YOUR WEEKNIGHT DINNER GAME PLAN
GIVE BACK, BETTER with TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie
70 AMAZING WAYS TO
JUMP-START YOUR LIFE
VOLUNTEER ON VACATION BECOME A WINEMAKER MOVE TO THE DESERT
IDEAS FOR A
SMALL-SPACE REFRESH!
JANUARY 2017
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Where else can your little ones feed a flamingo, pet a shark, ride a LEGO® dragon and spend a night with lions—all in one vacation? The San Diego Zoo: This world-famous city oasis is a true San Diego icon with more than 3,700 friends to meet. SeaWorld San Diego: Education and entertainment blend in this iconic Mission Bay park, with highly anticipated 2017 exhibits that include Electric Ocean, a new nighttime summer celebration.
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SMILES FOR MILES IN THIS O U T D O O R P L AYG R O U N D With 70 miles of coastline, 267 sunny days and a near perfect climate, it’s no surprise that San Diego is an outdoor adventurer’s paradise. Hike Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve: Not all of San Diego’s natural beauty
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Get in touch with a different kind of remote.
Introducing the new Volkswagen Golf Alltrack with 4MOTION® all-wheel drive. Soon to be everywhere. When it comes to the moments we remember, how many take place in your living room? If you’re still trying to recall, perhaps it’s time to reacquaint yourself with a world beyond Wi-Fi, where the stunning beauty of a vista in front of you is not virtual reality but reality reality. The Golf Alltrack comes with 4MOTION all-wheel drive, Off-Road Mode, and enough turbocharged power to motivate you off the couch. Because happiness favors the spontaneous.
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Optional accessories shown. Always ensure that your vehicle is equipped with appropriate tires and equipment and always adjust your speed and driving style to the road, terrain, traffic, and weather conditions. See Owner’s Manual for further details and important limitations. ©2016 Volkswagen of America, Inc.
EXPERIENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS the WEST
“There’s nowhere else in Seattle we could pay what we do and have that kind of view.” TINY HOME, BIG DREAMS, p. 70
January 48
THE TRIP
Finding center and getting lost in the still-wild West of California’s Joshua Tree. By Mickey Rapkin
60
GAME PLAN: A WEEK OF MEALS
These flavorful, makeahead, mix-and-match vegetarian recipes are your path to healthyeating success. By Charity Ferreira
70
TINY HOME, BIG DREAMS
One Seattle couple shrugs off traditional homeownership for a 200-squarefoot Airstream. By Jess Chamberlain
Minimalist living goes mobile: When settled at an RV park like this one near Seattle, an Airstream can double as a streamlined home (see page 70). Photograph by
T H O M A S J. S T O RY
EXPERIENCE the WEST
8
O S
January THIS MONTH’S RECIPES
O O
APPETIZER
ST
Sumac Hummus GF/LC/LS/VG...................62 MAINS
1
T
Braised Short Ribs with Pear, Ginger, and Star Anise ......80 Buttered Herbed Potatoes and Shrimp GF/LC .............89 Pressure Cooker Chicken Pho GF.................................84 Roasted Wild Mushroom Pappardelle V .....................89 Saffron Tomato Chickpeas, Freekeh, and Brussels Sprouts.................................66 Slow-Cooker Carnitas GF ........................................88 Sumac Hummus with Kale Ribbons and Roasted Delicata Squash .................64 Sweet and Spicy Red Kuri Squash Bowl ...............67
O
A g ee e ea , a b ed concrete vases, barn-wood furniture, icy vegan desserts, and more
TRAVEL
17 For TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, seeing the world PROFILE
inspired him to do better in it.
22 Powder play: Bypass hard snow, long lift lines, and drafty TAKE ME THERE
lodges for the new ski holiday.
28 Treehouses elevate ordinary vacations into experiences TREND
filled with wonder.
77 HOME & GARDEN
33 Three creative attic renovations prove just how much DECORATING IDEAS
fun you can pack into a small space.
42 From Succulents, our new book, comes a California
82 Author Andrea Nguyen cracks the pho code for MASTER CLASS
the home cook.
88 Three quick weeknight meals, including slow-cooker FAST & FRESH
carnitas and roasted wildmushroom pappardelle
IDEA GARDEN
garden devoted to the low-water lookers.
90 Allbold,about olive oil: mild vs. all-purpose vs. finishing,
46 What to do in your garden in January
and deciphering the label
IN THE SUNSET KITCHEN
GARDEN CHECKLIST
92 Are you an aspiring winemaker? Realize your SIP
dream through a local community college.
FOOD & DRINK
77 Put juicy, sweet pears to work in salad, dessert, PEAK SEASON
and even ginger-braised short ribs.
98 Enter our Instagram contest to win a coastal getaway for UP NEXT
two to San Diego!
SIDES
Brown Basmati Coconut Rice VG ...............................62 Freekeh Tabbouleh ...............68 Freekeh with Parsley and Onions LC/VG ............63 Garnish Plate for Pho (Dia Rau Song) ..................86 Herbed Chickpeas GF/LC/LS/VG ....................62 Kale Ribbons GF/LC/LS/VG ....................63 Red Pear Salad with Lemon Parmesan Dressing GF/LC/LS/V .......................79 Roasted Winter Squash with Honey, Tahini, and Lime GF/LC/LS/V ...............63 Saffron Tomato Chickpeas GF/LC/VG ..........................62 Spiced Brown Basmati Coconut Rice GF/LC/LS/VG ....................62 DESSERT
Comice Pear Clafoutis LC/LS/V...............................78 PANTRY
Ginger Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Gung) ...........86
On our cover Weeknight dinner game plan page 60 Give back, give better page 17 Jump-start your life pages 17, 33, 48, 60, 70, 92 Small-space refresh pages 33, 70 TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie in Malibu. TipiMarqui™ tent: Under Canvas, undercanvas.com. All props from Found Vintage Rentals (foundrentals.com); prop sourcing by Sterling Social (sterlingsocial.com). Shoes: TOMS. Mycoskie’s own RRL poncho (draped on crate). Photograph by Thomas J. Story; prop styling by Joni Noe; grooming by Mia Baker Kessler.
RECIPE GUIDE GF: Gluten-free; LC: Low calorie; LS: Low sodium; V: Vegetarian; VG: Vegan Our full guide to nutrition and good cooking: sunset.com/cookingguide.
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Available in dry, wet & treats 6
J A N UA RY 2 0 1 7
❖ SUNSET
Your dog shares the spirit of the wolf. And his love for meat.
BLUE Wilderness is made with more of the chicken, duck or salmon dogs love. All dogs are descendants of the wolf, which means they share many similar traits – including a love for meat. That’s why we created BLUE Wilderness. Made with the finest natural ingredients, BLUE Wilderness is formulated with a higher concentration of the chicken, duck or salmon dogs love. And BLUE Wilderness has none of the grains that contain gluten.
©2016 Blue Buffalo Co., Ltd.
If you want your dog to enjoy a meat-rich diet like his ancestors once did, there’s nothing better than BLUE Wilderness.
Open your heart & home this holiday Adopt a pet near you at home4theholidays.org
Love them like family. Feed them like family.®
WildernessDogFood.com
CONVERSATIONS
New & Now
JUMP-START verb \Ԥj mp-Ԥstärt\ · to start (a vehicle whose battery is not working) by connecting its battery to another source of power (such as the battery of another vehicle) · to cause (something) to start quickly · to give new energy to (something)
DIY succulents
IRENE EDWARDS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF |
JOIN THE SUNSET COMMUNITY facebook.com/ SunsetMagazine
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SUNSET
one for all : toms founder blake mycoskie in malibu
Meet me in Palm Springs
@irene_sunset | [emailprotected]
Write to us, tweet us, or tag us on your Instagram; we promise we read each and every one of your comments. @sunsetmag on Instagram
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From our sister brand TIME comes 100 Photographs, a coffeetable book ($25), print series (shoptime.com), and website (time100photos.com) of 100 images that changed the world.
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We’re thrilled to announce our 2017 Idea House in this beautiful desert town. A collaboration with Better Built Inc., o2 Architecture, and interior design team 30 Collins, the stunning modern home will open for tours in October. sunset.com/PSIdeaHouse.
DEFINITION: MERRIAM-WEBSTER’S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY; CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: THOMAS J. STORY, E. SPENCER TOY, LISA ROMEREIN/GETTY IMAGES
JUMP-START YOUR LIFE. What does that mean, exactly—other than as a handy little catchphrase for a January edition of Sunset? What does it mean for you right now? One of the trickier aspects of editing a monthly magazine, particularly in this digital-first age, is the lag time between shipping an issue off to the printer and getting it into a reader’s hands: You need to intuit popular sentiment weeks or months from the moment you produce a photo shoot or type words onto a screen. Never has that seemed truer than today as I sit here writing this, one week after our presidential election and with my news and social-media feeds full of uncertainty and emotion. So I’m willing myself into a 2017 mind-set and trusting that by the time you read this in two months, we will have made progress toward some sort of healing. Call it naïveté, if you like; I call it hope. Not that we will resolve the enormity of our differences—even among the 1.25 million subscribers of this magazine who live in places like Idaho and California, Washington and New Mexico, I certainly am aware that differences exist. But I also believe that deep down, we cherish the same desires for our everyday lives. To feed our families a nourishing weeknight dinner (page 88). To create an inspiring home, whether that be a homestead in the desert (page 48) or a 200-square-foot Airstream in an RV park (page 70). To feel empowered to follow our true calling, like 67-year-old NASA scientist Walt Brooks (page 92), who proved it’s never too late to become a winemaker—and made it happen by enrolling in his local community college. The year is fresh; the future is ours to imagine. The West has always been about living the dream.
We teamed with expert grower Robin Stockwell to bring you Succulents: The Ultimate Guide. Get pro tips for planting and crafting with these unthirsty beauties. $25; sunset.com/ succulentsbook.
Find out how these real AMERICAN DOERS inspire us all. They’re the everyday self-starters who defy the odds and turn dreams into realities. From big-city strivers to small-town superheroes, AMERICAN DOERS share their passion, their courage, and their unbreakable spirit in this groundbreaking new video series.
SHAREENA CASTERLINE
AMBER BATCHELOR
Owner, Madison Street Bakehouse
Founder, Ladies Who Hoop
WATCH NOW AT AMERICANDOERS.PEOPLE.COM
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BEST SOAK
URBAN BATHHOUSE
SUNSET
“We wanted to create a secret for people to stumble upon in the city—like a hot spring discovered while hiking in the mountains.” So says Sunny Simmons about Onsen, his newly launched holistic spa and tearoom in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. Inspired by Japan’s community bathhouses, he and his wife, Caroline Smith, bought a defunct auto body shop and transformed the former mechanics pit into a contemporary bathing pool, complete with a skylight fringed with ferns. Six private treatment rooms offer affordable massages, Reiki, and acupuncture; a small restaurant serves inventive dishes (thick rice porridge with miso kimchi and quail egg) along with a selection of teas and sakes. The duo spent three years building the spa by hand, he raiding secondhand shops for the steampunk-style showerheads and she illustrating the signage that doubles as wall art. Adds Simmons, “Every element has its own story.” From $30 for two hours; onsensf.com. —Jenna Scatena ❖
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BEST COLOR STORY
Cold and gray is how most people think of concrete, but Matt Heide sees it as a blank canvas. The English-lit grad was applying a quick-set concrete to leaky storm drains around Edmonton, Canada, when its pliable, supersculptural nature suddenly clicked. That’s when Heide came up with the idea behind Concrete Cat, where he developed a coloration process that borrows techniques from paper marbling. The result: a mesmerizing array of one-off tiles, bowls, vases, bookends, and custom projects in dreamy, on-trend patterns. Heide is also beginning to experiment with deeper shades. “I’m excited about rich jewel tones right now. The late ’70s and early ’80s were a good source of color: browns, tans, gold, maroon, navy blue, green. I want to do it all.” con cretecat.com. —Chantal Lamers 12
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❖
SUNSET
BEST REUSE
BARN-WOOD REVIVAL
The initials in its name stand for “rustic aged wood,” and that’s exactly what Salt Lake City’s R.A.W. Restorations turns into furniture and pieces of art. “I’ve always made use of reclaimed materials,” says cofounder Kelley Jensen, a contractor for almost 35 years. “Pallets, lumber, logs, you name it—I’ve taken it and reinvented it.” Now he’s in business with daughter Kate (pictured), a former mortgage broker who has long had a passion for building. The two are true partners: Kate finds retired barns, the two dismantle them, and then they create products ranging from dining tables and dog beds to floor panels for Airstream renovations. “There’s so much character in wood,” says Kate, who also runs the company’s popular Instagram account (@raw restorations). “It’s fun to give it a second life.” Prices vary; rawrestorations.com. —Jess Chamberlain
An alpine-style getaway in New Mexico Next month, the 80-room Blake at Taos Ski Valley—the first major building in the base area in two decades—opens with ski-in/ski-out access and refined resort amenities, including a state-of-the-art spa. But it’s the design details celebrating northern New Mexico culture that truly set it apart: Navajo textiles, vintage photographs by ski racer and National Geographic lensman Dick Durrance, and a custom desk inspired by the moccasins worn by Taos Pueblo Native Americans. A gallery dedicated to Ernie Blake, the visionary founder of the valley, ensures that the character of this beloved ski resort remains true to iconoclastic form. From $249; skitaos.com. BEST HIDEOUT
BOTTOM RIGHT: KURT SCHMIDT
YES, THIS IS CONCRETE
BEST COOLDOWN
Your one-stop shop for winter sun Only in Malibu would the Ranch at the Pier qualify as a bait and tackle shop. Overlooking Surfrider Beach and run by One Gun Ranch (page 17), the nautically styled boutique celebrates the concept of endless summer. Saludos espadrilles and Shaw & Tenney oars are sold along with botanical skin-care products and gorgeously designed Arbor skateboards; chic housewares share the shelves with model airplanes and vintage memorabilia, including black-and-white photographs of legendary surfers. Pride of place goes to the bags of the ranch’s biodynamic compost, displayed in wagons out front and aptly dubbed Super(ior) Soil. There’s something for everyone—from tourist to local. ranchatthepier.com. BEST SURF SHACK
THE HEALTHY DESSERT WE’RE CRAVING NOW
FROM LEFT: BROOKE FITTS, JACK GUY (3)
January might be an odd time to have ice cream on the brain, but the vegan frozen concoctions from just-launched Seattle company Frankie & Jo’s are a guilt-free way to stick to your New Year’s resolutions. Made by hand, the dairy- and gluten-free—but flavor-rich—recipes feature a sprouted-cashew and coconut-milk base, natural sweeteners like dates, and creatively good-for-you ingredients. The Gingered Golden Milk has fresh turmeric and ginger root, both anti-inflammatories; the Salted Caramel Ash contains activated charcoal, which acts as a purifier, removing toxins from the body; and the Chocolate Date
consists of only four ingredients (coconut milk, cocoa powder, organic dates, and sea salt). Be sure to try the waffle cones, made with maple syrup and oat flour.
$14/pint, four-pint min. for online order; frankieandjos.com. —J.C. SUNSET
❖
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“WE GROW ALMONDS— AND A WHOLE LOT MORE.” Almond farmers in California grow more than a food that’s rich in nutrition. They’re also growing jobs, water efficiency, environmental research and more. Grow what you know about almonds at almondsustainability.org
leafy and sunny: the solarium at pistils nursery
BEST REFRESH
BRING THE GARDEN INDOORS
High on our list of dreamy winter escapes: the updated solarium at Portland’s Pistils Nursery. We’re inspired to turn a sunny corner at home into our own version of this green retreat—starting with the perfect woven basket and a cork-mounted philodendron. pistilsnursery.com. vining cork mount, from $34 beaded beachcomber Basket, $46
hagemann botanical oak print chart, $180
Kendall, A., Marvinney, E., Brodt, S. and Zhu, W. (2015), Life Cycle–based Assessment of Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Almond Production, Part I: Analytical Framework and Baseline Results. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 19: 1008–1018. doi: 10.1111/jiec.12332. University of California Agricultural Issues Center. The Economic Impacts of the California Almond Industry. December 2014. © 2016 Almond Board of California. All rights reserved.
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❖
perched stone Pot Duo, $46 SUNSET
One serving of almonds (28g) has 13g of unsaturated fat and only 1g of saturated fat.
AN EXCELLENT
SOURCE OF
CAN DO IN EVERY CRUNCH Whatever you take on, take it on with almonds. Get 6g of energy-giving protein and 4g of hungerslaying fiber to really bring it all day, every day. Learn more at Almonds.com.
© 2017 Almond Board of California. All rights reserved.
CRUNCH ON
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Explore Scenic Style Bring home the great outdoors with furniture and décor inspired by our National Parks, on sale for a limited time at Wayfair.com/SunsetDeals.
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A. Drum Pendant LOON3961 B. Vintage Advertisement on Canvas LOON1531 C. Eufaula End Table LOON1866 D. Lumbar Pillow LOON4349 E. Rustic Sofa LOON1388 F. Faux Leather Arm Chair LOON1356 G. Framed Photographic Print LOON3236 H. Katuu End Table LOON3065
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Travel
P ROF I LE
PROP STYLING: JONI NOE; GROOMING: MIA BAKER KESSLER; PROP SOURCING: STERLING SOCIAL
THE CHANGE MAKER
For TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, seeing the world was what inspired him to do better in it. By Melissa Goldstein
One Gun Ranch in Malibu, an educational working farm that’s among Mycoskie’s recommended places to volunteer while traveling in the West (for more, see page 20).
Photographs by
T H O M A S J. S T O RY
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llegedly, Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS, celebrated turning 40 this year. Objectively, it doesn’t sound like there was time. When we meet at Malibu’s One Gun Ranch, where he’s dropped in for an event to spread the TOMS gospel (delivered with Bill Clinton–level charisma and Matthew McConaughey looks) and to learn about the property’s volunteer programs, Mycoskie has just gotten back from a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with his wife and collaborator, Heather, and their 2-yearold son Summit. Prior to that, his schedule verged on the Carmen Sandiego–an: One minute he was in Iowa, at the high school graduation of his Ethiopian adopted son, Wubetu (they met when Wubetu was 14); the next, he was at Cannes, accepting an award for his charitable work. In a few weeks, he’ll be taking a TOMS giving trip to Appalachia to distribute shoes to people in need. For many, the four-decade mark brings with it a sense of urgency, a desire to find fulfillment in one’s personal life and career. For Mycoskie, all that seems to be missing is time to eat (which he’ll do later in the interview, devouring dinner in the wilds of his Topanga Canyon backyard). The Texas native’s life-changing moment came more than 10 years ago. While vacationing in Argentina, taking a monthlong break from the software company he was running at the time, he had an epiphany: “I was there long enough to keep seeing these kids without shoes,” says Mycoskie. Modeling TOMS shoes after the canvas slip-ons farmers in the area wore, he came up with a “one for one” business model that links a charitable donation to every sale. “People see travel as a luxury, but it’s also an investment … because the brain works in a weird way: When you’re not trying to come up with the solution to something, you can actually be the most productive.” Since launching in 2006, TOMS has sold—and donated—more than 70 million pairs of shoes around the world. The brand has also added eyewear, coffee, and a range of bags to the portfolio, helping restore sight to more than 400,000 people, provide more than 335,000 weeks of safe water, and train birth attendants as well as provide birth kits to help more than 25,000 women safely deliver babies. In 2015, Mycoskie passed the title of CEO at TOMS to Jim Alling, in order to focus on, among other things, the TOMS Social Entrepreneur Fund, a venture partially funded by the 50-percent sale of the company to a private-equity firm in 2014. The 18
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Scenes from the 25-acre ranch, where horses are available for trail rides. Opposite: Mycoskie on the property. Tipi, undercanvas.com; crate and textiles, foundrentals. com; shoes, toms.com.
“I think that more and more people are looking to have meaningful experiences in travel.” —BLAKE MYCOSKIE
Travel
GET AWAY, GIVE BACK Volunteering lets you experience a place on another level. Here are some of Mycoskie and Sunset’s favorite places to do that in the West. Mycoskie also likes the app Golden (goldenvolunteer.com), which connects volunteers with organizations based on their interests. A gardener at One Gun Ranch; old wagon wheels and horseshoes at the stable. Below: Mycoskie in his Land Rover Defender.
project aims to support the next wave of socially minded companies—for example, ArtLifting, an organization providing representation and gallery licensing for homeless or disabled people who are artists. Having changed the course of his own life through a business built on betterment, Mycoskie is now looking to help others do the same. “I feel so blessed that I’m doing at 40 what a lot of people have to wait until their 70s to do,” he says. “It’s really fun being the mentor, the coach, helping the next generation and not just focusing on your own stuff.” It’s an idea that’s neatly summed up by a recent tattoo on his arm, which reads, “for one another.” The phrase came to him during a collaborative marketing exercise. “It goes back again to travel and why it’s sometimes hard for me to be home,” Mycoskie admits. “Because when I’m home, I’m focusing on my issues, my problems. But when you’re traveling, you have to engage with people—it gets you more in that ‘for one another’ mind-set.” Travel has long fueled his give-back mentality, starting with an appearance on the show The Amazing Race with his sister when he was 25. “That was when I first traveled to places that had some poverty: the townships in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, and parts of Thailand,” he says. “I started to develop a curiosity of how differently we all live, and how we really are connected as a global village.” Given that globe-trotting with a 2-year-old isn’t the easiest, these days Mycoskie’s jaunts tend to be closer to home, often in the West. Mountaineering trips are a passion; not surprising, given his son’s name. “I hope it’s not too much pressure on him. I hope he doesn’t feel like he’s gotta climb every mountain,” he says, smiling, but also revealing a hint of genuine concern. After all, Mycoskie himself seems to embrace that challenge: Earlier last year, he attempted The Grand Traverse, a series of 10 peaks in the Grand Tetons. “You do them consecutively without coming down, but it was pretty grueling, so we only got three or four,” he says. Tellingly he adds, “I went back, and got a few more.”
DIGITAL BONUS Plan a truly good vacation with our voluntourism guide: sunset.com/voluntourism. 20
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ONE GUN RANCH This biodynamic farm in Malibu, where the primary goal is education, invites volunteers to help out in the garden and holds monthly classes on sustainable growing methods. “Teaching people about food is so important,” says Mycoskie. “With so much of what we eat, we don’t even know where it comes from.” 1gunranch.com.
SURFERS HEALING Pro surfer Israel Paskowitz and his wife founded this organization for their autistic son, whose sensory overload issues were assuaged by riding waves. Based in San Juan Capistrano, the group offers volunteer opportunities all along the West Coast. “If you’re a good swimmer, you can volunteer,” says Mycoskie. surfershealing.org.
JACKSON HOLE THERAPEUTIC RIDING ASSOCIATION Pairing military veterans and disabled individuals of all ages with horses, JHTRA achieves lifechanging results. “When they get people on the saddle on the horse, amazing things happen with their minds,” says Mycoskie. jhtra.org.
MAUI HUMANE SOCIETY The Beach Buddies program allows travelers to explore the island with a shelter dog by their side. Volunteers can take their dog for a hike in the hills or a walk along the sand. mauihumanesociety.org.
SOLID GROUND Devoted to food justice, this nonprofit invites volunteers to jump in at its community farms in South Seattle. From planting seeds to distributing vegetables, participants help get crops from the farms onto well-deserving tables. solid-ground.org.
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Travel
TA KE ME THERE
POWDER PLAY
IT’S THAT TIME of
year when a line is drawn in the snow. On one side are the powderhounds who stockpile gear and bank PTO days waiting for the next dump. On the other side, the rest of us. We’ve sat in the traffic jams, slept in the cheesy chalets, and shivered our butts off, all in the name of fun. No more. We’re here to tell you there’s a
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better way. While you’ve stayed away, ski resorts have been upping their game, from adopting new snowmaking technologies to expanding their après scene beyond buffalo wings. Today the snow is better, the terrain is endless, and the base camps are badass. Make this the year you cross the line and call yourself a skier.
MELISSA GAYLE
Not a fan of hard snow, long lift lines, and drafty lodges? Well, get ready: The new and improved ski day is about to knock your socks off.
OWN A MOMENT IN TIME.
100
3+272*5$3+6 BUY THE BOOK | shop.time.com/100photos ¬7LPH,QF7,0(LVDUHJLVWHUHGWUDGHPDUNRI7LPH,QF$OIUHG(LVHQVWDHGWǎH/,)(3LFWXUH&ROOHFWLRQ*HWW\,PDJHV +XOWRQ$UFKLYH*HWW\,PDJHV0DUJDUHW%RXUNH:KLWHǎH/,)(3LFWXUH&ROOHFWLRQ*HWW\,PDJHV%HWWPDQQ*HWW\,PDJHV
Travel
STATS
TOP STOPS
MORE RUNS, MORE FUN
Resorts love measuring contests. More mountain means shorter lines, and more time to plot après plans. Three mergers that give you the most downhill for your dollar:
BLACKCOMB
say hello to perfect corduroy
WHISTLER
3,414 acres
4,757 acres
Whistler Blackcomb: 8,171 acres Largest ski resort in North America with 200-plus runs, including one called Burnt Stew, which goes for almost 7 miles. BRAGGING RIGHTS
SQUAW VALLEY
ALPINE MEADOWS
3,600 acres
2,400 acres
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows: 6,000 acres The “Squallywood” pub crawl. Start with a pint at Le Chamois and finish at Umbrella Bar, the country’s only mountaintop bar with a pool and hot tub.
BRAGGING RIGHTS
PARK CITY
CANYONS RESORT
3,300 acres
4,000 acres
Park City Mountain Resort: 7,300 acres Being able to ski all three of the resort’s peaks—Murdock, Ninety-Nine 90, and Jupiter Peak—from rope to rope. Estimated time: 7 hours.
BRAGGING RIGHTS
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THE BEST IN SNOW There was a time, if you can imagine it, when we waited for nature to buffer. During the 1920s, the first ski resorts in the country relied on natural falling snow to blanket their mountains. Which worked out great when the flakes were flying but, in between storms, the slopes were often an icy-patchy-melty mess. We now live in a world where high-powered guns launch pristine powder 100 feet into the air—in July. And state-of-the-art grooming machines prowl the mountain, turning today’s ice into tomorrow’s corduroy while we sleep. Today’s snow is better, more abundant, and like everything else in our lives, on-demand. Are we spoiled? Probably. Does it feel good? Judge for yourself at these top flake-making mountains.
Sun Valley, Idaho
Diamond Peak, Nevada
Boreal Mountain, California
Their snowmaking system harnesses data from 114 mountain monitors (on temperature, humidity, wind direction), so snow guns can adapt their technique to real-time conditions. The result: Upto-the-minute awesomeness at every turn. sunvalley.com.
Two years ago, Diamond Peak deployed the country’s first GPS-enabled grooming machines, which use highly calibrated location information to measure snow depth to the inch— then reconfigure their sculpting appropriately. diamond peak.com.
Schussing in your T-shirt on a gorgeous California day? It might sound crazy, but this Lake Tahoe resort uses a new all-weather snow machine from Italy that pumps out 2.3 tons of fino flakes every hour. rideboreal.com.
PLAY
HANG OUT AT BASE CAMP
In the old days, resorts lacked comforts. You might expect to eat bland chili, sleep in a drafty lodge, and find the town asleep by 8. Now, the hills are alive—with top chefs, craft cocktails, even mountaintop yoga. Welcome to your perfect après-ski.
CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: BRYCE BOYER, AUBREE DALLAS, DON RIDDLE
NEW
CLASSIC
UNEXPECTED
EAT
Squaw Valley’s take on dinner and a movie stars a fourcourse meal, killer cocktails, and beanbags for kids. From $59; squawalpine.com.
Amid pine beams and throwback photos at Whitefish’s Cafe Kandahar, the James Beard–nominated chef serves dishes like elk carpaccio and forest-mushroom gratin. $$$$; cafekandahar.com.
Utah’s Solitude Mountain lets you snowshoe through lantern-lit pines to dinner—in a Mongolian yurt!Inside,finddelicacieslikeespressocrusted rack of lamb and maple bourbon pots de crème. $130 ; skisolitude.com.
Perched high in the Wasatch, The St.
RAGE
This winter, Mt. Hood’s old-school Timberline Lodge unveils Y’Bar, a pub redone by the designers of the space-age Seattle W. Roll-up doors open onto a deck, where you can sip from a river of local beer. $$; timberlinelodge.com.
At Idaho’s Schweitzer, Schpring Finale means music, beer tastings, and a Cardboard Derby. Suit up, make a toboggan, and join the fun. Apr 8–9; schweitzer.com.
CHILL
Glide to the slopes without hitting one traffic light on Denver’s newly resurrected ski train. Plush railcars whisk you to Winter Park from Union Station. From $39 one way; am trak.com/winterparkexpress.
Don’t you dare call it a hot tub: The 85° pool at Alaska’s Alyeska Resort is set under beamed ceilings, surrounded by epic views. From $139; alyeskaresort.com.
CRASH
BYO rig, and luxe new Angel Fire RV Resort provides the clubhouse, hot tub, and weekly wine and cheese tastings. From $59; angel firervresort.com.
Overstuffed chairs, roaring fireplaces, cross-country trails outside your door. Little has changed at Mammoth Lakes’ Tamarack Lodge. And that’s just fine with us. From $99; tamaracklodge.com.
olympic veteran
Regis Deer Valley
slings elevated cocktails, like the 7452 Mary, a Bloody made with local vodka distilled at 7,000 feet. $$$$; stregisdeervalley.com.
Find Zen atop Aspen Mountain, where a
yogi leads sun salutations in the resort’s window-walled Sundeck. $5; aspensnowmass.com.
Three words: bourbon body scrub. Four Seasons Vail dishes up delights, from pocket-size bacon treats to an après whiskey cart. From $619; fourseasons.com/vail.
Q&A
LEARNING CURVES Ski school is so much better when taught by a pro. Here’s Olympic racer Wendy Fisher on the art of not looking stupid.
should be effortless. Try to learn on mellow runs, so you won’t fear losing control. And be sure to get equipment that’s sized right. You want a shop where the employees ski every day and understand the gear. Should I take a lesson?
Tips for first-timers?
If you’re winded and struggling, you’re not doing it right. Skiing
Yes! You don’t want to start skiing wrong; it’s harder to correct later. Often an instructor will tell
you something, and you won’t get it. Then after trying over and over, you’ll have a breakthrough, and suddenly you’re on the next level. It’s incredible to watch. Why do you love skiing?
The freedom. If you play tennis, you need a court. But skiing you can do anywhere there’s snow—on the trails, in the treeline. I love that.
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Travel GEAR
BETTER, WARMER
No more clunky coats and rickety skis to muck up your mountain fantasy. Today’s gear is engineered for maximum performance, while keeping you warm from nose to toes.
Your hands
Your face
Your toes
Take one pair of waterproof gloves, add a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and you get ... the new Capstone Heated Gloves. Now, you can warm your mitts at the touch of a button. $500 ; outdoorresearch.com.
The futuristic Anon M3 MFI Goggles have concealed magnets that attach to your face warmer, keeping you covered from chin to nose on windy lift rides. $265; burton.com.
Cold, stiff boots are tough on the toes. The solution: the Transpack Heated Boot Pro bag, an ingenious satchel that plugs right into your car lighter. Works on socks, gloves, and hats too. $220 ; transpack.net.
mr. bond, your goggles are ready
the only pair of skis you’ll ever need
Your tush Your core
Your new skis
Made from 100 percent merino wool, the REI Merino Midweight base layer has the warmth of wool with the soft feel of a synthetic. The top also wicks moisture, keeping you dry until the sun sets. $80 ; rei.com.
With an hourglass shape, a lightweight core, and a tip and tail curved like Elvis Presley’s lips, the Rossignol Soul 7 HD skis practically turn on their own. $850 ; rossignol.com.
Nothing can ruin your run quicker than an ice-cold lift chair. The specially designed Women’s Cheeky Pants combat bum-freeze with an additional, removable pair of thermal shorts. $450 ; marmot.com. By Jeremy Pugh, Megan McCrea, and Marie Salcido
Big Sky, Montana is your home for winter adventure. Everywhere you look, nature’s unspoiled beauty will surround you. With over 5,800 acres of downhill terrain, you’ll see why Big Sky is the Biggest Skiing in America. Come out West for the best. Head to BiggestSkiingInAmerica.com today.
Travel
TREND
Sleep in amid the palms at Mexico’s Playa Viva eco retreat.
UP IN THE AIR
be careful. The sign at Washington’s Doe Bay Resort & Retreat is a gentle reminder to watch your step in the hotel’s newest suite, a cottage-esque treehouse 18 feet above the ground. “Being cradled by the forest as you sleep is something few people forget,” says River Augenstein, general manager of the Orcas Island resort. Like many other hoteliers around the West, Augenstein added the rustic-luxe structure in response to the growing love for houses high up in the forest (there’s even a DIY Network show dedicated to the topic, called The Treehouse
YOU ARE IN A TREE .
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Guys, on which Doe Bay’s suite was featured). “There’s something playful, almost primal, about sleeping in the trees,” says David Leventhal, the developer behind Playa Viva, a beach resort south of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. The hotel’s creatively designed treehouse—an oval bamboo structure with a canopied king bed, open to Pacific breezes—is a world away from those nailand-2x4 home-builds of childhood. Yet as you climb the ladder up to it, you almost expect to see a different kind of sign: no adults allowed. Here are six of the West’s best new treetop digs.
KEVIN STEELE
Hoteliers are transforming guest rooms into treehouses, elevating ordinary vacations into experiences filled with wonder. By Charyn Pfeuffer
Travel
the treehouse at baja’s acre resort
paddle up b.c.’s sunshine coast from secret cove treehouse
TROPICAL TEMPLES
EVERGREEN HIDEOUTS
MEXICO
TOP LEFT: MAKIKO ARA
The dozen new thatched treehouses at San Jose del Cabo’s Acre (pronounced ah-cray) resort soar 15 feet into the palm-forest canopy, high enough to see the entire 25-acre farm they’re perched on. Using the surroundings for inspiration, the palapa-style rooms are made from the property’s stock of palo de arco trees; each has a terrace shower with views of the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains. When you’re not lounging amid the leaves, the on-site bar is the spot to mingle over Mexicocentric cocktails. From $200; acrebaja.com. Playa Viva’s bamboo treehouse was designed with a lookout tower in mind. Hovering 10 feet over the cactus-studded landscape of a secluded eco resort 35 minutes south of Zihuatanejo, the cylindric abode provides a clear shot of the Pacific Ocean—close enough for the waves to lull you to sleep at night. Come morning, you may want to desert your perch to explore the 200-acre property, a sanctuary and estuary home to hundreds of birds, turtles, and ancient Aztec ruins. From $445; playaviva.com.
acre’s restaurant uses local ingredients in its global cuisine
WASHINGTON
a contemporary interior at secret cove treehouse
COASTAL CLUBHOUSES BRITISH COLUMBIA
British Columbia’s best-kept secret is its Sunshine Coast, a rugged 100-mile shoreline laced with bays and inlets. The best place to cozy up is high atop a craggy fjord at the Secret Cove Treehouse, a knotty-pine dwelling with radiant-floor heating and picture windows with vertigo-inducing views cascading down to the placid cove below. Revel in it with an in-room massage, soak in the moonlit hot tub, or amble to the private dock stocked with canoes. The property’s two treehouses can be booked in tandem for bigger groups. From $135; secretcovetreehouse.com. For total seclusion, slip into the Cliffhouse Cottage, a cabin-in-the-sky on little-visited Galiano Island. Tucked away on the scenic Trincomali Channel, the cottage is built for families, with a kitchen, outdoor grill, and woodburning stove to add warmth to living areas on brisk evenings. Two sprawling decks and a solarium let you soak up the surrounding natural beauty. From $169; cliffhousecottages.com.
Sleep in the sweet spot between the clouds and the forest floor of the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington/Oregon border at Skamania Lodge’s two new cabin-style treehouses. Cedar walls and an indooroutdoor fireplace give them a modern forest feel. Their location, 20 feet in the air, makes for stellar owl’s-eye panoramas, and the property has 4 miles of hiking trails and a zipline (for those craving even more tree time). From $399; destinationhotels.com/skamania. Staying in Doe Bay Resort & Retreat’s newest suite is like glamping in the branches: The structure’s wraparound deck, elevated 18 feet and outfitted with Adirondack chairs, serves as an all-day, open-air lounge. The loft bedroom is accessed by a hand-forged ladder. From $178; doebay.com. DIGITAL BONUS More sky-high places to sleep and play: sunset.com/ treehouses.
surveying the scene at skamania lodge
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See inside from anywhere. The new Family Hub™ refrigerator It has built-in cameras that take a photo every time the doors close, so you always know what you have and what you’re missing.
© 2016 Samsung Electronics America, Inc. All rights reserved. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Home & Garden D E C O R AT I N G IDEAS
RAISE THE ROOF Three creative attic renovations prove just how much fun you can pack into a small space. By Chantal Lamers
Up a notch CASSANDRA LaVALLE TAKES THE HOME OFFICE TO NEW HEIGHTS p. 34
Photographs by
D AV E L A U R I D S E N
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Home & Garden
keep it classic with black-and-white polka-dot shades blogger cassandra lavalle
1 THE HOME OFFICE A longtime design blogger carves out a quiet nook in a shared Seattle nest.
TWO YEARS AGO , when Cassandra LaValle moved into her fiancé’s South Seattle Craftsman, she was faced with the daunting task of merging not only closets but also disparate decorating styles. Craving dedicated space for her wardrobe, LaValle claimed the home’s 140-square-foot attic, which had been retrofitted by a previous owner. With a little paint and new hardware,
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lighting, and furnishings, she created a cozy and chic dressing room that she chronicled on her design and lifestyle blog, Coco Kelley (cocokelley.com). At the same time, LaValle— whose company, Emerald Studio, styles shoots for clients such as Amazon and Starbucks—had been using a breakfast nook as her occasional workspace, complete with laptop cords and piles of paper. But after their kitchen demo got under way, she realized she had to put plan B into effect. What better place to work than the attic? “It’s tucked away from the rest of the house,” she explains, “so I can close the door and not see laundry in the corner.” LaValle opted to outfit her new office with pared-down, slightly masculine pieces and a neutral palette to better reflect the home’s evolving aesthetic: “Steep stairs, low ceilings, and a very tiny doorway limited what we could get in there.” Luckily, there was room for well-chosen touches—lush wallpaper, polka-dot window treatments, and a sheepskin thrown casually over a chair—that bring subtle femininity into the picture.
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Home & Garden
THE DETAILS ³ WO R K O U T T H E S E AT I N G A structured
³ CHOOSE THE WRITE S U R FAC E An old farm-
settee-style sofa takes the place of the former dressing-room chaise. “That was more conducive to reading a book or taking a nap—not so good for working.” Leather loveseat, $3,322; bdantiques.com. Metal side table, from $295; firstpickdesign.com.
house table was her dream, but because she needed a solid, even workstation, LaValle opted for the next best thing: a classic campaign desk redone in a warm wood. Desk, $229; worldmarket.com. Wishbone chair, $314 ; atg stores.com.
why not match your stationery to your shades?
keep it old-school with an inspiration board
³ P L AY W I T H PAT T E R N For one key wall,
³ T H ROW S O M E S H A D E “I knew I wanted
LaValle selected wallpaper that echoed the treetop views from her attic perch. “I wanted something that had an indooroutdoor feel,” she says. Makelike wallpaper in Lush Light Grey, $200/ roll; makelike.com.
pattern for the Roman shades, but it had to work with the bold wallpaper,” LaValle explains. The solution: playful yet discreet polka dots that act as a classic complement to the maximalist accent wall. The cottonlinen fabric provides privacy while still allowing plenty of sunlight into the room. Roman shades in Domino from the Kate Spade Collection at The Shade Store ; theshade store.com. Leather campaign stool, $798 ; serenaandlily.com.
³ K E E P A L OW P RO F I L E Because of the low
ceiling and petite quarters, LaValle decided against putting up shelving. “Piling books on a bench felt more streamlined.” Antique bench, bdantiques.com. 36
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a white dresser fits perfectly under the eaves
“It’s tucked away from the rest of the house, so I can close the door and not see laundry in the corner.” — C A S S A N D R A L aVA L L E
create an asymmetrical gallery wall with frames and mirrors
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Home & Garden
cubbies with tubs are easy for kids to sort
designer jenna wilson and daughter adah
2 THE PLAY SPACE Smart organization and imaginative decor make this kids’ bedroom an all-ages wonderland.
JENNA WILSON was immediately captivated by the 500-square-foot attic in her family’s 1920s Craftsman in artsy Southeast Portland. She envisioned canvasing the plaster walls with inspirational images for her textile-based clothing company, Ace&Jig (aceandjig.com). But her two children, James, 8, and Adah, 6, called it first. “My kids immediately assumed this magical fairy house would be theirs,” said Wilson. “I had to give it up—there are two of them and only one of me.” With its low, pitched roof and multiple nooks, the long, narrow room serves as the siblings’ sleeping quarters, creative retreat, and performance space (a series of ceiling hooks allow brightly colored patchwork “curtains” to hang down for playacting). It also gives Wilson a leg up on bedtime: “The pitter-patter of small feet overhead is a giveaway they’re up to no good.”
Photographs by
T H O M A S J. S T O RY
the chalkboard wall: a tried-and-true kid favorite
THE DETAILS ³ FA K E A RU G Wilson purchased a large canvas drop cloth for $30 and let the kids loose with paint. “Textile paint is the best to use because it’s permanent,” she says. “You can throw the cloth in the washing machine and not have to worry about transfer.” ³ LET IT ALL HANG O U T Hardware-store
hooks above the kids’ beds display soft pompoms and puppets, all made from scrap fabric from Wilson’s company. “It’s an easy way to rotate art.” ³ D R E S S U P A WA L L
Adah’s vintage dress-up clothes are too beautiful to hide behind closet doors. A row of hooks helps keep them out on display; below them, knitting baskets are an easy place for Adah to toss accessories.
this nook doubles as a dress-up stage!
³ CORR AL THOSE T OYS Almost every
parent knows that feeling: the pinch of stepping on a LEGO. “There’s nothing worse,” says Wilson, laughing. So when she scored a vintage black filing cabinet with 40something little drawers, she knew it would make the ideal storage unit for organizing the tiny pieces categorically. ³ A D D A C R A S H PA D
PROP STYLING: MIKHAEL ROMAIN
The attic is a popular destination for cousins and friends to sleep over. Rather than lug extra mattresses up the stairs, Wilson stacks a couple in the corner and disguises them under a patchwork quilt. Now they double as a daybed (and the components of a killer fort) . SUNSET
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Home & Garden
artist windy chien and her work
3 THE MASTER BEDROOM FOR YEARS, Windy Chien awoke every morning to her light-filled Mission District attic bedroom, staring up at the ceiling and deliberating over her vision for the blank walls. Chien, a wood and fiber artist and product designer (windychien. com), has an intriguing work history: Formerly the owner of San Francisco’s Aquarius Records, she transitioned into an eight-year career as a playlist curator, then app-store editor, at Apple. “I was tired of being a poor punk rocker. I’d never had a boss; I wanted to see how other people lived,” she says. In 2010, she purchased a character-laden two-unit building with a friend, gutting and remodeling her attic for an additional 800 square feet of living space. The design for the attic started to fall into place two years ago when boyfriend Gary L. Baker II moved in. He suggested moving the bed closer to the wrought-iron staircase, freeing up the far side of the room for built-in bookshelves (made from redwood and birch)
Photographs by
T H O M A S J. S T O RY
and a listening nook for Chien’s vinyl collection, which spans Norwegian black metal, Brazilian tropicalia, and Jamaican rock steady. Now Chien was free to scheme up the right stripe for the space. Inspired by Baker, whom she affectionately describes as a “preppy, neat millennial” in contrast to her thrift-store, grunge-leaning, Gen X self, she chose Pendleton’s precise, multicolored Glacier National Park blanket as inspiration. The timeless design bridges the couple’s sensibilities and is the furthest thing from trendy in Chien’s eyes. “Think about the patterns and prints you’ve loved since you were a kid,” she advises those searching for a design motif of their own. “Do what resonates with you.” Pendleton Glacier National Park blanket, from $199; pendleton-usa.com. Queen Bed Makeover bedding set in indigo and natural, $831; roughlinen.com. Nicole Myer pillows, $95 each; theperishtrust.com. Helix light by Windy Chien, $225; windychien.com. Eye art by Gary L. Baker II; andthenithought.com.
PROP STYLING: ROD HIPSKIND
A San Francisco artist turns an iconic blanket design into a larger-than-life motif.
this paneling was made from redwood fencing
DRAWING THE LINE Dario Garcia, owner of SF Paint Works (face book.com/sfpaintworks) and Chien’s go-to painter, explains what it takes to bring a big stripe to life on your wall. Start with a flat, clean, painted wall. A surface with texture will result in uneven lines.
³ STEP 1
Using a laser level, measure and tape the top and bottom borders 1 foot at a time. (A yardstick works best when working on sloped walls.) Use a framing square to check for uniformity.
³ STEP 2
Start by painting the darkest color, which will need the most coats. Allow paint to dry between coats.
³ STEP 3
Remove tape when paint is completely dry. Touch up with the wall’s original base color.
³ STEP 4
DIGITAL BONUS Amazing transformations for your home and garden: sunset. com/makeovers.
wall-to-wall white carpeting embraces the retro mood
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Home & Garden
Photographs by
T H O M A S J. S T O RY
IDEA GA R D E N
BOLD BEAUTY
From our new book, Succulents, comes a California garden devoted to the low-water lookers. Zeidler moved to Aptos, California, they gave landscape architect Steve Sutherland a creative challenge: to dream up a garden that was like an extension of their modern home. His mind immediately went to succulents. “They are the only plants dramatic enough to stand up to that task,” says Sutherland. “They command attention.” To complement the home’s graphic lines, the designer arranged powdery blue agaves, icy blue senecios, and pinkish echeverias in blocks around the property. “Mass plantings within a very restrained palette make for a more powerful design,” says Sutherland. Ornamental grasses, placed in equally wide ribbons, add a little softness. Sutherland chose their plants for toughness as much as looks. All of them are drought-resistant, can stand up against the salt and wind, and—at the homeowners’ request—require little maintenance. Neither Leland nor Marian M A K E A M O D E R N STAT E M E N T consider themselves gardeners, but the Strong shapes and angles are landscape feeds their love of art. Leland hallmarks of the garden, where a row of Agave attenuata goes out nearly every day to check out the ‘Nova’ encircles the house. succulents, sometimes bringing their A red metal sculpture by local blooms inside as arrangements. After all, he artist Kenneth Hepburn plays off the plants’ forms. says, “They’re as contemporary as it gets.” WHEN LELAND AND MARIAN
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Home & Garden
Tastes like a treat. Cleans like a toothbrush.*
Unique twist design
Scrubbing nubs
Taste they’ll love
Helps fight tartar build-up and bad breath
*When fed daily, Milk-Bone® Brushing Chews® are as effective as brushing a dog’s teeth twice a week based on the reduction of tartar build-up.
© Big Heart Pet Brands.
F I N D BA L A N C E
I N C LU D E A FO CA L P O I N T
Above: Along the side of the house, blue fescue (Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’) and coppery-hued Carex testacea fringe a border of Agave attenuata ‘Nova’. Because the large windows make the garden such a prominent part of the view, the plants serve as a backdrop for the couple’s indoor art. Blue fescue is a perfect match for a modernist house, and requires much less water and maintenance—yet offers more textural interest—than turf grass.
Right: Tall containers of succulents are an easy way to add architectural interest to a patio. A fan aloe (A. plicatilis) fringed with blue-tinged Senecio mandraliscae make a sculptural duo by the front door.
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Adapted from Succulents: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Designing, and Growing 200 Easy-Care Plants (Oxmoor House, January 2017; $25) by Robin Stockwell. sunset.com/succulents book. SUNSET
“I’ve never been a gardener, but now I’m outside every day, admiring my plants.” —LELAND ZEIDLER
Try our twist on clean.
Clinically proven as effective as brushing* Patented twist bone design with nubs & ridges Helps clean hard-to-reach back teeth *When fed daily Milk-Bone® Brushing Chews® are as effective as brushing a dog’s teeth twice a week based on the reduction of tartar build-up. The Veterinary Oral Health Council recommends daily tooth brushing for optimal effectiveness. © Big Heart Pet Brands. FMB004
Home & Garden NORTHERN C A LIF O R NIA
CHECKLIST
PLANT
Nurseries are stocked with a wide selection of bareroot fruit trees this month. For Northern California gardens, the team at Dave Wilson Nursery suggests these: ‘Sugar Twist’, a “pluerry” (plum-cherry cross), which has fruit that hangs on the tree for four to six weeks instead of dropping all at once; ‘Tomcot’ apricot, which has a late bloom time that makes its fruit production more reliable than other varieties ; or the blight-resistant pear ‘Warren’, a good substitute for the familiar ‘Bartlett’. Plant a fragrant white winter bloomer. The vines Jasminum polyanthum and Clematis armandii will produce sweet blooms in February if the winter is mild. Set out bare-root strawberries in well-drained, acidic soil, 14 to 18 inches apart in mounded rows that are about 2 feet apart. Reliable varieties include ‘Chandler’, ‘Seascape’, and ‘Sequoia’.
“Long-lasting aloe blooms are winter’s best flower.” JOHANNA SILVER, GARDEN EDITOR
then cut the previous year’s growth, making cuts above outward-facing buds. Ideally, the result is a V-shaped bush with a relatively open center. Remove foliage and place in green bin to prevent disease. Shrub or floribunda roses (such as ‘Iceberg’ ) should be cut back by one-fourth to one-third. (Don’t prune roses that bloom only once in spring now.) Pick up fallen camellia blossoms. Leaving them at the base of the shrub encourages disease. Clean moss off steps and pathways with boiling water and a stiff brush. Otherwise, it can make surfaces slippery. IDEA WE LOVE
MAINTAIN
Weeds can get out of control if neglected this month, but they’re easy to pull from damp soil. In particular, don’t let Oxalis pes-caprae, with its clovershaped leaves and highlighter yellow blooms, take over. HARVEST
Prune hybrid tea and grandiflora roses. Remove dead, diseased, crossing, or badly placed branches first,
Pick ripened citrus as you need it. Leave unripe fruit to hang; it won’t get sweeter once picked.
New Year blooms As other plants go dormant for the winter, many succulents are still in their prime. Certain aloes, for instance, send up spectacular blooms that can brighten the garden while all other plants are snoozing. At the San Diego Botanic Garden, the Aloe ‘Super Red’ rises among shapely boulders, showing off its tall candles of scarlet blooms. Other cool-season favorites include coral aloe (A. striata), whose branched clusters of coral pink flowers last from midwinter into spring, and mountain aloe (A. marlothii), which sends up towering blooms ranging from golden yellow to orange and red in fall and winter.
Learn what to plant when with our year-round checklists : sunset.com/checklists.
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Reported by
E L I Z A B E T H JA R D I NA & J I M M c CAU S L A N D
DAVID E. PERRY
Refresh the vegetable garden by sowing seeds of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuces, and mustard. Plant onion sets, which look like small bulbs, just under soil surface so the point of the bulb is visible.
Homework in backpack, backpack on kid, kid on bus. Gold star.
F I N D I N G CENTER
AND
G E T TI N G LOS T JOSHUA
I N TREE
THE
Trip By
Mickey Rapkin Photographs By
Daniel Hennessy
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On
a blistering-hot October afternoon in Flamingo Heights, a desert community 20 miles west of Joshua Tree National Park, Claire Wadsworth is flipping tables. It’s Sunday brunch at La Copine, the restaurant she owns with her wife, chef Nikki Hill. This quaint, 42-seat spot would be easy to miss if not for the impressive crowd waiting outside. La Copine sits on a secluded two-lane highway that seems to go on forever, which makes it feel like a mirage. The sausage and English muffins are made in-house, as is the fresh ricotta cheese. “There are no reservations,” Wadsworth says. “No phone, either. Sometimes we have to close because the power goes out.”
The couple hadn’t planned on opening a restaurant—or even leaving Los Angeles. But after getting married in 2015, they suddenly found themselves asking the Big Questions. “We went home and were like, ‘This is the life we made for ourselves? Going back to the same jobs, the same apartment?’ ” Then Hill (a veteran of Santa Monica’s Huckleberry restaurant) and Wadsworth (a musician and teacher) were visiting friends in neighboring Pioneertown when, by chance, one of the locals mentioned that a
JAY AND ALISON CARROLL, PART OF A NEW GENERATION OF DESERT PILGRIMS, AT THEIR OLIVE - OIL SHOP IN WONDER VALLEY. PREVIOUS SPREAD : SKYLINE STUDIOS, PIONEERTOWN.
restaurant nearby was for sale. The building had a chain-link fence around it and appeared abandoned. When the newlyweds finally got a peek inside, Wadsworth recalls, “Everything was caked in grease. There was
pink jelly-fat pouring out of the fryer. But the minute Nikki saw the walk-in fridge, this smile came across her face. I knew right then that that was it. We were going to move to the desert.” What her wife was responding to wasn’t a hulking, stainless steel cooler as much as it was the whiff of hope and possibility that’s been part of the DNA out here forever. Joshua Tree, California, is still the Wild West—a place where the couple’s modest honeymoon fund stretched to a down payment on the restaurant, and maybe on a new life. Call it a revolution. Call them the next wave of desert pilgrims. But they’re not alone. Joshua Tree and its surrounding communities— Yucca Valley, Wonder Valley, Pioneertown, Twentynine Palms—are luring today’s creative class with a promise of a better life, a place to think, cook, make, play, reboot. I’ve come out here to take the temperature of the cool-kids-in-the-desert phenomenon. And I’ll admit, I’ve brought a skeptical eye. I booked a one-bedroom cabin on Airbnb that’s owned and operated by two fashion models from L.A. The house is decorated with midcentury furniture; on the bedside table sits a copy of Desert Oracle, a local zine about desert culture that includes an article about a legendary Mojave phone booth. Naturally there is an Airstream trailer next door, which is also for rent. “It’s snake season,” the homeowner warns me by email, “so please make sure to keep the doors closed at all times so you don’t have any snakes wondering in the house!” That typo is sic. But it also captures the spirit of the new Joshua Tree: wonder. Over a plate of La Copine’s still-hot beignets, Jay Carroll—who spent five years at the creative helm of the Levi’s Global Brand concept team and looks the part—shares his own path with me. “I became obsessed with the appeal of the emptiness,” says Jay. He and his wife, Alison, had been looking for a weekend home in Joshua Tree in 2015 when they decided to go all-in and make a permanent move. They’re now producing a line of olive oil and home goods under the label Wonder Valley while renovating a 1950s homestead cabin they tore down to the studs. But their great life changeup was less about entrepreneurship than about lifestyle. SUNSET
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Says Alison: “When you live in a city, you sometimes think, Oh, I’d love to wake up and meditate and eat well and exercise and have the headspace to tackle this creative project. Out here you can do that.” The tradition of artists seeking inspiration from the desert runs deep. In 1969, Keith Richards, Gram Parsons, and Italian actress-model Anita Pallenberg wandered around Joshua Tree National Park taking LSD and chasing UFOs. Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda passed through on choppers while filming Easy Rider. Similarly inspired by the open expanse, artist Noah Purifoy (who founded the Watts Towers Art Center) relocated to the Mojave in 1989, where he opened a 10-acre sculpture garden that feels like something out of Mad Max: Fury Road. In 2000, artist Andrea Zittel traded her tiny Brooklyn studio for a 50-acre compound in Joshua Tree, where she later launched the nonprofit High Desert Test Sites, a lab for other artists to come create in.
Attendance at Joshua Tree National Park topped 2 million visitors for the first time in 2015, a spike some credit to Instagram and an influx of millennials. Kate and Laura Mulleavy (the sisters behind fashion label Rodarte) have talked about Joshua Tree as an inspiration for their designs. Solange spent New Year’s Eve 2015 glamping in the desert, documenting her experience with the hashtag #turnupteepee. Then there’s Pioneertown. In the 1940s, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers built a Wild West backlot here to make movies. These days, it’s a hipster hangout. (Picture HBO’s Westworld populated by bearded young folk.) The oldtimey post office is a popular spot for desert selfies. But the big draw is Pappy & Harriet’s, a local watering hole and music venue where indie bands like Panda Bear and The War on Drugs have performed. When I arrive, the town is still buzzing over Paul McCartney’s surprise show at Pappy’s for 300 fans lucky enough to get there in time.
The more desert transplants I spoke to, the more I thought about what my life might look like here. I would become someone who confidently wears cowboy hats. The long-shuttered Pioneertown bowling alley was for sale. I imagined myself teaching tourist kids the art of keeping score the oldfashioned way—but with tiny, bespoke pencils made by a local artisan. Outside of La Copine, I’d met Peter Brooks, a Marine vet who works in water conservation and was in the midst of a guys’ weekend. He and his buddies were on their way home to do some recreational masonry. He suggested I connect with his wife, Lily Stockman, co-owner of the textile firm Block Shop; the couple split their time
RIGHT: MUSICIAN ROCCO GARDNER IN ONE OF HIS AIRSTREAMS. BELOW: IN 2013, GARDNER OPENED SKYLINE STUDIOS IN PIONEERTOWN.
couple of projects at High Desert Test Sites. The two got serious and Dellinger, then 35, felt ready to take the leap on all fronts. She found a house in Flamingo Heights on a Saturday, put an offer in on Sunday, and quit her job on Monday to help launch a production company out in the desert. (The experiment is working. She recently produced shoots for Urban Outfitters and GQ.) Of her generation, she says: “We’re so connected, it almost doesn’t matter where you are. Though part of what makes this place tick is its proximity to L.A. If someone needs to have a meeting with me this afternoon, I could be there in two hours.” She likens the creative energy in Joshua Tree to what she felt in Portland in the late ’90s. “We have access to all this beauty and nature. If we just want to go camping, we can throw some sleeping bags in the back of the truck and drive out to the dry lake bed.” I know what she means about the scenery. On my second morning in town, I’m driving down Twentynine Palms Highway on my way to check out Steve Halterman’s studio, which he runs out of a rehabbed 1950s gas station that looks like an Ed Ruscha painting. I want to pull over and take a million selfies with the massive rock boulders and the mountains reaching up to a forever blue
between L.A. and Joshua Tree. In 2013 they purchased a run-down homestead on 5 acres, drawn here largely for the community of like-minded artists. “No one happens to end up in the desert,” Stockman tells me. “People are looking for space and time—the two greatest luxuries of the modern age.” She cites the competitive real estate market in the Bay Area and Los Angeles as a driving force behind this great migration to the desert. But she believes there’s also a cultural shift at work.
“There’s something about this generation that wants to be in that environment,” she says. “It scratches that itch for wilderness and nature.” The Internet has made it possible for a generation of creative self-starters to work from anywhere. Genevieve Dellinger was in Los Angeles producing photo shoots for a big ad agency when she started dating the artist Dan Anderson—of the Portland-based collective Von Tundra—who’d relocated to Joshua Tree in 2012 after working on a SUNSET
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sky. I looked at the temperature on the car dashboard. It’s closing in on 85°. I’m reminded: This land could swallow us whole. Halterman isn’t surprised by the influx. “There’s this idea that artists live in a urban environment,” he says, “but that’s only because urban environments were traditionally cheap.” His studio turns out to be its own piece of art. He and his husband, Glen Steigelman (previously an analyst at Xerox who now dresses like an off-duty lumberjack), had always imagined they’d retire to the desert. But they made the move sooner when an abandoned gas station in downtown Joshua Tree went up for sale in 2011. The place was a dump, but where others saw ruin, they squinted and pictured a midcentury modern clubhouse—where a surfboard hangs from the ceiling and a vintage pinball machine decorates one corner. Hozier and the Pixies have both shot music videos here, which doesn’t surprise me. Neither does the news that the couple run a quarterly membersonly party on their back patio—which is decorated with a yellow 1965 delivery truck they dug out of a neighbor’s backyard and restored to mint condition. The desert is the last great opportunity. Perhaps it’s always been that way. I met Stephanie Smith, an architect who previously taught at Sci-Arc in Los Angeles and moved to Joshua Tree permanently in 2010 when the economy crashed. In the desert she met her partner, Jay Babcock, the cofounder-editor of the now-defunct (but forever hip) Arthur magazine. Together they run JT Homesteader, a lifestyle brand with three Airbnb rental cabins, including one painted green in the 1950s—the original coat fading beautifully over time into a patina Restoration Hardware would kill to replicate. “In the 1920s and the 1950s,” Smith says, “the federal government started giving away 5-acre parcels of land to anyone who could homestead them.” The pitch was simple: Build a small cabin, work the land, and make a life for yourself. Smith runs a monthly artist’s salon out of one of her seven properties, but she’s already prepping her next move: Sunever Farms, a desert orchard she’s cultivating on a 20-acre plot where she’ll open a farmstand in 2017 and 54
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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE : THE INTEGRATRON ; 1950S GAS STATION TURNED ART STUDIO, THE STATION, CO - OWNED BY GLEN STEIGELMAN.
sell drought-tolerant fruit from local jujube trees and apple cactus. I ask her what, besides the cheap real estate, keeps her here: “The desert has always had this mystery of the other. It’s not quite safe. You’re always on edge. You’re staying a
little bit hungry, a little bit hard. A lot of people come out here and think it’s cool. Then a year in they’re like, ‘This is the hardest place I’ve ever lived.’ It toughens you up to do better work. To think bigger.” Another idea emerges: Lost in all the talk about how home-share websites like Airbnb are ruining communities and turning homes into party houses is another side of the coin. It sounds like spin, but (gulp) maybe these sites really are giving artists a way to make cash so they can pursue their (gulp
again) dreams. The Web is flooded with Joshua Tree prospectors who’ve hung a few succulents, bought some chic linens, and marketed themselves to tourists. Most of the guests are chill. But the specter of noisy weekend-party palaces lingers as festivals like the alt-rock Desert Daze become more popular. In February 2017, Joshua Tree will welcome Desert & Denim, the third-annual trade show for artisans. Lily Stockman admits she’s as guilty as anyone of hyping the cult of Joshua Tree. But clarifies: “It’s easy to be romanced by the Airbnb/macramé/Pappy & Harriet’s Saturday night/Coachella thing. But this is not a glamorous place. It’s one of the poorest parts of the poorest counties in the state.” In downtown Joshua Tree, run-down storefronts coexist with a pour-over coffee joint that roasts its own beans and a vegetarian breakfast place, where the line stretches out the door. But it’s not exactly Williamsburg. I watched a football game at the JT Saloon on a Sunday night. The cheeseburger was delicious, and if the meat was grass-fed, nobody was talking about it. As Dellinger told me: “The desert looks
really good on Instagram, but people get here and they’re like, ‘What is there to do?’ I think that is the big surprise, that it’s actually pretty sleepy.” Andrea Zittel echoes that point, telling me: “Joshua Tree is such a beautiful, interesting, and profoundly complicated place. People like to romanticize the desert, but it’s also a very politicized landscape. Right now there is a massive rush to use our area for large solar and wind-farm developments. And I can see the largest Marine base in the country from my studio; when they run artillery target practice, it shakes the entire house, sometimes for days. But while many things about this area are quickly changing, I still feel a sense of huge potential here.” There is something unique to Joshua Tree that cannot be co-opted: its undeniable spirituality. That’s part of what drew Rocco Gardner to Pioneertown. The London-born musician and entrepreneur purchased a ranch in 2013 and converted it into a recording studio (where Grammy-winning artists have laid down tracks). His expansive property has two goats, several fruit trees, and three Airstream trailers, including a rare 1953 Cruisette—the smallest model the company ever made. Gardner had been living in New York, where he produced a music festival on a Shinnecock Reservation. “I still love New York,” Gardner says, “but it had gotten to a point where if you want to do anything creative, it has to be paid for. You either have to raise money or find someone to sponsor you. In the desert, you can build something yourself.” He recalls that first night he spent on the secluded property a mile from Pappy & Harriet’s, but a world away. “I looked out at the mountains and I had a conversation with them,” he says. “I said, Please take care of me. It was a really important moment for me.” I’d never talked to mountains before. But if I was going to start, I’d need to visit The Integratron, a domelike structure in nearby Landers that allegedly has healing powers. Visitors come from all over the world for an hourlong sound bath, which is said to amplify the thoughts you put out into the universe. Others have called this place a time machine. I’m not sure about that, but I will 56
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LEFT: JAY BABCOCK AND STEPHANIE SMITH OF JT HOMESTEADER. ABOVE : RETRO COT TAGE RENTALS FROM THE 1950S.
say this: I stopped in the gift shop and found a series of gemstones for sale. The rocks had been “charged” in the Integratron, and the shopkeeper explained the purported powers of each, telling me to reach for the crystal that spoke to me. Sort of like how, in Harry Potter, the wand chooses you. I picked up a $35 pink amethyst rock and my head started to throb. Like, serious intense vibrations. I asked the girl next to me what drew her to the Integratron that day and her answer was: “Good vibes and high fives.” The Integratron is its own unbelievable reboot story. The inventor, George Van Tassel (a former aeronautical engineer who worked with Howard Hughes), built the dome in 1957, claiming that aliens from Venus took him aboard their ship and gave him the instructions for the building. The Karl sisters—who’d grown up in New York and first visited the Integratron in the ’80s—purchased the property in 2000 and
consider themselves stewards of Van Tassel’s vision for the property. I asked Nancy Karl whether she believed in aliens. There was a pause. “I believe George believed,” she said. Fair enough. “The first time I visited,” she continued, “it felt like somebody just lifted the lid off the top of our heads. Finally we could breathe.” These sisters are not kooks. Nancy worked for CNET as an associate vice president of marketing before moving to the desert. Her sister, Joanne, was a cardiac nurse. The building had come up for sale in 2000, but the Karl sisters didn’t have the money. They were so distraught over the thought of it falling into less-than-spiritual hands that they traveled to the building to meditate on the solution. “We said, ‘This can’t happen. If this is meant to be available for the public—if we are meant to be stewards here—then we need some serious magic.’ So we put our hands together, bowed our heads, and we prayed. All of a sudden, this giant dust storm starts whirling and whirling. It comes across the property and it blows the lid off the top of the building. It’s a crazy story.” The day before the close of escrow, the
FBI closed the accounts of the would-be buyer—who was apparently under investigation for fraud—and the deal fell through. With the help of two well-funded friends, the Karl sisters bought the building and restored it to its former glory. Some 15,000 people now visit annually. Spiritual beliefs aside, the acoustics in the Integratron are stunning; 30 of us lay down on rugs and closed our eyes for our sound bath. We focused on our breath as a man played crystal bowls that rang out. Chakras opened, or whatever. The way the dome is constructed, it’s like taking a nap inside a gigantic cello. Maybe the desert really is magic. Claire Wadsworth from La Copine certainly thinks so. “That’s the other thing about the desert that I really love,” she says. “Be careful what you wish for out here because it comes true.” Wadsworth tells me she recently asked the universe for a piano for the restaurant. Twenty-four hours later, one showed up on their doorstep.
DIGITAL BONUS Live like a local at these Joshua Tree rentals: sunset.com/ socaldesertrentals. SUNSET
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The desert done right YOUR G UI DE TO G E T TI NG RO OTE D I N J OS H UA T RE E
Where to rest your head
Five ways to live the desert dream Make your mark Sisters Lily and Hopie Stockman honed their textile skills under master block printers in India. At Block Shop, they teach future makers how to coax brilliant colors from everyday plants. The weekend workshops kick off with sunset margaritas by the bonfire and finish with a farm-to-table lunch prepared by local hot spot La Copine. Expect to walk away with two selfmade silk scarves. From $350; blockshoptextiles.com. Get bent You can’t swing a sarong in Joshua Tree without hitting a yoga instructor. But if that yogi happens to be renowned author Darren Main, consider yourself lucky. His four-night retreats may start and end with downward dog, but in between they’re packed with rock climbing, hiking, hot-spring dips, and bonfires. Sleep in a tent under the stars and enjoy chefprepared veggie feasts before being shocked back to reality wondering if it was all a dream. From $300; desertspiritretreat.com.
Shhh, listen What, exactly, is a sound bath? You’ll find out at The Integratron, the New Agey structure that’s drawn everyone from Anthony Bourdain to Jason Mraz looking to untap its restorative, and some say supernatural, powers. An hourlong session under the 28-foot-high domed ceiling will melt you into a meditative state, as earthly stressors drift away to the echoing vibration of music played on a set of crystal bowls. From $25; by appointment only; integratron.com.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: LA COPINE ; GROOVY CRYSTALS; THE INTEGRATRON
Spin a yarn The Hi-Desert Cultural Center has been showcasing performing arts for a half-century. With updates this year (plush new seats, Swarovski chandeliers, and state-of-the-art lighting), the interior now matches the cuttingedge acts that take its stage. Don’t miss the 10th annual Desert Stories, a storytelling roundup with past performances by everyone from songwriter Eric Burdon to local war veterans. Jan 28; hidesert culturalcenter.org. Turn on the night Anyone with an iPhone can snap off a cactus masterpiece … during the day! To capture the desert’s haunting moonscapes and stellar celestials, sign up for the night-sky photography workshop with professional shooter Casey Kiernan. His monthly get-togethers will have you traipsing through the starlit desert with your lens aimed high, before crashing at his B&B. You’ll wake to banana bread, hot coffee, and a primer in postprocessing your shots. From $399, including lodging; joshua treeworkshops.com.
Family-owned for five generations, 29 Palms Inn embraces its desert roots with nine historic adobes and four wood-framed cabins outfitted with mission-style furnishings, hammock-bedecked patios, and desertscapes by local painter Dean MacKenzie. Add weekend yoga, free nature walks, and a poolside restaurant, and you’ve got yourself a vacation. From $175; 29palmsinn.com. Make like the pioneers at one of JT Homesteader’s three restored cabin rentals, built in the 1950s but ushered into the 21st century with modern kitchens, outdoor showers, and Wi-Fi so you can stay comfy and connected even though the closest neighbor is a mile away. Starting in March, owners Stephanie and Jay will host farm dinners on their property, with menus highlighting native edibles like prickly pear and agave, all gussied up by guest chefs. From $79; jthomesteader.com. If a sleeping bag and tent aren’t your scene, the Mojave Sands is worth the upgrade. The fiveroom boutique hotel takes rustic minimalism to a new level, with thatched roofs and floating walnut beds. And there are plenty of nooks for finding your Zen, none better than the courtyard’s reflecting pool. After a long day on the trails, make use of the outdoor barbecue and cap off the night stargazing from one of three hot tubs. From $150; mojavesandsat joshuatree.com. —Marie Salcido
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GAME PLAN T H E S E F L AVO R F U L , M A K E - A H E A D
V EG ETA R I A N R EC I P E S A R E YO U R PAT H TO H E A LT H Y - E AT I N G S U C C E S S .
By Charity Ferreira Photographs by Iain Bagwell
WE
FOOD STYLING: RANDY MON; PROP STYLING: CHRISTINE WOLHEIM
all know by now that eating more vegetables is good for us and for the planet. And there’s never been a more delicious time to do it: Big flavors from the Middle East and Asia, combined with new choices of produce and grains, have transformed vegetarian cooking. We’ve brought these flavors into five easy, big-batch vegetarian recipes. Cook them on a weekend and they’ll last at least a week in the refrigerator. Or, freeze them (for up to three months) as a gift to your future hungry self or family. Then, when you’re ready for dinner, combine a couple or customize them with store-bought condiments. For minimal work, that’s a lot of healthy eating.
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WEEKEND PLAN COOK BIG BATCHES OF …
NO. 1
NO. 2
CHICKPEAS
BROWN RICE
HERBED CHICKPEAS MAKES ABOUT 5 CUPS / 2 HOURS
Cooked dried chickpeas have a firmer texture and better flavor than canned, so it’s worth the time to make a lot. Choose plump-looking dried beans—they’ll cook faster than more shriveled ones. Use these chickpeas in soups, salads, and pastas— anyplace you’d use canned chickpeas. 2 cups dried chickpeas 2 bay leaves 4 or 5 large sprigs fresh thyme or 1⁄ 2 tsp. dried thyme About 1 tsp. fine sea salt 1. Rinse chickpeas and discard any grit or debris. Soak overnight in water to cover to reduce cooking time (depending on age of beans, this can shorten the time by an hour). If you do, drain chickpeas before proceeding. Put in a large pot with bay leaves and thyme and add enough water to cover by 1 in. 2. Bring to a boil over high heat, covered, and let boil 5 minutes, partially covered. Reduce heat to low, cover fully, and simmer until tender, 11/2 to 2 1/2 hours, adding more hot water as needed to keep chickpeas covered by about 1 in. When tender, stir in salt. If not serving right away, let cool in cooking liquid (you’ll need some of it for Saffron Tomato Chickpeas or Sumac Hummus, both at right). PER 1⁄ 2-CUP SERVING 129 Cal., 14% (18 Cal.) from fat; 7.2 g protein; 2 g fat (0 g sat.); 22 g carbo (6.5 g fiber); 160 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. GF/LC/LS/VG
VARIATION
SUMAC HUMMUS MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS / 10 MINUTES
Just before serving, swirl in another 1/2 tsp. sumac, for a little hit of freshness. • Drain 2 cups Herbed Chickpeas, reserving 1/2 cup liquid and discarding bay leaves, and put in a food processor. Add 1/4 cup each chickpea liquid and water, 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp. tahini, 1 tsp. sumac, 1 tsp. fine sea salt, 2 tbsp. lime juice, and 1 chopped garlic clove and whirl until smooth, scraping sides of bowl periodically, about 2 minutes. Add more chickpea liquid if you like your hummus looser and creamier. PER TBSP. 34 Cal., 53% (18 Cal.) from fat; 1.1 g protein; 2.1 g fat (0.3 g sat.); 3.1 g carbo (0.9 g fiber); 68 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. GF/LC/LS/VG
VARIATION
SAFFRON TOMATO CHICKPEAS MAKES 6 CUPS / 1 HOUR
Drain 1 batch Herbed Chickpeas, reserving liquid, and put chickpeas back in pot with 3 cups liquid (a surprising amount of liquid will get absorbed as the chickpeas cool). Grind 1/2 tsp. saffron threads to a coarse powder in a spice grinder; set aside. Heat 2 tbsp. vegetable oil in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat, add 1/2 cup diced onion and cook, stirring often, until softened and beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp. each ground cumin and ground coriander and sizzle, stirring, 30 seconds. Stir in 3 minced garlic cloves, reserved saffron, and 1 tsp. fine sea salt, then pour into chickpeas. Add 11/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes to chickpeas, stir, and simmer, covered, 10 minutes to meld flavors. PER 1⁄ 2-CUP SERVING 142 Cal., 25% (36 Cal.) from fat; 6.7 g protein; 4.2 g fat (0.3 g sat.); 21 g carbo (6.2 g fiber); 3.3 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. GF/LC/VG
BROWN BASMATI COCONUT RICE MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS / 1 HOUR
Like all types of brown rice, each grain of brown basmati retains its nutritious bran and germ. The gentle sweetness of this rice comes from unrefined coconut oil, which is rich in antioxidants. Use this rice as a base for saucy Middle Eastern or Indian dishes, including curries; in pilafs; and in soups. 2 cups brown basmati rice 11⁄ 2 tbsp. unrefined virgin coconut oil* 1 tsp. fine sea salt 1. Put rice, oil, salt, and 1 qt. water in a 6- to 8-qt. pot. Bring to a boil, covered. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, until most of the water is absorbed and grains are tender, about 45 minutes. If not quite tender, add 1/4 cup water. 2. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes, covered, to steam. Fluff with a fork, then serve. *Find unrefined virgin coconut oil at wellstocked grocery stores. PER 1⁄ 2-CUP SERVING 120 Cal., 20% (24 Cal.) from fat; 2.5 g protein; 2.8 g fat (1.7 g sat.); 23 g carbo (1.4 g fiber); 129 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. VG
VARIATION
SPICED BROWN BASMATI COCONUT RICE MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS / 10 MINUTES
In a small pot, heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil. In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 tsp. each ground cardamom, allspice, turmeric, and red chile flakes with a pinch of ground cloves. Stir into hot oil and sizzle, stirring, 5 seconds to release flavors; then scrape into 1 recipe hot Brown Basmati Coconut Rice (above) and stir well to mix. PER 1⁄ 2-CUP SERVING 131 Cal., 26% (34 Cal.) from fat; 2.5 g protein; 4 g fat (1.9 g sat.); 23 g carbo (1.4 g fiber); 129 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. GF/LC/LS/VG
NO. 3
NO. 4
NO. 5
FREEKEH
KALE
WINTER SQUASH
FREEKEH with PARSLEY and ONIONS KALE RIBBONS MAKES 5 1⁄ 2 CUPS / ABOUT 1 HOUR
MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS / 45 MINUTES
Middle Eastern freekeh has a sweet-smoky flavor and a juicy, chewy texture. It’s delicious in burgers, with lentils, and strewn over salads—as is, or fried until crisp. You can use store-bought vegetable broth, but for exceptional flavor, it’s worth it to make your own (find our Hearty Vegetable Broth recipe at sunset.com).
Here’s a simple way to cook one of winter’s most flavorful vegetables. Try it with cooked penne or orecchiette; stirred into sautéed mushrooms; added to a Spanishstyle potato omelet; or folded into quiche.
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup finely chopped yellow onion (about 1⁄ 2 medium) 2 cups freekeh (roasted green wheat)* or farro 1 tsp. each dukkah* and fine sea salt 31⁄ 2 cups vegetable broth, homemade (see headnote above) or store-bought 2 tsp. lemon juice 1⁄ 3 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley 1. Heat oil in a 4- to 6-qt. pot over mediumhigh heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in freekeh, dukkah, and salt. 2. Add the broth and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until liquid is absorbed and the grains are tender, 25 to 35 minutes (if using farro, drain off excess broth and save it for soup, if you like). Remove from heat and let steam, covered, 10 minutes; then stir in lemon juice, parsley, and salt to taste. *Find both freekeh and dukkah, an Egyptian spice blend, at well-stocked grocery stores, Middle Eastern markets, and online. To make your own dukkah, blend 1/4 tsp. each sesame seeds, ground coriander and cumin, dried thyme, and finely chopped roasted hazelnuts. PER 1⁄ 2-CUP SERVING 142 Cal., 22% (31 Cal.) from fat; 4.7 g protein; 3.6 g fat (0.4 g sat.); 23 g carbo (5.4 g fiber); 315 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. LC/V
2 lbs. lacinato (aka Tuscan or dinosaur) kale (4 or 5 bunches), rinsed well 6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 2/3 cup thinly sliced shallots 1 tsp. fine sea salt 1. Tear kale leaves from stems, keeping leaves as intact as possible. Stack leaves, roll into rough bundles, and slice into thin (1/4 in.) ribbons. 2. Heat oil in a large wide pot over medium-low heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring, until just beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. 3. Add kale ribbons and salt. Cook over medium-high heat, turning often with tongs, until kale is just wilted but still bright green, 4 to 7 minutes (if you’re cooking it to store, keep it slightly crunchy, since it will soften when you reheat). Serve warm or at room temperature. PER 1⁄ 2-CUP SERVING 93 Cal., 65% (60 Cal.) from fat; 0.5 g protein; 7 g fat (1 g sat.); 7.1 g carbo (0.7 g fiber); 147 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. GF/LC/LS/VG
ROASTED WINTER SQUASH with HONEY, TAHINI, and LIME MAKES 8 CUPS / ABOUT 1 HOUR
Almost any kind of winter squash can be cooked this way, including red kuri, which has a nutty flavor and a potato-like texture (red kabocha is similar but not as starchy) and mild, sweet delicata. All three varieties have tasty, edible peels, so there’s no need to cut them off. They’re good in stews, as a side for roasted meat, and in salads. 2 small red kuri or kabocha squash (4 to 5 lbs. total) or 3 delicata squash (3 lbs. total) 1⁄ 3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 3 tbsp. honey 1⁄4 cup lime juice 2 tbsp. tahini About 1 tsp. fine sea salt 1. Preheat oven to 425°. If using kuri or kabocha squash, pierce squash in a couple of spots with a knife or skewer and microwave 4 minutes to soften. Cut squash into quarters and slice off stem. If using delicata, cut in half lengthwise. For all types, scrape out seeds and membranes with a big spoon, then cut into 3/4-in. slices. 2. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk oil, honey, lime juice, tahini, and salt together to create a glaze. Put squash in bowl and turn to coat well. Spread squash pieces in a single layer on baking sheets, drizzle with a few tbsp. of remaining glaze, and cover baking sheets with foil. 3. Roast squash 20 minutes, then remove foil and turn pieces over. Return to oven and roast, uncovered, until squash is nicely browned, 10 to 15 minutes more. Season with salt to taste. PER 1-CUP SERVING 170 Cal., 57% (97 Cal.) from fat; 2.1 g protein; 11 g fat (1.6 g sat.); 18 g carbo (1.6 g fiber); 192 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. GF/LC/LS/V
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WEEKNIGHT PLAN MAKE DINNER IN A SNAP
SUMAC HUMMUS WITH
KALE RIBBONS AND
ROASTED DELICATA SQUASH Spread Sumac Hummus across a plate and top with a mound of Kale Ribbons and slices of Roasted Delicata Squash with Honey, Tahini, and Lime. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, then sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese, toasted pine nuts, and pomegranate seeds. Serve with warm pita bread or lavash.
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SAFFRON TOMATO CHICKPEAS, FREEKEH, AND
BRUSSELS SPROUTS Spoon Saffron Tomato Chickpeas and Freekeh with Parsley and Onions into a bowl. Top with thinly sliced brussels sprouts (seasoned with lemon juice, fine sea salt, and turbinado sugar), plain yogurt, and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Season brussels sprouts and yogurt with fine sea salt and a pinch or two of dukkah.
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SWEET AND
SPICY RED KURI SQUASH BOWL
Use any Asian chili paste or sauce you have in your refrigerator to give this rice bowl a touch of salty heat, including sambal oelek, garlic chili sauce, or even Sriracha chili sauce. Fry thinly sliced shallots in unrefined virgin coconut oil or vegetable oil until brown, then sprinkle with salt. Spoon Spiced Brown Basmati Coconut Rice into bowls and top with cut-up slices of Roasted Red Kuri Squash, a drizzle of Asian chili sauce (such as Mae Ploy), fried shallots, and toasted unsweetened coconut flakes. Squeeze a lime wedge over the bowl and serve.
FREEKEH TABBOULEH Make the vinaigrette: In a bowl, whisk together 2 tbsp. each lemon juice and extravirgin olive oil, 1 tsp. fine sea salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper. In a serving bowl, toss 1 cup Freekeh with Parsley and Onions; 2 Persian cucumbers, cut into 1/4-in. dice; 1 cup lightly packed whole flat-leaf parsley leaves; 3 medium thinly sliced green onions; and 1/2 cup diced feta cheese with 2 tbsp. vinaigrette. Arrange tabbouleh on a platter and top with a small handful of watercress leaves. To make it a meal, serve with Sumac Hummus and pita.
DIGITAL BONUS More meatless recipes, for vegetarians and veggie-loving omnivores: sunset.com/vegetarian.
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T I N Y
HOME B I G
DREAMS
One couple shrugs off traditional homeownership in favor of a 200-square-foot Airstream. BY JESS CHAMBERL AIN PHOTOGR APHS BY THOMAS J. STORY
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Two
years ago, as Natasha Lawyer and her husband, Brett Bashaw, wrapped up a six-month road trip, they found themselves dreading the return to their old life in Seattle—to put it mildly. “The idea of coming back and all our money going to rent pissed me off,” says Lawyer, a freelance illustrator. Plus, after living out of a VW bus as they crisscrossed the country, they had proof that they could live lightly. “We learned we didn’t need all the stuff we thought we did.” So the couple found new digs: a 1971 Airstream they purchased for $4,600 and set up in an RV park just outside of Seattle. “We weren’t in a position to buy a house in the city,” says Bashaw, a special-needs educator. “An Airstream was a way to have something of our own.” Compared to the 40-square-foot van, the 200-square-foot trailer was downright luxurious. But it was essentially a tin shell, without plumbing, electricity, or walls. The first two months were devoted to taking care of the basics—waterproofing, painting, installing flooring, and FIND HIDING SPOTS more. “Natasha did pretty much all of it,” says Bashaw. “I’m not a fix-it guy. Lawyer constructed a plywood daybed doubling I’m just her assistant.” (Lawyer’s faas storage. A twin-size ther, a master electrician and carpenmattress pops off easily. ter, also offered guidance.) Striped Valpo twin daybed mattress, $498; The couple moved in as soon as the anthropologie.com. Airstream was livable and made the rest of the updates incrementally, inBRIGHTEN UP vesting what they would have spent in “One of the worst things rent each month. “There was an order about traditional RVs of operations,” says Lawyer. “Every is all the dark wood,” says Lawyer. The couple time we got paid, we considered, What brought airiness to their will improve our quality of life right space by sticking to light now?” Some essentials—a sink, a wood, and they opened up the interior by eliminatstove—were obvious priorities, while ing the overhead bins typiothers were motivated by the arrival of cal of Airstreams (which visitors: “We put in the daybed when also made it more comfortable for Bashaw, who my mom was coming to visit,” says is 6'2"). Threshold MidLawyer. “And when a friend wanted to century Collection desk stay with us, we decided we needed a lamps (similar), $30 each; target.com. Triangle bedroom door.” shelf, 18 in., $38; the Along the way, the couple came smallandsavagewild.com. up with smart storage solutions, which range from a hidden compartment EDIT, EDIT, EDIT to stow camping gear, to a laundry Lawyer trimmed her book hamper built into a bedside table. and art-supply collections so they would fit on the The decor that has taken shape is a shelves beneath the TV. Scandinavian-leaning mix of white, She plans to attach a wood, and brass. “Mostly we decorate hinged sheet of brass to the front of the shelf that with really good kitchenware and can lift up to turn it into lots of plants,” says Lawyer. Still, “lots” a dining table. Threshold is an understatement: At last count, six-cube organizer shelf, $60; target.com. there were 63 potted plants around
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“We love that we have the choice to live differently.” NATASHA L AW YER
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COOK UP A PL AN
vinegar bottle works just as well as a rolling pin). Dansk Kobenstyle cookware, from $39; amazon. com. Udry drying mat in Charcoal, $15; umbra.com. Knodd bin with lid, $15; ikea.com.
To keep the kitchen (above) streamlined, the couple whittled down its features, opting for a stovetop but forgoing an oven, and choosing cookware that stacks. With space for utensils at a premium, they’ve gotten used to being creative cooks (Lawyer recently discovered, for instance, that a 74
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FIND BEAUT Y IN THE EVERYDAY
Without a lot of space for trinkets, Lawyer decorates throughout ❖
SUNSET
the home with utilitarian items. In the kitchen, she uses a metal towel rack to hang tea towels and tools. She also installed open shelves in a corner of the kitchen and the bathroom (opposite, top right) to display pretty little vignettes of dishes and plants. Copper towel bar, from $80; brass S hooks, $20; schoolhouselectric. com. Vitemölla wall
lamp, $20; ikea.com. Plants and containers, skynursery.com. STICK TO A PALET TE
“A tight color story makes a small space more harmonious,” says Lawyer, who sticks with black, white, and gray throughout the kitchen, living space, and bedroom. Opposite, bottom center: Washed linen duvet
cover set in dark gray, $129; hm.com. Holmes sconce, $119; schoolhouse electric.com. SET LIMITS — WITHIN REASON
A jam-packed clothing rack at the foot of the bed (opposite, bottom right), which
Lawyer made of pipe and plywood, is evidence that the couple still aren’t strict minimalists. “We’re not interested in that ‘capsule wardrobe’ idea,” says Lawyer. “We’re interested in making it work with our space, while being able to express ourselves.”
DIGITAL BONUS Discover more great storage ideas and lessons in small-space style: sunset. com/smallhomes.
SHOW ME THE MONEY
PROP STYLING: JANNA LUFKIN
AIRSTREAM TRADITIONAL HOUSING COSTS Median price of a home in Seattle (Oct 2016; up 14 percent from 2015):
Lawyer and Bashaw’s Airstream (purchase price plus renovations):
$594,600
$25,000
Median monthly apartment rent (Sep 2016; up 7.5 percent from 2015):
Lawyer and Bashaw’s monthly RV-park rent (average; seasonal rates):
$2,000
$800
the home. “They give us amazing air quality and a pop of color.” Greenery aside, the couple keep their possessions to a minimum. They admit that downsizing was emotionally draining at first, but as they cleaned out their storage unit in preparation to move into the Airstream, the process became liberating. “It got to the point where I wanted to throw out whole boxes,” says Lawyer. Today, they try to abide by an in-and-out policy. “If you want a new pair of shoes, you have to get rid of one,” says Bashaw. And the couple chooses to do without in ways that many people can’t imagine. They don’t have an oven, microwave, or—since they had the option of using the park’s shower facilities—hot water. “That’s the biggest thing: Not having a lot of space requires a lot of compromise,” says Lawyer.
The small footprint has paid off in unexpected ways, though. For one, Lawyer and Bashaw spend more time outdoors, where their small deck serves as a dining space and home office. They’ve started a container garden full of vegetables and succulents, and even have a water view: the park’s small lake, where geese and turtles mingle. “It feels like we’re on vacation,” says Bashaw. “There’s nowhere else in Seattle we could pay what we do and have that kind of view.” While Lawyer and Bashaw can easily rattle off a dozen more reasons they love their less-is-more lifestyle, they admit the Airstream probably isn’t their forever home. “But that’s also one of the best things about it—we’re investing in something and we’re not going to have to leave it,” says Lawyer. “If we want to go somewhere else, we can take it with us.” SUNSET
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Food & Drink
P E AK SEASON
PEAR POWER
FOOD STYLING: CHELSEA ZIMMER; PROP STYLING: CLAIRE SPOLLEN
Put their juicy sweetness to work in salad, dessert, and even short ribs. By Charlotte March
Photographs by
V I C T O R P R O TA S I O
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Food & Drink
Winter wonders The Northwest is pear country: More than 80 percent of the country’s crop is grown there, including these six standouts. To ripen, let pears stand at room temperature; when the neck yields to gentle thumb pressure near the stem, the fruit is ready to eat.
ANJOU
Mild, juicy, and dense, with a subtle sweetness and green or red skin. All-purpose fruit for salads to desserts.
BOSC
Firm, dense, grainy flesh with complex flavor and honeyed sweetness. Holds its shape cooked, but also good raw.
CONCORDE
COMICE PEAR CLAFOUTIS
SERVES 6 / 65 MINUTES, PLUS 15 MINUTES TO COOL
Somewhere between a custard and a pancake, you’ll find clafoutis. This version of the classic French dessert, made with slightly floral Comice pears, is best when the stem end of the pears yields slightly to the touch, signaling that the fruit is flavorful but neither hard nor squishy. Salted butter for the dish 2 firm-ripe Comice pears (1 lb. total), peeled, cored, and sliced lengthwise about 1⁄ 3 in. thick 1 cup whole milk 3 large eggs 1⁄ 3 cup plus 1 tbsp. granulated sugar 11⁄ 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. orange zest 78
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Crisp, dense, and vanillasweet. Slow to brown when cut. All-purpose variety. 1⁄ 8
tsp. nutmeg, preferably freshly grated tsp. kosher salt 1⁄ 2 cup flour Powdered sugar 1⁄4
COMICE
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a shallow 3-qt. baking dish (about 10 by 11 in.) and arrange pears in an attractive pattern over the bottom. (Fruit will rise to the top as batter bakes.) 2. Put milk, eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla, orange zest, nutmeg, salt, and flour (in this order) in a blender and whirl until very smooth and frothy, 1 minute. Pour batter over pears. 3. Bake until clafoutis is well browned and a little puffed, about 50 minutes. 4. Let clafoutis cool on a rack about 15 minutes. Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar. PER SERVING 204 Cal., 21% (42 Cal.) from fat; 5.8 g protein; 4.7 g fat (2 g sat.); 36 g carbo (2.5 g fiber); 122 mg sodium; 112 mg chol. LC/LS/V
Luscious and juicy. Lovely on cheese plates and in salads, or baked if on the firmer side.
FORELLE
Crisp, snack-size fruit turns from green to yellow when ripe.
SECKEL Fist-size and exceptionally sweet; excellent raw or poached. —Elaine Johnson
RED PEAR SALAD with LEMON PARMESAN DRESSING
SERVES 4 (MAKES 2 QTS.) / 25 MINUTES
Imagine a cheese plate in salad form: sweet Red d’Anjou pears team up with sharp, nutty parmesan. Though the red pears add a pop of color, green ones work well too. Save any extra dressing as a dip for raw vegetables or to slather on bread. 1 oz. parmesan cheese, freshly and finely shredded (2 ⁄ 3 cup) 1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 11⁄ 2 tsp. lemon zest 2 tbsp. lemon juice About 1⁄ 2 tsp. kosher salt About 1⁄4 tsp. pepper 1 large fennel bulb 1 lb. firm-ripe Red d’Anjou pears, cored and thinly sliced lengthwise 3 cups loosely packed baby arugula 1⁄ 2 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts 1. In a food processor, whirl cheese, oil, lemon zest and juice, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper until puréed. 2. Remove tops and tough outer layers from fennel. Cut bulb in half lengthwise, core, and thinly slice crosswise. 3. In a large bowl, toss pears, fennel, arugula, and hazelnuts. Drizzle salad with as much dressing as you like and toss until evenly coated. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve more dressing on the side. PER SERVING 336 Cal., 65% (220 Cal.) from fat; 7 g protein; 26 g fat (2 g sat.); 26 g carbo (7.8 g fiber); 350 mg sodium; 6.2 mg chol. GF/LC/LS/V
DIGITAL BONUS More ways to savor pears—like sparkling-wine sorbet: sunset.com/pears.
Food & Drink
BRAISED SHORT RIBS with PEAR, GINGER, and STAR ANISE SERVES 4 / 3 1⁄ 2 HOURS
This Chinese-inspired take on short ribs gets its freshness from Bosc pears cooked in the sauce, plus more pears on top in a raw relish. If you have time, cook the recipe a day ahead. The flavors will be deeper, and you can more easily lift the fat from the sauce. 4 bone-in English beef short ribs, each 4 to 5 in. long, 21⁄ 2 to 3 lbs. total About 1⁄4 tsp. pepper 1 tbsp. canola oil 11⁄ 2 cups chopped shallots 4 cups peeled, cored Bosc pears (2 to 3 pears), half coarsely chopped, half cut into 1⁄ 2-in. dice 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh ginger 2 tsp. finely chopped garlic 3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth 1⁄ 2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce 2 tbsp. packed dark brown sugar 1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil 2 star anise 1⁄ 2 tsp. red chile flakes 4 tsp. unseasoned rice vinegar 1⁄4 cup each coarsely chopped cilantro and thinly sliced green onions Kosher salt Steamed white rice
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1. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly season short ribs with 1/4 tsp. pepper. 2. Heat oil in a 5- to 6-qt. dutch oven or other heavy ovenproof pot over mediumhigh heat. Add short ribs and brown on all sides, turning as needed, about 15 minutes total. Transfer short ribs to a plate; set aside. Discard all but 1 tbsp. fat from pot. 3. Reduce heat to medium and add shallots and coarsely chopped pears to pot; cook, stirring, until shallots are softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, star anise, and chile flakes. 4. Increase heat to high and bring mixture to a boil. Return short ribs to pot, cover,
and braise in oven 1 hour. Turn meat over and cook until tender but not falling apart, 45 minutes to 1 hour more. 5. Meanwhile, stir diced pears and rice vinegar together. Chill pear relish, covered, until used. 6. Uncover meat and continue to ovenbraise, turning ribs once or twice, until sauce is reduced by about two-thirds and meat is very tender when pierced, 40 to 45 minutes more. With a slotted spoon, transfer ribs to a plate. Spoon fat from sauce. 7. Stir cilantro and green onions into diced pear relish and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon rice into wide soup plates and set short ribs on top. Spoon a little sauce over meat, then add some pear relish. Serve remaining relish and sauce on the side. MAKE AHEAD Through step 6, up to 1 day, chilled (with meat in sauce), but don’t remove fat. Before serving, spoon off and discard fat from chilled sauce. Reheat on stove, covered, over medium-low heat until meat is hot (an instant-read thermometer inserted in center registers 150°), 20 to 30 minutes.
PER SERVING 602 Cal., 50% (299 Cal.) from fat; 33 g protein; 33 g fat (12 g sat.); 42 g carbo (5.1 g fiber); 1,279 mg sodium; 106 mg chol.
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Food & Drink
SOUP SECRETS
MASTER CLASS
Andrea Nguyen cracks the code of pho for the home cook. By Margo True when Andrea Nguyen was a little girl in Vietnam, her mother cooked up a pot of the flavorful noodle soup known as pho, charring onions and ginger, then simmering meat and spices for hours. “We all have those smells that remind us of who we are, and pho is that for me,” she says. These days, you can get pho in practically any town in the West, but a great homecooked version is a world away. In Nguyen’s upcoming The Pho Cookbook (Ten Speed Press; $20), the James Beard Award– nominated author explores the history of Vietnam’s national soup and offers scrupulous recipes for beef, chicken, vegetarian, and vegan pho, along with regional twists and ways to use leftover broth and meat (pho fried rice!). For her Fast and Fabulous pho, she hit on a brilliant shortcut: Use a pressure cooker to get authentic flavor in about a third of the time. Home-cooked or not, says Nguyen, pho has the same irresistible appeal: “It’s brothy, spicy, restorative, gluten-free … It’s comfort food, yet it’s light. And it’s great for hangovers.” What better food for the new year?
EVERY SATURDAY,
Soup-making staples YOU CAN USE TOOLS YOU ALREADY HAVE, BUT THESE ITEMS ARE SO USEFUL THEY’RE WORTH BUYING. FIND THE SKIMMER, LADLE, AND STRAINER AT ASIAN MARKETS, AND THE MUSLIN AT FABRIC STORES.
A flat, fine-mesh skimmer easily and quickly whisks the scum from the top of the broth as it simmers. A simple metal soup ladle with a thin rim scoops fat from the top of the broth to keep it light
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SUNSET
(though you’ll want to leave a little bit of fat for flavor). For straining, lining a colander with unbleached muslin ensures a clear broth. The material is much sturdier and cheaper than cheesecloth, and can be washed
and reused many times. With its vertical handle, a noodle strainer holds noodles more efficiently than a regular strainer as you dunk them into boiling water. The bowl is just big enough to contain one serving.
Photographs by T H O M A S
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Food & Drink
PRESSURE COOKER CHICKEN PHO
SERVES 4 / 2 HOURS
Andrea Nguyen loves her 6-qt. Fagor Duo pressure cooker ($67; amazon.com). “It’s not too expensive, and it’s easy to use—no jiggling valves or dials.” That said, you can also make this recipe in a stockpot (see method, opposite page); just allow more time. If you’re serving more than four people, recruit some helpers to put together the bowls, assembly-line style, so the soup doesn’t get cold.
TIP
BROTH
1 whole chicken (4 lbs.) 1 rounded tbsp. coriander seeds 3 whole cloves 1 medium yellow onion, peeled, halved, and sliced 1⁄ 2 in. thick 3-in. piece ginger, peeled and thickly sliced 1 small Fuji apple, peeled, cored, and cut into thumbnail-size chunks 3⁄4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro sprigs About 21⁄4 tsp. fine sea salt About 11⁄ 2 tbsp. fish sauce About 1 tsp. organic sugar* or 2 tsp. maple syrup, if needed to round out flavor BOWLS
10 oz. dried narrow flat rice noodles* About half of cooked chicken from the broth 1⁄ 2 small red onion, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced and soaked in water 10 minutes 1⁄4 cup thinly sliced green onion, green parts only 1⁄4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves Pepper Garnish Plate (recipe on page 86) Ginger Dipping Sauce (recipe on page 86) 1. Make broth: Rinse chicken and set aside to drain. Put coriander seeds and cloves in a dry 6- to 8-qt. pressure cooker. Over medium heat, toast until fragrant, shaking, several minutes. Add onion and ginger and cook, stirring, until browned on edges, 2 to 3 minutes. “Traditionally, the 84
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SUNSET
“Bruise the ginger by smacking it with the flat side of your knife.”
ginger and onion would be charred directly on a burner. I’ve found that this is the best shortcut to get that flavor,” says Nguyen. 2. Add 4 cups water, then the chicken, breast side up. Add apple, cilantro, salt, and another 4 cups water. “Having only half the water in the pot when the chicken goes in means you won’t splash yourself.” Lock the lid in place. 3. Following your cooker’s instructions, bring to low pressure (8 psi) over high heat. Lower heat to maintain pressure. Cook 15 minutes, or a few minutes longer if your cooker’s low setting is less than 8 psi. If your cooker has only a highpressure (15 psi) setting, cook 12 minutes. 4. While broth cooks, soak noodles in hot tap water until pliable and opaque, about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse, and drain well. Divide among four large soup bowls. 5. When broth is done, lift cooker to a cool burner and let pressure decrease until pressure indicator drops, about 20 minutes. Remove lid. 6. Let cool 5 minutes, then use tongs to transfer chicken to a bowl. “Don’t worry if some parts fall off. Just add them
to the bowl too.” Add cold water to cover, then soak 10 minutes to cool. Pour off water, partially cover chicken, and set aside to finish cooling. 7. With a shallow ladle, skim most of fat from broth. Strain broth through a muslin- or cheesecloth-lined strainer into a medium pot, pressing to expel as much broth as possible. Discard solids. Season broth with fish sauce, plus salt and sugar to taste. “Add fish sauce now, at the end. Otherwise you lose some of its umami oomph.” 8. To serve, bring broth to a simmer over medium heat. Fill a medium pot with water and bring to a rolling boil for noodles. 9. Meanwhile, prepare your pho assembly line: Slice breasts and legs from chicken; set aside half for another use. Cut or tear breast and leg meat into 1/4-in. slices or shreds (discard skin) and put in a bowl. Put red onion, green onion, cilantro, and pepper in separate small bowls. Set out the bowls of soaked noodles. 10. When water is boiling, tip the first bowl’s noodles into a noodle strainer (see page 82) or other small mesh strainer. Dunk strainer into boiling water, stirring
STOCKPOT PHO
“Using a pressure cooker gives you velvety, round flavors—like cashmere. A stockpot makes soup that’s more like shantung silk; you get more hills and valleys in the flavors,” Nguyen says.
1. Follow steps 1 and 2 of recipe at left, but use a 6- to 8-qt. stockpot and add 10 cups water (rather than 8) to pot. Partially cover, then bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Uncover, skim off scum, then lower heat to a gentle simmer. Cook, uncovered, 45 minutes; turn chicken over and cook 45 minutes more, then transfer with tongs to a large bowl (leave any parts that may have fallen off in stockpot to flavor broth). Let broth simmer another 1/2 hour, covered.
3. noodles with chopsticks or a fork to loosen them, until they’re soft, 20 to 40 seconds. “Lift one out and pinch it to see whether it’s tender. Some noodles are thicker and need more time.” Pull strainer of noodles from water, shaking to drain into pot, and empty into the soup bowl. Top with chicken. “Arrange the chicken so it’s flat in the bowl. That way, it gets nicely heated by broth.” Add red onion, green onion, cilantro, and a sprinkle of pepper, to give it a little pop. 11. Taste broth once more and season with fish sauce, salt, and/or sugar if needed. Divide among bowls. Serve immediately, with Garnish Plate and Ginger Dipping Sauce. MAKE AHEAD Broth, through step 6, 3 days, covered and chilled, or 3 months, frozen (season before serving). Cooked chicken, up to 3 days, chilled, or 3 months, frozen. Rehydrated noodles, up to 1 week, chilled. *Organic sugar has more of the molasses left in it and thus more flavor; you could also use turbinado sugar. Find the noodles in the international aisle of most grocery stores (often they’ll be labeled “pad Thai”). PER SERVING 492 Cal., 17% (84 Cal.) from fat; 29 g protein; 9.3 g fat (2.6 g sat.); 69 g carbo (1.3 g fiber); 1,443 mg sodium; 76 mg chol. GF
Meanwhile, soak noodles as directed in step 4 at left, and soak and cool chicken as directed in step 6.
4. When broth is done, proceed with recipe as directed.
DIGITAL BONUS Watch this pho come together: sunset.com/phovideo. SUNSET
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Food & Drink
GARNISH PLATE
(DIA RAU SONG)
2 green or red Thai, jalapeño, Fresno, or serrano chiles, thinly sliced (on diagonal if small, so they don’t get lost in the pho)
SERVES 4 / 10 MINUTES
You can go super-simple with this garnish plate and stick to just mint and slices of chile, or add more herbs if you like. If there’s a Vietnamese market near you, it’s worth heading there for spicy Thai mint (hung cay); culantro (ngo gai), an herb with a strong, slightly sweet cilantro flavor; and rice-paddy herb (ngo om), which tastes of citrus and cumin. Thai basil is available at farmers’ markets, Asian grocers, and wellstocked grocery stores. 4 to 6 sprigs mint or spicy Thai mint, plus the same amount of any of these if you like: Thai basil or lemon basil, culantro or cilantro, and rice-paddy herb 4 handfuls bean sprouts 1 or 2 limes, cut into wedges
1. At least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours before serving, refresh herbs: Trim stems. Set mint (and cilantro and regular basil, if using), stem side down in a large bowl of water. Submerge Thai basil, culantro, and rice-paddy herb (if using) fully in bowls of water. Pat herbs dry. 2. Leave bean sprouts raw, or soften them a little so they add just a gentle crunch to pho: When water is boiling for pho noodles (step 10 of master recipe), add bean sprouts, stir around for a minute or so, and lift out with a strainer; set on a paper towel to drain. 3. Put chiles in a small dish and set on a large plate or a platter. Arrange everything else on plate and serve immediately.
GINGER DIPPING SAUCE
(NUOC MAM GUNG)
MAKES 3 ⁄4 CUP / 5 MINUTES, PLUS 15 MINUTES TO REST
This zippy sauce is intended for dipping pieces of chicken from the pho—a seasoning station between bowl and mouth. “You can drizzle the sauce into the soup if you like, but it will change the flavor of the broth,” says Nguyen. 2 lightly packed tbsp. finely chopped fresh ginger 6 tbsp. fresh lime juice 2 to 21⁄2 tbsp. sugar 2 to 3 tbsp. fish sauce 2 tsp. finely chopped seeded red or green Fresno or jalapeño chile 1. In a small bowl, stir together ginger, lime juice, and sugar until sugar dissolves. Taste and adjust as needed. 2. Add fish sauce and chile; set aside 15 minutes to meld and develop flavors. MAKE AHEAD
Up to 1 day, covered and
chilled. PER TBSP. 14 Cal., 1.4% (0.2 Cal.) from fat; 0.3 g protein; 0 g fat; 3.5 g carbo (0.1 g fiber); 291 mg sodium; 0 mg chol. GF
A
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Food & Drink
WEEKNIGHT COOKING SLOW-COOKER CARNITAS
SERVES 6 / 40 MINUTES, PLUS 8 HOURS IN COOKER
Using a slow-cooker to braise pork means you can start this recipe in the morning, go about your day, and just sizzle the meat right before dinner. Store any leftover carnitas in the cooking liquid and use for sandwiches, or serve over polenta. 5 tbsp. grapeseed or other neutral-flavored oil, divided 1 boneless pork shoulder roast (31⁄ 2 lbs.; aka Boston butt) 1 1 ⁄ 2 tsp. kosher salt 1 tbsp. pepper 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
W I N E PA I R I N G
Lone Madrone 2013 Sheep Camp Zinfandel (Paso Robles; $45)
1 tbsp. adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles 1 tsp. achiote paste 4 wide strips orange zest 12 corn tortillas (6 in.) Pico de gallo, store-bought or homemade
1. Heat 3 tbsp. oil in a large cast-iron skillet over mediumhigh heat. Season pork with the salt and pepper. Add pork to skillet and brown on all sides, 12 to 14 minutes. Place pork in a 6-qt. slow-cooker. 2. Discard fat from skillet and wipe clean with paper towels. Stir together broth, adobo sauce, and achiote paste in skillet and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Pour over pork, then add orange zest. 3. Cover slow-cooker and cook on low until pork is very tender, about 8 hours. Lift meat to a cutting board or platter. Pour cooking liquid through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a measuring cup, then discard solids. Skim fat from cooking liquid. Using two forks, shred meat into large chunks. 4. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in cleaned cast-iron skillet over high heat. Arrange half of meat in an even layer in skillet and cook, undisturbed, until deeply caramelized, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup cooking liquid; transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining 1 tbsp. oil, pork, and 1/2 cup cooking liquid. 5. Toast tortillas over an open flame 20 to 30 seconds per side and wrap in a clean kitchen towel until ready to serve. Or, wrap in towel and microwave 1 minute to warm. 6. Serve pork with warm tortillas and pico de gallo. PER 2-TACO SERVING 852 Cal., 64% (548 Cal.) from fat; 49 g protein; 61 g fat (18 g sat.); 25 g carbo (2.6 g fiber); 705 mg sodium; 188 mg chol. GF
JENNIFER CAUSEY (FOOD STYLING: MARIANA VELASQUEZ; PROP STYLING: MINDI SHAPIRO)
FA S T & F R E S H
being a starchy mess). Add shrimp and cook just until curled and pink, about 1 minute. Drain potatoes and shrimp, then return mixture to pot off the heat. Discard bay leaves. 3. Add butter, dill, chives, and pepper, and toss until butter melts. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with lemon wedges. PER SERVING 329 Cal., 47% (152 Cal.) from fat; 23 g protein; 17 g fat (9.9 g sat.); 23 g carbo (2.2 g fiber); 743 mg sodium; 231 mg chol. GF/LC
ROASTED WILD MUSHROOM BUTTERED HERBED PAPPARDELLE POTATOES and SHRIMP SERVES 4 / 30 MINUTES
For maximum flavor and chewy-soft texture, the mushrooms are roasted and then simmered in broth. Save a bit of pasta water to moisten each bowl before serving.
SERVES 6 / 30 MINUTES
Think of this as the West Coast version of a shrimp boil, with plenty of fresh herbs. Don’t overcook the shrimp; they’ll finish cooking as you toss everything together. Serve with a refreshing arugula salad. 11⁄ 2 lbs. baby Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed, then halved 3 bay leaves 2 tbsp. salt 1⁄ 2 cup apple cider vinegar 2 lbs. peeled deveined large shrimp (26 to 30 per lb.), tails on or off 1⁄ 2 cup (4 oz.) unsalted butter 1⁄ 2 cup chopped fresh dill 1⁄4 cup very thinly sliced chives 1 tsp. pepper 1 lemon, cut into thin wedges
2 lbs. mixed fresh wild mushrooms (such as shiitake, cremini, and oyster), quartered, or, if small, halved 3⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 12 large garlic cloves, peeled and halved 8 thyme sprigs 1 tsp. pepper 1 tsp. kosher salt, divided 12 oz. pappardelle pasta 11⁄ 2 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth 1⁄ 3 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, divided
1⁄ 3
cup loosely packed tarragon leaves, divided 2 oz. parmesan cheese, shredded (3⁄4 cup) 1. Preheat oven to 475° with a rack in top third of oven and another in lower third. Combine mushrooms, oil, garlic, thyme, pepper, and 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl; toss to coat. Divide seasoned mushrooms between two large rimmed baking sheets and spread in an even layer. 2. Bake mushrooms 10 minutes, then remove from oven and increase heat to broil. Broil mushrooms, one baking sheet at a time, until browned, 5 minutes each. 3. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, reserving at least 1/2 cup pasta water. 4. Transfer broiled mushrooms to a bowl. Scrape browned bits from one baking sheet onto second baking sheet. Set baking sheet with browned bits on stovetop over medium-high heat. Add broth and cook, stirring and scraping to loosen browned bits from bottom of baking sheet, until mixture boils and reduces slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. 5. Combine mushroom mixture, pasta, half of parsley, half of tarragon, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl; toss to coat. Divide among four shallow bowls, then drizzle with broth mixture and a bit of pasta water if needed. Top with remaining parsley, tarragon, and the parmesan. PER SERVING 844 Cal., 51% (428 Cal.) from fat; 25 g protein; 48 g fat (8.1 g sat.); 81 g carbo (7.9 g fiber); 817 mg sodium; 56 mg chol. V
W I N E PA I R I N G
FEL 2014 Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley; $38)
1. Bring 5 qts. water, potatoes, bay leaves, and salt to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until potatoes are almost tender when pierced, about 12 minutes. 2. Add vinegar and cook 2 minutes (this “sets” the potatoes and keeps them from SUNSET
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Food & Drink
In the SUNSET KITCHEN
BEST IN CLASS
SHOPPING SMARTS
Liquid gold After salt and pepper, extra-virgin olive oil is the ingredient we can’t do without in the Test Kitchen. This month, we’re uncapping the newly released harvest, nearly all of which comes from California (in the States, anyway). To help us choose among hundreds of the state’s oils, we sat down with a pro—Linda Sikorski, senior buyer at Market Hall Foods (markethallfoods.com), a specialty foods store in Oakland.
California Olive Oil Council certification Verifies that the oil has passed the chemical and sensory standards that qualify it as extra-virgin, the highest grade. 1
Finishing
For sautéing, baking, and salads, look for extra-virgin oils by Corto ($22/ liter; markethall foods.com); Enzo ($20/500 ml. ; enzostable. com) ; and
High heat dissipates flavors, so save these complex oils for drizzling: Bondolio ($22/250 ml. ; bondolio.com);
1
Style or vari2 etal Some makers give information about the flavors to guide your choice.
Harvest date More useful than sellby date. “Olive oil is freshest and most flavorful within a year of harvest,” says Sikorski. “Don’t save it!”
All-purpose
Séka Hills
($18/500 ml.; sekahills.com) .
2
Katz Rock Hill Ranch ($22/
375 ml.; katz farm.com); Massiglia ($35/ 375 ml.; marci anoestate.com); and Pacific Sun (from $16/500 ml. ; pacificsun oliveoil.com).
Oil’s worst enemies Air, heat, and light degrade oil over time. Buy oil in dark bottles, in a quantity you can use up in a few months, and keep in a dark, cool cupboard.
Awards seals The most prestigious olive-oil competitions are the L.A. International, Good Food Awards, and New York International.
MILD OR BOLD?
A good oil balances fruity, pungent, and bitter flavors, but intensity varies depending on maturity and variety, where fruit is grown, and miller style.
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J A N UA RY 2 0 1 7 ❖ S U N S E T
Later-harvest oils taste more buttery. In terms of varieties, “Arbequina is a great beginner’s oil, mellow with almond-y overtones,” says Sikorski.
MILD
BOLD
Oils from early-harvest fruit taste greener and more bitter and pungent. Tuscan-style varietals, like Frantoio, Leccino, and Maurino, fall into the bold category.
Photograph by I A I N
BAGW E L L
LEFT: FOOD STYLING: RANDY MON; PROP STYLING: CHRISTINE WOLHEIM. TOP RIGHT: RESSMA DESAI/STOCKSY (2)
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Food & Drink
Back to school A short list of Western communitycollege winemaking programs :
SIP
Napa Valley College, CA Viticulture and Winery Technology Program; napavalley.edu. Geo advantage:
World-renowned Napa Valley— enough said. From $138. Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA Viticulture and Wine Studies; santarosa.edu. Geo advantage:
SO YOU WANT TO BE A WINEMAKER?
Take it from one scientist turned vintner: You can make it happen through a local community college. By Sara Schneider the desk job and retirement, there’s a dream. For Walt Brooks, a longtime NASA scientist, that plan B fantasy was to make wine. Walt and his wife, Bernie, fell in love with wine when they moved from New York to Northern California in the 1970s. But the desire to act on the passion became personal; a couple of friends passed away too early, and, says Brooks, “I realized I didn’t want to die at my desk.” Brooks’s purchase of 5 Napa Valley acres, with a rundown house and 2 1/2 acres of vines, put the dream in his sights. A few vines don’t turn one into a vintner, however. “I needed a way to catch up after 40 years of not doing this!” says Brooks, now 67. With a PhD in physics and a master of science in management from Stanford, he “caught up” through the Napa Valley College Viticulture and Winery Technology Program. “At first I thought one of the universities would give me more cred,” he admits. But his brother, Larry, who was already a winemaker, told him that what he needed wasn’t SOMEWHERE BET WEEN
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an education heavy on theory, but rather hands-on experience—“more vintages and wines to play with.” And that’s just what Napa Valley College—one of a handful of community colleges in the West with bonded wineries—offers. “We cover everything from the soil to when the guest consumes the wine,” says program coordinator Paul Gospodarczyk, who cites a surge in interest in the program. This is inclusive education: “Our students range in age from 18 to 75,” he says. “We’ll take anyone who signs up.” Translation: no nail-biting wait for an acceptance letter. Brooks, for his part, relished the program’s immersive approach. “When they put you in the vineyard to prune, you pruned the whole vineyard,” he says. In 2010, he fully segued from scientist to winemaker, putting in more time on the tractor and with the barrels and (rather impressive) chemistry-lab equipment in his nanowinery, producing wines for a small family co-op. “I use what I learned in the program every day,” he says. Photograph by
Sonoma County’s prodigious diversity of wines, from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to Zinfandel, Syrah, and all the Bordeaux varieties (Cab and cousins). From $69, plus tasting fee. Chemeketa Community College, Salem, OR Wine Studies; chemeketa.edu. Geo advantage:
The Willamette Valley is home to serious Burgundian-leaning Pinot Noir, plus Pinot Gris and beautiful Chardonnay. From $282. Walla Walla Community College, WA Enology & Viticulture; wwcc.edu. Geo advantage:
Walla Walla Valley, which spans the border into Oregon, is producing headturning Cabernet, Merlot, and Syrah. From $35. T H O M A S J. S T O RY
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A bustling seafood market is our happy place. In next month’s issue, we’re showcasing one of our favorites—San Diego’s open-air Tuna Harbor Dockside Market—and we’ve partnered with the San Diego Tourism Authority to offer a greatest-hits getaway to this beautiful seaside city. The prize package includes round-trip airfare for two, courtesy of the SDTA; a three-night stay at The US Grant, a Luxury Collection Hotel; dinner for two at the Top of the Market, with views of San Diego Bay; two tickets to SeaWorld; and a Harbor Tour for two on Hornblower Cruises & Events. For more details on this Instagram contest, visit sunset.com/sandiegocontest.
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