Life: Magical and Realistic

4th of July

We had a very fun July 4th weekend over here in Santa Cruz. The weather was ultra cooperative, bright, sunny, and warm. So we did what any good American/Brazilian/German would do: BBQ!   Yes, we had a
very traditional steak BBQ, which came out quite nicely, seasoned with some of my last bits of Taos seasoning from when I lived in Santa Fe, NM.   And we finished our traditional BBQ with a not so traditional dessert:  trifle!

Trifle? What the heck is that, you might ask. Well, lets just say what would you do if you had about 9 boxes of hand-picked ollalieberries? I say: make trifle, and let the chips fall where they may! So, where  does one get so many berries? (and for those of you who may be un-versed in the world of berries,
olallaberries are a hybrid of many berries, including blackberries and raspberries) Well, just up the road about 20 miles from our house at the Swanton Berry Farms.  Yes, we are surrounded by farmland over here, and one of the bonuses is getting out to hand pick berries, be they the aforementioned olalieberries, or strawberries. So we joyously packed up the kids and us (and Claudia's friend Uli who is visiting from Germany) and headed off to pick as many berries as we could.

As a trip down memory lane, one of the highlights for me, Mary, Bob, Barb, and anyone else I am forgetting during our summers in New Hampshire was our trips out by rowboat (River Road house) or by bike (River Road house and Lake Sunapee house) to search for hidden berry patches here and there. And we found lots and lots, and it was truly amazing. Now, multiply the number of berries you have ever eaten on a wild berry hunt by around 35, and you get an idea of what we found at the ollalieberry u-pick place.

Interestingly, the hybrid plants produced some berries that were more raspberry-esque, and some more blackberry-esque. So we had the added bonus of intriquing taste tests as we made our way around the u-pick place. By the end of it, and this is really amazing, me and the boys were just TOO FULL to eat any more berries! Imagine, if you could, that scenario!

So, back at the ranch I decided to make an olallieberry Trifle, and was successful, although I went very light on the added Calvados (you can also use Sherry, etc., but I like Calvados).

Other weekend highlights included me and the boys going to our very first minor league baseball game and watching the San Jose Giants, (yes, you read that right) play ball. Felix and I lasted through the 8th inning, and Max stayed all the way through with a friend who was also at the game. He enjoyed fireworks, and generally was very happy to be there. Next up? San Francisco Giants on July 24 (free tix from a friend who has season tix).  Oh, and Felix's favorite part was the orange monkey mascot. 

Rounding off the weekend we had a day at the beach, where we bravely got into our wetsuits and got pummmeled by the waves as we laughed our way to some good fun in the surf with our boogie boards.

So our perfect weekend passed too quickly as they generally do, but our newest family tradition began this weekend with berry picking and trifle. 

Wine tasting in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Yesterday both Claudia and I had a "free" day, which meant both boyx were in school, and we had an enormous amount of time (almost 8 hours!) to tool around and do something just for us.  This is getting to be a habit with us, to take a date day off when the kids are otherwise occupied, giving us the time to actually hang out together for an extended period of time.

Sure, the first time you take a date day, it is a bit odd, because suddenly there you are, with no kids or distractions or babysitter time restraints.  Just the two of you.  Together.  Doing something fun with each other, for each other, and not for the kids, the house, the job, etc.  You get the picture, or if you are single or married without kids, you could care less about this post.  So, yeah, a bit weird, given the last time we had this was around 2003, pre the birth of our first child.  Five years, wow.  Now that I write about it, it seems like it was way too long.  Because, you know, other couples we know have the option of having family around to take care of the kids, or have a live in nanny (OK, I know no-one who does, except maybe Lance in NYC, but he is the exception) and are able to take extended weekends together, alone, or days together, alone.  But not us, our families are far away or otherwise gone.  That is, not until a few weeks ago when we came up with this plan.

But I digress.  Yesterday, we decided to head up into the Santa Cruz wine country.  We were both familiar with the old standby wine areas of Napa, Sonoma and even Paso Robles and down by Santa Barbara.  But for some reason, with the exception of Boony Doon Vineyard just down the road, had never ventured forth.  Plus, we really wanted to check out both the Ridge Vineyards and David Bruce Winery the latter being one of our more favorite wines in the last five years and the former because we have heard rave reviews from trusted friends.

So, I planned out our route, using this site as our guide, printing out a little map full of highlights and a somewhat logical route.  The weather, as is often the case here in Santa Cruz, was cooperative.  Sunny, warm (73 beach side - 82 over the mt) and breezy, perfect for the top down convertible fun we had hoped for, even though we got off to a late start and our 8 hour day turned into a 5 hour day.  So be it.

First, the disappointments:  Ridge is only open on the weekends, so that was a no-go.  The Mountain Winery, which we also wanted to visit just to see the grounds and maybe picnic, had its tasting room closed for renovations.  But that was OK - having learned this at the outset, we could plan accordingly and try new places.  In addition, it turns out a bunch of the wineries are so small they only open for special occasions or by appointment.  Yesterday turned out to be neither a special occasion, as defined by them, and the prospect of a last minute appointment seemed unlikely.

On to the road show.  We stopped at the Burrell School Winery first, and had the luck to run into the vineyard manager, who was watching over the tasting room instead of the usual slick salespeople.  We tasted, compared, chatted about cycling, enjoyed the view, and were charmed by both the location and the schoolyard theme (Wines had nicknames like "detention" and "teacher's pet").  We ended up with a couple bottles of the Principal's Choice and moved on.

Next up was David Bruce, but due to navigational issues, we ended up circling back to Hwy 17 and Bear Creek Road.  We thought best to regroup and head to Los Gatos for lunch, and did just that, enjoying quite a nice sandwich at a local restaurant.  Claudia had the brilliant idea of checking her iphone map, and we found we were just a bit off in our quest to find David Bruce Winery.  So, satiated and ready to continue, we hopped back in the car and head out.

We found David Bruce, but it was closed for inventory.  Hmmm.  Major disappointment!  And couldn't they have put that on their website, like Mountain Winery did?  Isn't that what instant communication and the web are for?  Well, we always need another excuse to get out and about, so we put a return visit in our back pocket as a voucher for another day.

Almost across the street is another winery, Byington.  We were thirsty, the grounds and building looked inviting (more so than David Bruce, even) and so we stopped in to check around and do some tasting.  Major disappointment!  The wine was uninteresting, albeit well priced.  It reminded me of those warnings you hear about restaurants that offer stunning views:  the view is great, the food sucks.  Same with this place:  great views/location, terrible wines.

Onwards!

Next and last stop (we had to pick up our kids at school, remember, and hopefully stop home to rinse out the odor of vino tinto that I am sure permeated us) was an organic winery in the Santa Cruz mountains called Hallcrest Vineyards.  What a surprise!  I was expecting nothing good - the marriage of sulphite free environmentalism and wine has never been a happy meeting in my book.  But instead, not only did I try some awesome wines (the Pinots -- not organic -- were first class), but got a great education in wine growing in the area, the use (and overuse) of sulfites in wines (if it smells like a burnt match, chuck it), and identifying the bouquet of a nice wine.  We ended up buying a half case of various yummy treats, but better still, we now know how close the vineyard is (as close a Bonny Doon), and can get there more often to stock up -- or just to bring friends by for a little taste of something uniquely and deliciously (even organically) Santa Cruz.

Cheers!