by Christina Waters | Oct 11, 2007 | Art, Home |
Take a breather from Open Studios and visit the new show of paintings by Frank Galuszka at Carmel’s Winfield Gallery.
Myth and the Coast is the title of a suite of 20 recent coastal landscapes and a few mythic surprises by UCSC Professor of Art and longtime plein air impressionist Galuszka.
Winfield Gallery is located on Dolores, between Ocean & 7th.
831/624-3369 – 800/289-1950
The Galuszka show of original artworks runs through November 11, 2007.
(Shown here, detail of Coyote in the Kitchen)
by Christina Waters | Oct 10, 2007 | Home, Wine |
Andrea London is a woman whose business card bears the word “Cheesemonger.” Teamed up with oenologician John Locke for a mouth-watering series of wine and cheese workshops at Soif, London and her expert colleague are re-setting palates overnight.
After attending the French wine & cheese pairings (fromages shown left), I realized that I was incapable of stopping – so I joined the table again for an evening of Italian wines & cheeses. There is just so much that’s breathtakingly right about this kind of enjoyable hands-on learning experience that it’s hard to know where to begin.
Everybody loves wine and cheese, but most of us don’t do much about it except to nosh around and hope to get lucky. But Soif is changing all that – one special wine & cheese pairing at a time. First there was a California event (which I didn’t attend). Then there was a French one (which I did) and that evening was so laced with epiphanies, e.g. Sancerre can be miraculous paired with oddball chevres, that I happily plunked down $75 (a bargain, my friends) and returned to learn more.
The cheese are introduced from mildest to most pungent, (which usually involves lots of mold). Wines are intriguingly paired, sometimes to harmonize – as with a lovely Sangiovese and a pecorino from Basilicata – sometimes to contrast and punctuate, as with a delicate, pear-scented Ca’del Bosco bubbly from Lombardy which John chose to caress the mighty parmigiano Reggiano, truly a queen of cheeses.
Here’s a factoid from maestro Locke: champagne is the perfect libation to accompany any cheese. Who knew? (more…)
by Christina Waters | Oct 9, 2007 | Home |
Strapped in and thoroughly prepared for the rippling arpeggios and sonic repetitions that are Philip Glass’ prevailing strategies, I was surprised and transported by the majestic themes and counterpoints of his new opera, Appomattox, at its world premiere last week at the San Francisco Opera. At the baton was an old friend and long-time Glass colleague, Dennis Russell Davies, who commanded every nuance and thundering key change of this gorgeous piece of music.
Davies, believe it or not, was making his SF Opera debut — a long overdue debut for such a consummate interpreter of new music. Davies deserves a major world orchestra, but that’s another story.
The setting offered much dramatic promise — the final days of the Civil War, and the delicate negotiations of surrender between Robert E. Lee (sung by Dwayne Croft) and Ulysses S. Grant (Andrew Shore). Thanks to the magnificent baritones, an unusual touch, as the generals, the poignant scenes of battle fatigue and civility after four years and 600,000 confederate deaths, were subtle and moving.
However Glass and his librettist Christopher Hampton, ever postmodern, introduce not only events of today’s civil rights struggle into the midst of the Civil War — but even interlace the evening with a bathetic anti-war tract — and hence neutralize the aesthetic power of his music. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Oct 6, 2007 | Home |
More changes. Hugh Weiler, partner and consummate barkeep at Soif (shown here in a characteristic pose), is off to marry his sweetie Barbara in Sacramento and live happily ever after. The charm, calm, wry sense of humor and stupendous knowledge of wines that Weiler brought to the town’s chic wine bar are, frankly, irreplaceable. Weiler’s Soif colleague Patrice Boyle reassured me that there are plans for Weiler to make frequent and myriad guest appearances at the wine bar’s future events.
by Christina Waters | Oct 5, 2007 | Food, Home |
Here’s a highlight of Theo’s chef Nicci Tripp demonstrating one of his delightful house cheeses for Wine Country magazine.
