Housing sales may have been slow in Santa Fe this past year, but real estate is booming as a top, if tired, topic of conversation and, as it happens, an eyesore. Although Santa Fe wasn’t hit as hard by the foreclosure tsunami as the rest of the country, foreclosures were steady throughout 2009. And signs for the 2,625 houses for sale (as of Dec. 9) fog the landscape like neighborhood cataracts

You know when you think of that perfect comeback a few minutes after you should have used it? There’s no real term for it in English, other than feeling sorry for yourself. But the French, of course, have a term that sums it up: Esprit d’escalier—courage in the stairwell. Coulda, shoulda, woulda—it all falls under the bravery we suddenly develop when the heat is off.

Like many people, I spend hours upon hours each day plopped in front of a screen, smearing my ass into the shape of a chair, while I could be harvesting ingredients, hunting down recipes, making proper stock and planning ridiculous meals.

A short, not-so-sweet piece of civic legislation scooted through the Santa Fe City Council this month. Ordinance 2009-52 amended the law regarding the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages on city property: You can’t do either.  There are exceptions: Feel free to get tanked at the Community Convention Center, the airport or the city-owned golf course. 

New York pizza is just the shadow of classic Neapolitan pizza in my book, and it doesn’t interest me as a distinct geo-cultural cuisine. What I like about pizza in New York is that it’s available on almost every block and, consequently, there’s enough competition to ensure that it’s generally quite good.

Beginning Dec. 15, bills can be pre-filed for the state legislative session that begins in January. The anatomy of the session will develop as the goals and motives of lawmakers become clear. This even-year, 30-day session is dedicated to fiscal matters and, of course, we know there will be continued budget wrangling and copious hand-wringing related to tax increases.

Following a sudden tide of rumors, Locals Care confirmed to SFR on Nov. 23 that it had ceased operations. Two days later, it issued a formal public notice that declared Locals Care had terminated its efforts earlier in the month. The company claims it was "one more struggling small business" in a tough economy.

The Kitchen is a kind of fantasy restaurant: It’s a melding of classic European eateries that faded away 100 years ago and casual mom ’n’ pop operations that throw out “gone fishin’” signs when they don’t feel like cooking, all with contemporary food, conservation and community sensibilities.

We don’t deserve Zozobra. Through accident, ego, artifice, multiple cultural thefts and genuine art-party-fueled abandon, Santa Fe is home to probably the most basic, pagan, ritualistic event in the United States. Yet it is more ritualistic than ritual.

Even the best-prepared meals can suffer from poor beverage choices. You may make a mean turkey or be expert at cracking a can of cranberry but, unless you happen to excel at enology, choosing the right wine can be a daunting prospect in a store packed with pretenders and cheap tricks.