About the Authors
Our goal in writing “Ripe and Luscious” is to share some of our food and wine delights with our friends and neighbors that are part of our lives living on the Central Coast. Primary among the lists of things we are emphatic about is the quality of the ingredients. Once you experience eating your way through the year with the seasonal menus, you will begin to develop your own sense of what it means to eat off the land, and more importantly, your local land. More than likely, you will begin to incorporate your own family traditions and originate new ones.
We have designed the menus and wine pairings by season, with 6-9 menus per season and 3 – 5 courses per menu and in layers. You may prepare a simple meal or dress it up with two or more courses designed to be additions or alternatives. Above all, “Ripe and Luscious” is a romance with food and an invitation to savor the flavors of the land.”
My mother came to California by way of Chicago, from Budapest at the turn of the 20th century. In the late 1960’s, my sisters and I accompanied her on a tour of the South visiting 3 of her 4 sisters, all very good cooks. We started in New Orleans and ended up in St. Petersburg, Fla. This was my first glimpse into serious home cooking. Their routine went something like this: Begin breakfast preparation around 7:30. Serve breakfast around 8:30, clean up breakfast and begin working on lunch. After lunch cleanup, begin working on dinner. After dinner cleanup, discuss the next day’s menu. Needless to say, cooking was a central theme in our house. Everything was made from scratch, fresh from the garden when possible, and discussed.
During the ‘60’s, my mother worked for Al Baxter, who in the ‘70’s bought what became Veedercrest Vineyards in Napa Valley. He made award-winning wines: Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, and Cabernet, all of which our family was a most grateful recipient.
During the ‘60’s, I also learned the basics of Italian cooking from my boyfriend, Antonino Calabrese and his mother, Mary, who would from time to time send notes . Victoria Kroyer Wise reoriented my focus toward French cooking at Chez Panisse where I made stocks and sauces.
In 1976, I moved to the Monterey Bay/Santa Cruz area and became involved in catering for fund raising events. In the 90’s I moved on to Middle Eastern cooking with the very talented Mary Laird’s influence using her Lebanese Mountain Cookery (David R Godine publisher, Boston, 1987).
It has been an adventure to gather the best of the best recipes to present in this book, collected from friends and families over decades of our lifetimes.
I remember my first treks up the foothills of Mount Diablo to pick the fruit from trees planted by my grandparents at their summer ranch in Danville. My brother, grandmere and I lugged empty crates up the steep hill to gather the fruits of my grandparent’s labors many years before. Grandmere and Papa had planted every fruit and nut tree imaginable as well as a hilltop vineyard of Italian varietals brought with them from the old country. We climbed the old dry farmed trees and picked golden apricots, peaches and plums with sticky hands covered in the juice from our eating. Lugs brimming with tree-ripened fruit, sweating in summer sun, we drug our fruit down to the shady porch where we began canning. Dictated by season, Mama brined the olives, roasted chestnuts and made an abundant variety of preserves. The best fruits were brought into the kitchen for a summertime orgy of fruit. Juice dripping, my mother made pie crusts and pies while Grandmere and I prepared the fruit for canning whole and later for jams, preserves, and chutneys. On the hip of my mama and grandmere, I learned how to preserve the sweets of summer, to pickle vegetables and brine olives. In the winter, we enjoyed our stored summer produce and drank the table wine papa produced.
As I grew older, I had the habit of growing, finding, gleaning and utilizing the best and freshest seasonal produce, fish and meat. To this day, most meals still entail a walk to the garden. Until a year ago my husband and I owned Woodruff Family Vineyards in Corralitos, California. We farmed and managed the vineyard, an apple orchard and productive garden for 12 amazing years. Living in the Santa Cruz Mountains, surrounded in nature, farming, viticulture and winemaking, we became immersed in all of nature’s cycles, with wild life while our pinot noir, chardonnay, and gewürztraminer flourished producing superb, renowned wines. These wines pair incredibly well with the foods we grew and now gather from local farms mostly within 40 miles of our home. One of the many gleanings gathered while living in Corralitos was a greater understanding of wine, from farm to table. Living now in Monterey, we have reconnected with the Wines of Monterey County and enjoy the greater Monterey Bay area for our local food and wine.
Guest Authors
Matt Woodruff
Our son, Matt Woodruff, is a great family cook. He learned from an early age to experiment with foods and play with recipes. It’s so much fun to watch him create combinations that taste great that I would never think of. He brings a thoughtful, innovative and nutritious approach to cooking.
Ken Lomax
Ken Lomax graduated from The French Culinary Institute in NYC with a Grand Diplôme in Culinary Arts, 2007. He has experience in a wide range of cooking venues from Sushi Azabu , NYC, several event catering venues, assistant chef for Columbia University’s President’s House all the way to sushi chef at Mikuni’s midtown, Sacramento. California Asian Fusion is his specialty.
