by Christina Waters | Jul 8, 2009 | Food, Home |
The Farm Cart is back at the foot of the UCSC campus, every Tuesday and Friday, and it’s loaded with crisp greens, long-stemmed cippolini onions, herbs, flowers and berries.
Ah, the blueberries and strawberries have been especially wonderful this year. Maybe it’s the drought, but the flavors this year are notably intensified, distilled, utterly childhood revisited.
Stop by from noon to 6pm, Tuesday and Friday, and get something truly fresh for your dinner. Everything is grown just up the hill at the Center for Agroecology‘s organic farm.
by Christina Waters | Jul 1, 2009 | Home |
Summer solstice.
Chilled sauvignon blanc, cucumbers in hummus, flame grapes, crackers and a selection of robust and intriguing cheeses. How lucky of me to have a friend whose greenhouse balcony provided all of the above — a friend whose hedonistic instincts are exceeded only by her impeccable taste.
Thinking outside the usual Stonehenge or Tikal cliché —I think a summer ritual has been born.
by Christina Waters | Jul 1, 2009 | Home |
Having as much fun as their neighbors, Kelly and Mark Sanchez managed to pull off one of the biggest block parties in Westside history.
by Christina Waters | Jul 1, 2009 | Food, Home |
Obviously it was an idea whose time had arrived. The idea of an outdoor community dinner seemed simple enough. But who knew that it would be so wildly popular that even before the 6pm start time the long table between Kelly’s and its companion wineries was packed. Grills were blazing, families had staked out turf on the long, long table — which was quickly joined by every piece of furniture the popular bakery-bistro could find.
The idea of inviting folks to bring their own glasses, plates and utensils, to purchase dinner dishes from a variety of tempting open-air stations, and then to just somehow go with the happy chaotic flow – well it worked. Gloriously.
Everyone seemed willing to play, and the warm summer evening helped everything 
work. From across the parking lot, Cellar Door chef Charlie Parker (shown here in white) set up a station offering gorgeous fingerfood as well as the inventive wines of Randall Grahm.
Always willing to take chances, to create little islands of social warmth and to never take themselves too seriously – Mark and Kelly Sanchez just keep getting it right.
by Christina Waters | Jun 28, 2009 | Home, Wine |
Thanks to a vigilant field informant, I discovered this delightfully drinkable and seriously affordable Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. The 2008 Vin-Koru is 12.8% alcohol and loaded with lemongrass and pepper. The central core of minerals and salt leads to a very lively finish of tart peaches and fennel. This could be your new summer tipple — and for $5.99, it is definitely one of mine. Check TJs.
by Christina Waters | Jun 23, 2009 | Home, Travel |
Here’s my story, even if it isn’t what you expected.
I never made it to Israel. I got as far as Newark, when root canal complications got the best of me.
Swelling, pain, fever – the full Cleveland. And flying to the East Coast the day after major root canal work was probably, in retrospect, a bad idea. In a diagnostic epiphany, my prescient physician B. Hilberman pronounced it a case of “bad mazel.”
So I cancelled my flight to Tel Aviv. Cancelled my original return flight to SFO, and – after paying handsomely for the privilege – made a new return flight reservation.
Then I killed time by 1) seeing the Francis Bacon exhibit at the Met, 2) consuming pizza at Otto in the Village, and 3) mega-dosing ibuprofen, Cipro and lying flat on my back.
In the meantime, I got to know the lounge staff at the Hilton Newark Airport (Cobb salad dinner, left), and the labyrinthean off-ramps of the New Jersey Turnpike. Heavy skies, leaden humidity, the look of perpetual acid rain — the northeast reminded me all over again just why I live in California.
So, I have no tips for great dining in Jerusalem. Alas. But I can reveal that a subtle and delicate balance of anti-inflammatory pain killers, high powered antibiotics and steady doses of red wine can indeed help win the fight against pain and mid-career disappointment.
Onward!
