June @ Windy Oaks
Judy Schultze of Windy Oaks Estate Vineyards emailed to remind me that the charmingly rustic facility — which just squeaked through the recent south county fires unscathed — will be open during the rest of June (hurry!) for tastings of what many argue is one of...
Operatic Orgy
If there's a legal thrill that comes close to great, live opera - I haven't found it yet. And last Sunday's opening matinee performance of Ariodante just proved it all over again. Written seemingly to twist Baroque-era vocal chords into rococo pretzels, Handel's...
Range Rover
More will be written - by me among others - about Range, a slender slice of culinary chic at 842 Valencia in the Mission District. But for now let me just give you the short description of our two desserts. One was a thin, thin wedge of fresh rhubarb tart. The thin...
Rumor Central
As if Gabriella chef Sean Baker weren't busy enough - the word is that he's the culinary wunderkind putting together the menu for a new winery cafe. . . . Meanwhile, we're told, Jessica Yarr (formerly of Theo's and Gabriella) has taken her pastry expertise to the...
On the Road: don’t leave home without. . .
A decent bottle of red wine. And real glasses, stemware — we got ours at the St. Vincent de Paul store in Paso Robles. $1 each. Wrap them in a tea towel, throw in a bottle opener and a bag of pistachio nuts, and voila! instant happy hour. This sort of emergency...
Mojave Field Trip
On the way to the Mojave — a stunningly beautiful and difficult expanse of geological wildness — we always stop for the night in Paso Robles. Once simply a cow town next to a mission, now a cow town with wraparound vineyards, fine restaurants and a charming grid...
Food for Thought
Now is the best time to dine out at your favorite restaurants. Am I crazy? Nope. Restaurants are in deep fiscal misery, feeling the pinch due to rising fuel costs, lowering dollar and grains being used up for ethanol or shipped halfway around the world. That means...
True Confessions
Barstow is one of those places whose very name sounds like the middle of nowhere. And it just about is. However, if you pass through there at lunchtime — as we did last week — you can do a whole lot worse than pull into the parking lot of IHOP and head for one of...
Try This at Home!
You've noticed that food prices have gone up, up and up? So do something about it! *Stop eating so much meat. Just stop it! Think of chicken, fish, pork and lamb as protein accessories, with fresh, seasonal veggies and whole grains as the main attraction. *Only shop...
Quickie
Farm & Garden Organic Produce Cart - Summer's here and the bounty from UCSC's Agroecology apprentice program is back at the corner of Bay & high Streets, every Tuesday and Friday, noon to 6pm. Flowers, herbs, infant lettuces, chards, onions, strawberries — the array...
Zero One Digital
01SJ is North America’s newest and largest festival of digital arts featuring transformative and provocative new works from world-renowned artists and performers at the cross-section of contemporary art, technology, and culture. This year's blazing Zero One digital...
Irwin Scholars — May 28
IRWIN Scholars 2008 MAY 28 - JUNE 14 Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 28 5-7PM; Awards: 6PM Check out this year's Irwin Scholarship exhibition at the UCSC Sesnon Gallery in Porter College, featuring twelve of UCSC's most promising artists working in painting,...
Art For Art – June 7 & 8
A roster of heavyweight — or at least wildly colorful and prolific — local artists will gather for your edification on the weekend of June 7-8, 11am-6pm at The Mill Gallery, 131 Front St., in Santa Cruz. It's called Art for Art, and it benefits the Tannery Arts...
Art4Art: more enticements…
Susana Arias Karen Bailey Fran Battendieri Hildy Bernstein Linda Christensen Pilar Cox Madeline de Joly Susan Dorf Sara Friedlander (she never sleeps) Don Fritz (neither does he) Shelby Graham Jane Gregorius Stephanie Heit D. Hooker r.r. Jones Robert Larson Will...
Holy Molé!
Cooking adventuress Diana Kennedy will spend three days in the Santa Cruz area - on a lengthy West Coast junket celebrating the long-awaited re-issue of her definitive, and much-loved The Art of Mexican Cooking. It's all here - myriad authentic Oaxacan molés, chile...
Vintners’ Festival 2008
May 31 & June 1 - West side of the SC Mtns, and June 8 & 9, Eastern side of the SC Mtns. Don't miss two weekends of self-guided tours of small, artisanal wineries on both sides of the scenies Santa Cruz Mountains. Especially since our heroic small wineries emerged...
More Art Attacks
UCSC Open Studio Art Sale! Friday June 6 and Sat. June 7, from 10am to 6pm, up at the Baskin Visual Arts Studios - in print room G-101 at UCSC. From UCSC printmaker Chia-Wei Chang comes this provocative woodblock image, "Hunger", one of hundreds of lively and fresh...
UCSC Alumna Exhibits in SF
Brigid McCabe graduated with a degree in Art from UCSC a few years ago, went back east for an MFA, and now lives and works in her Berkeley studio. McCabe's vibrant paintings of psychological environments, in brilliant hues of orange, yellow and green, will be on...
Iron Man: A Star is Re-Born
This Marvel Comix-based big screen adventure is not just for 15-year-old males. Brooding, smart, crisp, astonishing and edgy — that's Iron Man, and its star Robert Downey Jr. who pretty much owns the screen from the scorching opening in war-torn Afghanistan to the...
Real Strawberries
The Best Strawberries of the Season! Whatever we were eating before, whatever those other little red orbs were that people were trying to call "strawberries," well - this is the real stuff! At New Leaf, look for the little container of RMS Farms Organic Strawberries -...
Fond Farewells
Don Yee’s Tea Cup — which was situated on the second floor above what it now Judi Wyant’s shop on Pacific Avenue — was the required after-work pit-stop during the cocktail years before 1989. The charmingly murky bar was attached to a Chinese restaurant, though...
Bistro Breakfast?
Ham & eggs & a little light bubbly – sounds like breakfast doesn’t it? But it was bistro appetizers at Soif last week. Let me explain. A “small plate†order of salumi caught our eye – but so did the evening special of a poached egg over shiitake mushrooms....
Corralitos Wine Trail
We weren't the only ones soaking up the pastoral beauty of the Corralitos countryside last Saturday. We had plenty of fellow wine-seekers for company as we toured a few of the small artisenal wineries on rare view during this twice yearly open house. First Alfaro...
Martella Syrah
Here's a red wine discovery you'll enjoy. I first encountered Martella Syrah Hammer Vineyard 2005 on the Gabriella Cafe menu, and it was love at first sip. I found a bottle of this appealing wine at New Leaf Market. Martella is Michael Martella, longtime winemaker at...