New Mexico by Jim White

As a little girl I remember stories about Jim White, the man who discovered Carlsbad Caverns.

I made two visits there.. one as  a child and one as an adult with our sons.

The story goes, Jim White and my grandfather

were friends in New Mexico. My grandfather was in the hotel business in Roswell and Portales, New Mexico.

Around 1926 Mr. White was busy promoting Carlsbad Caverns. He had told my grandfather about his discovery several years earlier. It wasn't until 1926 that he offered to show my grandfather the caverns and would even take my father who was only about two years old at the time.

Mr. White is pictured displaying the bucket that

was used to lower the first tourists into the caverns. The means by which my grandfather and father were lowered was described to us

was a basket. My father says he remembers

going "down, down into pure darkness".

Personally I would have found that incredibly

frightening, however, my father never let on if he was scared. But he did remember the experience!

Here is a picture of my grandfather and father

about the time of their "journey into darkness".

I was very fortunate to find this publication with

the pictures of Mr. White in an antiques mall in Austin, Texas. It is autographed by Mr. White.

It's a great story and it was obvious that he was an amazing adventurer.

I wonder now how much this childhood experience for my father

led him into further experiences in his life that would call for

extreme bravery... combat in WWII, living in Africa, Syria, Iran, Pakistan during a times of

government turmoil. Viewing the Kyber Pass knowing that it was probably the most dangerous spot in the world.

His close calls were many.

Most of us would never consider lowering our small child into a dark cavernous pit. I'm not sure what my grandmother was thinking

when my grandfather took my father on an adventure of

a lifetime. But one thing my father learned that day... he set a high standard for surviving danger.

I wonder if I allowed my children to ever have such an experience.

I can't wait to ask them what was their first memory of

danger... and did I condone it?

I am linking to

Colorado Lady

for

Vintage Thingie Thursday

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

If you enjoy vintage items as well as the search for

family, you will enjoy her blog!

Camarones a la Diabla - It's the RED in your day!

Camarones a la Diabla

We are back from a great time at South Padre Island, Texas. I'll share some pictures soon, but I wanted you to see this scrumptious dish that

our daughter-in-law, Marcela, and her mother

made for us.

Basically this translates into something like

The devil's shrimp... a sauce hot enough for the devil that is...

Well, this is a cooled down version.

Marcela peeled the shrimp.

(Actually this is to show you a picture of our son's beautiful wife!)

Here's the sauce that when the lid to the pot was removed the whole condo had the most mouth-watering aroma.

The unpeeled shrimp was cooked to perfection.

When ready, the sauce was poured over the top

on individual plates and rice served

to the side of it.

Warning: NAPKINS REQUIRED - LOTS OF THEM!

This is how you eat this ... mind you it's finger-food so pick up a shrimp, suck the sauce off (everyone will be doing the same thing so don't be shy), peel the shrimp, dip it back in the sauce and eat.When you've finishd the shrimp, stir your rice into the rest of the sauce and eat.

Delicioso!!

I could not get measurements for this recipe so I took one from the Food Network that sounded really good.

Ingredients

4 cups water
5 whole ripe tomatoes
2 medium red onions, divided
6 cloves garlic
14 ounces canned chipotle
24 ounces ketchup
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 pounds shrimp
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Directions for the sauce:


Put the water, tomatoes, 1/2 an onion, and garlic cloves in a large pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the tomatoes are soft. Remove from heat and let sit to cool for 2 minutes. Pour into a blender and add the chipotle, ketchup and salt. Blend for approximately 30 seconds.

For the shrimp:

Slice the remaining 1 1/2 red onions. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until golden brown. Stir in the shrimp and garlic salt and cook for 2 minutes. Pour sauce over shrimp and let simmer for 5 to 8 minutes.

I am linking over to

It's a Very Cherry World

for

Wednesday is Rednesday

http://suelovescherries.blogspot.com/2010/05/rednesday-forever-lost-optimus-prime.html