Santa Fe sunset 



EMPANADAS:

Author's Note:  Alma and her husband are living in Texas with her in-laws.  Bertha is her mother-in-law:

"But I would smile, recalling the recipe for Providencia Sandoval's Pious Pie (the poisoned version). On another day, Bertha might complain loudly that Willy suffered colic because of my Mexican mothering, and I would remember Ignacia Sandoval's instructions for delectable empanadas made of minced mother-in-law's tongue (said to induce peace and harmony in your household), or the gonads of your cheating husband (a savory dish to add spice to your lovemaking). Add a little cinnamon and sugar, a few raisins, perhaps — maybe even some brandy — hum a happy song and life goes on."

Alma Sandoval in The Secret of Old Blood:  The Sandoval Sisters 


LIMPIEZA DE SANGRE

Oratoria:

Catalina’s diary sits in our library now, dusty and unread, except by me. It is probably the best-kept secret in a family ripe with ill-kept secrets. Her single-minded chronicle is not one of fatuous longing, or the usual debauchery. It does not contain one single recipe.

Except for the bloody beginning where she matter-of-factly describes her mother’s public disemboweling, and her own subsequent rape at the hands of the Grand Inquisitor himself, Hidalgo Sandoval, it is mainly an account of her subversive activities.

Spaniards needed a limpieza de sangre, the legal document showing the clean blood of four generations of Catholic ancestry, for key posts in the empire, as well as for emigration. Doña Catalina became a procuress of counterfeit limpiezas, first for her own children by Hidalgo, and then for countless other Jews. She operated right under the Inquisitor’s nose, and he was none the wiser. Perhaps, she did bewitch him.

The first ingredient in Catalina’s arsenal was desire. Hidalgo’s desire for her. Clearly, except for this, she was powerless in that world. A man’s desire fades, and women have sought to hold it for centuries. It meant her own survival, and that of her brothers and sisters, of her own children when they arrived, and finally, of her people. Merely giving in to his desire would not work, so she did the only thing she could do. . .

From Chapter 17, La Soltera, The Secret of Old Blood:  The Sandoval Sisters


New Mexico Links:

National Hispanic Cultural Center: 
Center for Archival Research, art and community.  Great library.  They host a Latino Writer's Conference in the spring.  The Bosque is next door.  I sat outside last year and listened to  German, French and Spanglish-speaking riders race by on their bikes.
http://www.nhccnm.org/ 

http://www.golondrinas.org/

http://www.nmculture.org/HTML/direct.htm Check out the timeline.  Cruise down to the 1800's for the major events included in The Secret of Old Blood.  Good source for museums and events throughout NM.  Helpful regional directory.

Science in NM:  http://www.ncgr.org/


http://www.lanl.gov/ Los Alamos National Labratory

http://www.nmhcpl.com/vaquero.htm Cowboy & Vaquero history

http://www.sfaol.com/history/origins.html  Short history of Santa Fe by the always readable Marc Simmons. 


http://www.historyguy.com/Mexican-American_War.html  The History Guy's page on the Mexican war is excellent and readable.

http://www.dmwv.org/mexwar/mexwar1.htm  Dedicated to the U.S. Mexican war.  Very good background on this little understood era in American and Mexican history.

http://www.lnstar.com/mall/texasinfo/mexicow.htm  The Lone Star's take on the subject.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/chart.mexamwar.html  Key Events in U.S. - Mexican War

http://www.somosprimos.com/spanishterms/spanishterms.htm  Colonial Spanish Terms

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/  Handbook of Texas online.  Search engine excellent, although it's grown a bit PC.  For example, I remember searching for the word NIgra.  An explanation for the derogatory term appeared.  It's no longer there.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger  for a lenthy description of the use of the word nigger over time and with different cultures.

http://www.humanities-interactive.org/invasionyanqui/ex047_05c.html  Watercolor sketch of a Texas Ranger.  Yes, they're in my book, too.