Mariani: Handheld salad wrap is ideal for winery picnic
This is a very busy time of year for wineries of the South Valley. Grapes are being harvested to be crushed. Many local wineries invite visitors to see the crush process in action. So, consider this an opportune time to pay them a visit, do some winetasting and of course, pack a nice picnic lunch. This week, I feature an item for your picnic lunch served in what I feel is a revolutionary method.
Explore the trails and beauty beneath Mt. Umunhum
Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve is the largest preserve in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. At 18,670 acres, it encompasses the portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains from Lexington Reservoir above Los Gatos down to Mt. Umunhum where it shares a boundary with Almaden Quicksilver County Park. If you look toward the southwest from nearly anywhere in the South Bay, you are looking at Sierra Azul.
Chips are the perfect addition to a workout
From time to time I catch a glimpse of my butt in a random mirror and think, “Hmm, I should work out.” Fortunately, I’m a fundamentally lazy person, so my workout mainly consists of thinking about working out. If you’re wondering—thinking about working out is not an effective way to shrink the size of your butt. Hey, never say I don’t add knowledge to the South Valley with this column, OK?
Gavilan Football: Rams dominate Mendocino on the road
Ukiah—For the first time since coach Spencer Gilford took over the program, Gavilan is 2-0.
Eleven years later, resident awarded patent on translator design
Hollister’s Jose Estevan Guzman ran into a problem back in 2002 when he would go on dates to the movies with a woman who didn’t speak English. She was fluent in Spanish, not English, so Guzman would translate the movies for her at Premiere Cinemas.
Marty: Measure J should be called Measure OPEC instead
According to the BLM: “More oil was produced in California in 2013 than in any other state except Texas and North Dakota” and in 2009 76% of that production used enhanced techniques that would be banned by Measure J. There was not a single documented report of significant groundwater or aquifer contamination from all those operations and water use is a drop in the bucket compared with agriculture or even food processing.
10 years on and still chuggin’ along
Though there were no parties or celebrations, I recently had an anniversary. And it was a somewhat unusual one for a journalist: 10 years with the same newspaper.
Overseas demand, health trend give boost to local walnut growers
In South Korea, the Beverly Hills pizza made with California walnuts is hard to keep in stock – and devotees of the carbolicious food might have a San Benito County walnut farmer to thank.
Summer’s almost gone, but not the memories
Although the thermometer belies the season, here in South Valley we hover on the threshold of fall. Pumpkins, autumn leaves and crisp, cool evenings shall soon overtake the sunny days of summer.
The Hawaiian island of Maui: Where civilization and Eden merge
Think Hawaii and images of romance, blue skies and glorious weather float by the conjured thoughts. Midway across the warm Pacific lies a chain of islands called Hawaii, 2,000 miles of ocean from our mainland with no continental coast between. These small bits of land appear offered to the sky by water and pressed to the earth by stars. Here civilizations of Occident and Orient merge under the tropical influence of the Polynesian culture.
