by Christina Waters | May 14, 2007 | Food, Home |
If you’ve never indulged in the exquisite sensory array of one of the “Outstanding in the Field” farm dinners, you have missed something wonderful. Imagine dining at a long, linen-draped table, placed out in the open next to a swath of atmospheric fields. Now add a variety of local wines, complete with local winemaker to discuss them — add five courses, each one paired to a wine, and to the season. Each course prepared on site, with chatty tasting notes from the chef. Complete the picture with 60 or so vivacious fellow diners, each one of them as seduced by the beautiful setting and the robust flavors as you are – and you have something close to the picture.
On July 1, this long, leisurely, utterly memorable moveable feast unfurls at Route One Farms, just north of Santa Cruz (seen above in the photo by earth entrepreneuse Tana Butler). Foods prepared by the expert hands of Oswald chef Damani Thomas will be matched by wines from Zayante Vineyards, presented by winemaker Kathleen Starkey. Your farm host for the afternoon will be Jeff Larkey, and a tour of the fertile fields is included in the $150 per person price. The event begins at 4pm, with wine, munchies and the start of the tour. This summer is the time to treat yourself to the ultimate experience in fresh, fresh, fresh flavors. How fresh? Well, you will be literally dining in the very fields that produced your salad. That’s how fresh.
For the complete 2007 Season schedule of al fresco dinners, go to the “Outstanding in the Field” website and make plans! These matchless multi-course culinary odysseys sell out quick – so get moving!
by Christina Waters | May 14, 2007 | Home |
A mighty creative team comprised of some of UCSC’s most sparkling theater talent collaborates for San Jose Repertory‘s current production of Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire. Following the bittersweet fortunes of a couple on a journey through the highs and lows of the human condition, Rabbit Hole won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was a 2006 Tony Nominee for Best Play. Whew! Now, add to that the impressive, locally-based credits of director Kirsten Brandt (a Theater Arts lecturer slated to direct The Tempest at this year’s Shakespeare Santa Cruz); scenic design by Theater Arts professor Kate Edmunds, costumes by SSC’s incomparable B. Modern, lighting by UCSC professor David Lee Cuthbert, with music and sound by Theater Arts lecturer Jeff Mockus.
Rabbit Hole runs through June 10. For reservations, contact San Jose Repertory Theatre, located at 101 Paseo de San Antonio, (between 2nd and 3rd) in downtown San Jose. Ph: 408-367-7255
by Christina Waters | May 14, 2007 | Home, Wine |
It was my friend Mateo who came up with the perfect description for this fine young Sauvignon Blanc. “It’s the perfect summer gardening wine!” And it is (though let me take a minute to acknowledge the only-in-California phrasing of that line.) He referred to the Santa Ynez Valley Winery Sauvignon Blanc with the colorful label – vintage 2005 – 13 % alcohol, and moderately packed with fruit and nuts. I’ll be more specific. We found a cantaloupe and citrus opening, with a hint of jalapeño smoke in the center and a walnut finish. It tastes as interesting, but not as multi-media, as that description indicates.
Here’s the most interesting part. The $6 price tag. Available at Trader Joes, the wine is inexpensive enough to play a starring role in your next outdoor picnic, bbq or garden party. You have been advised.
by Christina Waters | May 9, 2007 | Home |
I’ll be dishing it out this Thursday. Literally. Soupline Supper, to benefit the Santa Cruz Homeless Services Center will serve soups from the area’s top restaurants, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at Holy Cross Parish Hall, 170 High St. in Santa Cruz. Celebrity politicos including Neal Coonerty, Emily Reilly and John Laird, as well as smart-mouth pundits and foodies, like me, will be dishing out the array of soups at the Parish Hall. Beautiful breads and pastries, plus the soups and beverages are all donated by Bittersweet Bistro, Café Cruz, Pearl Alley Bistro, Chaminade, Clouds, Shadowbrook, Gayles and many more of your favorite restaurants and caterers. A terrific event since it gives neighbors a chance to get together, dine well, and give all proceeds to the Center — the Soupline Supper is now in its 8th year. Join us! Tickets are $20/person or $40/family. Available at the door or you can reserve by calling 458-6020, ext. 2123.
by Christina Waters | May 7, 2007 | Food, Home, Travel |
Despite my motto, “The East has ceased,” it was a delicate springtime that greeted me in Pennsylvania and New Jersey last week. Dogwood in bloom, azaleas purple through the tracery of pale green just beginning to burst into sight – really lovely. That’s the grey-green Atlantic Ocean you see on my masthead this week. And there was terrific food and some memorable museum-going. But it’s nice to be home.
Fans of the bizarre and medically wierd will definitely want to visit Philadelphia’s venerable Mutter Museum. Founded as part of the august College of Physicians by close personal friends of Ben Franklin’s several hundred years ago, the extraordinary teaching museum has been updated and expanded over the years. Today the collection of medical oddities, mostly housed in an old Victorian library lined with glass display cases, still packs a macabre punch. Yes, two-headed babies, mesmerizingly grotesque skeletals remains, and all that, but the museum is especially strong in its collection of rare and antique surgical implements. Makes me wonder how any of our ancestors survived! And if as a kid, like me, you were fascinated by Eng and Chang, the original Siamese twins, you’ll find much here to satisfy your curiosity. Claudia and I absorbed as much as we could before heading off for lunch. That evening, we sampled the new Susanna Foo dining room in Radner. (more…)
