Pajaro Valley Magazine December 25 2020

THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF THE PAJARO VALLEY

DECEMBER 25, 2020

A supplement to The Pajaronian

Photograph by Johanna Miller

SHOWING SPIRIT Stephanie Ruhl (from left) and fellow volunteers Olivia and Matthew Quinlan dressed up to hand out presents to local families during Casa de la Cultura’s annual giveaway.

Goodwill to All Casa de la Cultura gifts food, clothing, toys to 425 families in Pajaro P4

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Jeanie Johnson

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Ad Director

Debra Whizin Editor

Erik Chalhoub

DECEMBER 25 - 30, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

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

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PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 25 - 30, 2020

We would like to thank you all for your support during these difficult times for all of us. La Michoacana Paleteria y Neveria wishes you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year full of health and harmony.

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HELPING HANDS

Students, alumni and families from Palma High School in Salinas organized and distributed food to local families at Monday’s event.

DECEMBER 25 - 30, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

Johanna Miller

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season of giving the

BY JOHANNA MILLER

Casa de la Cultura adapts annual Christmas giveaway into drive-thru event

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ince 1991, Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriguez has led an effort to bring holiday cheer to families in need at Casa de la Cultura in Pajaro, where she serves as Executive Director.

The organization’s annual Food and Gift Christmas Giveaway invites children to sign up prior to the event to get a Christmas toy. It also qualifies their families for packages of food and new clothing.

This year, despite the ongoing Covid19 pandemic, Sister Dolores was determined to move forward with the event.

Photos by Johanna Miller

other than Santa Claus himself, who waved in greeting and handed down large bags of gifts with the help of some elves.

Three such elves were volunteers from Driscoll’s—Stephanie Ruhl, who organized her fellow employees to be part of the event, and father-daughter team Matthew and Olivia Quinlan. They helped wrap and label the toys, as well.

“It’s so important to be there for the community,” Ruhl said. “We should show them they are not alone, and there are a lot of people who do want to help.”

Ruhl added that being out with the other volunteers and seeing all the families has been special, since she cannot be with her own family this year.

“It’s great to be part of this, to be here with everyone and help support these kids,” she said.

After visiting Santa, families made one final stop to pick up brand new coats

from the Resurrection Church Knights of Columbus Council. This is the fifth year straight that the group has donated hundreds of coats to the giveaway through their Coats for Kids program.

A total of 552 coats were handed out Monday. In addition, hundreds more were sent to Jacob’s Heart Children's Cancer Support Services and the All About Kids foster program in Oroville.

Knight of Columbus officer Larry Young praised Sister Dolores for her hard work in putting on the giveaway despite challenging circumstances.

“She’s a wonderful lady, she gives so much,” he said. “She gives her time and talent to help others. It’s a blessing to call her a friend.”

Dolores had a long list of people to thank, including all of her “dedicated” volunteers from Pajaro and longstanding volunteer Sister Teresa, who was busy directing traffic around the complex Monday.

“It’s sure different this year, but we’re figuring it out,” Sister Teresa said.

Other donors and volunteers included Deluxe Foods’ Mark Monte, Brian Bigioni, Tanya Kosta, Louis Ivanovich of West Lake Fresh, Taylor Farms, Braga Farms, Steinbeck Produce, Jim Black and Jeff Gabrio, Royal Oaks Farms, Marion LaRue, Thorne Communications, Together in Pajaro, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Greg Caput and Monterey County Supervisor John Phillips, and more.

Sister Dolores said she hopes the event brought a sense of normalcy to the families’ and especially the kids’ Christmas holiday.

“I’ve heard from some of the parents… at all times of the year, when they drive by Casa [de la Cultura], their kids say, ‘That’s where Santa Claus is!’ I’m glad we can still bring that magic to them,” she said.

PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 25 - 30, 2020

“It’s special every year, but it’s even more special this year because we’re alive,” she said. “We still have the ability to serve and provide food and toys for the kids.”

Dolores and her fellow volunteers were looking for a way to adapt the giveaway, which usually takes place at Casa de la Cultura’s small headquarters and the surrounding parking lot.

Thankfully, their neighbors at Marinovich Cold Storage, owned by the Alvarez Brothers, were ready to help.

The giveaway on Monday morning was adapted as a drive-thru. Families entered near Casa de la Cultura and drove through the storage facility, where volunteers were set up in different areas. A live nativity welcomed families as they arrived.

Then bags of food were handed off by students, staff, alumni and families from Palma High School in Salinas.

Families were then greeted by none

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THE MIXING BOWL

Cozy potato cheddar soup 1 tablespoon sherry - optional 1 1/2 teaspoons salt Ground black pepper to taste 1/4 cup parsley, chopped and served as a topping

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Tarmo Hannula

DECEMBER 25 - 30, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

Vegetable stock:

TIMELY MEAL Cold nights are warmed by this creamy potato and cheddar cheese soup.

By SARAH RINGLER

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his warming and calming potato soup is a good antidote to the cold weather and occasional stress that comes at this time of the year. After having a bowlful, you feel like you’re enveloped in a warm down comforter. It’s pretty easy to make. It also freezes and reheats well giving you another meal down the line. Back before Covid, I served this soup at our New Year’s Eve drop-ins.

The soup can be made with chicken or vegetable stock. I think that vegetable stock is as good as chicken stock but there are two special ingredients that help give it a great flavor: sweet potatoes and dried Porcini mushrooms. You

can store onion, potato and carrot peelings in your freezer to use when you need to make stock. The stock also freezes well.

Safeway sells their own very good Lucerne brand extra sharp cheddar at about $6 a pound which is pretty cheap. It is good for snacks, but also for Mac and Cheese, quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches and more. It melts easily and has a nice little bite that is absent in most American cheeses at that price.

This soup is delicate and prone to curdling, which causes it to lose its creaminess and look grainy.

Curdling occurs when a mixture breaks down and turns into a liquid with little solid bits floating around. It is desirable when one

is making cheese and you want to take the little solid bits and form them into a block. This soup can curdle if it is overheated or if you add cold half and half to it.

POTATO CHEDDAR SOUP 4 large red potatoes, peeled and quartered 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock Bay leaf 1 tablespoon butter 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 3 medium sized or 1 1/2 large yellow onions, chopped 1 cup half and half 3/4 pound grated extra sharp cheddar cheese

Onion skins Potato skins Carrots, cut in chunks Celery tops Sweet potato skins or whole potato cut in chunks Dried porcini mushrooms, optional 6 cups cold water Make stock by bringing to boil about 2 cups of the vegetable scraps above in a pot with 6 cups of cold water. Lower heat and bring down to a simmer and simmer for an hour or so. Strain stock into a saucepan and measure out 3 cups.

Peel the potatoes, quarter them, and add to a saucepan with 3 cups of strained stock. Add salt, bay leaf and bring to a boil. Once pot boils, turn down and simmer until potatoes are soft.

While potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil and butter in a frying pan over medium heat. When heated, add chopped onions and sauté until soft and transparent.

Carefully warm the half and half in a saucepan. If you overheat it, it will curdle, and if you add it cold to the soup, the soup will curdle.

Set aside.

When potatoes are done, add cooked onions. Take off the heat and remove the bay leaf.

In a blender, combine about half of the warm potato-onion-stock mixture, half of the grated cheese and half of the warm half and half.

Purée until smooth and put into a clean, heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Then, purée the other half and add to saucepan.

Before you are ready to serve, carefully heat the mixture.

Overheating will cause curdling. Stir in sherry and add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve. Serves 4-6.

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PHOTO GALLERY

out the back door of a wave at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz.

Tarmo Hannula

EVENING MEAL An otter snacks

on a recent find in the depths of Moss Landing Harbor.

CUTTING THROUGH People

check out Aptos Creek as it crosses the sands of Rio Del Mar State Beach.

Tarmo Hannula

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WIPE OUT A surfer is heaved

Tarmo Hannula

DECEMBER 25 - 30, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

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.

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GARDENING

This bitter root is highly versatile

Tom Brezsny’s

REAL ESTATE OF MIND

Provoking thought since 1990 Continuing the conversation…We’ve spent the last three weeks talking about the aging of the culture and the important role homes play as the biggest assets and the centering places in people’s lives. Is there anything that ranks higher on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs than home does for human beings?

Chicory is commonly used as a coffee substitute or bread flour

But how ironic is it that home so often acts as a huge repository for all kinds of junk people can’t quite seem to figure out how to recycle back into the flow of the world? What am I talking about? I’m talking about that huge umbrella of a euphemism that fits under the all-purpose heading of “stuff”.

By KATE RUSSELL

You know, “stuff” as in all the stuff that people collect and fill their homes with. All the stuff that people form strange attractions to. The stuffthat’s in their junk drawers and closets, attics and garages. In bags and in boxes. Piled high on shelves and jammed into corners.

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Even if each and every one of us knows somewhere deep in our heart of hearts that it’s all “stuff” we aren’t going to be able take with us when we die. Maybe the ancient Egyptians were able to pack a few important possessions for personal use in the afterlife, but there’s not enough real estate left on the planet to start burying even modest members of modern consumer culture with a fraction of the stuff they’ve accumulated.

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DECEMBER 25 - 30, 2020 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE

The stuff they are saving. Or the stuff they can’t quite bring themselves to throw away. The stuff that, over time, gets stuffed down like baggage from the past until it takes up way too much room or is so heavy to carry (physically and psychically) that it makes it hard to actually conceive of moving.

TOPS in Their Field

To get into a better mood for this discussion, try googling the old George Carlin video on “stuff”. It brilliantly captures our weird, addictive, all-too-human love affair with things. It’s my passionate belief that in order to figure out more graceful strategies for growing older, facing change and moving ahead in life, all those aging baby boomers out there are going to have to get better at rethinking their relationship with the stuffthey’ve grown used to defining themselves by.

What’s important from this point forward? You can’t move down unless you are ready to give some things up. You can’t shrink your debt and conserve your personal resources if you can’t quit buying things. You can’t open yourself up to all those “life experiences” you’d dearly love to have before you leave the planet unless you are willing to empty your rice bowl.

More next week…

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hicory root coffee may inspire thoughts of pastry and jazz, but this rugged roadside weed has a place in local gardens and landscapes.

Chicory is a woody perennial that comes in many different varieties, depending on the cultivar used: roots (var. sativum) and leaves (var. foliosum) are the most common. Chicory, occurring naturally, can indicate compacted soil. Luckily, its deep taproot helps break up compacted soil, plus it’s drought tolerant!

Chicory as food Chicory is a highly versatile plant.

It’s slightly bitter leaves are used in salads, the buds can be blanched, and the taproots are frequently roasted and ground up as a coffee substitute. You can reduce the bitterness by changing the cooking water two or three times. Roots are harvested before flowering stems emerge. These roots can be cooked and eaten the same as carrots or parsnips, ground into flour for bread or used as a coffee substitute. Plus, chicory contains twice as much of the cancer-fighting, heart-healthy polyphenols found in spinach.

Chicory description A member of the daisy family (Asteraceae), chicory (Cichorium intybus) is one of those large, gregarious groups that may surprise you. For example, curly endive, Belgian endive and radicchio are all types of chicory.

Lettuce and dandelions are close

cousins, while chicory's distant cousins include sunflowers, artichokes and yarrow. Also known as cornflower, bachelor’s buttons, coffeeweed, blue daisy and wild endive, chicory’s flowers are composite, and leaves are normally toothed or lobed. Plants grow 10 to 40 inches tall. Flowers appear July through October.

How to grow chicory In our planting zone (9b), chicory is a cool season crop that can be started in January and February for an early summer crop, and again in July or August for an early winter crop. This gives the seeds time to get started before the weather turns too hot or too cold.

Summer's heat causes chicory to bolt, but a light frost actually adds just a touch of sweetness. Seeds should be planted a quarter-inch deep and thinned to 12 inches apart. Avoid overhead watering, as the leaves are prone to rotting.

Chicory pests and diseases Despite its rugged nature, there are some pests and diseases that can impact chicory. Bacterial soft rot, damping off disease, fusarium wilt, white mold, anthracnose and downy mildews are all diseases that attack chicory. Aphids, cabbage loopers, beetles, leaf miners, thrips, and slugs and snails may feed on your chicory plants.

Chicory grows like a weed.

Once established, you can pretty much ignore it until you decide to harvest whatever part you have a hankering for. And, hey, even the flowers are edible!

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