When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, it’s a good core workout. If you’re sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More
Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts — especially on Mothers' and Fathers' Day. Hop on board for the Randall's once-weekly class, and for $6 and two weeks to have your work fired and glazed, you'll have all the materials you need.More
December is almost over - the New Year is coming up and everyone is busy drying off from the rain or holiday shopping. Let's take a look at what's happened this month.
PostedByBrad Japhe
on Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 11:00 AM
Cakebread Cellars
Julianne Laks
Thirty years is a long time. More than a third of a lifetime. Thirty years ago, you could purchase any number of sizable properties in the SoMa for well under six figures. It was around that same time that Julianne Laks started making wine at Cakebread Cellars. This past autumn marked her 30th harvest with the winery. Throughout those years, she has helped grow the brand into one of the most recognized names in Napa Valley. Here are a few of her reflections upon three decades on the job.
Finally, locals may have a reason to venture into that wild, tourist-infested block of real estate known as Ghirardelli Square: good wine. San Francisco-based winery, Bluxome Street Winery, will open an outpost in one of the city's prime tourist destinations, meaning your visit with your relatives from Omaha should be a little more pleasant from now on.
PostedByTrevor Felch
on Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 8:00 AM
Trevor Felch
Summer Squash Salad and Viognier Watching The Cable Cars
Union Larder is exactly what wine bar proprietors mean when they come back from Paris or Rome and wax poetic about how they just fell in love with the wine bars there. They always seek to bring back that European formula because our bars are just…what is it? Boring? Impersonal? Lackluster food? BevMo quality wine?
Some lazy afternoons revolve around chilled sips of rosé. On the other 300-plus days of the year, when Karl the Fog is in full effect, it’s more comfy to wear long sleeves and opt for exploratory, medium-bodied sips that are definitely best at room temp. Enter Pinot Noir. On Aug. 26, over 60 producers from Oregon's gorgeous Willamette Valley have a Pinot in the Cityparty at the Golden Gate Club — a compelling reason to head out, taste, and explore.
PostedByTrevor Felch
on Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 3:00 PM
Trevor Felch
Smoked Trout Dip and Some Vino Fun at Tofino Wines
A rosé can be tremendously swell with domestic and international expressions every bit as riveting as exalted whites and reds. It can also be, well, the summertime shandy of wine. Beaujolais, by contrast, needs more explanation. A tremendously accomplished region of Southern Burgundy focusing on the Gamay grape, it is not in fact 100 percent Beaujolais Nouveau. Thank goodness. And thank goodness we're given the new Tofino Wines Laurel Heights for making believers in rosé from Beaujolais.
For some folks, drinking a glass of wine is just drinking a glass of wine. Sadly, there are people who treat beer the same way. It's a beverage. It has alcohol. What else do you need?
But for others, wines and beers are forms of exploration, pathways to new sensations and experiences. For these people, for these worthy people, there is Resolute.
PostedByMary Ladd
on Wed, May 20, 2015 at 11:00 AM
McEvoy Ranch
Harvested from local spots, olive oil on salmon, bread, veggies, and cheese rocks the farm-to-table vibe we know so well (to say nothing of its use on human skin to ensure youth and vitality). With the recent March passing of innovator Nan McEvoy, I’ve been pondering her gifts to eaters near and far. McEvoy was a food world pioneer for planting olive trees in Marin County in the 1980s, when she was in her sixth decade. She launched Northern California’s extra virgin organic olive oil scene, and the estate grown, Tuscan-influenced McEvoy olive oils still rack up awards nationally and on in the international marketplace.
Everybody loves a good street party, and seeing as they’ve got an event space inside their urban winery, the vintners at Bluxome Street Winery are no exception. Because their little corner of Soma is a less-than-heavily trafficked alley, it only makes sense that the Bluxome team could shut it down and turn it out.
That a new winery opened in Berkeley isn’t so newsworthy these days; many winemakers are discovering they can make just as good wine in an urban setting, even if they have no views of vineyards to wake up to every morning. But when Covenant Wines opened its doors a few months ago on Sixth Street, it definitely brought something new: the only kosher winery in the immediate area (Hagafen, in Napa Valley, has been around for over three decades).
And now, to complement it, is a new cookbook, The Covenant Kitchen: Food and Wine for the New Jewish Table (Schocken).
The Cambria-based brewery will need to change its name.
Earlier this week, you may recall that Lagunitas filed a lawsuit against Sierra-Nevada ostensibly for copyright infringement on the kerned letters "IPA" on a label. A day later, Lagunitas founder Tony Magee announced that the brewery was dropping the suit.
But boozemakers seem mighty litigious these days. Now Kendall-Jackson winery has sent a cease and desist to owners of the small Cambria Beer Company on the North Coast for having the gall to name their brewery after the town where they live — a name that the winemaking giant has trademarked.
Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
