THE THE LIFESTYLE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE MAGAZINE OF OF THE THE PAJARO PAJARO VALLEY VALLEY
FEBRUARY 11- 24,2022
Love
Fo r A supplement to The Pajaronian
CHOCOLATIER, HISTORIANS MARK SEASON OF ROMANCE
An early-day lace doily graces the table beneath a candle holder as part of the Valentine’s Day decorations at the Pajaro Valley Historical Association.
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Erik Chalhoub
FEBRUARY 11 - 24,2022 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE
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Erik Chalhoub, Johanna Miller, Tarmo Hannula, Sarah Ringler Advertising Account Executives
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Cover story
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Home of the Week
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Published by WatsNews, LLC, Watsonville, CA. Entire contents © 2022. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form prohibited without publisher’s written permission.
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Celebrating Valentine’s
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PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 11- 24, 2022
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PERFECT PAIR
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Ccontributed
FEBRUARY 11 - 24,2022 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE
Heritage Chocolates will host a virtual pairing with El Vaquero Winery for Valentine’s Day.
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sweet tradition Heritage Chocolates Corralitos a local, family affair
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ore than 50 years ago, clockmaker and shop owner Allison Rider discovered a new hobby: making chocolate candies for his friends, family and
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PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 11- 24,2022
employees. Rider, a big chocolate lover, started creating treats loosely based on See's Candies flavors. He experimented with caramel and other soft-center candies, eventually passing his knowledge on to other family members. This included his daughter Ali Dwyer, who now owns and operates Heritage Chocolates Corralitos with her husband, Richard Dwyer. After her father passed away in 2016, Ali’s family was inspired to continue his legacy and take things further. “We started [Heritage] in early 2017,” she said. “We now make around 29 types of chocolate, with some seasonal flavors as well. A lot of recipes are from family … The caramel recipe was from my dad’s family. The soft center recipe came from my mom’s sister-in-law.”
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WIDE SELECTION Heritage Chocolates Corralitos was founded in 2017
and now offers 29 types of candies, as well as treat bars and barks.
With Valentine’s Day approaching, the Dwyers are busy—they create, pack and distribute all of their creations themselves from inside their Corralitos home. In addition to candies they offer treat bars and barks, and are currently selling Valentine’s-themed packs that include “Love Bites” (made with pistachios, cardamom and dried strawberries) and cherry amaretto chocolates. “Valentine’s Day is the second biggest holiday for us, right after Christmas,” Ali said. “This is a big one.” Heritage Chocolates has found success in partnering with local wineries, creating infused chocolates to sell at wineries across the Monterey Bay. They regularly host pop-ups and events at El Vaquero Winery and Nicholson Winery in Corralitos, and this weekend will kick off a new partnership at Byington Vineyard & Winery in Santa Cruz. “We’ve also done collaborations with Fruition Brewing, infusing their beer into our chocolate,” Dwyer added. “Also … last, and this weekend our candy will be sold at Three Waves Coffee. We use their beans for our coffee chocolates.” Working with other businesses, farms and community members is an important aspect of their business, Ali said. “I love working with the community, local farmers … Eventually, as we can afford it, we want to switch things over to where we can use local products in everything,” she said. “Such as, we use the lemon and
blackberry that we’ve grown on our property. And our friends … they recently gave us oranges, which we’ll use for our orange chocolates.” They are also working with local distributing platform Eatlocal.farm, which offers $5 deliveries of regional products. “They’re selling our barks like crazy,” Richard said. “It’s a great partnership.” In the future, the Dwyers hope to find a commercial kitchen space and some additional help with operations. For now though, they are enjoying the ride. “My father likes to say, ‘There’s no such thing as bad chocolate, it’s just that some chocolate is better than others,’” Richard said. “We’ve taken that to heart.” Honoring her own father’s passion for chocolate will always be part of their mission, Ali said. They even chose the name of the company to reflect his clock shop, Allison Heritage Clocks, using the original font he designed in the 1970s for the logo. “We chose our name to carry on his legacy,” Ali said. “To honor how this all started.” Heritage Chocolates will host pop-ups this weekend at Stripe in Downtown Santa Cruz and Beer Thirty in Soquel. They will be at Byington Sunday, 12-4pm. Shop online at heritage-chocolates.com and follow the business’ Facebook for regular updates.
SWEET KICK Heritage Chocolates has collaborated with Three Waves Coffee
and local distribution platform EatLocal.Farm.
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FEBRUARY 11 - 24,2022 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE
A SWEET TRADITION
LOVE BOX A special Valentine’s Day pack includes “Love Bites” made with rose and cardamom, and cherry amaretto chocolates.
FEATURED HOME
There is a Better Way Tom Brezsny’s
Real Estate of Mind Provoking thought since 1990
Staying on topic: Low Inventory Woes Ore resciis nobitium qui utam estrum -Whyinimint More Sellers Aren’t Selling. que invent ati ut fugiasp ienihil Trying to pinpoint the igentotatem auda reasons quamusbehind molupta Tom Brezsny’s historic low inventory we’re experiencing. quiat. What’s causing the huge crimp in the Luptas di berisqui andi simi, quo supply side of the market equation? Provoking thought sinceque 1990molorem. essinulpa Whenever nimillaciam there’s a significant change Vel est, quibercima dus.to trot out in the market, punditssilike Ore nobitium utamquistrum theirresciis short list of “usualqui suspects. ”estrum Low Am rerore, si volorio. Nemod Inventory is invent caused quid by aversion que inimint ati people’s utquas fugiasp ienihil resequu ntiberum volorenet to capital gains, or concerns about higher igentotatem auda quamus molupta fuga. Et res sitatus andentem. Cabo. property taxes. Or, since they’re already Nobitatia illoratrem volest que quiat. locked intovolorero their homes rock-bottom vendus restis senistota sam interestdi rates, why sell and buyhitatur new Luptas berisqui andi simi, quo houses with more costly mortgages? aditiur? Qui dolorro ipsundit occupti essinulpa nimillaciam que molorem. Those all important considerations, busdae necaectium et dus. plam dunt am Vel est,are quibercima si but rerore, in thisquis case they’re really justquistrum the sim verit minum, consenis re tip of Am si volorio. Nemod the iceberg. Smaller symptoms of a much sinienim qui aut iur modis as etur? resequu ntiberum quid quas volorenet larger shift, one that’s profoundly baked Torisquosae repuditas ut facia fuga. 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Quaspit volore delibusam ut et the ut odicidebit, siment from now. reality of it.aut Choose doluptiis sidolorro qui voluptas modi proactively now, how youvitatia want nos to live for dem quaeinus pori quia the rest Voluptat of the foreseeable future.serupta Or wait ilibus. illatur? aspernatum, untilnulparum life makes the decision you and Ique isnonsedipsum a for conestr ecesci eum faccus, restium doesn’t res necessarily offer up any desirable uptat. eum que dolorem nos dolum lam, options. Alique maaenisi am, audipsa etur, cust duntusdae dolorpo The magnitude ofquatet changelam associated piciaec latur aut dicia quia rempeliquid modis autpopulation ataerror re with ourusandite rapidly-aging is something we’ve never experienced pa ipsantoptatio magnihicid quiate volorest dempor aut re autad que before. In Nem many ways, we’re living in delibusam ut etque ut odicidebit, siment explabo. recuste posapel an older, undiscovered country that’s dem quae pori dolorro vitatia quia trying to come to terms with its own illatur? Voluptat aspernatum, serupta existential angst. And it’s going to require an expanded conversation to find better ecesci res eum restium nonsedipsum solutions the challenges inherent eum que to dolorem nos dolum lam,in living longer. DRE #01063297 etur, custRealtor® a duntusdae lam dolorpo As my 94-year-old parents are fond of 831-818-1431 rempeliquid modis aut ataerror re saying whenever they get the chance: getreal@sereno.com volorest autToaut “Getting optatio old isn’t dempor for sissies!” that, I’m going to add myque ownrecuste real estate-inspired explabo. Nem posapel PA I D A DVisn’t ERTO AL phrase: “Downsizing forRI Wimps!”
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VALENTINE’S DAY 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. ROMANTIC TRADITION
Tarmo Hannula
FOR LOVE
Day tree features a wealth of fine small purses of days past.
Virginia Avala dressed up this glass showcase inside the archive building at the Pajaro Valley Historical Association.
Tarmo Hannula
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VINTAGE The Valentine’s
Tarmo Hannula
FEBRUARY 11- 24,2022 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE
Thanks to the efforts of Virginia Avala, Pajaro Valley Historical Association board member of the house committee, and Jodi Frensley, office administrator, an early-day tradition of dressing up a “Valentine’s Day tree” stays alive inside the historic Frank Orr House on 332 East Beach St.
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A taste of the Salinas River and Carmel Valley By TARMO HANNULA
O Tarmo Hannula
FEBRUARY 11 - 24,2022 | PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE
ROCKY TERRAIN The Arroyo Seco campground includes a major tributary of the Salinas River that drains a rugged area of the Coast Ranges east of Big Sur before flowing through the agricultural Salinas Valley.
COUNTRY SCENE A farm near the Arroyo Seco campground features
a water tank that resembles a lighthouse.
n the third and final day of our road trip to Coalinga, Paso Robles and surroundings, heading north toward home, we cut off of Highway 101 at Greenfield and turned west. We took the G16 route that led us through the tiny ag town of Greenfield where we were surrounded by vineyards, strawberry farms and rustic older farmhouses and barns. G16 then connected up to Arroyo Seco Road toward the rugged mountains of the Coast Ranges east of Big Sur. With hardly a car in sight the entire drive, it was easy to pull over and take in the beauty of the tranquil land, grab a few photos and drive on at our own pace. We’ve never visited the Arroyo
Seco campground, but have heard about it from plenty of folks. As Arroyo Seco Road wound through the countryside and hills, we eventually crossed an early day steel bridge that spanned the Salinas River. We followed the Salinas River into the campground past clutches of shady trees and rocky terrain. The kind ranger there let us park for a few minutes, long enough to take a few photos for this story, smell the pristine air and listen to the rushing water as it splashed across the rocky shores of the river. Backtracking a short bit, we turned onto Carmel Valley Road which, we learned, offers a huge array of curves, hills and sweeping bends for quite a while before you reach civilization. We pulled into Carmel Valley and parked long enough to catch a light lunch at Cafe Rustica, 10 Del Fino Place, check out some of the shops and then continue north. We followed Highway 1 out of Carmel and through Monterey where we followed the arc of the Monterey Bay through Moss Landing, over the rise and back to the Pajaro Valley. Over the years we’ve traveled to 33 countries, including China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Mexico, Sweden and Finland, but the pandemic, for us, has put a lid on such travels—for the time being. On top of that, our last several experiences at airports have tremendously soured, with cut staffing and the customer having to do more of the work— luggage, check-in, meals, etc. Now, during the Covid-19 nightmare, we’ve taken to road trips around California and into Nevada and found they fill our travel needs well. While some places adhere to pandemic safety protocols and others places just plainly don’t, we’ve tried our best to blend in and maneuver as best we see fit. On this journey, we had plenty of thrills, fun, unexpected surprises, great meals and a visit with old friends in Paso Robles. Our motel rooms were fine and our drive proved to be safe and relaxing. Though we never found a spec of Benitoite in our brush with mining for gems, we came away with a nutty story that we’ve now shared many times (do note, not one person has voiced even a hint of wanting to try heading to the Benitoite mine).
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PAJARO VALLEY MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 11- 24, 2022
SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD SPECIALS NIGHTLY
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