Inside:
Monterey Bay Master Gardeners
Solar Technologies
Knox Roofing
Skeeter Marazzo and The Foodies
Jozseph Schultz
Liquid BioTech

Grab the complete Expo guide in thie week’s Good Times

Hello, and welcome to the Central Coast Home & Garden Expo 2010.

We are very excited to bring you this wonderful expo as spring is in the air and it is time for home improvement projects, planting in the garden and hosting culinary treats for friends and family.

Hang tight, diehard Cruzans! There may be even a better use for mushrooms—fuel.

All this according to environmental priestess Daryl Hannah. True, using vegetables as a fuel source may sound so very Bonnie Raitt circa 2004, but the topic wasn’t the only thing the popular actress-activist had on her mind during a quick venture into Santa Cruz late Tuesday afternoon. She and other local eco-patriots—well, she actually dislikes the term “eco”—were on hand to discuss the greening of the auto industry on Community TV’s thought-provoking outing, “Eco Review.”  At the top of the list: Ethanol.

Yan Flower dishes up a fresh assortment of unique Chinese delicacies at the southern end of Pacific Avenue

I don’t often find myself in the South of Laurel section of Pacific Avenue, but when a friend described Hong Kong Noodles at Yan Flower I just had to try them. After all, the man is of Korean and Chinese heritage, and speaks with a New York accent.

In the back of the restaurant the owners converse in Cantonese. Yan Flower’s well-kept yellow and green tiled building is roomy, clean, and simply decorated. Comfortable orange booths surround glass-topped tables, the windows are treated with pretty flowered valances, and the walls are papered with tasteful, contemporary swooshes in soft earth tones.

Discovering that today is National Waffle Day triggered a memory of my mother, who treated us to waffles on leisurely Sunday mornings.

Standing at her white-tiled kitchen counter, she whipped the egg whites until stiff before gently folding them into the flour, yolk, and baking powder batter to guarantee an airy waffle. Then she added chopped walnuts, which brought crunch and texture to the bread. For the grand finale, after brushing the checkered griddle halves with Crisco oil, she laid out two soft strips of cooked bacon which sizzled on the hot metal before she poured the batter over them. We stood by hungrily waiting for steam rising from the iron to subside. It took seven or eight rounds to satisfy the five of us with these nutty, crisp, airy, smoky, maple syrupy cakes.

Binge drinking among 7th and 9th graders at Santa Cruz County schools is increasing, according to data released by the 2009 Santa Cruz County California Healthy Kids Survey. “The increase in binge drinking amongst 7th and 9th graders is particularly troubling and suggests a likelihood of developing further troubles down the road,” said Bill Manov, director of alcohol and drug programs at the Santa Cruz Health Services Agency, in a March press release. Parents, students and educators will gather for a Town Hall event to address ways to help solve this problem on Wednesday, March 24 from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. at Del Mar Elementary School.

Surfing takes the spotlight in a breathtaking new MAH show
Upon my arrival at his picturesque hillside studio, surf photographer and videographer Patrick Trefz offers me water with lemon. Soon after, I clamor behind him through a small dark semicircle, into a dome-shaped sweat lodge. It reminds me of an igloo made from stone. To my relief, on such a stifling hot afternoon (hence the water), the sweat lodge is currently out of order but, as Trefz points out, it provides great acoustics for our interview.

Memoir explains how one woman used tango to transform her life
As anyone that has ever experienced the pain of heartbreak as the result of a shattered relationship knows, it can take months or even years to put the pieces of your life back together again. Memories as sharp and pointed as shards of glass litter the landscape of your life, cutting deep into your emotions. If you are not careful, such shards can slice into your psyche and cause permanent damage. But how does one begin the process of picking up the jagged pieces without cutting oneself on the excruciatingly serrated edges? For Maria Finn, a writer from New York City, the answer was tango.

Editor’s note: This week’s Poetry Corner features the work of Robert McDowell, the author/editor/co-author/translator of 10 books, most recently “Poetry as Spiritual Practice: Reading, Writing, and Using Poetry in Your Daily Rituals,” “Aspirations,” and “Intentions” (Free Press/Simon & Schuster). He was co-founder and director of Story Line Press for 22 years, worked at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, taught at many universities, high schools, and conferences, and is a UC Santa Cruz graduate. To learn more about him, visit robertmcdowell.net or threeintentions.com.

The Santa Cruz Jazz Festival will run 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, March 26-27, at Cabrillo College
Ken Emerson brings the islands to this year’s Santa Cruz Jazz Festival

The last time Ken Emerson performed in town, it was the ‘70s and he was sharing an informal public stage with a historical figure. Back then he was studying art history and psychology at Cabrillo College and frequenting Pacific Avenue for busking sessions with some other notable locals—including one saw player, Tom Scribner. Yes, the saw player now immortalized with a statue in front of Bookshop Santa Cruz.

“In the mid-‘70s [the Pacific Avenue mall] was incredible and Santa Cruz was so happening!” Emerson remembers, his voice blown out from a Bay Area gig the night before our chat. “I played out there on guitar, Tom played saw, and another guy played plectrum guitar. Tom knew all these Hawaiian songs from the 1915 period so I learned quite a bit of Hawaiian music from him. I owe a lot to that guy.”

While most bands are busy employing more technology in their show, splattering the stage from one end to the other with cutting-edge gear, the Down Beets are running in the opposite direction—and it’s made them run into each other. Last spring the 4-year-old alt-country bluegrass quartet decided to simplify things by changing into a one-mic format. At first, however, crowding around a single mic took a bit of getting used to. Singer Sheila Golden explains: “I totally got whacked in the head a few times by the banjo, I’ve whacked Jay [Lampel] with the guitar, and at a couple shows Jeremy [Lampel] had to run around to the other side to get near the mic. It can be really comical but we’re getting better.” “Getting better” has meant burgeoning into a sweet Del McCoury performance style that’s revolutionized the band.