Category: Food & Drink

By Alison Steele We have a few kindred spirits on the West Coast that understand the call to a hearty bowl of beans and cornbread or a hot and muggy hike atop rolling blue hills. A sweet email from a friend back in Boulder Creek got me thinking about the iconic dish that’s been served up in the mountains here… Read More

by Alison Steele Crisp fall evenings remind us to fire up our ovens and warm our homes with the sultry scents of roasted fall fruits and vegetables. Here it’s figs, red peppers, kabocha squash, pumpkins and this year, mountains of merlot grapes. The country wine making begins. We bring a few bottles up from the root cellar from seasons past… Read More

By Alison Steele By the time our July summer vacation rolls around we are firmly rooted in southern water culture. Aunt Ro’s pool becomes the daily bathing ritual for the kids trying to dodge the summer heat, along with the local spring-fed lake hidden at the base of the mountains. Weekend trips to the grandparents promise kayaking, river walking, and… Read More

By Alison Steele         The first flower I ever tasted was a honeysuckle blossom. Honeysuckle grows all over the hot rainy south in the summertime. It crawls along split rail fences, creeps up in the trees, and across old barns. My brother and I would spend hours following rivers over pasture and along railroad tracks, across bridges and through the mountains.… Read More

By Alison Steele  I want to share a recipe from one of my greatest friends, Maya. Born in Russia the same year I was, and living in Virginia with her family for as long as I’ve been living in California with mine. We met in the summer in downtown Staunton when she was 8 months pregnant and running a booth… Read More