Santa Fe School of Cooking and Afternoon Shopping

After our walking tour, we headed to the Santa Fe School of Cooking for a cooking demonstration and a delicious lunch.

This was the menu we watched the chef's prepare for us, and we got all the recipes in our packet!

As he was cooking, the chef sent around different ingredients he was using for us to see and smell.

Adding shredded Swiss cheese to his bread pudding for a hint of savory to balance out the sweetness.

The entire meal was so delicious! I love a fruity glaze on some roasted chicken. The corn flan was also amazing, so sweet with the perfect amount of crunch from the crust.

The bread pudding was mostly good, there was a strong bitter after taste that mom, dad and I think came from adding too much bourbon pure vanilla bean paste. He added the entire jar!

After lunch, we had the afternoon free! We decided to walk up to the main plaza to do some shopping, the cooking school was just a couple of blocks away. 

We passed by so many gorgeous buildings!

Mom spotted these adorable dogs and their stylish owner. You know when dogs kind of look like their owners .... I feel like these three were a good example of that.

We could not resist those faces, we had to ask if we could pet them.

We had such a great time wandering in and out of all the wonderful shops lining the plaza. There is so much creativity in Santa Fe which is reflected in the fun merchandise for sell in the stores.

After a few hours of shopping, we decided to have a little rest on the plaza. We found a peaceful park bench and got a couple of the carnitas from the famous Santa Fe food truck so my parents could try them. The weather was perfect and the people watching was prime. I loved this moment in time, it was definitely a very happy memory.

On our way home to the hotel for a little rest before dinner, we found stumbled upon this fun alley way shop and we just had to check it out.

These colorful woven table runners were too fun to pass up, I bought one to take home.

These are all the precious souvenirs I bought as reminders of the wonderful time we had in Santa Fe.

One of the number one things to buy in Santa Fe is tourpquios jewelry. We walked through so many jewelry stores, all of which had gorgeous turquoise items, but most of them were either way too expensive or too big and chunky for my taste. In the last store we walked in, I found these earrings that were perfect, not too big or gaudy, and had a pretty reasonable price tag.

The mother of pearl ring was a gift from my dad, he saw me eyeing it in one of the stores and said I should get it, but I said no, it's pretty expensive and I don't need it. But he could tell I thought it was really pretty so he surprised me with it! It is such a gorgeous ring and while it is really unique, it goes with absolutely everything, I wear it everyday.

And of course my colorful table runner from that magical alley store.

For one of our last meals of the trip, we walked down to the Eldorado Hotel to eat at their Agave Lounge restaurant. Santa Fe is a pretty sleepy town at night, most of the stores close around 7 or 8 so the streets and sidewalks are pretty empty in the evening. We had fun looking at all the colorful window displays as we walked.

I thought this was the most interesting piece of art, a painted taxidermy albino deer. It took us a while to figure out of it was a real deer or not since the fur looked so much like felt or velvet, but the face and hooves are just too real.

The Eldorado Hotel is beautiful, this is the hotel Tauck usually stays at, it has a great location right at near the bottom of the plaza and has great access to all the nearby shops.

The stunning lobby

Our meal was delicious. I got a steak with a tangy chimichurri sauce and perfectly roasted potatoes. For dessert, we shared a tropical panna cotta with lime, coconut, mango and macadamia nuts.

What a wonderful time we all had in the Land of Enchantment. I honestly felt like I was in a different country, New Mexico has such a unique culture. I loved our time exploring this beautiful state and all the fun things it has to offer! That's another state crossed off my "to see" list, only 14 more to go!