Architectural Marvels

Altadena Guild of Huntington Memorial Hospital will host its 69th Home & Garden Tour on Sunday, May 1, in hopes of raising money for a new cardiac care center.

Altadena Home & Garden Tour returns for 2022

By Luke Netzley

At the foothills of the looming San Gabriel Mountains lies the eclectic community of Altadena, home to palm-laden streets and dotted with historic homes.

After a two-year hiatus, the Altadena Guild of Huntington Memorial Hospital’s Home & Garden Tour will return Sunday, May 1, for the 69th time with hopes to fulfill its $100,000 commitment to Huntington Hospital’s new cardiac care center by giving guests a tour of the community’s architectural marvels.

“Normally our home tours draw a thousand or more people,” guild member Elaine Bauer says. “We’re completely convinced that we will reach that, if not many more, and we are hoping to do that because the programs that we support are so valuable to the community around us and far-reaching, too, with HMRI and all of the discoveries that they’ve made over the years that have helped people.”

The Altadena Guild was founded in 1951 to support the work of Huntington Memorial Hospital and has since raised several million dollars to benefit the hospital and Huntington Medical Research Institutes.

The guild has also underwritten hospital employee scholarships and supported the Constance G. Zahorik Appearance Center to benefit cancer patients.

To help support its mission, the home and garden tour invites guests to an idyllic stretch of Mendocino Lane to explore four homes and gardens in the neighborhood.

“It’s an iconic street that gives you a peaceful feeling to walk along,” Bauer says. “We have four beautiful homes and gardens on tour. Each home is stunning in and of itself, and they’re all completely different styles, so it’s going to be a wonderful tour for guests to investigate these different designs.”

The tour will feature a house designed by architect Richard Bates known to Bauer as the “palm tree house,” home to a subtropical botanic garden with 140 species of palm.

Another home is an Italianate villa with a garden space that features a pool and Venetian bronze fountain alongside the rear courtyard.

The tour will also pass a single-story modern home and garden, complete with a guest house ADU, and the fourth home, which is a classic, Spanish-style two-story house.

“As you walk along, you are greeted by soldiers of palm trees lining the street, and as you walk Northeast, you’re looking at the mountains,” Bauer says. “It’s just beautiful. It’s an open area, and the street will be full of community tables, people wandering and lots of music, too.”

In addition to the home and garden tour, there will be numerous vendors and community tables showcasing local businesses and sponsors from in and around Altadena, designated areas where both Porsche and Cal-Rods will have their cars on display, food, and entertainment including live music and tango dance performances.

Guests will also receive a program with detailed writeups for each home along with maps and advertising for the businesses and entities supporting the guild and its work, particularly toward Huntington Hospital and HMRI.

“Huntington Hospital has invested a great deal of money into the health and welfare of the community surrounding us, and that’s why we’ve decided to give that hundred-thousand-dollar commitment to the cardiac care center,” Bauer says. “HMRI has also invited students and researchers to come into their fabulous facility on Fair Oaks across from the hospital to work on all of these really difficult medical issues that we are faced with these days and to uncover solutions for improving quality of life for all of us.”

2022 Altadena Guild Home & Garden Tour WHERE: Mendocino Lane, Altadena WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 1 COST: $45 in advance; $50 day of tour INFO: altadenaguild.org

Cara Cara Means Yum Yum

Gluten-free tart celebrates the orange

By Emily Chavez

Delicious seasonal cara cara oranges are my choice for winter to early spring fruit.

Any orange can be used for this recipe, but the juicy cara cara variety is sweet without the bitterness found in conventional navel oranges.

Inspired by traditional lemon bars, this tart becomes a dessert centerpiece with a browned butter gluten-free crust. Also, unlike the usual curd filling, which requires more than a dozen eggs, this tart sets with unflavored gelatin. I personally prefer the gelatin set so I can avoid an eggy dessert. A dusting of powdered sugar or candied orange slices is the perfect topper for this tart that truly celebrates the orange.

GLUTEN-FREE CARA CARA ORANGE TART HANDS-ON TIME: 40 MINUTES | READY IN 2 HOURS YIELDS: 6 SERVINGS

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 CUPS CARA CARA ORANGE JUICE, FRESH SQUEEZED 6 CARA CARA ORANGE, ZEST OF 1 TEASPOON SALT 3 EGG YOLKS 3 WHOLE EGGS 1 TO 2 GELATIN PACKETS, UNFLAVORED 2 CUPS SUGAR 1 CUP BUTTER, UNSALTED 3 1/4 CUPS 1-TO-1 GLUTENFREE FLOUR

OPTIONAL: POWDERED SUGAR OR CANDIED ORANGE TWISTS TO FINISH.

INSTRUCTIONS

MELT BUTTER IN A SAUCEPAN OVER MEDIUM HEAT UNTIL GOLDEN COLORED AND SMELLS TOASTY.

REMOVE FROM HEAT AND STIR IN 1/2 CUP SUGAR UNTIL MOSTLY DISSOLVED.

IN SEPARATE BOWL, WHISK TOGETHER FLOUR AND 1/2 TEASPOON SALT. STIR IN THE BUTTER AND SUGAR MIX UNTIL CRUMBLY.

PRESS THIS MIXTURE INTO A TART OR SHEET PAN, ALONG THE SIDES AND BOTTOM.

BAKE FOR ABOUT 40 MINUTES AT 350 DEGREES UNTIL GOLDEN.

WHILE THE CRUST BAKES, MAKE THE FILLING BY WHISKING TOGETHER THE REMAINING 1 1/2 CUPS SUGAR AND 1/2 TEASPOON SALT IN A BOWL. THEN MIX IN THE EGGS, ZEST AND JUICE.

COOK THIS FILLING MIXTURE OVER MEDIUM HEAT FOR ABOUT 20 MINUTES, STIRRING UNTIL THE CURD THICKENS AND LOOKS CREAMY.

REMOVE FROM HEAT AND STRAIN THROUGH A FINE MESH STRAINER. STIR IN GELATIN.

POUR THE FILLING INTO THE COOKED CRUST AND CHILL UNTIL FIRM, AT LEAST 1 1/2 HOURS.