Your 2010 holiday gift guide

Nick of time

2 | NICK OF TIME. FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

With Black Friday, Super Saturday and Cyber Monday all in the past, it’s time to take a deep breath and start thinking about gifts for the remainder of our loved ones this holiday season. Tough economic conditions make it doubly important to shop locally to help support local businesses while keeping our tax dollars in the community. It’s easy to do with so many fabulous shops, boutiques and stores to choose from. The following pages offer some gift ideas around Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley that could give you a head start.

— the Pre ss-Banner

A season sh opp ingof

ON OUR COVER: Clockwise from top left, Tracey Quinn checks out a row of jackets at Boulder Creek’s Plumline Vintage shop. Gail Fritschley, visiting from Discovery Bay, inspects clothing at Outback Trading Co. in Felton. Kellie Dastrup of Boulder Creek (left) and Alex Hardy of Ben Lomond look through shirts at Scotts Valley’s Cali Style. Sharon Ferry shops at Plumline Vintage.

Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner

PRESS-BANNER. | 3FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

4 | NICK OF TIME. FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

For kids and teensThere are no must-have “Tickle Me

Elmo”-type toys this season, so how about a box of 64 washable Crayola markers from Kmart for $9.99? If your child is a budding artist, throw some fuel on that fire.

For the mechanically-inclined young-ster, head over to Radio Shack for the radio-controlled “Mudslinger” battery-powered off-road vehicle for $29.99. The Mudslinger is one of many remote-con-trolled autos and boats the Shack boasts this holiday season.

For youngsters with a great imagina-tion, a visit to Boulder Creek’s Agz Ragz might be the perfect stop. Agz has a selection of colorful Folkmanis Puppets, including dragons and animals in the $20 and $30 range.

For the young fisherman, Kmart offers a “Spider-sense” Spiderman-themed fishing pole for $12.99. There are also “Transformers” and “Spongebob Squarepants” varieties.

Or, for the teenager, stop in at Gamestop in Scotts Valley and take advantage of the buy two, get one free deal on Xbox 360 or Playstation games including the recently released “Call of Duty: Black Ops.”

As for stocking stuffers for teens, gift certificates to Cinelux Scotts Valley or the coffee shops they frequent can save them some cash or provide them with much-needed fun.

For womenGive a gift that speaks of style and

comfort with a colorful cashmere scarf, ranging from $19 to $48 at Zinnia’s in Scotts Valley.

In addition to a selection of coats and vintage clothing, Plumline Vintage in Boulder Creek has special fresh-air bath salts for $5 and lemon whip body scrub for $14.

Frankincense and Myrrh soap for $4.25 can be found at the Holiday Gift Boutique next to Erik’s Deli in Scotts Valley, along with woolen coin purses cheerily embroidered with such things as a strawberry on the front for $12.

Greene Jewelers in Scotts Valley offers unique, handcrafted necklaces and earrings for a special someone, while Outback Trading Co. in Felton is the perfect place for the latest styles at affordable prices.

AROUND TOWN: From top left, Agnes De Lucchi shows off a Folkmanis hand puppet at her Agz Ragz store in Boulder Creek. Brightly colored children’s galoshes can be found at Outback Trading Co. on Highway 9 in Felton. Locals Kyle Anderson (near) and Kevin Poitevin check out the games and other goodies at Epic Adventure Games in Scotts Valley’s Kings Village. Top right, painted gourds share the shelves with jewelry at Boulder Creek Antiques & Arts in Old Mac’s building on Highway 9.

Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner

NICK OF TIME. | 5FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

For menThe hardware store is tradition-

ally a win-win for the gift-giver and the father or grandpa receiving the gift — and this year is no exception. Boulder Creek Hardware has special deals on a 94-piece mechanic tool set that includes three ratchets with all the extensions.

Despite the recent cold weather, barbecue accessories are an all-time favorite. ACE Hardware in Scotts Valley has a barbecue brush for $6.49 and a selection of portable barbecues from Weber. ACE also has a Black and Decker 7 amp drill set for $54.99.

Does your man get lost? Radio Shack sells the latest GPS devices for the car for less than $100. Stylish and easy to use, these don’t even require a monthly subscription.

For th e home Zinnia’s in Scotts Valley has every-

thing to set the mood in the home, like a pear-shaped candle for $6 and fra-grance diffusers with scents like Mint Mojito, Olive Tree and New-Mown Hay for $30.

Boulder Creek Antiques has mod-erately priced décor, including photos from Mike Milich photography, fine china and beautiful lamps, to a wooden giraffe for $30.

Visit the Mountain Art Center in Ben Lomond for handcrafted textiles and pottery made by local artisans, or

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: Top right, the Secret Garden area of Boulder Creek Antiques

& Arts on Highway 9 includes a wide assort-ment of knickknacks. Bottom right, a chainsaw

from Boulder Creek’s True Value Hardware store might be just the right gift for one of the

people on your list.

Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner

stop by Virgo Rising in Felton for fan-tastic decorations and trinkets.

The holiday gift boutique in Scotts Valley has pottery and painted gourds, as well as a French butter dish printed with California poppies for $15 and printed magnets with roosters, cowboy boots and more for $6.

Stuff a stockingDollar City, on Highway 9 in Ben

Lomond, offers greeting cards and a variety of stocking stuffers for just a buck apiece.

Drop into CaliZen in Felton for oils and soaps, or treat your pet to a new bed or a holiday bone at Felton Feed.

Art and Fire in Boulder Creek car-ries crystals and stones and jewelry with different energies, as well as candles and sculptures.

The $19.99 Hippie Dictionary defines the ’60s and ’70s to a tee at Zinnias — and, last but not least, Boulder Creek Feed has Dog-Opoly for $24.95, a great addition to any dog-lover’s game collection.

6 | NICK OF TIME. FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010 NICK OF TIME. | 7

8 | NICK OF TIME. FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

A classical Christmas morningAs a young child, my introduc-

tion to classical music came from my grandmother and my dad. Both enjoy classical music and have engrained in me respect for the likes of Handel, Bach and Beethoven.

In the Burke family, it was a Christmas tradition for each family member to open one small gift from underneath the tree on Christmas Eve after attending the evening service at our church in Bonny Doon.

One Christmas Eve, right around the time when CDs began to replace cassette tapes, my father opened a box set of the 100 best classical music pieces of all time. Each CD had 10 songs, and they were ranked from 100 to 1. As a baseball card aficio-nado, I was thrilled. I absolutely loved ranking the top players of all time, and it helped me relate to the com-

posers of old. Before bed, we listened to a few

tracks on the CD player, but as I read over the titles “Moonlight Sonata” and “Flight of the Bumblebee,” I was so curious about what each piece actu-ally was. They sounded like thrilling adventures from faraway places. But it was Christmas Eve, and I lay down on my pillow in anticipation of Christmas morning without hearing them.

The next morning, at 5 a.m., I woke up with excitement. Knowing that I could not wake the rest of the household until around 6:30 a.m., I went to the living room in search of the CDs.

I sat next to the CD player, quietly choosing the songs with exciting titles and waiting for the rest of the house to stir.

I started at 100 and made my way up the list, listening to the famous tracks with the most exciting names.

The peaceful stillness of the house, broken only by the frenetic pace of “Flight of the Bumblebee,” sticks in my memory to this day.

— Peter Burke, editor

A snowy surpriseOne of the earliest Christmases I

can remember was when I was 4 or 5 years old. It stands out so plainly to me because it was the only time it ever snowed in Felton on Christmas morning.

Now, of course, “snow” is a relative term here. It was probably only a glori-fied frost — about half an inch deep, if that. But, for someone like me, who’d never seen snow, it might as well have been 3 feet of the stuff.

The most I knew about snow before this was what I’d learned from the children’s storybooks about fun times in the snow. You know, those books that make snow out to be this soft, cloudlike, cottony substance.

So, naturally, I got so excited to see snow in my very own yard that, before Mom and Dad could stop me, I charged outside in my footy pajamas with the bunny rabbit print to go play in it.

I quickly came to the realization that snow is about as cuddly, cloud-like and cottonesque as — well, ice.

Surprised? I sure was.After a swift retreat back into the

house, I ventured outside about an hour later, appropriately attired this time.

Then, my mom and dad helped me gather up enough of the frost on the deck railing to make a snowman.

My snowman stood about 6 inches tall and had raisins for eyes and a yel-low plastic hat borrowed from a bear-shaped bubble bottle. I can’t remem-ber if he had a nose or not.

We snapped a couple of photos of it and then piled into the old ’84 Honda Civic to head over to Grandma and Grandpa’s.

— Joe Shreve, reporter

A lonely Christmas in Communist Russia

It’s probably my saddest and most dramatic Christmas experience ever, and, since it happened almost 50

The following are favorite holiday memories shared by some of the Press-Banner’s staff.

Trip down memory lane

MEMORIES, CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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When it happens here, we’re here to cover it.

Herbed White Bean Spread

This versatile, Mediterranean-inspired bean puree works equally well on a sandwich, as an appetizer or served with wedges of bread and salad as a light meal.2 cups cooked white beans, any size, or 1 (16 oz.) can, drained and rinsed1 medium head garlic½ cup fresh lemon juice, or to taste2 or 3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely choppedFresh basil, torn or cut into small pieces, to taste

Salt and pepperTo prepare the roasted garlic: Remove the papery outer layers from the head,

then slice off the top quarter- to half-inch and drizzle the exposed cloves with olive oil. Enclose in foil and bake at 400°F for about half an hour, until cloves are soft and aromatic. Let cool slightly, then squeeze the roasted gar-lic cloves out of their skins.Combine the roasted garlic, beans, lemon juice and oil in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a food processor. Mash or blend until fairly smooth. If the spread is too thick, add a little water. Stir in herbs, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve on crusty bread or as a dip for vegetables or pita chips.

Roasted potatoes, carrots, parsnips & Brussels sprouts

Ingredients1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 3 medium carrots (about ¾ pound), cut

into 1½-inch thick circles 1½ cups Brussels sprouts (about ½

pound), halved4 cups red bliss potatoes (about 1

pound), cut into 1½-inch thick slices 3 medium parsnips (about 1 pound), cut

into 1½-inch thick slices 1 cup sweet potatoes (about 1 pound),

cut into 1½-inch thick slices 1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon dried rosemary 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1 teaspoon dried basil

¼ teaspoon sea salt 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

DirectionsPreheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 11-by-17-inch baking sheet pan with extra-virgin olive oil. Place vegetables in baking sheet and add the dried herbs, salt and pepper. Toss well, evenly coating all the vegetables with the seasonings and oil. Add more oil if the vegetables seem dry Spread the vegetables evenly on a large baking sheet. Place on middle rack in oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

NICK OF TIME. | 9FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

Tast es like ChristmasIngredients

3 cups all-purpose flour1¾ cups icing sugar1 stick cold unsalted butter,

cut into pieces1 tablespoon water1 egg, lightly beatenExtra icing sugar for decoration

ToolsStar-shaped cookie cuttersPastry bag with fine tip

InstructionsPour 1 cup of icing sugar into a

bowl. Sift it with the flour. Use your fingertips to rub in the butter until the mixture looks like bread crumbs.

Add the water and egg. Combine the ingredients of the bowl well to make a firm dough.

Enclose the mixture in plastic food wrap and refrigerate for about half an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease two or three large baking sheets.

Take the dough out of the refrig-

erator. Knead lightly until soft enough to spread out, and spread the dough on a floured surface to about 5 millimeters thick.

Cut out various star shapes from the dough using six star-shaped cook-ie cutters of graduating sizes, from 1½ inches (the smallest) to 4 inches (the largest). Cut two of each size.

Lift the shapes onto greased baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Take the baked stars from the oven and cool for one or two min-utes before laying in a wire rack to cool off completely.

Sift the remaining icing sugar in a bowl to make icing. Add 2 table-spoons of water little by little. The icing should be thick enough to quickly form a thick coating on the back of the spoon.

Use a pastry bag fitted with a fine tip to pipe icing around the edge of each cookie.

When the icing has set around the edges, fill the center of the cook-ies with icing. Dilute this a little by

Christmas tree cookie stack

adding a few drops of water.When the icing has nearly hard-

ened, arrange the cookies into a tower, keeping the bigger shapes at the bottom and the smaller stars

at the top and rotating the stars so that the points alternate (see photo). Press down lightly to help the icing hold the cookies together.

� Recipe courtesy of www.theholidayspot.com.

Peas with shallots and pancettaIngredients2 tablespoons olive oil½ pound pancetta, cut into small dice3 shallots, halved and thinly slicedPinch red pepper flakes1 pound frozen peas, thawed

DirectionsHeat the oil in a large, high-sided

sauté pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until golden brown and the fat has ren-dered. Remove the pancetta to a plate lined with paper towels.Add the shallots and red pepper

flakes to the pan and cook until soft. Add the peas and cook until warmed through. Transfer to a large bowl and top pea mixture

with crisp pancetta.

Broccoli casserole

Ingredients

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped broccoli,

cooked and drained

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup grated sharp cheddar

1 (10¾-ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups crushed crackers

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 13-by-9-inch baking

dish with vegetable oil cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine broccoli, mayonnaise, cheese, soup and eggs.

Mix well with a metal spoon. Place the mixture in the prepared baking

dish. Top with the crushed crackers, and pour the melted butter evenly

over the crackers. Bake for 35 minutes, or until set and browned.

Cranberry sauce

Ingredients

12-ounce bag of fresh or frozen cranberries

1 cup sugar

1 strip orange or lemon zest

2 tablespoons water

Sugar, salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Empty cranberries into a saucepan, setting aside ½ cup in a small bowl.

Add sugar, zest and water to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring

occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the cranberries are soft,

about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the ber-

ries burst, about 12 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the

reserved cranberries. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste, and

allow to cool to room temperature before serving.

10 | NICK OF TIME. FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

years ago, I’ll share it before it fades away from my memory.

Poland, my homeland, was a Communist country under Soviet influence.

For Communists, religion was consid-ered “an opium for the proletariat,” a distrac-tion from reality that takes away from 100 percent daily effort to build a prosperous, equal, classless society. But 95 percent of Poles were Catholics, and churches on Sunday morning were crowded like a New York subway on a weekday morning (seriously). The ruling Polish Workers Party had no choice but to coexist. Many strange things happened — like most army officers (compulsory members of the Communist party) secretly taking their children to be baptized, or high-level Communist politicians secretly having church mar-riages. Everybody seemed to know the Red regime wouldn’t last.

Not so in the Soviet Union. Reds were entrenched; most church struc-tures were turned into warehouses, movie theaters or libraries, or they were just abandoned to deteriorate. The Eastern Orthodox Church barely existed, and many suspected that it cooperated with the Soviets to avoid total annihilation. The faithful were dying off of old age; new generations were raised knowing nothing of reli-

gion, except its negative sides.But there was a small number of

Baptists, of the Eastern European branch, deeply passionate about their denomination and ready to take pun-ishment for their religious beliefs.

Enter my father, who happened to be a Baptist, which in Poland was a real small minority. There was a weird fringe benefit of that: Because they were despised by the Catholic Church, by the enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend rule, Baptists were somehow favored by the Communist party. They were often allowed to travel to the West, build new churches, and so on.

We had family on the other side of Polish-Soviet border. They lived in Soviet-annexed territories that were Polish before World War II. Unlike my dad, they stayed and became unwill-ing Soviet citizens in 1945. Our family would visit them every few years.

But it wasn’t just social. My dad would take suitcases full of Russian-language Bibles on the train. I guess he had the customs officers bribed, because we always got through.

He sold the Bibles at great profit, as none had been printed in the Soviet Union for half a century. (Eastern European Baptists had a definite capitalist vein. Many were allowed by sympathetic Communists to run their own small businesses — in a state that otherwise owned everything.)

That year, we decided to go in December and spend Christmas with our forced-Soviet relatives. But some-thing went wrong.

The border officer who checked our documents on the train gave back all of them — but walked away with my dad’s passport. In few minutes, anoth-er border guard came in and asked for documents. My dad didn’t have his, of course, and was escorted off the train and forced to return to Poland on the next westbound train. My mom, my 7-year-old sister and I decided to go on, because — I guess because of all the commotion — nobody bothered with customs checks.

We ended up selling all the Bibles, but we spent Christmas in a little chalet belonging to my dad’s mom, homesick and frightened, in a snow-covered, frigid countryside that still had no electricity. It was 1962.

There were no paved roads, and one had to take a horse-drawn buggy to the nearest bus stop and switch to another bus to get to the town of Brest, where we gladly boarded a Poland-bound train in early January.

Soon after, my dad paid a visit to the United States. He decided to claim political asylum, and after six years, the Reds allowed the rest of the family to join him.

— Lucjan Szewczyk, photographer

In the spirit of givingBeing from a family with nine chil-

dren, the value of the gifts exchanged at our “Christmas morning madness” has tended to taper off as my parents brought in more and more kids. The present-opening frenzy still remains, but my younger sister Laurel is who remind-

ed me of what Christmas means.Fresh out of the Army, I came

home with a suitcase full of knick-knacks and semi-thoughtful trinkets for my siblings, only to find we had drawn names that year and only had to provide one family member a gift.

Upon hearing I would receive only one gift after provid-ing 11, I must admit, I was a bit deflated. That Christmas morning, while lis-tening to Mannheim Steamroller and sipping eggnog, I opened a simple gift that brought me to tears.

Laurel had drawn my name at Thanksgiving and went immediately to work. She took my dad’s old work jeans and cut them into squares, keep-ing the pockets and patched knees, and she sewed them into a quilt. Taking old family photos to a photo shop, she adorned the blanket with images from our childhood on printed fabric and with military and high school letterman patches. The hours she spent, think-ing of lowly old me and the wonderful memories that I will carry forever that she gave me — it struck a new fever of giving into me.

As I approach Christmas every year since, I always remember the lesson in humility my beautiful sister taught me. A true gift is a part of one’s self that is entrusted to another.

— Nathan Beck, sports reporter

MEMORIES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

NICK OF TIME. | 11FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

“The best gift was adopting a baby financially. I was super excited about

that. The best gift is giving. That always makes me the most excited.”

— Patricia Berg, 53, Scotts Valley, with Audrey Berg, 15

12 | NICK OF TIME. FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 2010

What’s the best Christmas gift you have ever given or received?

“I like to give gift certificates. It’s quick and

easy, and there’s less stress.” — Darrin Torkelson, 39,

Soquel

“My birthday is on Christmas, so probably the gift of life.”

— Daniel Wigman, 17, Ben Lomond

“The best Christmas gift I’ve received was one last Christmas with my grandfather, Vernon. It

was about eight years ago.”

— Kristoffer VaryRussell, 24, Brookdale

Word on th e Tree

“The best Christmas present I have ever gotten would probably

be when my mom gave me my first CD. It was the Black-Eyed Peas.”

— Joanna Gibson, 13, Capitola