by Christina Waters | Jul 15, 2008 | Food, Home |
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.
by Christina Waters | Jul 10, 2008 | Food, Home |
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.
by Christina Waters | Jul 9, 2008 | Home |
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.
by Christina Waters | Jul 5, 2008 | Home |
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…)
by Christina Waters | Jul 5, 2008 | Art |
San Francisco’s Hackett-Freedman Gallery always offers an eyeful of the best contemporary realism. Opening July 10 is a show of new paintings by Jeffrey Ripple, whose elegant still life studies are the equal to works by the 17th century Spanish masters.
The serene arrangements of flowers and fruit on orientalesque, flat-toned backgrounds show off Ripple’s incredible mastery of realist technique, but they go further than that. The enigmatic studies suggest an ineffable lifeforce behind light, shadow, shape and form – in much that way that Vermeer’s creamy light suggests an unseen, but always-present God. (more…)
