04/27/2015 - Umbria, Though Your Tastebuds and Your Lens

 

 

An intimate Photography, Food & Wine Tour in Umbria

With Master Photographer/Teacher Murray Rockowitz and Umbrian Cookbook Author/Teacher Suzanne Carreiro

Spend 8-1/2 splendid days touring Umbria with Murray and Suzanne (author of The Dog Who Ate the Truffle: A Memoir of Stories and Recipes from Umbria). We bring our skills, experiences, and passions together to create this unique photography, food, and wine tour. You’ll learn to cook authentic Umbrian recipes, you’ll eat delicious regional dishes and sip great wines, and you’ll learn to capture rich cultural experiences with your camera. By the end of the tour, you’ll feel like a local.

 

Suzanne Carreiro

Author and Tour Guide

 Suzanne Carreiro lived in Umbria for a year and a half while researching her Umbrian cookbook, The Dog Who Ate the Truffle: A Memoir of Stories and Recipes from Umbria. During her time  in Umbria, she learned to speak Italian, made many new friends, and learned to cook authentic Umbrian dishes.

 Prior to writing her cookbook, her long career in food included developing recipes and writing for major publications and food companies, styling food for photography, and acting as PR director for Beringer’s Italian wines. Throughout Suzanne’s career, she has taught cooking classes—most recently at the world-renowned Culinary Institute of American St. Helena, where she lives. Suzanne is passionate about using good, fresh ingredients, preferably organic and locally grown. She’s also NUTS about Umbria!

 

Murray Rockowitz

Photographer

 

Murray is referred to by fine art collectors as a “master photographer.” The label suites him–he is a master.  His work is well known among collectors of fine art portrait photography. Collectors seek him out for his insightful and beautifully crafted black-and-white portraits that he meticulously prints in his darkroom. His skill at printing is exceptional–one can understand why most of his portraits are in black-and-white. The depth of tone and richness cannot be matched by digital prints–nor can the story be told as well in color.  Murray has served private and commercial clients throughout the world for over twenty-five years.  Throughout his five decades of photography Rockowitz has also been passionately making personal photographs of life as he experiences it. Murray has exhibited his photography in numerous one-person and group exhibitions throughout his career in museums, galleries and various alternative spaces.

Over the last five or so years, he got bitten by the digital bug, fully embracing color and the digital medium. (Although I don’t think he’ll ever give up his Rolli, black-and-white film, or his darkroom.)

As a photographer, he is not only an artist, but a storyteller and a documentarian. Murray has taught at Napa Valley College, done guest lectures from Public Schools to the San Francisco Art Academy, and currently through the Petaluma Arts Center, Excel, private consultations, workshops in his studio, and other venues, bringing his passion and years of experience in photography and life into the classroom to inspire, teach, and learn with his students. He is really excited to teach while he tours with students in Umbria.

 

04/13/2015 - Slowing Down with Good Food and Golf at Silverado Resort and Spa

Chef Pablo Jacinto

A native of Oaxaca, Jacinto is one of eight siblings in a family where there were two terrific cooks — “my grandmother and my mother. With eight children, my mother was cooking all the time. I recall all the great moles and sauces … and I learned from that time.”

Pablo was raised in Mexico City, along with brother Erasto, who also decided to poke his nose in Napa Valley kitchens. The Jacinto brothers hooked up with restaurateur/chef Cindy Pawlcyn and her former business partners, with Erasto joining Pawlcyn in the kitchen at Mustards Grill for nearly two decades, and Pablo manning the stoves at Buckeye Roadhouse in Marin County. He also opened Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen with the noted valley restaurateur a decade ago.The brothers have worked side by side over the years as well. In Napa, they designed menus for both Tuscany and C Casa. Today, Erasto is executive chef at Napkins in downtown Napa, and brother Pablo is chef de cuisine at The Grill at Silverado Resort and Spa.

  

Chris Costas

Chris has been the Food and Beverage Director at Silverado Resort and Spa for one year.  He oversees all food and beverage operations including The Grill, The Mansion Lounge, the Banquets Department.  He is also the liaison for the Thomas Keller pop up restaurant Ad Lib that will be at Silverado through late October.

Costas has certification as a Sommelier.  He was previously Director of Restaurants at the Omni Montelucia and General Manager of the Sancturary Resort and Spa, both located in Paradise, Arizonia.  Chris also was Head Sommelier for Princess Cruises Alaska and Hawaii cruise ships.

 

Tim Geesey

 

A five year veteran of Silverado Resort and Spa, Tim is the Director of Golf at Silverado Resort and Spa, managed by Troon Golf.  Tim oversees all aspects of golf operations including course maintenance, membership, lessons, retail.  He also oversees the Frys.com PGA Tournament coming back to Silverado Oct. 12-18.

Geesey comes to us from the world famous Ocotillo Golf Resort in Chandler, Arizona where he has been instrumental in managing this 27 hole championship course. 

From 2003 to 2008 Tim was the General Manager of Arizona’s finest private resort club the Seville Golf and Country Club. There he provided the leadership of daily operations which included a private golf membership, private sports club, public restaurants and banquet space. His team consisted of 180 associates.

 At the Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama Tim served as the Membership Marketing Director responsible for overseeing all membership as sales and club marketing activities for a membership of 750 members of this private equity country club.

Tim attended University of Auburn where he majored in marketing.

 

 

 

03/23/2015 - Artistic Inspiration and Wine made on Love

Slow Living Radio always loves stories of adventure and dreams, and stories of inspiration and our guests tonight bring us both. Phifer-Pavitt Winery was founded on a "date night" and continues to grow and be nurtured all around date nights of the founding couple.  And Nimbus Arts brings all forms of art to the public, giving therapy to abused teens and to veterans, and skills to schools and to anyone in the community who feels they may have an artist in them.  Some of their stories will bring tears to your eyes!

Suzanne Phifer-Pavitt

Phifer Pavitt Winery

 

Phifer Pavitt Winery is a dream of Suzanne Phifer and Shane Pavitt, who purchased twenty three acres on Silverado Trail in 1999. Over the course of several years of 'date nights,' the couple hatched the idea of their own Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in 2005.  The winery opened in November 2010 and is housed in a historic “Napa Valley vernacular” barn, with a board-and-batten façade and metal roof, nestled into a scenic spot looking out over views of Napa Valley. The barn was found in nearby Franz Valley where it was situated for more than 100 years before being relocated to its current home. The barn was ‘repurposed’ into a winery; repurposing has become a dominant theme. Suzanne and Shane work to reduce the winery’s carbon footprint and preserve natural resources.  The décor includes numerous eco-chic elements, including reclaimed barbed wire ‘chandeliers,’ recycled blue jean insulation, recycled Wyoming snow-fencing paneling, a 1946 Farmall tractor and a walnut slab suspended from the ceiling in the upstairs tasting room. The latest addition to the tasting room consists of four salvaged large wood slab tables.

Shane grew up on the beach in Manhattan Beach, California and enjoyed a 20+ year career in the world of finance.  He loves the benefits and challenges presented by living in a small town like Calistoga.  He enjoys coaching youth football and baseball programs and the time it allows him to spend with his two sons.  His hobbies include snowboarding, running, mountain biking, hiking and not enough yoga.  

Born in Ringgold, Georgia, Suzanne has an MBA from the University of Southern California.  She transitioned from the corporate world to the wine world in 2004; she travels on behalf of the winery and in the summer of 2010 was named an honorary Kentucky Colonel for her efforts. Suzanne was also one of the founding participants in an annual exchange between women vintners in Bordeaux and Napa. She is actively involved in her sons’ schools and their sports teams. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Club of St. Helena and Calistoga and she is also on the Board of the Calistoga Community Pool. She loves the great outdoors, skiing, diving, yoga, gardening and sharing a great meal and wine with friends.

 

Jamie Graff, Executive Director,

Nimbus Arts.

Nimbus Arts is dedicated to nurturing curiosity, fostering creative expression, and building a sense of community. In addition to on-site classes and camps, open studios, and lectures, they offer free public events, community service programs, classes in public and private schools, and collaborative art projects throughout Napa County.

Jamie Graff
and fellow artists

Hundreds of Hands: Mariposa Program

Nimbus Arts’ Hundreds of Hands: Mariposa program is an 18-month-long free public art leadership project with Mariposa, Napa County Office of Education’s middle school empowerment and anti-abuse program for at-risk Latinas.

Student leaders become “mosaic expert” instructors and travel out into the community to create mosaic butterflies, becoming role models, mentors, and furthering their mission of empowerment and public awareness of their work.

Nimbus stands strongly behind creating this style of project which is both community building and collaborative.

The mural will be installed at the Cope Family Center in late summer 2015.

Hundreds of Hands mosaic to be installed at Cope

 

03/16/2015 - Horses and Wine to the Rescue!

This week Slow Living Radio celebrates horses. Our first guest established a winery on a converted Equestrian Center in Lake County, and still finds time to compete in rodeo and other equestrian events. The second tells us the story of Sunrise Horse Rescue which brings hope and home to less fortunate horses in the wine country.

Tracey Hawkins

Hawk and Horse Vineyards

Mitch and Tracey Hawkins along with Tracey’s step-dad, David Boies and the Boies family, partnered to create Hawk and Horse Vineyards. The winery takes its name from the plentiful Red-Tail Hawks on the property as well as the ranch’s history as an equestrian facility.  Known as El Roble Grande in the '60's and '70's, the ranch was formerly an Arabian breeding estate.  The Boies and Hawkins families maintain the original rustic elegance of the ranch and welcome visitors for tours and tastings.  The equestrian elements of the ranch are now for private use only. The primary focus of the ranch is viticulture.

Tracey was born in Fullerton, California on July 22nd, 1964. She grew up in Sonoma County, California, where, from a young age, she helped in the family's restaurant. Growing up in California's wine country, wine was a natural part of life.

When the family purchased the 1,300 acre Lower Lake property which is now home to Hawk and Horse Vineyards, Tracey immediately resonated with the land and its rugged beauty. Regular visits evolved and she and Mitch eventually began running the ranch and developing Hawk and Horse Vineyards with the support of their family. Tracey and Mitch work closely together in all aspects of wine production, from farming and harvest decisions to winemaking and cooperage.

Tracey serves as Executive Winemaker, liaising with the winery's Consulting Winemakers and is involved in all the substantive winemaking decisions. She has had the opportunity to work with and be mentored by some of the ‑nest winemakers in the industry. Before starting Hawk and Horse Vineyards, Tracey worked in the wine industry for six years in sales and marketing. Tracey holds a degree in Creative Writing, summa cum laude, from San Francisco State University. She has also studied wine making through U.C. Davis and wine marketing at Sonoma State University. In her spare time,
 

Tracey enjoys spending time with her children, cooking, and writing poetry. She also competes in amateur rodeo and gymkhana events. Mitch and Tracey have three children whom they raise in close relationship to the land and the business they so love.

 

 

 
 
 

Lisa Beth O’Connor
Sunrise Horse Rescue

 Every year, countless horses go without enough food, shelter or love. Sunrise Horse Rescue is the only non-profit organization in Napa County dedicated to saving such horses and providing them with forever homes. Children and adults in the community gain life-skills by assisting in the rehabilitation of these horses and provide them with the loving attention they so deserve.

Sunrise Horse Rescue is a non-profit horse rescue and sanctuary operation in Napa County, whose mission is to rescue and provide sanctuary for abused and neglected horses in Napa County as well as to provide community members of all ages with life-enhancing skills and experiences derived from horsemanship.  Since its inception in 2007, SHR has rescued and provided homes for more than 50 at-risk horses.