by Christina Waters | Dec 22, 2008 | Holidays |
Here are a few suggestions.
1) A bottle of fine wine will please anyone with tastebuds. Try something local and premium from Vinocruz, or something French and luxurious from Soif. Comb the aisles of Shoppers. A great gift.
2) Give an exhilirating experience to someone special – a cruise on the Chardonnay II sailing ship. If you hurry (think of that guy on TV who’s always selling weird stuff), you can buy a gift
certificate for one of the many weekend sails on this lovely vessel. Sunset cruises on the Monterey Bay, or a Sushi Sunday, whale watching, there are many packages. Until December 31, the price is $49.50 per person, plus tax – which includes beverages and light appetizers. Buy three gift certificates and get the 4th one FREE! Call 831/423-1213, or check the website.
3) Tickets to the Nickelodeon Theater.
4) A gift certificate for $100 to a favorite restaurant. You know the ones I mean.
by Christina Waters | Dec 1, 2008 | Holidays, Home |
We did Thanksgiving our way this year, and shared a small, informal, but luxurious meal – with no turkey in sight.
The menu:
fresh cracked Dungeness crab with three dipping sauces
creamy polenta topped with parmesan reggiano
braised bitter greens – mixed sorrel and chard
Veuve Clicquot champagne &
pumpkin pie
The crab – largest, sweetest I’ve ever tasted – was from the mighty Staff of Life. So was the fresh sorrel, which is never available in markets. And I made the pumpkin pie with double the spices, and used whole cream instead of condensed milk. Killer!
by Christina Waters | Dec 1, 2008 | Art, Holidays |
Another sample of jewel queen Kate Coburn’s consummate earring designs. These elegant earrings of chrysophrase in matrix, suspended from gold-filled findings, will be on sale at the upcoming Women at Work Holiday Craft Sale, Friday, December 5 from 11:30-1:30 at UCSC’s Stevenson Event Center. You will be blown away by what you see!!!!
by Christina Waters | Mar 25, 2008 | Food, Holidays, Home |
What would Jesus eat? we asked as we thought about a special Easter dinner this year. Well, obviously lamb, yogurt, onions, rice pilaff, pine nuts, something with lemons and olive oil. Garlic, absolutely garlic. Lamb grilled over wood found in the desert, like mesquite.
With Middle-Eastern spices and ingredients in mind, we pulled together a truly delicious dinner of elements, that with a few exceptions — tomatoes, asparagus and red bell peppers on our skewers, and a Meyer lemon pie with crème fraiche – might have easily been found in the markets of Nazareth.
Okay, so the apostles didn’t have Peeps. But had they, they surely would have enjoyed them. Our pink peeps this year were genuine añejo – aged for over one year in a top cupboard of my kitchen. Just dessicated enough to give a unique depth to each bite. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Dec 12, 2007 | Holidays |
Just when you thought it was safe to invite a few close friends over for a holiday gift exchange, some individuals simply go gonzo. Normally polite women, like the attractive, usually restrained Elaine (to protect her clients I am omitting her full name), can — given the prospect of a free present — lose all control. She wasn’t alone the other night at the tastefully-decorated home of Susan “knits in her sleep” Beach. There were others, women who know better but just plain lost it at the prospect of opening presents BEFORE CHRISTMAS!
Desperate Housewives. It started quietly enough. Elaine roamed through the
gleaming expanse of the recently remodelled Beach kitchen, picking at appetizer plates, rolling her eyes, making little moaning sounds. Then more cheese platters arrived. More moaning. Before we knew it, the place was crackling with pent-up female energy ready to explode.
Out of Control and Well-Accessorized. Here’s an example: pasta (from my friend Joan Levine’s Camouflage) shaped, well, like a certain part of human anatomy. Well this was certainly not my grandmother’s gift exchange, I can tell you. And by the time Elaine grabbed (yes, grabbed) for the large present in the center of 
the table, she went, well, ballistic.
The rest isn’t appropriate for a public venue, but you can use your imagination. Holiday gift exchange — think about it.
by Christina Waters | Dec 11, 2007 | Holidays |
To get you into the mood, here’s a shot of one eentsy slice of dioramic enchantment available at the gift shop in The Garden Company.
