Christina Waters

Cynthia Sandberg, heirloom tomato queen and agri-artist, is the entrepreneuse of Love Apple Farm. You knew that. But what you didn’t know is that Love Apple has been chosen by David Kinch to be the exclusive kitchen garden for his two-Michelin starred Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos. Surely this comes under the “oh my god” heading. (more…)

Wally Goldfrank, sociologist and bon vivant, has returned from November in Madagascar raving about the local, regional spins on French cuisine — “profiteroles in the tropics.” Visualize mango tarte tatin! But more. Wally loves a good bowl of soup on a chilly night - so do I - and he sends me a recipe for a butternut squash soup, with white beans and fresh ginger (more…)

Fran O’Neill is a ferociously talented painter.

She’s also a high-energy Australian working at the New York Studio School in Greenwich Village. O’Neill’s muscular paintings, especially the watercolors, are so dense you can practically chew them with your eyes. See for yourself.

Chef Alert! I just got a call on my food hotline from a fan of Italian cooking, and the news is GOOD. For all of you who loved the cooking of chef Giovanni Di Maio at the former, splendid Caffe Bella Napoli, take heart. Di Maio has now taken over the stoves at Capitola’s Il Pirata, (more…)

Let me hear from you in 2007, a year which has already seen an interminable series of expensive symbolic rituals - i.e. the various post mortem rites for Gerald R. Ford, (paid for by your tax dollars) whose funeral lasted longer than his presidency. Is it just me or do you think Ford’s uncanny resemblance to Homer Simpson might have compromised his legacy? Okay, maybe not. At any rate, talk to me!

And check out my profile of Pacific Cookie Company CEO Larry Pearson in the GT Weekly.

Once upon a time all humans spoke the same language. Really. It says so in the Bible. But then humans transgressed and did something silly. They built this really tall tower and since God had told them not to build it, he had to punish them. Right? So He created many, many different languages, poof! so that people of the world could no longer understand each other. Within the context of that sorrowful story, the movie Babel more than earns its name. The angst and alienation created by the spiritual, political and linguistic dis-connect of today’s world is the film’s theme. Postmodern existentialism at its best. (more…)

Last night’s reception for the Intimate Landscape painting show and Laura Parker’s “Taste of Place” soil installation - at UCSC Sesnon Gallery - brought out a fairly hefty contingent of Santa Cruz arts movers and shakers. Curated by Frank Galuszka and orchestrated by Sesnon director Shelby Graham (left), (more…)

“You guys – hey, you guys. Have a good one, guys.”

Language abuse in America is becoming more prominant than Nancy Pelosi’s bosom.
Either the revenge of machismo, or the triumph of feminism – it’s unclear which – the prevailing omni-use of “guys” to denote any collection of two or more humans is just plain out of control! (more…)

O’Mei Update: It’s true - no more lunch at O’Mei. Roger Grigsby, that maverick political hothead and tireless culinary tinkerer emailed me (and believe me an email from Grigsby is a lengthy affair) to say that things are going well now that he has discontinued lunches at the landmark restaurant. (more…)