Tag Archives: kids
Teen Kitchen Project: two brunch dates remain in series, plus new kids’ classes

A scene from TKP’s brunch benefit Sunday, March 25, in Aptos
Teen Kitchen Project has been running a brunch fundraiser series since March. There were two Sundays in March, then they skipped Easter, and now two Sundays remain — April 8 and 15. Entrees rotate each time and have included Huevos Rancheros with rice and beans; orange-zested thick cut French toast with spiced maple syrup; and broccoli cheddar quiche with country style sausage and home fries. There are two seatings each day, 9:30 & 11:30 a.m., and brunch takes place at TKP’s newly renovated teaching kitchen and café at 8061 Aptos St. Cost is $35 for adults and $15 for kids under 12. The TKP teens do the cooking and serving. Entrees include a basket of freshly baked goods at each table, plus coffee, tea and juice. My family and I dined with TKP on March 25, and thoroughly enjoyed the meal–from the delectable scones to scrumptious sausage, Chilaquiles and more! View menus and purchase online at teenkitchenproject.org/brunch.One hundred percent of proceeds benefit TKP.
TKP recently began offering cooking classes for kids ages 8 and up, for $35 each, and they are now expanding to offer a few for kids 5-8. At the first one for “littles” on Monday, April 30, kids will make pizza. “Teen Kitchen Project is excited to open our doors to aspiring chefs ages 5 and up who are interested in learning more about developing their culinary skills,” says founder Angela Farley. “We believe empowering young people with the knowledge and skills to prepare food from scratch is essential to accomplish our goal of building a healthier Santa Cruz County, one meal at a time.”
Topics for the older kids have included burgers, tacos and dumplings. During the 2-hour classes, kids work with other students in groups of two to four. There are also adult chefs and a teen helper present. At the end of class, participants get to eat the food they prepare. Monday and Wednesday classes are at the Aptos location (8061 Aptos St.), and Friday classes are at the Soquel location (2880 Research Park Dr.). Enrollment is limited. Visit the registration page at crm.fundly.com//6708/Pages/Events/#/.
For those unfamiliar with Teen Kitchen Project, executive director Angela Farley launched TKP in 2012 after her son was diagnosed with cancer. Farley decided she wanted to help other families affected by cancer, to at least attempt to decrease some of the pressure and feelings of being overwhelmed. Today, the organization regularly delivers 600-700 free, healthy meals for clients throughout Santa Cruz County who are in crisis due to illness. Teen volunteers ages 13-18 prepare meals with the assistance of adult volunteers. The teens gain valuable skills as they volunteer. For more info, visit the web site teenkitchenproject.org.
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December classes at New Leaf Community Markets include gingerbread houses for kids and free health lectures

Kids can make gingerbread houses at New Leaf on Dec. 9
New Leaf Community Markets has a few lectures and classes this month. Here are some highlights; these are all at the Westside Santa Cruz location at 1101 Fair Ave. (831-426-1306).
Preregistration is required at newleaf.com/events.
If you want to plan ahead, check out their site for lots of enticing offerings in January. These include a free series of Monday afternoon nutrition workshops beginning Jan. 9 (January Jumpstart: 4 Weeks to Healthier Eating with Holistic Nutritionist Madia Jamgochian), a paella class (Thurs. Jan. 26, $45 or two for $80, includes wine) and a “one-pot Ayurvedic soups and stews” class with Ayurvedic Practitioner Talya Lutzker (Tues Jan. 31, $45 or two for $80).
Friday, Dec. 9
Kids’ Class: Gingerbread House Making Workshop
For ages 8 and up: drop your kids off for a fun, creative hands-on workshop led by Kristen Valenza, founder of Living Roots Food and Floral. They will create houses from scratch using organic ingredients, and take home their masterpieces.
Time & Cost: 6–8pm, $35/Two for $60
Tuesday, Dec. 13
For Seniors: Tuesday Tea with Holiday Spice
Join us for tea time and discover how spices add more than flavor to your recipes. Full of antioxidants and potent antimicrobials, you may be surprised to find out what your spice rack has in store.
Time & Cost: 12–1pm, Free
Thursday, Dec. 15
Supporting Your Immune System through Winter
Herbal storyteller Tom Dadant will give a lecture on how to support your body’s primary immune system naturally with beneficial herbs and nutrients. Dadant is a National Educator for Planetary Herbals.
Time & Cost: 6–7pm, Free
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Fun October class topics at New Leaf Community Markets include apple butter, candy apples, tapas & wine pairings

Drop the kids off at New Leaf to learn how to make candy apples with organic toppings
Photo credit: New Leaf
New Leaf Community Markets has lots of cooking classes this month, including many with autumn-related themes (apple butter anyone? Yum). Here are a few highlights; these are all at the Westside Santa Cruz location at 1101 Fair Ave. (831-426-1306).
Preregistration is required at newleaf.com/events.
Saturday, Oct. 15
Apple Butter and Jam Making Workshop
Learn how to make easy and delicious apple butter and seasonal fall jam with Home Chef Lisa Bono using natural sweeteners. This class will cover equipment, ingredients, canning methods and storage. Take home two jars of your own creation.
Time & Cost: 2–4pm, $25.
Thursday, Oct. 20
Date Night: Spanish Tapas and Wine Pairing
New Leaf invites you to sign up with your sweetheart and work together to create a variety of tasty Spanish-style tapas while sipping wine with Chef Kristen Valenza and Nutrition Consultant Madia Jamgochian. Classic tapas ingredients that may be used include Marcona almonds, manchego cheese, prociutto, chorizo, shrimp and eggplant.
Time & Cost: 6–8:30pm, $85 for two people.
Friday, Oct. 28
Kids’ Class: Candy Apple & Marshmallow Making
Drop your kids off for class and they will make candy apples using a variety of organic toppings while enjoying homemade ginger soda, while you can enjoy a date night.
Time & Cost: 6–8pm, $25.
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Time for the 2016 Santa Cruz Mole & Mariachi festival

Mole poblano prepared by David Jackman of restaurant Chocolate, a first-time competitor at the Mole & Mariachi Festival
Photo credit: David Jackman
The 4th annual Mole & Mariachi Festival is Saturday, Sept. 10, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Mission Adobe State Historic Park. The family-friendly food and music festival has free admission. If you want to sample moles, there is a $10 tasting kit for sale that includes six tastes; additional tasting tickets can be purchased for $2 each.
Ten local restaurants and chefs—including first-time participant David Jackman of Chocolate—will prepare moles. The other competitors are restaurants El Chipotle, El Jardin, and El Chino; caterers and food makers Cesario Ruiz of My Mom’s Mole, Taquitos Gabriel’s and Sunny’s Catering; and home chefs from Club Tuxpan Santa Cruz, Emma Pinto (Mama Marquita’s) and Lidia Montesino (JoLí Molé).
In addition to sampling mole, attendees can purchase beer from Discretion Brewing, wine from Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, fresh-fruit aguas frescas by Mollie’s Country Café and chavelas (a drink made from beer, tomato juice, and spices). Food vendors will sell mole dishes for lunch such as mole Oaxaqueño plates from El Chipotle; mole sopés, mole empanadas and mole huaraches from Taqueria Lidia; and mole tamales from Taquitos Gabriel’s. Also, there will be non-mole selections for sale from Mission Hill Creamery, Garcia’s Fish Tacos and Sason Mexicano, plus churros, fruit cups and roasted corn.
There will be music and dance performances, free kids’ crafts and face painting, piñatas every hour, and a raffle with prizes including an all-inclusive trip to Mexico, a wine collection valued at $800 and a stay in an Airstream trailer at the KOA campground across from Manresa State Beach.
For the first time ever, Mariachi Feminil Orgullo Mexicano — an all-female mariachi band — will perform at the festival. Other performers include live mariachi music from Mariachi Alma de Mexico and the group’s youth bands, Mariachi Juvenil Alma de Mexico and Mariachi Infantil Alma de Mexico, and dancing by local dance troupes Senderos and Estrellas de Esperanza. Mojigangas (giant, dancing puppets that have been popular at previous festivals) will return.
A diverse array of artisans will show and sell work at the festival marketplace, including Artemex’s display of blouses, dresses, drinkware, dolls, jewelry and other handmade items from Mexico; Artesanias Mexicanos; Creative Woman and Alejandro’s Trade. Watsonville food company The Green Waffle will sell take-home packages of healthy waffles.
Festival attendees and a panel of local judges will select their favorites. The judges include state Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird; Patricia Santana, owner of Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant; Santa Cruz City Councilmember David Terrazas; Edible Monterey Bay writer Debbie Luhrman; Tony Solis of the Santa Cruz Sentinel; Good Times Publisher Jeanne Howard; and Santa Cruz Life writer Christine Candelaria.
All event proceeds benefit the Santa Cruz Mission Adobe State Historic Park (including educational programs and restoration and improvement projects) via Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. The event encourages alternative transportation by providing free trolley rides from downtown.
Location: Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, 144 School Street
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Lindt Chocolate expands Easter treat offerings for 2016
Lindt Chocolate has always been a delicious option for Easter with many fun offerings, and this year they added even more great selections—whether you’re looking to make an Easter basket for one of your kids or you want to buy a treat for a special someone.
I had a recent opportunity to try a couple items—the traditional mini chocolate egg bag and the brand-new large, hollow milk chocolate Lindt “Little Chick”—and highly recommend both (the latter also comes in a package of five mini hollow figures made from milk chocolate).
The 2016 Lindt Easter collection is available online, at Lindt Chocolate Shops, and at select retail locations.
Here are a few other Easter highlights from Lindt:
Lindt Bugs and Bees
These decorative, foil-wrapped critters are perfect for spring and to crawl around in Easter baskets. The bugs and bees are comprised of milk chocolate with hazelnut and have a crisp filling.
Lindt Chocolate Carrots
These make a cute combination with the Lindt bunny since all bunnies love carrots. Each of the four solid milk chocolate carrots is blended with hazelnut.
Lindt GOLD BUNNY Basket
This ready-to-gift bunny basket features a pair of hollow milk chocolate Lindt GOLD BUNNY figures in a springtime display.
NEW: Lindt GOLD BUNNY Storybook Gift Set
This gift set comes with a 3.5 oz Lindt GOLD BUNNY in milk chocolate and the new “An Easter Surprise: The Tale of Lindt GOLD BUNNY” storybook (as told by the Lindt Master Chocolatier).
NEW: LINDOR Milk Egg Carton
This carton of six smooth LINDOR eggs comes in Milk Chocolate and is perfect for decorating or egg hunting.
NEW: Lindt GOLD BUNNY Carrot Car
Lindt GOLD BUNNY is now on the go. One 3.5 oz Lindt GOLD BUNNY takes the wheel of a specially designed Carrot Car with two 10g Lindt GOLD BUNNYS in tow which are created with premium Milk Chocolate. This one is available exclusively at Kroger.
Happy Easter!
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Santa Cruz hosts family-friendly Mole & Mariachi festival

Mole ingredients from a competitor’s table at the 2014 Mole & Mariachi Festival. Photo credit: Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks
The 3rd annual Mole & Mariachi Festival is Saturday, Sept. 19, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Mission Adobe State Historic Park. The food and music festival has free admission. If you want to sample moles, there is a $10 tasting kit for sale. A list of mole competitors and other vendors is below.
In addition to sampling mole, attendees can purchase local food, beer from Discretion Brewing, and other beverages including chavelas (a drink made from beer, tomato juice, and spices). Food vendors include The Penny Ice Creamery and Garcia Fish Tacos. There will be music and dance performances, kids’ crafts, piñatas every hour, and a raffle.
This year, six local restaurants and chefs—including first-time participant Jozseph Schultz of India Joze—will prepare moles. Festival attendees and a panel of local judges led by Patricia Santana will select their favorites. Santana and her husband Leonardo own Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant in Aptos. In 2013 the judges’ panel chose Manuel’s as the winner of the inaugural mole cook-off with a recipe Leonardo developed.
Santana is excited and honored to be a judge this year; she is very passionate about mole. “This year, it will be fun to not compete, and actually get to enjoy other moleros’ creations without the stress of bringing our own,” she says. “I salute every mole maker bringing their best entry. In my opinion, mole is the king of sauces in the Mexican kitchen, but one needs to keep in mind there are seven different types of mole – and as many recipes as there are mole makers,” she adds. “This sauce is a labor of love, and every cook has their own secrets.” On mole day at Manuel’s (Sunday), her husband gets up at 2 am to have the restaurant kitchen to himself.
At the festival, free kids’ activities will include face painting, crafts, bubbles, and a mural project coordinated by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.
Four folk music bands will perform: Mariachi Gilroy, Mariachi Alma de Mexico, Mariachi Juvenil Alma de Mexico and Trio del Sol. Also performing will be Estrellas de Esperanza, a children’s Mexican folklorico dance group from Watsonville, and Centeotl Grupo de Danza y Baile, a Santa Cruz-based dance group that preserves cultural connections with Mexico.
All event proceeds benefit the Santa Cruz Mission Adobe State Historic Park (including educational programs and restoration and improvement projects) via Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. The event encourages alternative transportation by providing free trolley rides from downtown and having bike valet service at the park. For more information on the festival, visit the event web site.
Location: Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, 144 School Street
Mole competitors:
- El Chipotle Restaurant in Soquel (preparing a rojo Oaxaqueño mole)
- El Jardin Restaurant in Santa Cruz—People’s Choice award winner at the 2013 festival, and a winner at the 2014 festival (preparing “Jorge’s Traditional Mole,” a red mole poblano)
- My Mom’s Mole from Watsonville (with a 25-ingredient Guanajuato-style sauce that is spicy, not sweet, prepared by chef Cesario Ruiz)
- Gerald Gonzalez (a home cook from Contra Costa County that will prepare “Mole de Paz,” a mole poblano)
- Mariquita’s (home cook Emma Pinto Valedez will prepare her grandmother’s mole poblano recipe)
- India Joze (Schultz will prepare a to-be-announced mole sauce)
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Family-friendly Santa Cruz Greek Food Faire this weekend
This weekend is the ninth annual Eat Like A Greek Food Faire in downtown Santa Cruz. This event is the smaller version of the very popular Greek food and music festival that has occurred every September for nearly 35 years.
There is free admission to the downtown celebration, which will feature live Greek music plus lots of good food and drinks. Selections available for purchase will include moussaka (both meat and vegetarian version), roasted lamb shanks with orzo, gyros, souvlaki (grilled meat on skewers served with tzatziki), fried calamari, roasted chicken, and spanakopita. Desserts include baklava and loukoumathes (light, fluffy, deep fried honey balls with hot honey syrup poured on top and finished with crushed walnuts and cinnamon). Drinks will include American and Greek beer, wine, traditional Greek spirits, and Greek coffee.
For more information and full menu, visit livelikeagreek.com/events/food-faire.
Location: Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church, 223 Church Street (at Center)
2015 Festival Schedule:
- Friday May 15, 5-10 p.m.
- Saturday May 16, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
- Sunday May 17, Noon – 8 p.m.
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