Originally published in The Nome Nugget, Summer 1994
It’s finally happened. We’ve run out of green chile. The 25 cans of this precious commodity that we packed into every available extra space in the 20 bags, trunks, and suitcases we flew in with to Nome are used up. So now we’re in trouble.
We were afraid of this. As we prepared to move here back in Texas, we racked our brains, trying to think of the things Nome might not provide. Green chile was first on the list. I drove to Kroger for groceries and scooped up 25 cans off the shelf. Chopped mild, whole medium, and a jar of hot jalapenos. I’d need to triple-Ziploc those.
When we arrived in Nome this spring, I stacked those cans and jar on our apartment pantry shelf, confident they would last through several months. But, like the huge pile of firewood that you chop for the winter that runs out by Thanksgiving, the green chile went a lot faster than I had predicted.
I wrote to my friends in Albuquerque, Los Alamos, and Houston. “We need green chile!” I wrote. “Please send mild chopped, medium whole chiles, and some jalapenos. Cans preferred. Fresh chiles welcome. Situation desperate!”
Why all the fuss? My husband is from New Mexico. Green chile is what things taste like there. Every fall New Mexicans harvest and roast green chiles on barbecues, then peel the blistered skin off and add the succulent green flesh to nachos, enchiladas, tacos, and chimichangas. But we also pile green chiles onto hamburgers, on sandwiches, bagels, lasagna, noodles, and on pizza. Chile peppers stuffed with cheese, rolled in batter, and fried are “chiles rellenos” which in Spanish should mean “heaven.” It’s a taste you grow to crave.
So, we were prepared to go cold turkey until our packages arrived from the Southwest. Imagine my surprise when my husband returned from Hanson’s that first week of doing without green chile, bulging white plastic bags hanging from each hand, and he announced, “They sell green chile!” Old El Paso. Ortega. Rosarita. Whole and diced. Well, okay.
So, after those packages from Outside arrive at the post office, we may be inviting friends over soon for chiles rellenos. Maybe the two other guys from New Mexico who work with my husband would be interested. Situation no longer desperate.
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