WENDY THIES SELL

Do you work 9 to 5 and want to try a local winery’s new releases, but don’t want to play tourist on the weekend? Most wine tasting rooms close by 5 p.m., so what’s a wine loving-weekday worker to do? Old Town Orcutt has several options after work. Any night of the week, there are […]

Growing up in Wisconsin, in an extended family full of dairy farmers, I fondly recall devouring a big bowl of ice cream just about every night for my bedtime snack. If we were feeling festive, we would drizzle chocolate syrup on top of a few scoops, and maybe toss some walnuts in the bowl. Our […]

Three summers ago, while all eyes were on Britain’s Prince William and his wife Catherine at the Santa Barbara Polo Club, sweating it out behind the scenes was burgeoning baker Bob Oswaks. As celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis prepared her sweet corn lasagna with blistered tomatoes for the VIP fundraiser luncheon in honor of the […]

Allan Hancock College’s viticulture and enology students have a lot to be excited about when they return to school in Santa Maria mid-August. Not only will they be harvesting chardonnay, pinot noir, and other wine varietals from the community college’s 4-acre vineyard, this year they will also have an impressive new campus winery at which […]

Got a hankerin’ for hog? Need to add some sizzle to your Saturday? Then look no further than Bacon & Barrels. The second annual event in Los Olivos—named one of the top five festivals in California by The Huffington Post—will be held at the Saarloos and Sons field July 18 through 20. The three-day outdoor […]

Not on the neighboring red planet, or in a galaxy far, far, away, but rather here on planet Earth will you find a place called Martian Ranch. The 102-acre rural estate on Alisos Canyon Road east of Los Alamos is home to a bio-dynamically farmed vineyard, winery, and wine tasting room. While the winery embraces […]

It doesn’t get much better than summer in Solvang—sunny days, shopping, eating, and sightseeing in the “Danish Capital of America,” and magical evenings under the stars seeing a show at Solvang Festival Theater. This season, before taking your seat at PCPA’s zany play Noises Off or the popular musicals Forever Plaid or Oklahoma!, consider dining […]

Spend any time in a successful, full-service bakery and you will quickly see that getting everything mixed, baked, frosted, and decorated is anything but a piece of cake. But Lloyd Jones, head baker at Gina’s Piece of Cake, could probably get the job done with his eyes closed. This marks his 45th year as a […]

Whether you like chardonnay that tastes and smells like creamy vanilla or you lean more toward crisp citrus, there are plenty of chardonnay styles for you and for every preference in between. Last month I attended an annual weekend wine event, The Chardonnay Symposium, which celebrates America’s best-selling wine varietal. Producers from around the world […]

“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” The wines are chilling and the grapevines are high. Bands will be playing and new releases will be flowing at Laetitia Vineyard and Winery all summer long. The winery, located along U.S. Highway 101 between Nipomo and Arroyo Grande, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with lots of […]

Here is your chance to be treated like a VIP for a whole weekend and walk away with a greater understanding of all that goes into a bottle of local wine: Santa Barbara Vintners’ new event called Key to Wine Country, which runs June 20 through 22. More than two dozen wineries and vineyards in […]

Legendary chef, author, and TV cooking show host Julia Child, who lived in Santa Barbara at the end of her storied life, once said, “Learn how to cook—try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun.” How appropriate that the inaugural Santa Barbara Food and Wine weekend, a festival of […]