Celebrating Simple Pleasures in the New Year at the Great Park

It was another gorgeous day in Southern California and I coerced my husband and friends to come with me to the Antique Fair/Flea Market which recently moved to the Great Park in Irvine just off Sand Canyon and the 5 freeway.

 Fun finds of the day were these brooches for $3 which will dress up a picture frame…

And these spoons for $1 which will make darling stamped herb garden tags…

After perusing every aisle and chatting about my mom or my friend’s grandma having that “exact” (now-collectable) dish or watch, my husband and friend urged us over to the Farmer’s Market and gourmet food trucks where coconut milk infused Sloppy Joe’s and blue crab burritos are standard fare. We tasted and concurred that TJ’s Wood-fired ”margarita” pizza indeed deserves its place in the Top 50 dishes in OC and vowed to make tasting the other 49 dishes a New Year’s resolution.

Our favorite finds of the day were the lovingly homemade jams from Edible Creations www.myediblecreations.com. The Strawberry-Rhubarb has tangy sweet chunks of fresh fruit and the Cranberry Jalapeno will make a kickin’ mayo replacement on turkey sandwiches and would be great over brie or cream cheese with water crackers. The funniest discussion was why there was only one fruit vendor there the morning after New Year’s Eve.

Wishing you simple pleasures, new discoveries, contentment and good health in the New Year!

Best wishes, Bonnie

Tustin is Heaven on Earth for Gardeners

After being happily stuffed over the holidays my body is craving fresh, organic fruit. I am so thankful we planted fruit trees a few years ago because my family is never without some form of fresh fruit to pick & enjoy. For those of you who don’t already have fruit trees, they can be implemented into your garden design beautifully no mattter how small or formal your yard. Citrus are evergreen and have amazing scented blossoms, while apple trees can be espalliered against a wall or used to create a charming garden fence. Passion fruit and grape vines will quickly cover an arbor or unattractive fence; and kiwi bushes add wonderful blue-grey foliage to a planting bed.  Below are a few of my favorite trees for our climate:

Valencia Oranges – Great for cutting, juicing, or in a salad with avocado,mint & cumin vinagrette

Cara Cara Pink & Blood Oranges – The first is the hottest farmers’ market item & the latter is so Italian!

Bearrs Lime - Bartenders’ special, great in pies, ceviche, salsa, squeezed over mangos with chili & salsa

Meyer Lemon AND Eureka lemon – One sweet, one tangy.  I haven’t bought bottled salad dressing in years. The trick to amazing dressing is balancing the salt with the acid. Zov (and my sister-in-law the salad “queen”) taught me this trick. Taragon vinegar is a great back-up if your tree is picked clean.

Other prolific citrus trees in my backyard are: Oro Blanco grapefruit (the sweetest variety ever), seedless tangarines and tangelos; and I love the mandarinquat because it is unusual, the skin is edible and it makes great table decor all year round.

Fuji apples grow beautifully here in Tustin. I bought mine espalliered & created a fence.

Avocado (Haas & Bacon) - Ours produce as much as we want after only two – three years

Persimmon (Fuyu) – Eat it like an apple or slice it in a salad with mint, lemon & pomegranite seeds. They are ripe in October/November when not much else is and their mini pumpkin shape makes darling Thanksgiving decor.

Fig (Black mission is my fav) – Amazing fresh or grilled with proscuitto or in salads. High in iron, too!

Sapote (White) – Tastes like a blend of banana & pineapple. Just when I thought I’d never meet a fruit I didn’t I planted a black sapote. It’s supposed to taste like chocolate pudding…NOT!

Donut or Saturn peach – Super prolific and sweet

I am still trying my hand at plums & pluouts. And though the “Blenheim” apricot is super sweet, the fruit is a little small for my taste. I would love to hear if there are varieties you have had luck with.

So, for the New Year – will you join me in my quest to put the ORANGE back in Orange County? I promise you and your friends and family will enjoy the “fruits” of your labor!

Best wishes for a fruitful New Year:)

Bonnie

 

Don’t be alarmed by home values determined by popular internet sites. Here’s a great article from the Wall Street Journal…

Read more here.

Bring Family & Friends to See “Oliver” this week at Tustin’s “Broadway in the Park”

I love going to Peppertree Park for the “Concerts in the Park” series sponsored by the City of Tustin and annual “Broadway in the Park” show sponsored by TACFA (Tustin Area Fine Arts Council.) This year’s musical, “Oliver,” is one of my all-time favorites!
 

What makes the experience even more fun is bringing food and libations to share and seeing the whole community come together in one place. Bring your blanket or chairs (the higher the chair, the further back you sit.) The park opens for picnic-ing at 6:00 and the show begins at 8:00. The picture above is of my hubby, daughter and long-time friend at last week’s Concert in the Park. I love watching the musicals because many of the cast members are from Tustin. It’s a true community endeavor. See details below and DON’T WAIT as “Oliver” only runs for 5 nights: this Tuesday – Saturday August 16th – 20th.

Summer 2011 Brings you OLIVER! August 16-20

Family-friendly fare is not easy to find these days, but the Tustin Area Council for Fine Arts (TACFA), in association with Theatrical Productions, Inc. provides quality family entertainment at family-friendly prices.

This year’s production, Oliver!, will be staged in Old Town Tustin’s Peppertree Park August 16-20, 2011. Non-profit community groups and two local restaurants will have food and drink for sale on the premises, so you can purchase dinner and snacks at the park or bring your own picnic. Purchase a reserved table, or bring your own blanket or folding chairs to watch this enchanting musical with an old-fashioned theme.

Pre-sale tickets are $14 and can be purchased at Soul at Home on 17th or Chemers’ Gallery in Enderle Center. (Children & Students are $12.) Tickets at the event are $17 and tickets go on sale at 5:30 at Peppertree Park on 1st street in Old Town Tustin.

Are North Tustin Residents prepared for the upcoming fire season?

I recently attended the ReadySetGo meeting at Bent Tree Park in Lemon Heights which was very informative and frankly, a little scary.  According to fire authorities, Peter’s Canyon Regional Park is at the end of a wind tunnel which could carry a fire to our area in 15 minutes and burn our hills in as little as one hour. As a result, FEMA recently awarded funds to the Orange County Fire Authority to clear and plant Peter’s Canyon and educate Lemon & Cowan Heights’ residents on the Ready Set Go program. The gist of it is: “READY” – Prepare your home (keep gutters clean, enclose eaves, install dual paned windows)  & manage vegetation (plant Sycamores not pines, keep your trees trimmed 6 feet from the ground and much more – see website for details on plant materials), “SET” – create a family disaster plan, register for OCAlert and know your evacuation routes… and “GO” (Leave Early – don’t stay and try and protect your home or deplete the water source by hosing down your roof and yard). Helpful websites are: www.ReadySetGoOC.org, www.ocfa.org, and www.fca.com.  I will send out details before the next meeting so you can help spread the word.