Brilliant flashes of scarlet punctuated the misty redwood glen last Friday as the third drama in this season’s Shakespeare Santa Cruz opened to a rapt full house. The first of the three central histories tracing the rise of royal rogues, Henry IV, Part I reverberates with one part kingly remorse, another part power grab and a third part Sir John Falstaff. In this masterpiece of language and intrigue, Shakespeare interwove the imagined back story behind the takeover of the English throne by Henry Bolingbroke and the tale of ribald Falstaff, the carousing buddy of the king’s son, Prince Hal. One of the best-known and best-loved characters in the canon, Falstaff is a larger-than-life lout whose hard-drinking lifestyle has lowered the standing of the Prince of Wales in the eyes of his father.
Articles by Christina Waters
PLATED: The Exotic & The Familiar
Food trucks, Iveta scones, and Grazing on the Green in this week’s PLATED.
SSC’s ‘Three Musketeers’ a Swashbuckling Treat
A bravura romp through the adventures of Dumas’ deathless heroes, The Three Musketeers brings rapier wit, lusty performances and an enduring band of comrades to the Shakespeare Santa Cruz redwood glen.
PLATED: Grape Party
Sunset at Surf City Vintners Food & Wine Fair, the July 30 benefit for Second Harvest Food Bank featuring Cellar Door, Akira Sushi, Cruz’n Gourmet, El Salchichero, Snappy Dogs, Marianne’s Ice Cream and even the sudsmeisters of Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, will help raise funds for 6,000 healthy meals for youngsters in Santa Cruz County.
PLATED: Savoring Summer
This month’s issue of GQ features an article on Santa Cruz as one of the world’s top surfing spots. The piece also mentions where to eat while you’re on your surfin’ safari and includes local favorites La Posta, Tacos Moreno and Manresa in Los Gatos. The issue also features a big spread on Bay Area dining, mentioning the organic strawberries grown at Swanton Berry Farm as absolutely the top of the food chain. We knew that.
PLATED: Big Love
Spurt “Our early group of apprentices were all interested in becoming organic growers,” Cynthia Sandberg recalls of Love Apple Farm’s salad days. “Now more of our apprentices are cooking people.” That includes a recent French Culinary Institute graduate from Boston, who on a recent afternoon was busy planting erosion control perennials along the steep slope of Sandberg’s new vibrant acreage above Scotts Valley.
PLATED: Mission Accomplished
Serious about espresso and fresh-dripped coffees, and yet invitingly playful in terms of its neighborhood ambiance, Coffeetopia is the go-to caffeine emporium for thoughtful bohemians, students, surfers, cyclists, software designers and commuters. I often meet my literary friend for kvetch sessions at the cozy Coffeetopia on Capitola Road. And I find myself even more often at the Mission Street branch of this java junkies’ joint. In addition to fresh-baked tea breads and superior dark roast, Coffeetopia now boasts another secret weapon: Mission Hill Creamery artisanal ice creams. OMG is an appropriate response to that information. If you can’t get to the Saturday farmers market for some of David Kumec‘s outrageous, organic, all-Straus Family Creamery specialty, then you need only hit your local Coffeetopia.
PLATED: Westside Wonders
If, like me, you’ve been shamelessly inhaling the luscious pumpkin bread from Companion Bakers all these years, you have reason to rejoice. Husband and wife team Erin and Jeremy Lampel just celebrated the opening of their new Companion Bakeshop on the site of Westside’s former Beckmann’s Bakery. And the crowd went wild. The couple’s inventory of organic sourdough baguettes, hefty whole wheat loaves, strawberry rhubarb pies and those sinful tea breads sold out completely at the new bakery/cafe’s opening last week.
PLATED: Summer Harvest
The UCSC Farm & Garden Market Cart is open for the season! Once again the ultra-fresh harvests from the hilltop farm and garden are brought to the base of the campus on Tuesdays and Fridays (noon-6pm) to tempt the Westside community of organophiles. “We are currently rich in greens,” proclaims Center for Agroecology spokeswoman Martha Brown. “The late season this year has served up all manner of lettuces—butter, Little Gems—as well as arugula, baby spinach, kales and chards.” Weighed and wrapped by the current crop of UCSC agroecology apprentices, the debut harvests also offer specialty summer squashes, lots of Asian greens and the ever-popular floral bouquets. Last week I spotted tubs of plump blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and even some rare mulberries amidst the bouquets of sage, bay and cilantro. Created from Farm & Garden produce, your evening salad will exude the literal flavors of the Santa Cruz Mountains in every bite. Every Tuesday and Friday afternoon through early November, at the corner of Bay and High streets. Free parking!
PLATED: The Great Outdoors
Celebrating its 30th anniversary and its third ginormous al fresco dinner market, Kelly’s invites everybody in the known world to dinner next Saturday. “Bring everything you would need for a picnic—except the food,” chuckles Kelly’s co-owner Mark Sanchez of the BYO plate-and-utensils affair. “We just love doing this. It’s sort of like a big block party.”
