Food; Home @ 22 Dec 2009 01:04 pm by Christina Waters
Consider the prospect of succulent Mexican bay scallops, with tender local squid atop a pool of gigante and ceci beans.
You know you want this dish.
You’ll find it in the soothingly cozy dining room of Gabriella Cafe.
Wine @ 21 Dec 2009 06:24 pm by Christina Waters
Delightful, definitive and doonright intriguing is this Perfect Gift for the inquiring wino on your list.
Been Doon So Long — Randall Grahm’s beautifully produced and illustrated collection of rants, ruminations and reminiscences is available at any bookstore worth the name for $34.95.
Get one, and then get another one for yourself!
Food; Holidays @ 21 Dec 2009 06:20 pm by Christina Waters
New Year’s Eve dinner at chic La Posta, 538 Seabright (831.457-2782, involves this terrific $50 prix fixe menu.
Antipasti - Santa Cruz foraged mushrooms in cartoccio
or
Sformato of cauliflower with bagna cauda
or
Calamari ripieni
Primi - Windmill Farms Butternut squash and chard cannelloni
or
Dungeness crab and wild nettle lasagnette
or
Tortellini in brodo
Secondi- Ceci bean caciucco with cavolo nero (more…)
Wine; Holidays @ 21 Dec 2009 06:18 pm by Christina Waters
So you want to greet 2010 with a major party? Look no further than the Cellar Door where chef Charlie Parker has nothing but luxury in mind, cuisine to match the wines by Randall Grahm. Dinner and a Masquerade on New Year’s Eve! For details check the website — and better make those reservations fast!
MENU
Amuse-bouche
paired with 2008 Ca’ del Solo Albarino
Sunchoke Soup with Osetra Caviar, Brioche & Quail Egg
paired with: 2008 Grenache Blanc
Roasted Lobster with Brussel Sprouts, Kohlrabi and Uni Butter paired with: 2004 Le Cigare Blanc
Seared Foie Gras (more…)
Home; Movies @ 16 Dec 2009 12:57 pm by Christina Waters
And between those five-inch heels on Penelope Cruz’ feet and a kitchen table strewn with ripe 
tomatoes, Spanish cine-maestro Pedro Almodovar literally invents the color red.
The film is Broken Embraces, a virtuoso homage to great film masters past, as well as a ripping great mystery yarn that spans the genres from Almodovar’s early gender-morphing camp to indelible Liebestod.
In Almodovar’s hands, Cruz is visually addictive, to say the least. Think Hitchcock with exuberant sexuality. Now change Kim Novak’s grey suit into lipstick red, her platinum blonde hair to black and her placid English to sensuous Spanish. You have the picture. Almodovar’s latest film is a tightly-wound masterpiece, serving up a brilliant collage of film styles — even a film or two within a film — all to unfold the back-story of a mysterious tycoon obsessed with a sweet sultry call girl. Somehow they become involved with a film maker, and the obsessions multiply.
Super-saturated images are used (more…)
Wine @ 16 Dec 2009 12:29 pm by Christina Waters
Would you like to have wine with this man? Of course you would! And you can, by coming up to Big Basin Vineyards this Saturday, December 19, and sample some award-winning syrah with winemaker Bradley Brown.
He’ll be pouring lots of bold red wines for your holiday parties and gifts at the winery on Memory Lane in Boulder Creek, from noon to 5pm. Directions and details on the winery’s website.
Home @ 11 Dec 2009 05:15 pm by Christina Waters
Winemaker Jeff Emery may not know if you’ve been bad or good, but he has the perfect stocking 
stuffer either way.
Fans of Emery’s vintage skill can take their pick of at least eight different varietals, available in half-sized splits, perfect for sharing with your very special someone. These bottles are priced to move directly from the Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard tasting room, in the Ingalls Street Surf City Vintners complex, into stocking or under the Christmas tree. I’m thinking they would be perfect to take along on that New Year’s picnic as well.
Tempranillo, Grenache, Pinot Noir, Verdelho, you have the picture. Santa might even like his very own split.
Food; Movies @ 10 Dec 2009 05:29 pm by Christina Waters
Authentic red velvet cupcakes - tender, moist and topped with an exuberant amount of butter-cream frosting, plus some colorful sugar ornaments. This really hit the spot last week, and for $2.25 a pop, might be one of the last culinary bargains in the known world. Those green Christmas tree cookies don’t look bad either….
Gayle’s.
Holidays @ 07 Dec 2009 05:24 pm by Christina Waters
The window of Annieglass, full of seasonal shimmer.
