The drugstore lunch counter is a dying breed all over the country, but it's alive and well in Albuquerque, N.M., where Duran Central Pharmacy (1815 Central NW, Albuquerque, 505-247-4141) has been around for 45 years and in the same location since 1975. It's close to the tourist-haunted Old Town, yet locals make up most of the clientele. The food isn't fancy, but it's definitely special, highly local, and because it's full of chile peppers, it's good for you. Not only does the red chile sauce here have no beans, it also eschews such adulterants as cumin. The green chile is likewise a straight-ahead stew of chopped green chile peppers with just a little sautéed onion and garlic. Those sauces alone would keep me coming back, but I'm even more impressed with the freshly rolled and griddled flour tortillas. On Thursdays, the drugstore even serves carne adovada, the chile-laced New Mexican dish that's a spicy cross between pork barbecue and roast pork. Arrive early to get a seat.

Globe travel contributor Patricia Harris also writes about food and travel in the Hungry Travelers blog.

Photos by Patricia Harris for the Boston Globe.

For a great change of holiday shopping scene, head to Providence's Downcity arts district where everthing and everyone is an original. RISD students are holding their holiday sale called RISD Exposé right now until Dec. 11 at 232 Westminster St. (Daily 11 a.m.-6 p.m. except Mondays.) Right close by, the artists of Craftland will open their holiday show at 235 Westminster on Dec. 4, running through Dec. 31 (Open 7 days, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Thursdays and Saturdays to 8 p.m.) Segue to 265 Atwells Ave. for an Italian deli fix at Venda Ravioli, and take your first skate of the season on the Kennedy Plaza ice ($6, skate rentals available).

Posted by Patricia Borns, Globe correspondent

Photo by Patricia Borns for The Boston Globe

Portland’s Dean’sSweets is celebrating its one-year anniversary by giving visitors to its 82 Middle St. store between now and Dec. 12, a free champagne truffle. No purchase is necessary, but wouldn’t truffles be the perfect ending to a Thanksgiving meal?

Can’t get to Dean’s? Then place a phone or web order before Jan. 1 and Dean’sSweets will tuck in a free two-piece box of those champagne truffles.

All Dean'sSweets truffles are nut free.

Want to get the low down on what's up in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India? That challenging region is the focus of Crossroads of Conflict, the 2010 Camden Conference, slated Feb. 19-21, in Camden, Maine, and streamlined to venues in Rockland and Belfast.

This year's program features specialists discussing the area’s history, culture, current situation, and prospects. It will offer both specific and overview presentations devoted to the broad array of issues raised within this turbulent region as well as the role of US policies and programs.

Keynote speaker is Ahmed Rashid, journalist, author, and noted commentator on the Taliban, the Afghan war, and the increasingly unsettled state of his native Pakistan.

Other confirmed speakers include:

• G. Whitney Azoy, National Geographic filmmaker and 40-year student of Afghanistan and the Muslim world

• Paul Pillar, former chief National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia

• Samina Quareshi, award-winning designer, artist, educator, and author of the upcoming book “Pirates and Princes,” tales of travelers from Italy to India

• Nicholas Burns, under-ecretary of state for political affairs in the administration of George W. Bush, with authority for US negotiations with Iran and India, and currently professor of diplomacy and international politics at the Kennedy School, Harvard University, will preside.

If you want to be assured a seat in the Camden Opera House, become a member and you can purchase tickets now. Otherwise, tickets go on sale to the public on Nov. 30. Tickets for the Opera House (general public) are $220 this year, while attending at the satellite venues costs $150. Special student rates of $40 are available at satellite venues.

The 25th Annual Faneuil Hall Marketplace Holiday Lighting Ceremony will be this Saturday, Nov. 21, for those who want to witness a magical moment. The largest Christmas tree in Massachusetts takes center stage as 15,000 ornaments and thousands of tiny lights are lit, making Faneuil Hall an even brighter spot on the Boston landscape. The celebration goes beyond the lighting and spills into the streets with dancing, caroling, magic, live music, confetti and of course, the area's trademark food and drink. Celebration starts at 11 a.m. and tree lighting happens at 5:30 p.m. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Burlington's hopping this weekend with art, craft and sugary confections for everyone. Come to the Doubletree Hotel in Burlington, Vt. this weekend for the Festival of Sweets that'll satisfy your sweet tooth and give you a jump on your holiday shopping. The Festival celebrates the region's cake makers, chocolatiers, pastry chefs and confectioners and includes hands-on cooking demonstrations, vendor sales, and cake competitions. The tantalizing Festival of Sweets runs from Nov. 21-22 and admission is $10. Call 802-244-8354 for details.

Photo courtesy of Festival of Sweets

The newly opened Quahog Republic Retail Hut in Plymouth, Mass. will host its annual food festival during the town's Thanksgiving Celebration. Twenty Plymouth eateries will dish out chowder and other goodies to the thousands who plan to visit. Judges will include Chef Michael Beriau of White Cliffs Country Club; Chef Jack Chiaro, an associate professor from Johnson & Whales University; and John Rega, host of the local television program Fooding Around. As always, the public will also be asked to cast ballots for their favorites.

“What better way to get involved in the Plymouth community and its rich tradition than by participating in its signature annual event,” said Quahog Republic Owner Erik Bevans. “We’re thrilled to have a new store located in town and to be a part of this fantastic celebration.”

The Quahog Republic New England Food Festival will take place on Saturday, Nov. 21 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Plymouth’s historic waterfront. For more information on the Thanksgiving celebration, visit online. For more on the Quahog Republic, visit here.

It's literally called the Artful Gift Show, and it's in my favorite area of Maine this weekend - Camden. The Artful Gifts Gift Show runs from Nov. 20-22 and is Maine’s premier invitational show for unique Maine-made holiday gifts. Be sure to catch the Gala opening on Friday, Nov. 20, from 5-8 p.m. which allows a sneak preview, cash bar, light snacks and live jazz. The show continues throughout the weekend and is an event that welcomes guests of all ages. Admission for Gala and weekend is just $10, and admission to just the Gift Show is $3. Those under 16 get in free. Call 207-763-3433 for details.

Photo of ring by Etienne Perret

Running late after a break, one student rushes into Ataguttaaluk High School, while two other students are unconcerned about being late.

It's mid-afternoon at Ataguttaaluk High School in Igloolik. Michele and I have parked ourselves by the desk of Lucie Tapardjuk, the school's secretary. She's 55 years old, a warm and friendly woman who also works as a translator, and she's generously shared her life story with us. She grew up in an outpost camp on the land, even as the traditional nomadic way of life was starting to disappear. She lived in an igloo. She had her own dog team. “They were the happiest days of my young life,” she said.

We've been listening to people's stories for days now, and could predict what was coming next. Lucie and her sister were deposited on an airplane – she'd never even seen one before – and shipped down south to a residential school in Chesterfield Inlet, which forbade the speaking of Inuktitut, and where she recalls being physically abused. She was 5 years old. No warning, no goodbyes. “No questions asked,” she said.

At this point in her story, a student stopped by and reached for a notebook on her desk: It was the sign-out book for kids who were leaving in the middle of the school day. In the “Reason” column he listed: “Hunting.”

“Bring me a seal!” Lucie cheerfully called out as he left the office. He was one of half a dozen students to have signed the notebook that day. Their reasons included:

“Too tired and stressed.”
“Go make lunch.”
“Falling asleep.”
“Sick.”
“Mad.”

The notebook gave us some insight into of the challenges of being a teacher here. It also underscores the degree to which Nunavut -- created 10 years ago as the result of the largest aboriginal land-claims settlement in Canadian history – continues to be a work in progress.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a trip to the New York Botanical Garden’s magical “Holiday Train Show” in the Bronx. The “Big Apple” tradition that began 18 years ago features garden-gauge trains rolling past an array of more than 100 city landmark buildings, museums, bridges, and ballparks re-created using plant materials. Considering the scale and variety of materials, the details in each landmark dazzle.

Paul Busse of Applied Imagination in Kentucky adds more landmarks each year. Among this season’s additions, he and his team bring back the original Pennsylvania Station and its Beaux Arts architecture complete with the Grand Concourse, clocks, and statues. That station at W. 34th and 8th streets was torn down in 1964. The train show opens tomorrow and runs through Jan. 10 in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. t’s most popular on weekends, so consider a weekday visit.

New York Botanical Garden, Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Road, The Bronx. 718-817-8616. www.nybg.org (cq) for hours and admission information.

It’s a wonderful feeling to know you’ll need to come back to a place before you sit down.

Eyes wide and fresh from the plane, we head to Bar Juanito in Jerez De La Frontera, Spain, for a crash course of a menu of the good and the local.

We try langoustines and mushrooms in a deep, sherry-laced sauce with bits of shell that give away some of its secrets. Then we dig into a little plate of fried fresh anchovies that, matched with a glass of the salty counterpart--loving fino wine, was toe-tapping goodness.

The bar’s signature artichokes slip by unnoticed -- our fault for trying them offseason. The show stopper is an Andalusian native that arrives with our drinks for free: chicharonnes -- bite-sized cubes of pork that are like bits of crispy, fatty pork roast from heaven. My friend who’s on a diet takes one look and groans. I pop another and my heart skips a beat.

Count on 5-15 euros, depending on how peckish you feel.

Bar Juanito
C/ Pescadería Vieja 8-10
11403
Jerez De La Frontera, Spain
956-33-48-38


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Globe travel correspondent Joe Ray writes his own blog, Eating The Motherland and contributes to the English language version of Simon Says! the French food and lifestyle blog run by French food critic Francois Simon.

Photo by Joe Ray for The Boston Globe

Belle Brooke Barer’s bracelet.

The tough part about attending this weekend’s Paradise City Arts Festival in Marlborough, Mass. is deciding what to buy because the 175 exhibitors from around the country create enticing and original work in clay, glass, jewelry, fiber, paintings, photography, and sculpture.
Thirty-five of these juried artists make their Marlborough debut, among them California jewelry artist Belle Brooke Barer, Minnesota sculptor James Borden, New York photographer Ted Tatarzyn, and Vermont glassblowers David and Melanie Leppla.
The three-day event (11/20-22) also features a sculpture garden with imaginative pieces in a landscaped setting. Gift wrap and coat check proceeds benefit local schools’ music programs.
Nov. 20-22, Paradise City Arts Festival Royal Trade Center, Rte. 20, Marlborough. 800-811-9725.

Artcirq rehearses for the Olympics

The other day, on a bitterly cold morning in Igloolik, Michele and I suited up in four or five layers and started walking to the airport to meet up with Artcirq, the Arctic circus. They were heading to Iqaluit to rehearse the show they're performing at the February winter Olympics in Vancouver.

As usual, we lost our way. There are no street signs here or well-defined roads, for that matter, and travel seems to be something of a free-for-all, skidoos speeding randomly across the snow. With broad expanses of snow everywhere you turn, it's easy for city-dwelling qallunaat (non-Inuit) to lose their bearings.

Luckily, people are friendly here so we flagged down a passing skidoo and asked for directions. The driver spoke only Inuktitut but his passenger told us he was going to the airport too, and offered us a ride in his qamutik, a sledge with wooden runners. (These were traditionally used for hauling behind sled dogs, but now they're commonly towed by snowmobiles.) He took off at full throttle, with barely enough time for us to toss our gear on the polar bear skin and throw ourselves on our knees, hanging on for this unexpected white-knuckle taxi ride.

At the airport, the English speaker told us he was pretty new in town himself. He introduced himself as a pastor of the community's new Seventh-day Adventist Church (Igloolik's already got Catholic, Anglican, and Pentecostal churches, and someone told him the other day, “there are Mormons around.” The missionaries keep coming … but that's another story.)
He asked what we were doing in Igloolik and I told him about the circus. “Did you say a circus?” he said, dumbfounded.

Hotel Urbano at Brickell, Miami’s first boutique “art hotel,” is celebrating its January grand opening, offering guests their first night for $20.10 when booking two nights or more Jan. 1-29, 2010.

Guests who book this offer will receive a complimentary welcome cocktail and free buffet breakfast voucher. Plus, they will be entered in a drawing to win an original artwork valued at $2,010 by Miami artist William Braemer, curator of Art Fusion Galleries.

The hotel features guest rooms designed by Marcie DeLaRosa; a free-form swimming pool; a sun deck with private cabanas, fire pit, and poolside lounge; a fitness room; and a restaurant fusing South Florida and Cuban cuisine.

Hotel Urbano will feature new, emerging artists in displays throughout the hotel.

The fine print:
The grand opening “New Year, New Hotel” offer is available for new bookings made for travel between Jan. 1 through Jan. 29, 2010. A minimum two-night stay is required to be eligible to receive the $20.10 first night special rate offer (based on double occupancy.) Guests cannot combine this offer with any other hotel package or promotion, and certain blackout dates apply. To receive the special $20.10 rate, guests must use the code “2010” when booking online or calling direct. For more information or to make reservations, call 888-657-3448.
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I’ve done my fair share of articles on the increasingly popular trend of placing green roofs on buildings, used to absorb rainwater and cool the structure, thus saving on energy costs. But I knew something was up last night when I followed Chef JW Foster to the roof of the Fairmont hotel in downtown Dallas. Wearing his goofy chef hat, Foster pointed out some of the 2,000 plants up top. We’re not talking grass. There were heirloom tomatoes, sweet potatoes, a half-dozen varieties of peppers, pumpkins that were recently used in the Halloween carving contest, numerous herbs including cilantro and mint, and a small fig tree. He tells me that 60 to 70 percent of all the vegetables he uses in the hotel’s restaurant, Pyramid, come from the roof’s organic garden. A new greenhouse just arrived so Foster can plant saplings and four beehives are coming shortly so he can have homemade honey for his cheese plate. In the meantime, take the elevator down and sample the braised buffalo short rib, raised on the Broken Arrow Ranch in west Texas, topped with an heirloom tomato chutney. Then ask sommelier Hunter Hammett to bring over a coffee liqueur that he makes in-house for eight months. Life is good when the food and drink are local. 1717 N. Akard Street, Dallas, 214-720-5249.

Posted by Steve Jermanok, Globe correspondent, who blogs daily at www.ActiveTravels.com.

On my slog into Florida’s Big Cypress Swamp for Ways to the Glades NPR producer Greg Allen walked a few feet ahead with a microphone -- carefully – as the Glades photographer Clyde Butcher shared his world and art. Listen to Allen’s interview with Butcher here.

Posted by Patricia Borns, Globe correspondent

Painted faces and warm clothing were the trend for Halloween in Igloolik, Nunavut, this year with temperature at about 30 below zero Fahrenheit, with wind chill factored in.

You couldn't have asked for a better Igloolik Halloween: Bright moonlight, clear horizon, snow on the ground, and a temperature of -38 degrees, factoring in the wind chill. Halloween is a huge deal here – hundreds of kids fanned out on the roads, many of the little ones going door-to-door on the back of their parents' skidoos. We saw dozens of babies in their mothers' amautis, the traditional Inuit parkas designed for carrying babies in hoods. The babies wore costumes too – funny hats, or face paint. If I were to pinpoint this year's predominant costume theme, it would be: homemade and resourceful. The local Co-op store sells some costumes, but supplies are limited and most people can't afford them. So the Inuit improvise, as they do in so many other aspects of life here. (Photographer Michele McDonald went into the Co-op to buy Coke today and an Inuk man who struck up a conversation told her he's found Coke does a great job of cleaning rusty chains.)

So people use whatever is at hand. We saw a lot of homemade masks, and fringed garbage bags pulled tight over bulky parkas. One boy was wearing a cardboard box that said “Taxi” on the side. Another had pyjamas over his coat. One kid was wearing snowmobile goggles, and a whole family went trick-or-treating as lace curtain panel ghosts. Some went with the Northern motif -- a boy in a caribou coat, lots of kids were in sealskin pants which people wear around here to go hunting. There was a report of a woman wearing a wolf's head. To keep warm, kids carry their open bags or backpacks around their necks in front of them so they don't need to take their hands out of their gloves. One little girl's pink princess dress barely peeked out from beneath her parka, over her heavy snow pants.

Candy is expensive for families to give out here; a bag of a dozen mini-chocolate bars can be $15. So people are resourceful this way, too, giving out popcorn, baked goods, or cereal in ziplock bags. One woman told me a little girl came to her door beaming with pride: “Guess what?” she said. “My parents are giving out candy this year.”

Posted by Linda Matchan, Globe staff
Photo by Michele McDonald
This project was supported by a travel grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
To read more, go here.