by Christina Waters | Jan 15, 2008 | Home |
Once again, Avanti scores a direct hit – this time the kitchen won us over with a lunch special of braised pork (pastured pork from TLC Ranch, butchered at the restaurant), golden chanterelles and tumescent, gravity-defying gnocchi.
The pork surrendered upon impact, the chanterelles were blatantly addictive, the gnocchi were perfect and the whole thing was bathed in meat juices and topped with a few, choice bitter greens.
This is food worth getting out of bed for. More and more restaurants are using this incredibly delicious, humanely raised, organic pork raised in south Santa Cruz County by Jim Dunlop – and also available at your favorite local farmers market.
by Christina Waters | Jan 8, 2008 | Home |
Americans in record numbers are exercising their metastasized souls and fickle appetites. And it’s not on eBay – it’s on the presidential primaries. I thought this was supposed to be a presidential election, not a national installment of “American Idol.” But I was wrong. Showing their collective appetite for fashion, sound bites and easy rhetoric, my fellow Americans are throwing themselves at candidates who mouth the juiciest phrases and have “good personalities.”
Reality check: the public seems to be disfunctioning big time. I call this randomized, ubiquitous hysteria, apocalyptic behavior. This is occurring at every juncture: viz. our mass idolatry of TV personalities and fascination for Britney Spears, hand-held technology, and cheap clothing made by children in China. We have become a nation of media junkies (George Orwell was here first) in thrall to just about everything we see on a computer or tube. Any tube. CNN, Fox, BBC, YouTube, MySpace, QVC, every single blog du jour. We don’t know why trans fats are bad for us, but we do know that Nicole Kidman is finally pregnant.
Just saying a word doesn’t bring about a new state of affairs. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Jan 8, 2008 | Food, Home |
Unbelievable – but true. While the actual celebration happens on February 14, the glorious bakery and rosticerria is offering oodles of great reasons to come to Gayle’s starting right now.
Pictured here is a lunch we took home last week — luscious rosti from the glittering deli cases of Gayle’s. The fat one on the left was loaded with salame, mozzarella and tapenade (it went quickly), and the other offered plump morsels of artichoke, dill, tomato, and something creamy. Also good, but that salame number really fired our rockets. For $3.50 each, these spiral wraps make wonderful lunches. Just add fruit and tea and you’re there.
But there’s always something tempting at Gayle’s.
Keep in mind that every single day starting January 15, there will be a drawing at Gayle’s for edible prizes. AND all of those winners are eligible for a Grand Prize Drawing on February 14. Ho hum you think? You would be wrong.
The Grand Prize celebrating the 30th anniversary of Gayle’s is a catered 30-person dinner delivered to the winner’s home!
If you only visit Gayle’s on one day this month, make it January 30 when 30% of gross sales will be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank.
by Christina Waters | Jan 8, 2008 | Home |
Only 3600 bottles of St. George “Absinthe Verte” were made last year by inventive distiller Lance Winters. And I scored one of them last week. Yes, this was the allegedly hallucinogenic tipple that fueled artists, poets and bohemians at the turn-of-the-century.
Think Toulouse Lautrec, Degas, Baudelaire. Banned since 1912, the high proof — 120 proof to be exact — herb-laced elixir has made a one-man come-back, thanks to the tireless tinkering of eau de vie master Winters. The results are, it must be said, unforgettable and dreamy.
What does it taste like? Subtle, bracing, haunting — like a blend of Fernet Branca, grappa and Chartreuse. Only better.
What does it cost? Twice the price of a great bottle of single malt.
Hopefully, the beautiful bottle of will last a long time. It’s filled with the fabulous fragrances of woodworm, hyssop, basil, fennel, nettles, tarragon, and mint, all riding on a high octane cloud of triple distilled brandy.
Happy New Year indeed!
by Christina Waters | Jan 8, 2008 | Home, Wine |
It’s not everyday I’m faced with a wine made in Texas. So when my New Year’s Eve hosts offered me a glass of McPherson Viognier, I struggled to suppress a smug smile. What I tasted wiped that grin right off my face. A Viognier from Lubbock! And a good one. Who knew?
Okay, it might not give the Montrachet people a restless night sleep, but this was a very interesting white wine. Fruit-forward, but something more interesting as well. It had a rugged almost evergreen bouquet, like (trust me on this) Metaxa splashed with retsina. But it pulled back before it had gone that far and opened into some pears and geraniums. Really quite enjoyable. And it turns out the McPherson people have been insisting on making wine in Texas for a long time. The winemaker – UCDavis-trained Kim McPherson (who also makes wine for Cap Rock Winery) – learned about Texas-sized grapes from his father, an early Lone Star pioneer in viticulture. Next time you’re in Texas – you should give it a try.
