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…)
by Christina Waters | Jul 5, 2008 | Food, Home |
Here’s our new favorite breakfast treat — something as old as the gods of Olympus.
Greek-style yogurt from the clever marketing minds of Greek Gods Yogurt. Greek yogurt is yogurt the way the gods intended it – full fat and ultra creamy. So yes, there are a few more calories in the container of Greek Gods Yogurt with honey, than in the unsweetened, non-fat version. But I’m thinking, why choose? Why not have the best of both worlds?
So I bought one container of the plain, non-fat, and another of the ultra-creamy, full fat with honey – and mixed the two. You can imagine this amazing combination of tart and cream right now, can’t you? It tasted just like the thick, tangy yogurt I had on Crete.
But without the jet lag. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Jul 1, 2008 | Home, Wine |
Four years ago legendary wine pioneer Ken Burnap sold his Jarvis Road estate – site of the oldest wine grapes planted in the Santa Cruz Mountains – to a group of wine entrepreneurs led by Nick Guerrero. Under the Wines of Vine Hill mantle, Guerrero’s group has been making increasingly interesting wines — so far using two labels — from a variety of California grapes. Winemaker Salvador Godinez, most recently from Saintsbury in St. Helena, is the man responsible for a distinctive 2005 Pinot Noir, from Corralitos’ Raffaelli Vineyard. Under the Cumbre label, this hard-to-find gem makes me eager to see what will happen with Godinez harvests the Vine Hill estate pinot grapes – in two years time.
All of the ridge-top estate grapes from the late 60s (planted by Santa Cruz Mountains wine pioneer, David Bruce) were torn up and replanted with 6.5 acres of pinot noir, and 1 acre of Syrah, by vineyard manager Rachel Ormes, a UCSC Agroecology program graduate. The young vines will be ready for their first vintage in a few years, but meanwhile Godinez is working with pinot noir from Hicks Vineyard and Raffaelli. (more…)
