Olives, Alpacas, and Fine Art

It wasn’t enough for Art Kishiyama to just grow olive trees and make olive oil, he had to raise Alpacas too. This retired Air Force Colonel, who also had a post-military career with Disney, settled in the eastern area of Paso Robles with his artist wife, Lynne and became a gentleman farmer.

 Kishiyama’s 3,700 olive trees span out across a sloping terrain adjacent to a large pond that sits behind the house where Lynne has her art studio. It is a lovely, serene setting.

 The olive oil, under the label Olio Nuevo, is sold at specialty stores, markets, and wineries throughout the county. Each bottle is delicately hand crafted at his small production center. The oil is Extra Virgin and is certified by the California Olive Oil Council. 

Two distinctive types of oil are produced, Olio Nuevo Estate Arbequina and Olio Nuevo Reserve Blend. Kishiyama uses predominantly green, early harvested Arbequina fruit for the first as he feels it presents a fresh, grassy taste. This oil is a good complement to fish, poultry, cooked vegetables, and meats.

 The Reserve Blend contrasts the Estate Arbequina in that it is harvested late using much riper Arbequina fruit. Estate grown Manzinillo and Mission fruit are blended in and all three produce a fine, smooth, less bitter tasting oil.

 Kishiyama also offers Balsamic of Modena, an aged balsamic made specifically to pair with the olive oils. This balsamic is imported from Modena, Italy.

 But olives aren’t all that is growing at the Kishiyama’s place. Art also raises Alpacas. That part of the property is known as the Alpacas of Cripple Creek. 

Nearby are the holding pens and barn for the Alpacas. These easy to raise animals have grown in popularity in recent years and most are bred for their coats that yield exceptional fiber.

But alpacas have another quality that makes them special, they sing or rather they hum. Spanish conquistadors referred to them as “humming sheep.” They also make other kinds of sounds like a high pitched whining along with noisy inhalations. These help to warn both the herd and other domestic farm animals of danger. This makes sales of the animals for guard duties popular.

 Alpacas are originally from the Andes in South America, primarily from Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Their nearest relatives are vicuna and they share territory with them as well as llamas and guanacos, all of which are camelids. Alpacas are no longer wild and have been domesticated for more than 5000 years.

 Kishiyama raises and breeds for specific colors whereas many people prefer white animals in order to dye the fleece. In the United States it is becoming more popular to obtain fiber from a natural colored animal. Kishiyama’s alpacas come in fawn, beige, gray, white, brown, black, and black-brown. There are 22 natural colors of alpacas but Kishiyama prefers the blacks and grays.

 Because alpacas are herd animals Kishiyama never sells only one to a customer and although he maintains a small male herd, he prefers to select males from other breeders based on the amount of curl in their coat. A bit of curl in the coat aids in spinning the yarn.

 There is no specific time for females to come into heat. Ovulation only occurs after mating and usually a pregnancy will occur with one mating, but to be sure, Kishiyama continues a mating pair until a pregnancy is confirmed. Females give birth in 11 months and usually produce one offspring called a cria.

Many people worry about behavior issues, such as the notion that alpacas and llamas will spit. While they can bring up some nasty greenish stomach contents that they will project at times, this is usually aimed at other members of their herd.

 The nice thing about these animals are their bathroom behaviors. They tend to use a communal dung pile in a specific location rather than spreading it around randomly. This helps to keep enclosures neat and tidy and makes clean-up an easier chore.

 Alpacas don’t necessarily enjoy physical contact. They will tolerate some petting on their bodies, but do not like their abdomen, lower legs and feet being touched.

 All in all alpacas are relatively easy to raise, enjoyable to watch, and produce an excellent fiber that can be spun and made into a yarn for producing soft, silky garments. Since it is not prickly and contains no lanolin, it is good for people with allergies.

 Art keeps busy with olive oil production and tending to the alpacas, while Lynne works away in her spacious studio producing beautiful and delicate paintings, collages, and abstracts done with hand-made papers and an oriental flair. These two have got it made with olives, alpacas, and fine art.

As the Cook Turns–a Sequel to Confessions of a Cooking Novice

You laughed at my cooking confession but imagine my surprise the day after I posted that, when I received an invitation from the Cooking Club of America to test cooking products. I had to wonder, did they have a new type microwave available? No, my cooking prowess has been discovered! “It’s no secret among your friends and family that you are an outstanding cook!” There it was in black and white on the page, my friends and family feel that I am an outstanding cook. What a surprise! So why haven’t they ever mentioned it to me???

Well, out-standing where I don’t know, but if I accept this invitation I get to test a variety of cooking products and answer questionnaires regarding the performance of the products (not the performance of the cook). Then I get to keep the products. Hmmm. Where will I put them? The kitchen countertop is already taken up with the humungous microwave and Black and Decker toaster oven that Neil Farrell said would burn my house down (it hasn’t) and the kitchen table holds the wine rack with bottles of wine, the rice and vegetable steamer, and the Cuisinart grill. Hmmm. Maybe I can clean off the top of the refrigerator!

And wasn’t I delighted to read that they would be interested to receive my best tips and techniques and would publish them in Cooking Club magazine. Gee, should I really let the world know my best tip? When warming up the muffins that you brought home in a doggy bag from Bob’s Big Boy, do not put them in the microwave for three minutes on high unless you have a special need for hockey pucks. Surely someone already has discovered my best cooking technique – boiling water and pouring it on dehydrated potato flakes. Do be sure to fluff the results with a fork. I am sure this is a skill every good cook should know.

Man, they even want my best recipe, one that has been tested and approved by my family and friends. What do you say to that friends and family?!!? This is my chance to spread the word about my new culinary sensation and have my name and recipe in a national magazine! Let’s see, recipe, recipe, hmmmm. Say, why don’t my friends and family write in and tell me what that recipe is?

Okay, in this invitation I got a nice little recipe pad to record my culinary inventions, and a magnetized chart of measurements like 2/3 of a cup equals 158 milliliters. Boy am I glad I don’t have to do that math figuring anymore. Then there is this plastic white thing with different sized holes in it. The holes have numbers 1 through 4 under them. I’m not sure what to use this for but after studying it for a minute I think it would make a great template for drawing a cat’s paw! What that has to do with cooking, I don’t know, but I think they must have used Gordo’s paw for this design. Gordo is a BIG kitty!

Recently I journeyed out from slaving in my kitchen and visited Ostrichland down near Pea Soup Andersen Buellton and found out that they sell ostrich and emu eggs. They sell ostrich meat too but I can’t quite get myself to go that far. But the egg intrigues me. It would make one heck of an omelet. My only problem will be trying to figure out how to crack the thing. Probably have to use a hammer.

Well, thanks to a crummy colon section that has to be removed I’ve been on a low residue diet for weeks and weeks. I have to tell you there is nothing gourmet about soft chicken and fish over white rice. I really can’t understand why Asians are crazy about this rice. It has no taste and and if you don’t eat it right away it turns into a gummy, lumpy mess that would probably be better used to plugs cracks in the bathroom grouting.

So will I accept the invitation from the Cooking Club?

Get real!

COOKING TERMS GLOSSARY ALA RUTH ANN
Poaching – Stealing and it’s a sin.
Medallions – Awards of valor for cooks
Methylcellulose – Not something you want to eat!
Mouse – A small dark rodent
Blanching – Please don’t do this at the table – go to the bathroom!

Confessions of a Cooking Novice

Upon reaching tender old age I realized that it was overdue for me to learn how to cook. However, a person who needs to drop 30-plus pounds probably shouldn’t start their lessons making chocolate Christmas cookies. A person should though, take lessons from a pro. Learning to cook from Mom may not be a good idea, at least not the way my Mom cooked.

Growing up, my siblings and I didn’t know any better. We thought everyone had meals like ours. It wasn’t until I made friends with some Italian girls at school and had the good fortune to be invited for dinner at their homes that I realized my Mom was not a good cook.

I think her attitude about cooking came from a deep seated conviction that there should be more to life for a female than cooking and cleaning house. Whatever the reason, our meals were bland and tasteless, so developing an educated palate required me to either learn to cook myself or eat out at good restaurants. I chose the restaurants.

I have for years been expert at turning out wonderful Marie Callender, Banquet, and Swanson TV dinners. I’ve even developed a distinguished palate regarding them voting the Marie Callender meals the best. But none of them turn out a wonderful rare and juicy steak or a sumptuous lamb chop. It was time for me to learn how to turn out a good meal.

What good fortune it was that I met a great chef just arrived on the Central Coast from New York City. And better good fortune that she wanted to learn photography, my area of expertise. A pact was formed. I would teach her how to take good photos and she would teach me how to cook. I am sure I had the easier job!

My first lesson was just before Christmas and took place at my teacher’s kitchen where all the necessary tools were available. Cookies were our goal, primarily chocolate cookies. I decked out in an appropriate Christmas red apron and began to sift the flour, crack the eggs, melt the delicious chocolate. Our goal was for cookies and chocolate truffles.

Okay, sift the flour, stir the melting chocolate, whip the eggs. Fortunately the recipes did not call for separating the egg yolk from the whites. Perhaps that will come later in my tutelage.

Oh my, it’s necessary to have three hands in the kitchen! One is stirring, one is turning down the heat on the stove, and then there is one needed for running the mixer.

I could see right away that I would need to purchase a number of tools for my kitchen. There was the Hamilton Beach Mix-Master – where do you get one of those? I haven’t seen one since growing up in the 50s. Oh yes, and sharp knives are a necessity. I have since gone out and bought new knives only to nearly slice off the top of my thumb while carving some meat. Bleeding onto your food is not a good thing. There must be a technique to using these knives.

I did get a small grill. How did I live without a grill before? This thing is a God-send. Spice up your meat, slap it on the grill, and presto, in two minutes it’s done. It beats the microwave, which before the grill was my ultimate cooking tool.

And why did I ever prepare rice in pot on the stove? Good grief there is such a thing as a rice cooker! Fill it with water, throw in the rice, set the timer, and voila, perfect rice. And for that matter perfectly steamed veggies. No more mush vegetables boiled in a pot or microwaved to death.

Yes, having the right tools definitely aids in learning how to cook. Now if I only knew what one uses turmeric for I would be rolling along.

So I watch the food channel and see all the fine chefs whipping meals together with a dash of this and a pinch of that. Oh my, well, I can take a pinch or two myself!

Ah! I needed that! Bon Appetit!

Educational Fun at Salisbury Winery

It was billed as an educational day courtesy of the Central Coast Wine Growers Association and was going to be held at Salisbury Vineyards in Avila Valley and it sounded too interesting to pass up.

Traveling back and forth on Highway 101 from San Luis Obispo to places in South County I’ve often passed that distinctive building on the right side of the road that looked like an old schoolhouse. I remember seeing it years ago in a very run down dilapidated condition and would think as I whizzed by on the freeway that it would be a shame if no one did anything to save it. Well, someone did and they have turned it into an unusual combination of businesses.

The Salisbury family are farmers. John Salisbury hails from the Sacramento Delta and is a 6th generation farmer with family farming dating back to1850. He’s been growing crops there and in the San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys all his life. He often came to the Central Coast to visit his wife’s grandparents who lived in the Avila Valley. So it wasn’t too much of a leap for him to pull up stakes, purchase some prime hillside land, and plant grape vines. Thus began Salisbury Vineyards and Winery.

Salisbury, his wife Maridel, daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Kevin all got into the act and they decided to purchase the old schoolhouse, renovate it, and turn it into a tasting room and art gallery. The marriage of the two businesses worked as well as John and Maridel’s marriage. He did the vineyard, she did the art gallery.

On the day of our tour we arrived at 11 A.M. and boarded the trolley for a short ride up into the hills of the vineyard. Once there John spoke to us about his method of growing grapes. We stood amongst dormant Pinot Noir vines that had grasses and wild mustard growing beneath between the rows. John gave us a demonstration on how he prunes the vines, a laborious process done with clippers by hand. I can imagine that it takes many days to finish this task.

John told us about clones and weather and irrigation and sustainability and bottling and aging until my head hurt, but all of it was a good lesson for a neophyte learning about the special wine industry here on the Central Coast.

I learned what it means when someone says “fruit forward” and I realized that I like that style of wine. I found myself signing up for Club Avila: the After-School Wine Club and went home with three bottles of my favorites after tasting. I especially liked the Pinot Naturale, a sparkling wine without the sparkle!

So the next time you are flying down the freeway toward Pismo Beach and glance over and see the old schoolhouse, now sparkling in the sun, veer off at San Luis Bay Drive and stop in and take a seat at the bar and enjoy some of the selections at Salisbury Vineyards. You won’t regret it.

Salisbury Vineyards and the Schoolhouse Tasting Room are located at 6985 Ontario Road, San Luis Obispo (Avila Valley). Open Mon – Thurs from noon to 5 P.M.; Fri – Sun from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M.

It’s Not Wine and Roses, It’s Wine and FOOD!

The days drift into fall and we anticipate enjoying the fruits of the vines that have been ripening for months in the sun. The weather that was fickle all summer sent contradictory messages to the budding grapes. Growers and winemakers cast dubious eyes at them, questioning in their minds as to what the final outcome would be.But finally the day dawns and it is harvest. Picking starts early right at sunrise. The workers can’t resist taking a taste as they snip away freeing the clusters from their prison of vines. And it tastes good!

Soon it is time for the harvest parties, some great noisy affairs, others more genteel. We join the group at Per Cazo Cellars on a balmy Sunday afternoon to sit with friends by the pool and sample the fine wine.

Per Cazo, means “by chance” and many of us share the same story having stumbled upon the place during the summer, by chance. A pleasant discovery to find  this small family winery run by Lynne and Dave Teckman that sits adjacent to a bubbling creek amidst the oak trees.

Today we sample five new releases starting with a blend of three white Rhone varietals, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, and Viognier called Tres Blanc. We pair this with an interesting cheese that has bits of apricot in it.

Then we go on to the Reds, ZinG, a blend of Zinfandel and Grenache, Epi Telos, that blends Grenache, Mourvedre, and Syrah, and Confluent, blending Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc. We enjoy this with outstanding cuisine created by Master Chef, Nanette Smalley of Simply Delicious.

Nanette serves us pork tenderloin with plum sauce, a salad of quinoa (a grain), lentils, celery root in white wine vinegar with bleu cheese, a boysenberry/cheese tart, and a piece of heavenly chocolate.

We top off our repast with Per Cazo’s Late Harvest selection that is 100% Zinfandel. Actually not only the chocolate is heavenly, the whole spread is!

Time slips by and we are enjoying the company, sharing our choices of our favorite wines and wineries, and finding out little bits about the lives of these new friends that we have met today. Even Matti the Teckman’s dog gets into the groove.

We wish we could stay longer. One day we will because the Teckman’s don’t just have a wine business. There is a cozy bed and breakfast here too. Next time we’ll plan an overnight or a weekend at Creekside B&B – along with wine tasting, of course! You should try it too!

Fall, Season of Color

It slips in quietly one night in the wee hours of September, barely noticed, on an unusually warm breeze. No one realizes at first, but then slowly it becomes obvious that something has changed. The long languid days of summer are gone. It’s Fall.

Charged up now with the days becoming shorter, the temperature finally gives in and comes down a notch or two. Driving on the back country roads bring glimpses of color here and there. But Fall is subtle on the Central Coast of California and it takes some doing to search for its splendor.

Birds have no trouble finding the season’s gifts. They gorge themselves on berries until they dance in the sky with drunkenness. Beware blackberries, ollaliberries, boysenberries, and raspberries, you will be plucked until your vines are bare. People love them too and welcome these luscious fruits for pies and tarts.

The fields have all turned brown and gold, some alive with bright orange pumpkins. Farmstands do a brisk business selling this fruit that will grace the walkways, steps, and windows as jack-o-lanterns on Halloween. And there is corn and gourds and squashes galore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The grape harvest is mostly done and vineyards begin to show the seasonal change too as wineries hold festivals and parties to celebrate.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Fall, the season of color!

Jottings 7-4-10

Already it has happened. The hills that were Ireland green have gone a golden blond. Fields lie trimmed down with grasses drawn into rectangular building blocks and huge jelly rolls of hay dot the landscape. Soon the bundles will be drawn into barns to be parceled out to cattle and horses as the dry season draws out. The garden plants await a weekly drink and vegetable fields enjoy their daily drenching flowing from snakes of irrigation lines.

In North County the heat shimmers off the land by midday. Cows search for shade under the gnarled oak trees. People lounge in the pool while others zoom by on the freeway, blissful in refrigeration. Now the grapes are visible on the vines, the beans are sprouting, and soon even pumpkins will start to color the fields.

Roses do well in the heat. Massive bushes of them line the rows of grape vines. Not so by the coast where those that have been planted by immigrants from areas with warm summers struggle to survive in the cool, moist air. Roses, after all, are from the cactus family and more suited to desert-like climates.

Down on the coast the dense, impenetrable fog drifts up the coastal mountains painting everything in gray. Tourists decked out in shorts and tank tops run shivering into shops to buy sweatshirts. And everyone worries that fireworks will fade into the gloom.

The brief season of green is over.

Two distinct regions within 25 miles of each other, but two widely different climates. Even directly on the coast, pockets of balmy weather allow avocados and citrus to flourish.

This year the green came early to the fields thanks to the life giving rains that each year start later and later. And so we relished romping through fields of storkbill filaree, tiny yellow dandelions, and splashy orange poppies for a time. It was even delightful to see the dreaded oxalis sprouting in the lawns in town. Miles and miles of tall, yellow mustard plants grew by the roadsides. Now the stalks sway in the warm breezes, bleached of color, awaiting the blades of the mowing machines to knock them down to make the countryside safe from wildfire.

The small birds that were so busy just weeks ago nesting and raising young have already pushed their offspring out of the house and are settling back into small flocks that spend the early hours of the day searching for insects in the roadside scrub. The cats are eager to go out and join them, not for insect searching, but to sneak around and stalk trying for a catch. One must keep a watch at the window to yell at them should they get too close. "No birds!" There are unsuspecting gophers that need routing, but are not as enticing as the sparrow and the finches.

Four fat pigeons sit up on the wires and mourning doves join them, but not too close. All of them assess the birdfeeder on the balcony below. Is it filled with seed today? The doves are welcome, but one could do without the pigeons. Why don't they try New York?

Down on the waterfront the bay is calm in the morning and might stay that way all day now that the winds of spring have gone to rest for another year. But without the wind the marine layer hangs down and fog drifts back and forth across the water.

The sea and sky blend together into one great mass of grayness. The only splash of color comes from the red and green buoys in the channel. Boats head out for a day of fishing or whale watching. Tourists wake, and begin strolling the waterfront in search of breakfast. Shopkeepers open their doors.

It is finally summer on the coast of California.