by Christina Waters | May 19, 2010 | Wine |
Chef Lionel le Morvan of Ma Maison knows his way around paté. His wonderful appetizers and even more wonderful pistachio macaroons (the kind they make at Ladurée in Paris) were a big hit at last week’s New Music Works garden gala.
Now he’s met his match—winemaker Richard Alfaro (shown here in a characteristic pose), and next weekend the two will team up, menu and Alfaro Family Vineyard wines, for a special Friday night dinner, May 28.
The menu includes avocado stuffed with wild Dungeness crab, (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 17, 2010 | Home, Movies |
The first time around, it was Robert Downey Jr. I was watching. And even with this second installment of the Marvel Comic hero, Downey is an endlessly adroit chameleon, able to pivot moods in micro-seconds. Yet, somehow—especially since most of the film reduces to a series of high-tech explosions—it’s Mickey Rourke I’m watching this time around.
No man sports tattoos better than Rourke, who’s made a performance piece out of his scars, unfathomable hair and more-macho-than-thou dress code. He could make tattoed feet a global fashion statement. But obviously the key to his seductive loser’s swagger lies elsewhere.
Seemingly free of pretense, he appears grittier, more real than the very screen he explodes upon. When he unleashes whips of fire and electricity, he’s believable. The metal teeth, the gutteral Russian accent, the unnaturally swollen fingernails that attack keyboards in order to reprogram satellite software—I submit, utterly, to whatever it is this guy’s selling. (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 17, 2010 | Wine |
Every year Bargetto Winery unveils its viticultural showpiece, a wine carefully nurtured, blended and finally chosen to wear the latest La Vita label.
The ninth release of La Vita (vintage 2006) happens this weekend, when a hundred or so friends of the area’s oldest winemaking facility will gather on the creekside patio for live music, finger food and a taste of wine. Well, more than one taste perhaps.
“It’s a unique blend of three Italian varietals,” winery director John Bargetto told me last week, when he showed off the new wine. The blend of estate grapes — Dolcetto, Nebbiolo and Refosco — has been aged for three years in oak, (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 17, 2010 | Home |
Make plans for this Friday’s opening reception. Art for Art is positively packed with new works by some of our best painters, printmakers, and mixed media mavens. I’m especially looking forward to seeing what Charles Prentiss, Hildy Bernstein, Sara Friedlander, Bridget Henry, Ann Wasserman and Daniella Woolf have been up to.
They will be joined by (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 15, 2010 | Food |
Come celebrate an astonishing array of oral histories of organic farmers and researchers, from the 60s through the present – on Monday, May 24, 5-7pm at the UCSC Farm. Music by the Rolling Cultivators (with a name like that, they have to be good), food and biodynamic schmoozing – at the Louise Cain Gatehouse and Amphitheater. Lots of history highlights and photos on view.
Home grown history — nothing better — thanks to the UCSC Library Regional History Project.
Please RSVP by contacting :
ihreti@ucsc.edu or call 459-2847.
(photo: Rachel Glueck)
