by Christina Waters | Nov 20, 2012 | Holidays |
Ah those crafty Surf City Vintners know how to get my attention. Holding their annual Art, Wine & Gift Bazaar this Friday, November 23 from noon to 5pm, the savvy winemakers will offer handcrafted, locally-made gifts by area artisans at each of the thirteen Surf City wineries.
Tasting fees on Friday will be waived with a donation of non-perishable food for the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center. This is truly a no-brainer event.
Winetasting. Handcrafted gifts. The opportunity to grab some appetizers at Le Cigare Volant, party specialties at El Salchichero, pastries from Kelly’s, everything else you need at New Leaf — this is truly a one-stop-shopping event.
Yes, the day after Thanksgiving. Step away from the computer—taste and shop away those holiday calories!
by Christina Waters | Nov 16, 2012 | Home |
The Hostess Twinkie—about to take its place in the fading memories of baby boomers whose lunches were crowned by the Hostess Cupcake with white icing loops on top; the iconic Ding Dong, and by the cream-filled spiral chocolate HoHo. But mostly by that plump air-filled little creation of sugar, sugar, shortening, sugar, and 40 other ingredients—the poster snack for the early days of cheap junk food that delivered an instant high and the promise of diabetes to come—the Twinkie.
Who knew that polysorbate 60, Yellow dye 5, Red dye 4, monocalcium phosphate, cellulose gum, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated vegetable and/or animal shortening, thiamine and lots of sugar (plus 35 other ingredients) could power two generations of American school kids through entire afternoons?
Those were simpler times, before the consciousness-raising of the 80s swept visions of transfats from our food radar. Before we came to crave kale smoothies (more…)
by Christina Waters | Nov 13, 2012 | Home |
Why is this man smiling?……..
You’ll find out right around Thanksgiving.
Uh, right about now.
by Christina Waters | Nov 12, 2012 | Home |
Part Arthurian legend, part religious allegory, Lohengrin is a dreamy stormy creation for supersized orchestra, invisible brass quartets, singers with superhuman stamina, and audiences lucky enough to catch a rare production of Wagner’s romantic classic.
From the instant of its 1850 debut, the sumptuous creation was a huge world-wide hit, and for many scholars Lohengrin marka the last of Wagner’s traditionally structured operas, opening the door for his unprecedented “music theater” masterpieces, The Ring, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal.
Last week’s production of Lohengrin at the San Francisco Opera offers Wagner lovers a rare chance to hear the opera in all of its four and a half hour glory. And if it weren’t enough simply to hear the unparalleled San Francisco Opera orchestra and chorus channeling new heights of chromatic power, last week’s audience feasted on the voice of a true heldentenor, American Brandon Jovanovich (last year’s Sigmund and Pinkerton on 2010’s Madame Butterfly).
From the moment we heard Jovanovich’s (more…)
by Christina Waters | Nov 11, 2012 | Home |
I know many of you are über home chefs who think nothing of whipping up a killer cranberry dressing from scratch for your Thanksgiving dinner.
But not me. I have suddenly hit upon the obvious, no-brainer and yet under-appreciated alternative to full-on cranberry dressing. In a word — chutney.
Duh. Chutney, the sophisticated version of cranberry dressing that can be spun and re-visited endlessly depending upon your choice of dried fruit infrastructure, spices and flavor intensity.
We’re completely in love with the Tomato Mint Chutney ($6ish) from Neera’s. (more…)
