The Santa Cruz Family Vacation Eat-A-Thon

Fuzzy family at Twin Lakes State Beach, Santa Cruz, Ca. 

Saying that my extended family and I ate too much over our vacation last weekend in Santa Cruz would be a gross understatement. Though we had 16 mouths to feed, it never once crossed my mind that we would run out of food (and kudos to my parents, aunts and uncles for ensuring that). After securing the copious amount of food into the fridges (yes, thankfully, there were two) of our vacation house, my family went hard to work on our first nights dinner, which consisted of many boxes of Zachary’s pizzas, which my parents picked up half-baked in Berkeley as they drove over. The pizza was, as to be expected from Zachary’s, delicious, and my aunt and I made a simple salad of mixed greens, bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers to go along with the meal. Overall, the dinner was simple, easy, and delicious, which was just what we needed on the first night while we were all still settling in. After dinner, the adults of the family had margaritas with a store-bought mix, Jose Cuervo silver tequila, fresh lime, and salt on the rim. Though I’m a notorious wussy when it comes to alcohol, I found myself drinking this like it was juice, and these margaritas became a little vacation tradition that we indulged in each night. After our drinks, we took a little night walk on the beach, which was well lit by the full moon, countless bonfires and even a few kids with sparklers. It was a beautiful way to end our first night in Santa Cruz.

One of two of our fridges, completely full.

Maragarita, sans salt.

The next morning I was greeted by the smell of bacon when I entered the kitchen, which happens to be one of my favorite ways to wake up, especially on a Sunday morning. But besides the bacon, our breakfast also included: eggs, cantaloupe, watermelon, smoked salmon, bagels, two types of cream cheese, grapefruits, plums, croissants, sausages, jam, toast, vanilla honey Greek yogurt, grapefruit juice and orange juice. Breakfast happens to be one of my favorite meals, and this one was a delicious and plentiful feast from which I thought I would never recover.

Cantaloupe and Watermelon from our delicious feast.

Smoked Salmon and Bagels mmmm!

But, miraculously, I found myself wanting to eat again a few hours later when lounging on the beach with my family. It was a specific craving, one that always seems to plague me when I’m near the sea: Salt and Vinegar potato chips. If I were a poet, I would write an ode to eating salt and vinegar chips by the seaside; so salty and tangy, these chips are the most delicious companions to the sea breeze. They are also highly addictive. I knew that I was sharing these chips with my entire family and that I should go easy, but I couldn’t stop and soon, they were gone. I was full and, amazingly, still hankering for more, but I focused on the beauty of the ocean and enjoyed my time in the sunshine instead.

I love you, salt and vinegar chips.

After hanging out at the beach, my mom wanted to put together a little lunch for everyone, but we were just not that hungry. But since we had brought so much lunch meat, she decided to make a lovely spread for all of us to enjoy, including a choice of salami, turkey, and mortadella for meat; pepper jack, havarti and cheddar for cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; mayo, peppercinis and pickles; ciabatta bread to put it all on; and lots of fruits and veggies to snack on. It would have been wonderful if I had been hungrier, but I still made myself half of a sandwich out of respect to my mom and all the work she had done.

After a few hours of foosballing, relaxing and talking with family, we were back at the dinner table again; this time for barbeque. We had two different types of tri-tip, corn on the cob, roasted asparagus, barbequed tomatoes and bell peppers, and one of my favorites: my mom’s pasta salad with orzo, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, feta, olives and balsamic vinegar. Like everything else we had that weekend, it was so tasty that we overcame the laws of digestion and our full bellies and ate copious amounts anyway. We continued to eat later that night when we celebrated three August birthdays with a very rich and chocolatey cake. We continued our nightly tradition of margaritas and had a quick walk on the beach before turning in for the night.

Tri-tip steak, orzo pasta salad, and lots of veggies.

Happy Birthday!

The next morning, we had another breakfast feast, which was very similar to the last one, but also included sunny-side up eggs, straw and blueberries, sliced tomatoes, Persian bread and cheese, and quiche. We went back to the beach again after eating, and, to my delight, there was another bag of salt and vinegar chips, which I hit hard. After having eaten so much, I decided to be a little bit more active on the beach and went for a walk to try to burn off some of the extra calories I had ingested this weekend.

Breakfast Feast #2

When we got home, I became even more active as I got far too competitive with games of foosball against family members. I had hoped to win against my dad, who had single-handedly creamed my brother, my cousin and I earlier that weekend. I had been playing my aunt a lot and felt confident enough in my newfound foosball skills to call for a rematch. Though I scored the first 5 goals, I must have gotten a little overconfident, as my dad came back with a score of 8. I almost caught up to him, and the score was 8 to 9 when my dad scored the final goal. Normally, I don’t tend to put too much stock in these little fun games, but for some reason, after this loss, I was devastated; I blame the corrupting influence of competitiveness. I ate away my pain later that night, when we basically had a leftover banquet and tried to eat as much of our food as we could, as we were leaving the next day and couldn’t take it all with us. It was a challenge to be sure, but we got through a fair amount of it.

Too much foosball competition!

A margarita and a full nights sleep was all that separated us from the end of our trip. The next morning, we ate a simple milk-and-cereal and eclectic leftover breakfast before packing up and leaving, and before we knew it, our lovely long eat-a-thon weekend was over. If there’s one thing I can say about my family, besides the fact that it was loads of fun to hang out with them on this trip, it’s that they know how to eat and they make the roots of my love for food apparent. 

A Trip to the Davis Farmers Market and Down Memory Lane.

View of the Davis Farmers Market

Over the weekend, I visited my quaint little hometown of Davis, which is unwarrantedly notorious for its cow smell, but very deserving of its bike-friendly reputation. As you can probably tell by its defining characteristics summarized in the previous sentence, Davis can be a challenging place to find something interesting to do. But despite its boringness, Davis is my hometown, and as such, it can offer unique experiences that make me feel nostalgic in a way unlike any other. One such experience is the Davis Farmers Market, which I re-visited last Saturday morning.

This logo brings back memories. Credit: http://www.davisfarmersmarket.org/

Taking place in Davis’s Central Park, the Farmers Market is not only a place where you can get fresh produce and other goods, but also a place to enjoy the sunshine with family, run into old friends, listen to live music and to see that same guy and his son who have been running the Hot Dogger stand forever. Ok, ok, maybe I’m romanticizing it a bit, but you have to understand that my love for the Farmers Market stems from attending it on countless Wednesday nights. Each time I see the Market’s characteristic logo of a bitten watermelon, a flood of childhood memories rush into my head, including, but most definitely not limited to: the time we bought my first kitten, the times when my friends and I would dorkily dance to whatever local band was playing that night, taking  a ride that giant gyroscope, playing in the water fountains in the summertime, eating incalculable slices of Steve’s pizza, and so much more.

Bolani, yummy yummy. Credit: Diana Prichard

As a kid, I frequented the Wednesday night Farmers Market much more often than the Saturday morning ones. Nevertheless, Saturday morning Farmers Markets are still delightful experiences and my most recent visit was no exception. I went with a few members of my family and my friend Emile, and in the most Davis-like fashion, we ran into a few other members of my family. We strolled through the crowds of people, making stops at a few stands to sample the food. One of the more memorable stands was the East and West Gourmet Foods’ stall, which sold all kinds of Bolani and sauces. After sampling a generous portion, my family bought a few spinach Bolanis and their delicious cilantro pesto and garlic mint cheese sauces. Maybe it's the Middle Eastern side of me (Bolanis are Afghan), but I can’t get enough of the stuff, especially with the garlic mint cheese sauce, which has the consistency of yogurt and is so very very good. And through a bit of industrious internet detective work, I discovered that East & West is Bay Area based and their products are sold in grocery stores (Whole Foods and Andronicos specifically) and farmers markets around the Bay. So I will definitely be revisiting that.

Fat Face Menu: Breakfast Sammies and Popsicles

Emilie's Strawberry Rhubarb Rosemary (left)       Briana's Hibiscus Mint Grape (right)

Another memorable culinary experience of this trip was the Fat Face stand, which specializes in sandwiches and popsicles. I was thrilled because Fat Face just recently closed down Davis location before I got a chance to try it. Luckily for me, they moved to Midtown Sacramento and still make appearances at the Davis Farmers Market, so I was able to taste their Hibiscus Mint Grape Popsicle. It was as delicious as it sounded; the mint was so refreshing for a hot summer morning like Saturday and the little frozen half-grapes inside the Popsicle were fun surprises.

There were a few other notable experiences of this visit to the Farmers Market, both culinary and otherwise. One of these was buying the best apple juice of all time (Apple-A-Day Ratzlaff Ranch), which is a must-do at the Farmers Market; drinking this apple juice seriously helps you realize the amazing and delicious fact that apples are naturally super sweet. There was also band that brightened my day by playing Klezmer music, complete with accordions (an instrument that I will someday learn) and violins. I seriously felt like doing this dance from Fiddler on the Roof (below, circa 3:00, after the amazing bottle dance, with all the clapping) but was just barely able to restrain myself before I made a fool of myself in public.

With all these distinctive experiences aside, it was amazing to me how little the Davis Farmers Market has changed. Sure, maybe there aren’t as many familiar faces among the crowds and maybe I’ve grown up a little bit, but the Farmers Market is and will undoubtedly continue to be a Davis staple for a long time to come. 

Gioia Pizzeria: Better than Cheeseboard?

This photo seriously does not do Gioia's delicious spinach and red pepper flake pizza justice.

Is there a pizza place in Berkeley better than Cheeseboard? To answer ‘yes’ to this question is almost blasphemous: Berkeley residents (myself included) unanimously adore Cheeseboard and its truly delicious pizza. But my visit to Gioia’s Pizzeria left me feeling far less confident about where to find the best pizza in town. Though it is difficult to say for sure which takes first place, Gioia’s hole-in-the-wall charm along with the perfect crust on its delicious New York style pizza has won my heart and quite possibly my loyalty.

             I made my visit to Gioia’s Pizzeria a few weeks ago, before my little food poisoning debacle. Ben and I arrived there at 7:15 p.m., about 45 minutes before they closed for the evening and about 30 minutes after driving around aimlessly, trying to find the place. (We eventually discovered that it is right across the street from Monterey Market, a place we visit frequently). My driving frustrations began to melt away as we approached Gioia’s beautiful brick exterior and detected the scent of freshly baked pizza coming from inside the delightfully small pizzeria. Since we arrived so close to closing time, their selection was somewhat limited, but I was still able to order the flavor I wanted: spinach with red pepper flakes. To drink, I ordered the appealing looking reddish-pink beverage that I saw behind the counter, which turned out to be strawberry lemonade.

            When I first picked up my slice, I was slightly disappointed at how floppy it was; I felt like I couldn’t get a good hold on it. But when I did manage to take that first bite, the pizza’s limpness seemed a trivial matter. Ah, it was wonderful! I am a sucker for spinach on pizza and the red pepper flakes gave it a snappy little kick. The best part about the pizza, though, was its crust, which tasted (for lack of a better word) real. Unlike some pizza crusts that just exist for the purpose of having something on which to put the pizza toppings, Gioia's thin and crispy crust had a life of its own, complete with lovely little air bubbles that were burnt in the most delicious way.

Gioia's beautiful exterior. Credit: 2008 Foodnut.com

In terms of tastiness, Gioia’s homemade strawberry lemonade kept up with its pizza counterpart. Every sip came with an abundance of tiny, tasty strawberry seeds, a testament to its authenticity. It was a tart and tangy supplement to the meal that brought it to the next level of deliciousness.

Overall, I loved my experience at Gioia’s Pizzeria. My only complaint, if it can even be called that, was that it was so light and delicious that I could have had at least one or two more slices (which is a lot for me). Sadly, their prices and the fact that their selection was waning prevented me from indulging myself in a few more slices, but the discovery of a potential new favorite pizza joint in Berkeley was fulfillment enough for me. 

In the Kitchen: A Coupla Summer Salads

Caprese Salad

Salad Shirazi

My high expectations for my blogging this week have been somewhat dampened by the fact that I ate bad eggs earlier this week, and now have some form of food poisoning. I won’t go into too many details (this is a food blog after all), but it has been a frustrating experience for me. Although so far my symptoms have been pretty mild, they have lasted for a few days and I just haven’t been my usual hungry self. In fact, the idea of using adjectives to describe food at this moment in time is not the most appealing one.

With that in mind, I want to keep this post short. I was able to make a few very simple salads before this unfortunate egg incident that were quick to make and yummy to eat. The first was a Caprese salad: mozzarrella, heirloom tomatoes, and basil, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. The second was Salad Shirazi, a Persian favorite which consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions, with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. These two salads are super fresh, super tasty, and perfect for summer. 

 And that is all I have the stomach for right now. Stay tuned for more posts soon (I may just have found a place that can rival Cheeseboard). For now, however, it's time to watch as many Parks and Recreation episodes as is humanely possible for the rest of the day.