Christina Waters

If Obama’s name was “Lester,” none of this would be happening.

Since the “peace candidate” has announced that we should be sending more troops to Afghanistan, I figure it’s time to party like there’s no tomorrow.

And to help, here’s a new organic, luxurious butter from the nice folks of Clover. Ultra-creamy European-style, seasoned with sea salt, and on your morning multi-grain toast, it’s fabulous. Weighing in at 8oz and just under $5, it’s shameless indulgence of the sort that our forebears rubbed all over themselves during the plague years. From where I sit, now would be a good time to do likewise. At Shoppers & New Leaf.

Yes, I know. Many of you ran out to Shoppers to find this extraordinary frozen sin and it was all gone. Here’s why. My original source, gourmet realtor Dee Vogel, confessed. She kept buying tub after tub of this Ciao Bella gelato, and has by her own admission taken on ballast from eating so much of it.

However - here’s the good news. Ciao Bella Fresh Mint gelato is currently available at Deluxe. If you need to keep up with the very best in high-calorie creamy desserts, then you know what to do. Frankly, it’s an amazing combination of flavors — intensely creamy vanilla gelato, nuggets of dark chocolate, perfume of fresh mint. Mmmmmm.

Last weekend’s Plein Air Affaire event at Santa Cruz’ Museum of Art and History attracted thousands of visitors, and made even more thousands of dollars for the downtown arts venue.

The invited artists included some of the Bay Area’s leading outdoor and impressionistic painters, including the legendary Howard Ikemoto, Peter Loftus, Charles Prentiss, Barbara Lawrence, Mike Bailey, and Frank Galuszka. The artwork displayed was striking, beautiful, and of noticeably higher quality that what many have come to expect from plein air shows.

Galuszka, whose day job is professor of art at UCSC, won the “QuickDraw” prize for his atmospheric egg tempera study, Sun and Fog: View over Monterey Bay, (r.) painted on Sunday morning before the public viewing.

If you missed this summer’s Plein Air Affaire, make plans to visit next year at MAH. Alfresco artwork never looked so good. The Museum of Art & History is located at 705 Front Street, Santa Cruz (next door to the new Lulu’s).

By now you’ve already finished up your romance with English peas and have moved on to peaches and chiogga beets. We’ve been enjoying the strawberries and tender baby greens — both wild and cultivated — offered by the Farm Cart at UCSC.

Tuesdays and Fridays, the fresh harvest is loaded this time of year with all manner of onions and garlic, leafy greens, blueberries and plums, herbs and beautiful old-fashioned bouquets. Everything is organic, sold by the young growers of the Agroecology apprentice program and utterly delicious. Even if you think you only need spinach for dinner, the seasonal produce might surprise you. Stretch your palate - try some intriguing item you’ve never had before. Tuesday and Fridays, at the corner of High and Empire Grade, noon - 6pm.

Thanks to gourmet realtor Dee Vogel — a woman tireless in her quest for a better mouthfull — I discovered a wicked new way to give my mouth a treat. And thanks to those merciless Ciao Bella gelatistas, I now know about Fresh Mint. Forget about that goopey, green, fake mint-flavored stuff that always tastes like junior high. This is tight-textured vanilla gelato, laced with slabs of dark chocolate and the top-note of fresh mint. It tastes like the middle of summer, only colder.

Dee told me I had to try it. I always do what Dee says, so I ran out to Shoppers and got some. What can I say? She was right. The most fun you can have for under five bucks.

A small plate of cheese.

And figs, and quince paste.

And especially rose jelly.

Jelly that tastes and smells like roses in some English garden.

This was ‘dessert’ at Soif last week, where I toasted the passing of a long-lost friend.

Here’s the dinner menu for the recent G8 summit on the Global Food Crisis:

Corn and caviar
Smoked salmon and sea urchin
Winter lily bulb
Hot onion tart
Kelp-flavored beef and asparagus
Diced tuna, avocado and soy sauce aspic
Boiled clam, tomato and shiso in jellied clam soup
Prawns with tosazu vinegar jelly
Grilled eel and burdock
Fried goby fish with soy sauce and sugar
Grilled bighand, thornyhead fish with pepper sauce
Milk-fed lamb with herb and mustard
Roast lamb with cepes and black truffles
Cheeses, lavender honey and caramelized nuts

But that’s not all! There were four more courses, followed by G8 “Fantasy” dessert. All of the above was served with six wines, including French champagne and burgundy, Ridge Monte Bello 1997 (one of our Santa Cruz Mountains own!), Isojiman Shuzo Shizuoka sake and a Tokji Esszencia 1999 dessert wine.

It’s entirely possible that this dinner caused the global food crisis. I can only hope that at least some of the G8 reps sitting around that table last week felt deeply ashamed.
The word “disgusting” comes to mind.

Manny Santana, who died this week at 81, was large in every way. He was generous to any who needed a lift, a good meal, an extra drink, or a reason to get through the day. An exuberant artist and bon vivant, Manny gave incalculable gifts to our community — the Cabrillo Music Festival, two vibrant restaurants, support for the arts. But mostly Manny was gifted at being a human being. His very presence on this earth was uplifting. And yes, he did look just like an Olmec god! - as this photo of him with his wife Alice, on his 70th birthday, amply demonstrates.

When he walked into the room, the testosterone level soared. He was unbelievably attractive - to men and women alike, all of whom were drawn to that something, that blend of play, wisdom and high spirit that Manny owned in spades. I had many a great glass of wine (more…)

Here’s our new favorite breakfast treat — something as old as the gods of Olympus.

Greek-style yogurt from the clever marketing minds of Greek Gods Yogurt. Greek yogurt is yogurt the way the gods intended it - full fat and ultra creamy. So yes, there are a few more calories in the container of Greek Gods Yogurt with honey, than in the unsweetened, non-fat version. But I’m thinking, why choose? Why not have the best of both worlds?

So I bought one container of the plain, non-fat, and another of the ultra-creamy, full fat with honey - and mixed the two. You can imagine this amazing combination of tart and cream right now, can’t you? It tasted just like the thick, tangy yogurt I had on Crete.

But without the jet lag. (more…)