Bonne Année!
Already enjoying a cult following among local winemakers, Au Midi in Aptos has planned a splendid New Year's Dinner menu. Chef Muriel Loubiere will begin with Champagne and oysters, followed by seared foie gras and peaches. Then comes a first course of organic chicken...
Cooking the Books
The Farm & Garden folks have come up with another one of those mouth-watering cookbooks — Fresh from the Farm & Garden: Volume 2 — just in time for holiday gift giving. (You think they planned that?) Available at Capitola Book Cafe, at Bookshop Santa Cruz, and...
Xtina’s Xtreme Xmas
Some people go shopping, I get baking. Immediately after Thanksgiving I lay in a supply of pastry flour, candied citron, pecans, walnuts, almonds, cranberries, oatmeal, raisins, oranges and spices — oh, and butter and eggs. And then I retrieve my vanilla-stained...
Why I Love My Work
Here are two of Rebecca King's week-old lambs, happily lounging with their moms on the panoramic Watsonville pastures of Deep Roots Ranch. Seriously adorable bits of life. (See my profile on King and her fledgling artisanal sheep cheese biz in next week's Metro Santa...
Dining on the Hill
Before he was the Executive Chef of the University Center's dining room, Terra Fresca, Jamie Smith was chef at Sestri, where he won a following for his stylish and delicious variations on Mediterranean and New California cuisine. At the upstairs dining room in the...
Inside the Flame
A book of sensory adventure: The rituals, passions and discoveries of an engaged life.