Santa Cruz Tasting Notes, Part Deux

Back in Banana Slug-ville to continue my exploration of what’s to eat. Oh yes, and to visit my grandkids, too.

First stop, the newest member of Santa Cruz’s culinary shops, Nut Kreations. My grandson was anxious to point out all the roasted and raw nuts, nut oils, nut milks, nut butters, and nut coffee blends that this pleasant shop offers. We inspect their nut bar with 120 varieties and flavors and our eyes start to glaze over with all the choices. The solution: Javier custom blends his own granola and off we go.

Across the street is my favorite downtown eatery, Asana, where I once again order their “Lavender Love,” a diet-busting milkshake that I have described before in this blog. This time, someone in the kitchen added an extra spoonful of lavender buds and I was surprised it didn’t look purple in the glass. It’s a good thing I love all things lavender.

 Lavender Love, the world's most exotic milkshake.

My son splurges on their Lemon-Cashew Mousse, made with cashew milk, almond liqueur and whipped cream, topped with a puree of peaches and mango. I think Nut Kreations could prosper by adding a selection of nut-based puddings to their offerings but having just opened in May, they have enough to worry about now.

 Cashew Mousse with Mango-Peach Puree, garnished with Lemon Zest and edible flower petals.

Next stop: lunch at Samba Rock Acai Café, a Brazilian joint that specializes in huge bowls of ice cold acai mixed with granola and topped with fresh fruit. Locals park their bikes inside the restaurant where the samba beat is just a prelude to the energy boost you get from the fresh organic ingredients.

So it turns out that someone has already put together a Santa Cruz food tour, a 3½-hour stroll to five local drinking and dining spots with a lot of local history thrown in. That’s what I’ll do next time I visit.

In the meantime, here’s a recipe for cashew mousse from an old issue of Gourmet magazine:

Cashew Mousse

1 Cup salted roasted cashews (4½ ounces)

½ Cup sugar

1 Cup plus 1 tablespoon cold water

½ Teaspoon unflavored gelatin

1 Teaspoon almond-flavored liqueur

2/3 Cup chilled heavy cream

Blend cashews, sugar, and 1 cup of water in a blender until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour mixture into a fine-mesh sieve set over a large glass measuring cup and let drain (gently stir if necessary but do not press on solids) until 1½ cups cashew milk accumulates in cup (discard solids).

Sprinkle gelatin over remaining tablespoon water (cold) in a 1- to 1 ½ -quart saucepan and let stand 1 minute to soften. Heat over low heat until gelatin is melted, then add cashew milk and liqueur and heat, stirring, until mixture is thickened (do not simmer), about 6 minutes. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Whisk cream until it just holds stiff peaks, then fold cream into cooled cashew milk mixture gently but thoroughly and divide among serving bowls. Chill, covered, until set, at least 3 hours. Serves 4.

Your vegan/vegetarian friends will think you are so clever.

Tasting Notes from a Road Trip: Santa Cruz

I drove up the coast last weekend to visit my family who lives in Santa Cruz. There are lots of fine places to eat in that off-beat town, but with little kids in tow, it's not advisable to linger for hours tasting new ethnic foods and chatting up the chefs. We proceeded with caution.

At a little downtown Indian eatery, I ordered their signature drink, "Lavender Love." Whipped up like the popular cold coffee drinks served at Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, this concoction blended lavender tisane (lavender buds steeped in water, no black tea), a frozen banana, vanilla ice cream, vanilla extract and a teaspoon of lavender buds. It was rich and delicious. Note to self: another way to use up lavender buds from my garden, and a real departure from the usual milk shake flavors. And to my surprise, the kids were game enough to try it and pronounced Lavender Love "pretty good."

Across the street, we wandered in to a shop selling olive oils and a wide selection of flavored vinegars from all over the world. After much tasting and the nod of approval from the youngest amongst us, we selected a Blood Orange Olive Oil from Tunisia and a Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar from Sicily. That night we dipped freshly baked bread into saucers of the oil dotted with large droplets of the vinegar, and also poured the mixture over fresh asparagus spears. And as that weren't enough, we had taken the advice of the shop owner and bought a box of brownie mix and substituted the Blood Orange Olive Oil for the vegetable oil called for in the recipe. The result was a rich dessert with an unusual flavor kick that tasted like a confection from an expensive box of European chocolates.

It's artichoke season, so on the way home I stopped at a roadside farm stand outside of Castroville, the self-proclaimed "Artichoke Capital of the World," and bought an armload of baby artichokes.

It's too bad I won't be there for the annual Artichoke Festival in May, where they serve artichokes in every possible way: breaded, steamed, fried, and baked. But I like them simply steamed with garlic cloves and lemon wedges and pulled one by one from the head, and dipped in -- what else? -- a mixture of Blood Orange Olive Oil and Raspberry Vinegar seasoned with a little salt and pepper. For variety I might consider Meyer Lemon Olive Oil and a Chardonnay Vinegar. Either way, pure heaven.