It'sFoodTime!

What else is in Santa Cruz that I don’t know about?

Every time I think I know the lay of the land in the Bay Area, I discover that after 25 years I remain a neophyte.  I’ve been to Santa Cruz countless times in the almost 25 years I’ve lived in the Bay Area.  The boardwalk, with the Giant Dipper roller coaster was an early discovery, and we’ve found that in the off season, you can get on and off this ride so fast that you will literally make yourself sick!   The boardwalk discovery was closely followed by exploring the beaches, which include regular old family beaches, as well as beaches for surfers, nude beaches, and beaches for those of the gay persuasion, often nude, and sometimes surfing.  In the winter, there’s the Holiday Lights train that leaves from the boardwalk and chugs through town, giving a great view of the local “went too far” Christmas decorations, all while sipping hot cider.  After a time, we discovered another side of Santa Cruz when we took up sailing and met Mark Kraft and the gang at Pacific Yachting and Sailing down at the harbor.  More recently, we’ve used the spa at Chaminade as our “get away for the weekend and forget about it all” destination.  So, I figured I had seen it all, or at least a good approximation of “it all”, until we found ourselves wandering down Pacific Avenue on either side of Soquel Ave. on a warm summer Saturday night recently and thought I’d passed through a space warp onto the Santa Monica 3^rd Street Promenade!  There were more strange people, looking and acting, than I typically see in an entire weekend in San Francisco (of course, maybe I don’t know that city half as well as I think, either…)  This part of Santa Cruz is quite an experience, with lots of interesting places to wander, eat and drink, while taking in the indigenous species that appear to abound on this street!

– Chris

Krispy Kreme worth what?!

I’ve never understood how a donut shop can be worth billions of dollars.  In the 2003-2004 timeframe, Krispy Kreme had a market valuation of over $3 Billion dollars!  Today, its market cap is about $500M, which is just a bit over 1X sales of $461M for the last twelve months.  Sales are declining, the company is losing money and previous management may yet go to jail for rigging financial results.  According to the Wall Street Journal, Krispy’s latest turnaround plan is to “try selling ice cream.”  Oh, and they plan to grow the number of stores from about 300 to 500 while they are at it.  Did I mention they only have $36M of cash in the bank?  And $107M of debt on the balance sheet?  Hmmmmm… I’m guessing there is a reason that Cold Stone Creamery and Baskin Robbins are NOT publicly traded companies.  – chris

Cooking Stir Fry in a Wok using a Propane Turkey Fryer

A few months ago, after watching Alton Brown of ‘Good Eats’ make a stir fry over a charcoal fire in his Weber grill, and then again with an outdoor turkey fryer, I did some research.  I personally don’t like fried food and I don’t like to be near boiling pots of oil, so a turkey fryer has never appealed to me.  But for stir fry?!  Tell me more …!  It turns out that my Thermador stove at home, upon which I’ve produced many a fine stir fry, puts out somewhere around 12,000 BTU on the largest burner.  I don’t know what the Weber grill can generate in terms of BTUs, but the turkey fryer I ordered from Cabela’s is rated at 45,000 BTUs.  That’s more than three times the energy of my stove!  The fryer I selected connects directly to a 20 lb tank of propane (like the tank used for a gas grill) and has a flat top so that a 16” wok will sit firmly above the heating element.  Last weekend I tested this arrangement out by making two stir fry dishes, chicken with rice noodles and shrimp with snow peas.  There is no longer any doubt in my mind, those extra 30,000 BTUs *are* doing something!  Cooking time was reduced by half, and it was much easier to get the veggies very hot, without overcooking.  And frankly, it just tasted better!  I’m sold on the concept, and I can guarantee that dinner on my next camping trip will include some rockin’ stir fry!

-Chris

* By the way, for you scientists out there, a BTU stands for British Thermal Unit and is a measure of energy.  One BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.  Obviously, this pre-dates the metric system!

* Another by the way – an induction cooktop for a wok that can be used in the kitchen puts out about 30,000 BTUs.  Hmmm, let the negotiations with Laura begin …