View from the Innside

Bottger Mansion of Old Town Bed & Breakfast

Welcome to the blog for the Bottger Mansion of Old Town, an historic bed & breakfast located in the heart of Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico.

110 San Felipe Street NW

Albuquerque, NM   87104

(800) 758-3639

(505) 243-3639

www.bottger.com

 

mural progress

Here's a view of the progress on the stairwell so far.  It's amazing how quickly this is going, but when experts do something, they always make it look easy.

Sandy and Judy previously said they thought they would have it done by Sunday, but I want to make sure they have a little time to see some things around Albuquerque and enjoy their time here as well.  We also all just realized it's Super Bowl Sunday.  While I don't care about football and won't watch the game, some people will. 

This is turning out to be a magnificent addition to our bed & breakfast, and I can't wait to see it completed.  On the other hand, I have a ton of work to do once they're done, like finishing painting the rest of the walls and ceiling, prime and paint all the trim, and install two more light fixtures.

But it will be oh so lovely!

stairwell in need of improvement

This stairwell has needed updating so badly, I don't really want to show the "before" pictures, but here they are.  The walls were mint green, the trim is a light plum color, and the light fixtures didn't put out nearly enough light.

So far we've put in new light fixtures at both the top and bottom of the stairs, which has added a lot more light.  Most of the stairwell now has two coats of a pale pink paint.

Our mural artists are now here and are busy at work painting some grapes and grapevines, faux arched windows, and lots of other details. 

The rest of what we'll do has to wait until after they're finished.  We had to finish the part where they would be working, and the rest we can do later.

Once they're done, we'll finish painting the rest of the stairwell, paint the trim a glossy white, install a light box fixture, and install rope lighting in a track along the top of the steps.

I have to admit that even if we only painted the walls and installed the new light fixtures, it would be a thousand percent improvement, but the painting they're doing will take this stairwell from nice to extraordinary. 

Introducing our mural artists

Our mural artists, Sandy and Judy, arrived late Tuesday night.   As soon as I saw their car on Wednesday morning, I knew we were in for a treat.  Look at this beautiful artwork on the side of the car. 

Their website is www.airbrushingbysandy.com, and you can view more of their artwork there.

orange trifle with Grand Marnier cream

The original recipe called for Grand Marnier.  Of the orange liqueurs, Grand Marnier tends to be somewhat bitter, Cointreau is sweet, and Grand Belle is somewhere in between.  (I don’t like the flavor of orangecello.)  A trifle isn't that difficult to make, although it can take some time if you make your own ladyfingers.  Just plan ahead so it has at least a day to chill and let the flavors blend and the ladyfingers soften.

Orange Trifle with Grand Marnier Cream

 

Adapted from Sunset Magazine, Dec. 2008

Serves 12

 

zest of 5 oranges

12-14 medium oranges

1/2 c. orange liqueur

1/2 c. orange marmalade

12 oz. mascarpone cheese, softened (if unavailable, use softened cream cheese)

3/4 c. whipping cream

10 oz. ladyfingers* (if unavailable in your grocery store, make your own or use crushed sugar cookies, not pound cake—it’s the wrong texture)            

1/4 c. orange marmalade

1 T. orange liqueur        

 

Peel and segment oranges to make 4 cups of segments and 1/2 cup of juice.  In a bowl, mix liqueur and marmalade; add oranges and juice and stir.  Macerate for 2 hours.  Then drain the oranges, reserving the liquid. 

           

In a mixer, combine mascarpone and whipping cream; beat until stiff peaks form.  Set aside 1/4 cup of orange juice liquid; add the remaining juice mixture to the cheese mixture.  Mix until blended (mixture will be softly creamy).

 

In a trifle bowl or straight-sided serving bowl, layer one-third of the ladyfingers on the bottom; drizzle with a little of the reserved juice mixture.  Top with one-third of the whipped cream mixture, then add a layer of one-third of the orange segments.  Repeat for two more layers, ending with orange segments in a decorative spiral on the top.

 

Heat marmalade with orange liqueur just until it’s a bit melted.  Brush over the top layer of oranges.  Chill for 3-4 hours.

Julia Child's ladyfingers

To paraphrase a comedian from a few years ago, "I used Julia Child's ladyfingers.  She'll be needing those back."

I found a recipe for orange trifle that I wanted to try, but I have trouble finding ladyfingers in the grocery store.  The only place that carries them here is Whole Foods.  The other night, I wondered if Julia Child had a recipe for ladyfingers in her cookbook, and she does.  I made my own ladyfingers, and they were delicious!  Later, since I was still testing the recipe for orange trifle, I bought ladyfingers at the store and they weren't nearly as good. 

Of course, I made mine too big and piped them too close together on the baking sheet, so I only got 15 out of the recipe instead of 24-30.  On the other hand, I decided to put my trifle into individual dessert dishes instead of one big trifle bowl, so I crushed the ladyfingers anyway.

I tried one experiment:  I didn't have a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch tip, so I used my cookie press, and it worked fine.  The only thing is that since it was my first time making them, they were too big and fat.  Next time they'll be better.

Ladyfingers

(Biscuits a la cuiller) from Julia Child

24-30 ladyfingers

 

two 12 x 24-inch baking sheets

1 T. softened butter

flour

pastry bag with a round tube opening ½-inch in diameter

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar in a sieve or shaker 

electric beater or wire whip

1/2 c. granulated sugar

3 egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3-quart mixing bowl     

3 egg whites

pinch of salt

1 T. granulated sugar

rubber spatula

1/2 c. all-purpose flour, scooped and leveled, turned into a flour sifter

           

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Prepare the baking sheets:  butter lightly, dust with flour, and knock off excess flour.  Assemble the pastry bag.  Prepare the powdered sugar.  Measure out all the rest of the ingredients listed in the recipe.

Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks, add the vanilla, and continue beating for several minutes until the mixture is thick, pale yellow, and forms a ribbon.

           

Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed.  Sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.

[use a spatula, not a whisk] Scoop one-fourth of the egg whites over the top of the egg yolks and sugar mixture.  Sift on one-fourth of the flour, and delicately fold in until partially blended.  Then add one-third of the remaining egg whites, sift on one-third of the remaining flour, fold until partially blended, and repeat with half of each, then the last of each.  Do not attempt to blend the mixture too thoroughly or you will deflate the batter; it must remain light and puffy.

 

Forming the ladyfingers:  scoop the batter into the pastry bag.  Squeeze out even lines onto the prepared baking sheets, making finger shapes 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide, spaced 1 inch apart.  [when the whole sheet is full], sprinkle with a 1/16-inch layer of powdered sugar.  To dislodge some of the excess sugar, hold baking sheet upside down and tap the back of it gently; the ladyfingers will not budge unless you are rough with them.

 

Baking the ladyfingers:  Bake in the middle and upper third levels of preheated oven for about 20 minutes.  The ladyfingers are done when they are a very pale brown underneath their sugar coating.  They should be slightly crusty outside, and tender but dry inside.  If they are not baked enough, they will become soggy when they cool; over-baking makes them dry.  As soon as they are done, remove from baking sheets with a spatula and cool on wire racks.

I was right--the coolest thing was the Photo Booth!

When I looked at the list of vendors before the NM Wedding Expo, I saw the Albuquerque Photo Booth and went to their website.  It's such a great idea, and I was looking forward to visiting them at the wedding show.  In my previous blog post, I was betting it would be the coolest thing at the wedding show.

And it was!  I just had a short time away from my own booth duty to visit the other vendors, but I waited in line to have my photo taken at the Photo Booth (and the line just kept going all afternoon).  While I was in line, I grabbed some "props" (a little "tux" display box and some wacky glasses).  Here's the result, and it's now on my bulletin board, right next to our pictures from the ones from the innkeepers' conference at Disneyland.  (The photo quality is good--this is my scanned copy.)

Greg DeLelles and his associates running the booth, all in tuxes, were having a great time, and everyone coming out of the booth was smiling or laughing.  What a great business to be in, where people are happy about what you do.

The Albuquerque Photo Booth--and it's not just for weddings!

Great door prizes from Old Town at the NM Wedding Expo 2010

All the door prizes are packed and ready to take to the NM Wedding Expo 2010 early tomorrow morning.  We have everything from dining gift certificates to jewelry, Native American pottery to yard sculpture, onyx candle holder to museum tickets, and even a wedding dress and a honeymoon package!

In all, 50 merchants donated nearly 100 door prizes totaling over $3,300.  We're ready to show all of the brides, their friends and families a generous sample of what Old Town has to offer--and to give it away!

The coolest thing for weddings--a photo booth!

I'm getting ready to attend the NM Wedding Expo 2010 and man the Old Town Merchants Association booth tomorrow, January 24th, at Sandia Resort & Casino.

Among the literature and information we received about the show was a list of the vendors.  Since we have several people working our booth, I hope to take an hour or so to visit the other vendors.  To make sure I visit everyone I need to, I went down the list of vendors last night and visited their websites.

One of the coolest things I saw--and will definitely visit them--was the Albuquerque Photo Booth.  What a great idea!  For four hours, you and your guests get to take as many photos as you like, and it prints out two copies of each strip, so the guest gets to keep one copy and the other goes into a scrapbook for the bride and groom.  The company also sends an attendant (in a tux) for the entire time, and they custom-make a scrapbook for you during the event.  What a great wedding memento!  They create the scrapbook and have all the guests write something next to their photos, and the wedding couple get to keep the scrapbook their whole lives.

Of course, if you're having a special event or big party, you could do this, too.  It's not just for weddings.

This is the coolest thing I've seen in years!  I can't wait to visit the Albuquerque Photo Booth.O

history research--property deeds

I'm starting to feel like I'm living at the Special Collections Library.  Researching the Bottgers has become a bit of an obsession.  I can understand why those involved in genealogy have a passion for it.  It's like being a detective, where one clue leads to another.

On Wednesday, I spent another couple of hours, this time going through the deeds index books.  These books are huge, measuring about 1 1/2 feet wide by 2 feet long by 4 inches thick.  They're ledger books compiled at some point by the Bernalillo County Abstract & Title Company, and the indices go back to 1850.  Two books are the index from Grantors to Grantees (A-K and L-Z), and the other set is a cross-reference of Grantees from Grantors (A-K and L-Z). 

The challenge is to remember all of the names involved, since at this point I don't know who actually owned the property or how they gained control of it.  And the more research I do, the more people I find were involved or related or married into the family, and the more names I have to look up.

Some of the entries were fairly obvious.  Tom Post was a quite the business man in "Old Albuquerque," with property acquisitions and sales and leases, which were also recorded.  After his death, several deeds and documents were recorded as his property was put into a trust and then removed back out of the trust after a time.  His wife's name shows up a number of times as well.

What I didn't expect to find was property and water and mineral rights deeded to "John Lewis F. Bottger."  This was in 1893, about the time Charles A. Bottger showed up in New Mexico.  I have to wonder if that was his brother.  In one of the census documents, Charles Bottger listed that his parents were "J.L. and J. L. Bottger."  We know that the Bottger family owned a store in New Jersey, since we have a photo of it, and the name on the store is "J. L. Bottger."  Was that his father's store?  Did his brother come west with him?  The initials J. L. seem to be a Bottger family habit, as he named one of his daughters Julia L.  The name Julia L. Bottger ("and husb") also shows up in the deed index at a time when his daughter would not have yet been born.  Was that his brother's wife?  Is that why he named his daughter Julia?

If John Lewis F. Bottger was his brother and also owned property, why have I found no reference to him in newspapers or vital statistics records? 

I also found an entry where John Lewis F. Bottger was deeded property on "east side of Plaza Old Alb." from Cristobal Armijo.  I remembered that I had seen a reference that our property was once owned by Cristobal Armijo, which would make sense since it was originally the Manuel Armijo house until he left New Mexico around 1846.  If so, what happened to John Bottger?   How did the property eventually fall into the hands of Charles Bottger?

There are still far more questions than answers.

Valle del Bosque Open Space walking route

On Friday we took a walk at the Valle del Bosque Open Space and enjoyed a sunny and fairly warm jaunt in an area new to us.

It's located just south of Central Avenue and Sunset Road.  The map showed the parking lot access from Neetsie Drive.  For some reason that gate was closed, and we drove to the cul-de-sac at the end of Neetsie Drive to turn around. 

On the way there, I glanced over and saw a fenced yard in which a number of large dogs were running to the front door of the house.  

"Those are some really big dogs," I thought.  "Wait, they have horns.  Those aren't dogs.  Well, some of them are.  Some are goats."  We laughed as we passed the house again on the way back and saw the dogs, goats and chickens all gathering around the door of the house.  Obviously it was feeding time and they were waiting for someone to come out!

We entered the parking lot through the second gate on Sunset Road, and took our walk around the park and the open space.  It's a nice park with Little League fields and covered picnic pavilions.  The trail goes along the acequia (irrigation canal).  For a few minutes we talked with a worker, who told us the City is building seven pedestrian bridges over the acequia to connect the trail to the open space along the bosque next to the Rio Grande River.

We walked for a short time on the trail next to the acequia and saw a flicker and heard some birds whose calls we don't hear in our neighborhood.  It's amazing how quiet it gets when you get just a short distance away from Central Avenue.

You can look for other walking routes on the website for the Albuquerque Prescription Trails Project.