Tag: Think Local First

Shelly’s day is the fifth in our series A Perfect Day in Santa Cruz.

I wake-up to a steaming cup of Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company’s Steve’s Smooth French coffee, lovingly prepared by my husband, Larry (Mr. Cookie). He’s just returned from his daily elliptical work out at 24 hour Fitness with his gym-rat buddies, Cliff, Greg, Ceil & Virginia. This morning I dip our newest iteration of our Ginger Spice cookie in my coffee. I think we are very close to perfecting this recipe. We’re looking forward to the customer response from the downtown store.

After breakfast, I wander down to my raised-bed veggie garden. Thank goodness the sun is finally shining! Larry and I had fun choosing our tomato plants this year from Cynthia Sandberg’s famous Love Apple Farm in Ben Lomond. My family really enjoyed the “Black Cherry” tomatoes last year. We also selected a golden beefsteak, “Chuck’s Yellow”, an “Early Girl” variety and “Casey’s Pure Yellow,” a new variety that is a large yellow with a pink blush. My three fabulous grandchildren love to spend time in our garden. Lily (4), Ivan (2 ¾ ) and our newbee, Mila (1), will love eating sweet snap peas off the vines and helping to water the beets, 3 types of squash, cucumbers, green beans, swiss chard and herbs.

As midday approaches, it’s time to meet my friends for lunch at The Walnut Avenue Café. The servers are so nice and efficient. My favorite is the Ahi Tuna Salad with balsamic dressing. The owner, John Climber does such a great job with the menu and the consistency of the food. After lunch, I stroll through Pacific Garden Mall and check out Stripe, such a fun store with a vintage flare. I also stop in The Sock Shop, Old School Shoes, Shoe Fetish (I think you can see that I like shoes!). There are also so many places that carry great things for kids. The Baby Shoppe on Pacific Avenue is great and Lolly Tree Toys on Cathcart Street is full of well made toys for children and the owner is so helpful picking out age appropriate gifts for birthdays.

After a lovely afternoon downtown, I pick up Ivan at pre-school and drive to the Santa Cruz Wharf to see and listen to the sea lions. He likes to go into Stagnaro’s Restaurant and look at the fish tank and then to Made in Santa Cruz to play with the wheels on the skateboards. I guess I have to wait until he’s 3 to buy him his first board. Ivan loves the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum so we head over to the Seabright neighborhood. The tide pool exhibit is especially fun. We take a walk to Seabright Beach and sit on the bench overlooking the cove. It is a memorial to my late father, Charlie Miller who was the unofficial mayor of Seabright. We then wander up Cypress Avenue to see if my granddaughters, Lily and Mila are home.

The end of my day is usually spent strolling the polished wood floors at Shopper’s Corner grocery store. The original owners, Bud Beauregard and Vinny Williams helped to start us into the wholesale cookie business and Jim Beauregard (Bud’s son) has continued to be super supportive. The store is always spotless and amazingly well stocked with every epicurean necessity and a cookie available at the butcher counter for the kids.

I’m so fortunate to live in this special community and share it with my close family and friends. So here’s to Santa Cruz and 30 wonderful years spent enjoying some of my favorite local spots.

Sharon’s day is the fourth in our series A Perfect Day in Santa Cruz.

My perfect day begins with sleeping in very late… I’ve always been a night owl and have no need to greet the day with the sun coming up. After I finally get up in the morning, I take my time leisurely reading the Sunday paper. Yes, I know, so “old school”! I linger a bit with a heavenly cup of Good Earth tea, and then I eventually head out on a walk. Living on the Westside means I don’t have to go far for the most fabulous walking path with a view of the ocean, West Cliff drive. The sea salt spray that breaks over the cliffs and the reflection of the sun on shimmering water makes this the ultimate place to go to unwind. When I get almost to the end of the path, I take a detour inland to the Swift Street Courtyard, home to Kelly’s French Bakery for some freshly baked sourdough bread to go with the cheese and fresh fruit I have in my insulated backpack. These are for an early afternoon picnic with a friend in her beautiful backyard garden a few blocks away.

After my picnic, well fed and rested, I head back down to the water ending up at breezy Natural Bridges beach. There are lots of young families playing on the beach, building sand castles, boogie boarding in the surf, flying kites, and just having a ball. It’s getting late and the sun is starting to go down, and there is no better place to watch a sunset in all of Santa Cruz. You feel like you’re at the edge of the world with nothing else to see except the deep azure blue of endless water. Sitting serenely on a bluff, I look out to sea with the horizon turning “sky-blue-pink”, watching as the fireball sun eventually disappears into the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

I briskly walk home, to change and meet my husband. A self confessed early bird, he was up and out of the house hours before me. We head downtown to Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Bar, for dinner and drinks. Once inside the dark, candlelit, back room filled with bamboo tiki torches and Polynesian masks, you feel like you’ve been transported to a tropical island. This place has a fun vibe, killer drinks and the best sweet potato fries in town.

After dinner, we have some time before the Cabrillo Music Festival starts at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, so we take a short stroll to my all time favorite business, Bookshop Santa Cruz. I love to meander among their amazing array of stacks and stacks of books, but I spend even more time in their unique card department. They have some of the most eclectic and creative cards I’ve ever found, and everyone who knows me will tell you I am the “Queen” of finding “just the right card” for someone. And to top it off, they are next door to Chocolate, home of the ‘Frida’, a rich, Mexican hot chocolate with cinnamon, and spices. This divine, decadent, drink has just enough heat to raise some eyebrows! Oh my God, Books and Chocolate together… food for thought, for body and soul!

As concert time nears, we make our way to the Civic. Kronos Quartet is playing tonight. This original, contemporary, quartet has been at the forefront of the kind of music that the festival puts on every year. People come from all over the country for this outstanding event, and I don’t even have to leave Santa Cruz to experience performances by some of the best musicians in the world!

After the concert and with the end of the perfect day approaching, we step into Red Restaurant and Bar for a nightcap. Settling into one of their comfy couches in front of the fireplace, I’m having the ‘Marilyn Monroe’ cocktail, a delicious drink with champagne, pomegranate liqueur, citronage and a sweet cherry that sinks to the bottom of the glass, waiting patiently for you to finish it off. After one of these, I’m feeling as close to tall, blonde and voluptuous as I’ll ever be at the end of one incredible day in Santa Cruz. We wind our way towards home with the strains of violins and cellos still playing in the air…