Sheppard of the Valley Chile Festival in Albuquerque

This weekend was the 14th annual Chile Festival at Shepard of the Valley Presbyterian church.

The event which features arts and crafts, food and entertainment, is a fund raiser for one of my favorite charities, Habitat for Humanity.

The festival features arts and crafts, games for kids, food and music plus roasting green chile.

Green chile is a staple here in New Mexico. We love Chile so much that the state has an official state question: Red or Green?

This festival featured the more popular green kind which comes from downstate, from a small town called Hatch NM, the Chile Capital of the World!

Hatch NM will be having their own Chile festival this coming weekend, September 3rd and 4th.

When I first moved here to Albuquerque back in 1989, I had no idea what green chile was. To me chili was a hearty bowl of soup that unfortunately came from a can.

One day that fall, about a week into the fall semeter at the University of New Mexico, I was walking to the grocery store when I smelled this really weird smell. The only thing I could think of was roasting corn. But why were they roasting corn outside the grocery store???

What I was smelling was the green chili crop being roasted. I got to smell that same fabulous smell this weekend. Here's some green chile roasting action:

Couldn't you just smell that delicious green chile roasting! Must mean it's almost fall.