by Christina Waters | Nov 23, 2011 | Food, Holidays, Home |
When my sister and I were little, we would make the annual trek to Aunt Mariana and Uncle Doodle’s house for a holiday visit. Aunt Mariana would reach up high into her pantry and take down the fruitcake we were forced to eat each Christmas.
My sister and I would politely taste a forkful of this brown crumbly creation studded with eerily bright red and green fruits. We would take one bite and then cover the remaining bits with our napkins. Reading each other’s minds we would both think, “yes, but where’s the frosting?”
Children hate fruitcake. But many decades later, those early negative impressions were replaced by a romantic afternoon’s experience, on a rainy October day looking out over Lake Como, consuming the local fig and nut cake washed down by grappa. What a difference time (and grappa and a romantic companion) can make.
This season —after years of building a fan base on two coasts for my labor-intensive Christmas cookies—I’ve decided to wade into deeper, more mythic culinary territory. Yes, I’m making fruitcake this year. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Nov 23, 2011 | Food, Home |
Little did I know that I would grow up to consume a breakfast liquid that closely resembles industrial effluent, or rain forest mud mixed with compost.
But I do. And I love this stuff. It’s loaded with carrot, celery, cucumber, collard greens, kale and parsley. It’s organic. It’s delicious in a strange manner that quickly becomes addictive. Bursting with anti-oxidants, magnesium, lutein and other de rigueur minerals, this fabulous morning cocktail will positively eradicate all memories of mere orange juice.
Plus it helps balance your pH, which if I’m not mistaken is probably much more acidic than it should be. It runs somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 and it will change your attitude about waking up.
by Christina Waters | Nov 23, 2011 | Wine |
Saratoga by Candlelight — that’s what’s in store for you if you walk off your Thanksgiving feast at the 2nd Annual Holiday Wine Stroll, Friday, Nov. 25, 4pm til 7pm.
You can walk through charming Saratoga, enjoying strolling carolers, take a carriage ride, hear live music by The Ones, take in some vintage tree lighting and sample the wares of 18 local wineries at stores and restaurants.
Bring a non-perishable food donation for 2nd Harvest Food Bank, and don’t orget to purchase your $5 raffle ticket for special dining and shopping offers.
Raise a glass to the holidays in Saratoga, a California surrogate of Santa’s own village. Christmas Village in the Valley!
Tickets are $40 til Nov 23; $45 thereafter; 408-867-0753.
by Christina Waters | Nov 21, 2011 | Home, Wine |
The countdown is on for a December 2-3 opening of the area’s newest wine tasting room, lodged—logically enough—in the midst of a suite of popular tasting boites at Ingalls & Swift, aka Surf City Vintners by way of Kelly’s.
Arms still aching from a marathon session of sanding, staining and hauling barrel staves down to the new facility, Lore James—Vine Hill’s marketing director—was happy to give me a tour of the emerging tasting room.
“This is where I hope the entire Westside will come and spend their weekends,” she said showing me the clever zig-zag counter design that architect Mark Primack devised to aid in conversation flow and space sculpting. “A stainless steel top will be set in place along the wood top,” James explained.
The new wall sconces were one of her finds on a website called barlights.com. “I wanted something that would be rustic industrial, but not too industrial,” she explained. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Nov 20, 2011 | Home |
An unbelievable deal awaits at Shoppers Corner in the form of a 2006 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley from Demuth Winery that drinks like $45 but costs only (better sit down) $9.99.
Details. This garnet-hued baby is accessible yet complex, immediate but not superficial. Salted plums, licorice, a hint of star anise all bound up with licorice and cherries. Perfect with a big bird (turkey perhaps) or salmon. Go get some before I buy it all myself!
