Pajaro Valley Magazine December 18 2020

THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF THE PAJARO VALLEY

DECEMBER 11, 2020

BrightSpots A supplement to The Pajaronian

Lighted homes express hope during dark times P4

MIXING BOWL P6 | HOME OF THE WEEK P7 | GARDENING P10

THE RIGHT CHOICE.

Over 40 years of combined real estate experience. Specializing in Home Listings, Home Sales and Property Management.

Call us for all your Real Estate needs.

Ed Gagne

Kathy Oliver

REALTOR® 831.254.1432 egagne@baileyproperties.com Cal DRE #01450406

Broker Associate/REALTOR® 831.206.2249 Kathy@OliverPM.com Cal DRE #01116175

5 MAGAZINE

Owner of Oliver Property Management

21 Brennan St, Suite 18, Watsonville, CA 95076 Phone: 831.761.7301

CEO & Executive Editor

Dan Pulcrano

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Publisher

Jeanie Johnson Ad Director

Debra Whizin Editor

Erik Chalhoub

DECEMBER 11 -7, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

Contributing Writers

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Erik Chalhoub, Johanna Miller, Tarmo Hannula Kate Russell, Sarah Ringler

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Cover story

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Mixing Bowl

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Home of the Week

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Photo Gallery

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Design Director

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Hon Truong Cover Photography:

Tarmo Hannula

Published by WatsNews, LLC, Watsonville, CA. Entire contents © 2020. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form prohibited without publisher’s written permission.

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11 Literature

831.761.7325

PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 11-17, 2020

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Tarmo Hannula

DECEMBER 11 -7, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

Pajaro Valley homes bring cheer during trying times

LIGHTING UP THE HOLIDAY

SHINE ON An inflatable Frosty the Snowman is the centerpiece of

this glowing holiday display on Palm Avenue off of Sudden Street.

BY TARMO HANNULA

I

t was refreshing to cruise around the Pajaro Valley Monday evening and take in the grandeur of people’s Christmas decorations. From dramatic splashes of laser dots, like miniature galaxies cast across the night sky, to frowning grinches and a blow-up Santa dashing across a rooftop hauled into the darkness by a team of reindeer, the colorful cheer was a warm welcome in our trying times.

Maybe I am delusional, but it felt like, for a faint moment, the Covid nightmare, the daunting list of gloom and doom, was erased by so many people’s efforts to paint a cheerful picture across their lawns and homes. Some folks, like those on Madison Street, even decked out their tiny second-story apartment

balconies — though modest in showroom space — and offered their voices to the chorus of celebration.

In Pajaro, that tiny spot on the map, scores of homes kept the mood alive, like a pair of homes on the corner of Salinas Road at Stender Avenue. One person must have spent a bundle on the

Tarmo Hannula

➝

Tarmo Hannula

the rooftop, create a fantasy land scene at 122 Palm Ave.

line of lights they tacked up along a fence that seemed to run down the entire block.

As I drifted into Watsonville along Lincoln Street the show tripled in scale as I approached Palm Avenue. In covering holiday lights for more than two decades around the Pajaro Valley, Palm Avenue has consistently bursted with over-thetop celebrations, whether it be Halloween, Easter or the Fourth of July.

Some of these neighbors mean business. Take a long stare at 122 Palm Ave. It’s worth taking a walk along that block and let the avalanche of color and glow take you in.

One stunning home, at 224 Bronson St., fashioned shifting lights and layers of bright colors that consumed the entire front of the home and spilled across the front yard. It was complemented by a towering lighted tree in a neighboring yard.

Even though I ran out of space to show it here in the paper, I still had to swing by the magnificent lighted home at the corner of Gardner Avenue and Vic Rugh Lane. Year after year these folks shatter the gold standard and rebuild it afresh with their dazzling array of lights and lawn ornaments.

The mobile home Unit #1 at 501 Green Valley Road is also worth a

TIS THE SEASON A pair of homes light up the night in Pajaro at

the corner of Salinas Road and Stender Avenue. mention; the residents here go full tilt every year. Being the first home you see as you enter the mobile home park, it sets a warm tone as you climb up the steep driveway into the park.

Mark Spurlock, executive pastor at Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, told me Tuesday, “There are some light moments, even in the darkest moments; that is what our faith addresses.” His line certainly gained momentum on my drive.

Being that so many events, concerts, art shows, plays, dance performances, the Nutcracker Ballet, live on stage (of all things!), movies

and on and on have largely been blotted out by the pandemic, the Christmas light displays are still with us. I’ve yet to mention the first-ever Holiday Lights event now going on each night at the fairgrounds: What a grand effort this crowd put forth! And there’s Watsonville Plaza — tack on another year of a brilliant show.

Though I have only mentioned a fraction of displays around town, it’s a start anyway of grasping something that people want to share regardless of being partially grounded by a virus. Thanks for sharing your holiday.

PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 11-7, 2020

FESTIVE FUN Inflatable figures, including Santa and his reindeer on

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THE MIXING BOWL

What’s a Snickerdoodle? kitchen shelves back then. Butter then became the preferred ingredient in baked goods only to give way to vegetable shortenings again as some people lean toward plantbased diets. Unfortunately, this recipe has eggs and cannot be vegan.

The cookies are very white so be careful not to overbake them. Overbaking causes them to be crispy and not soft. You need to check the bottoms to see if they are done.

They keep in a tin for a week.

Snickerdoodles 1 cup soft vegetable shortening or butter 1 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 3/4 cups sifted flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt

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Tarmo Hannula

DECEMBER 11-7, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

Topping:

COMMON ODDITY Crinkly tops dusted with cinnamon and sugar identify these cookies as Snickerdoodles.

By SARAH RINGLER

S

nickerdoodles are a common American cookie going back to the 1800s and are distinguished by their cracked surface covered in cinnamon and sugar. Similar to a sugar cookie, the difference, and appeal, comes from the slight bite from the addition of cream of tartar.

This one is from “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook. ” Cream of tartar, or potassium bitartrate, is a byproduct of making wine. In cooking, as well as

providing flavor, it also stabilizes beaten egg whites and whipping cream, prevents sugar syrups from crystalizing, keeps boiled vegetables from turning pale and is a component of baking powder. It also can be combined with acids like lemon juice and white vinegar to be used to clean brass, copper or aluminum.

The name is an oddity. “The Joy of Cooking” by Irma Rombauer thinks that it might be German because of its similarity in sound to the word “Schneckennudel,” which literally translated means snail noodle, but actually

refers to a sweet bun. I’m skeptical. There are other crazy theories but the most likely one to me comes via Martha Stewart from Judith Jones’s “The Book of New England Cookery,” that says, “New England cooks had a penchant for giving odd names to their dishes—apparently for no other reason than the fun of saying them.”

Betty Crocker calls for shortening, but I used butter. Shortening was a common fat used in the 1950s and appears in many cookbooks from that time. Big blue cans of Crisco next to cans of Maxwell House coffee were on many

2 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon Cream shortening, or butter, and sugar with an electric beater until smooth, like cream. Then add eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth.

Sift flour, then add cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Resift or whisk until well mixed. Add to creamed butter mixture and mix just until blended.

Cover and refrigerate dough for at least an hour. Make sugar and cinnamon mixture in a small bowl.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Form into balls about 1-inch in diameter, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mix. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie tin.

Bake 8-10 minutes. Cookies will puff up then flatten out with crinkled tops. These cookies are very white so don’t overbake. Check the bottoms and they are done when just turning golden brown. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

HOME OF THE WEEK

Tom Brezsny’s

REAL ESTATE OF MIND

Provoking thought since 1990

Coldwell Banker Realty

DOVE LANE This home in the Santa Cruz Mountains complements

its natural surroundings.

Corralitos home in private setting features trails through the forest

T

his home near the headwaters of Corralitos Creek is surrounded by the tranquil Santa Cruz Mountains.

Located at 680 Dove Lane in Corralitos, the 3,086-square-foot home includes four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The home, located behind two private gates, was designed to fit into the natural environment, complete with its own trails.

It features open beam ceilings, walls of windows, multiple decks, covered patios and hardwood floors. The kitchen is outfitted with custom cabinetry and stone countertops. The bathrooms are equipped with natural materials and custom tile work.

The home, built in 1997, is listed at $1,950,000 by Coldwell Banker Realty. For information, visit tinyurl.com/y4zej9xo.

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Tom Brezsny

Realtor® DRE#01063297

831-818-1431 getreal@serenogroup.com PA I D A D V E R T O R I A L

PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 11-7, 2020

Mountain tranquility

Today 10,000 people in the US will turn 65. In another 5 years, that number is going to take a quantum leap further into the stratosphere. How does this huge demographic shift affect the decisions people are making today? What does it mean for the future of real estate?

Homes are the biggest assets most of us will ever own. They are also the all-important centering places for our lives. It makes sense that they should occupy center stage in many of the life discussions people have.

But here’s the thing…there’s not really much of a mindful public dialogue happening about the aging of the culture.

It’s more of an isolated web of separate discussions taking place among small groups of family members. Or between the inner voices loudly talking inside each person’s head.

Change. There’s nothing more certain. The entire universe is constructed by it and through it. Any single thing along the continuum we choose to call real or permanent exists only as a whisper. The shutter of a snapshot taking place in an interlude between infinitesimal moments.

A short stop along the periodic table while elements transform into energy and then back again.

We are all verbs that like to harbor the illusion that we are nouns. Even though we are all creatures of change and there’s nothing more certain, there’s also nothing that resists the “idea of change” more than certain parts of our brains do.

Our neural pathways are like well-worn deer trails. The more they get used, the more embedded and fossilized they become. When that happens, they hunker down and operate on survival mode. They dig in and fight to preserve PUBLICATION: GOOD TIMES themselves.

Why do so many people stay in houses ADVERTISER: APTOS NATURALS they actively dislike? Or places that just don’t work for them? Because the prospect of change is so scary. We ACCOUNT EXEC: DEBRA DESIGN DEPARTMENT convince ourselves that without our weeklys.com accustomed neural pathways in play, we DESIGNER: MACKENZIE won’t know who we are anymore. If we lose our ego, we’ll have to start all over again like a stroke patient learning how to walk and talk like they used to. Or just maybe, intriguingly, in a brand new way.

And that’s where we’ll stop. With the tiny idea that change could be an introduction to something new and interesting rather than fearful. Change might be something to embrace rather than resist. When people opt for the default position of choosing not to change they are in effect, kicking the can down the road until life inevitably steps in and does what it always does…makes choices for them whether they are ready or not.

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PHOTO GALLERY Have a recent photo you’d like to share? Send it to us for consideration by emailing it to echalhoub@weeklys.com or mailing it to 21 Brennan St., Suite 18, Watsonville, CA 95076. Please include a brief description of the photo as well as the name of the photographer.

FIELD OF MIST A lone

field worker tends to an active irrigation system on a farm on Trafton Road.

DECEMBER 11-7, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

Tarmo Hannula

WALK A MILE A woman, who

A contrail stretches above the Watsonville Municipal Airport as seen at Ella’s at the Airport.

recently had knee replacement surgery, walks on Green Valley Road recently as part of her rehabilitation efforts.

Ed Show

Sally Vaughn

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GARDENING

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Kate Russell

DECEMBER 11 -7, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

Growing vegetables in containers

SELF-SUFFICIENT Growing vegetables in containers is a rewarding experience.

Finding the right pots and sunlight areas

By KATE RUSSELL

R

adishes, beans, salad greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, garlic and many other edible plants can be grown in containers, given enough sunlight.

Without enough light, plants will not produce a harvest. Plants use sunlight, or artificially created sunlight, to create sugars using photosynthesis. Natural sunlight is ideal, but you can use inexpensive shop lights fitted with grow bulbs as an affordable replacement.

Choosing containers for your

edible plants can be a lot of fun, just make sure that they have good drainage. Overwatering can drown your container plants. Thrift stores are full of attractive, affordable containers. You can also order beautiful new containers. Keep in mind, when selecting containers, that uncoated ceramic and wood containers dry out faster than metal, plastic, or glazed ceramic. Make sure your containers are safe for food before adding soil.

Soil is the lifeblood of your vegetable garden. This is the one area

that warrants splurging. Since you are growing vegetables to eat, organic potting soil is your best bet.

While there are plenty of pre-fertilized commercial soil mixtures available, some of those chemicals are known to cause health concerns.

What will you grow? Look in your refrigerator! What produce do you buy most frequently? Tomatoes are highly rewarding container plants, and cherry tomato plants can be prolific. You can get many of your seeds and starters from plants you already have on hand. Bell peppers and tomatoes are chock full of seeds.

If you cut the end from your bunch of celery and plant it, you will end up with celery stalks with far more flavor than you are used to. Next time you take the seeds out of a jalapeño, push them into some soil and add a little water. Salad greens, radishes, and spinach are very rewarding vegetables from seed. Ask your gardener friends if they have extra seeds. I’ll bet they do!

Some plants need pollination to produce a crop. If your containers are outside, bees, wasps, flies, and other insects will provide the pollination needed. You can increase the likelihood of these helpful insects coming into your garden with flowers. If you are growing vegetables in containers indoors, you can still have a successful crop if you pollinate by hand. Simply use a small paintbrush and gently touch the tip of the brush to each flower head, making sure to complete two circuits of each flower in a different order. The pollen from one flower must come in contact with a different flower to create tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins, which are, in fact, fruits.

True vegetables, such as lettuce and spinach, do not require pollination.

Once you try your hand at growing vegetables in containers, you will become self-sufficient in delicious, rewarding ways that you never thought possible.

LITERATURE

Always on the move “I want readers to get into their happy space, have a few laughs when they read my books… But I also want to make them feel a bit nervous, get their hearts pumping a bit.”

“Lost and Bound,” is now available.

Author releases next installment in local mystery series

By JOHANNA MILLER

F

or the past decade, local author Joyce Oroz has steadily released volumes of her Josephine Stuart Mystery Series. And now the 12th book has joined the lineup.

“Lost and Bound” follows the series’ titular character, Josephine

grew up in the San Lorenzo Valley.

(Her first book took place in her hometown of Boulder Creek.) In preparation for “Lost and Bound,” she did research about Henry Cowell State Park and the old trains that often weave through it.

“I like to give a little bit of history to each place,” she said.

After having written 12 different stories about Josephine so far, Oroz says they are “very familiar with each other by now,” and that she still finds Josephine very enjoyable to write. She hopes that will reflect on readers.

“I want readers to get into their happy space, have a few laughs when they read my books,” she said. “But I also want to make them feel a bit nervous, get their hearts pumping a bit… I like to throw a lot of adventure into these stories.

There are no dull conversations— these characters are always on the move.”

Physical copies of “Lost and Bound” are now available at Kelly’s Books, 1838 Main St. Oroz encourages people to purchase through the store if they can. Otherwise, an e-book version is available through Amazon.

PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 11 -7, 2020

Submitted photo

MYSTERY SERIES Aromas author Joyce Oroz’s next book,

Stuart, as she investigates the death of a woman after she was discovered on the tracks at Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton on Halloween. The case hits close to home as the woman is identified as her best friend Alicia’s sister.

Along with her loyal basset hound Solow, Josephine leaps into action to unravel the mystery and bring the killer to justice. Unfortunately, then things start looking bad for Alicia as well.

Oroz said that she finished “Lost and Bound” a lot quicker than she thought she would, most likely due to the current pandemic giving her more time to work.

“At the start of this whole thing…

I had lots of time for writing and I felt really inspired,” she said.

“I think I finished it about three months ahead of time.”

The Josephine Stuart Mystery series has gained a decent following, especially with local readers who enjoy seeing their own towns and communities highlighted in the books. Oroz said she’s had numerous people reach out with requests for the next book’s setting.

She had several requests for Felton and in particular Roaring Camp, which delighted Oroz as she

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