A tasty day one

I am eating a slice of sweet-tangy handmade rhubarb pie with a nice cold glass of milk. We are tucked in at the Super 8 after our first day of roving in Santa Barbara County. A perfect September day — low 70s, breezy, clear. We started the day at Goleta’s scaled back version of the Santa Barbara Farmers Market. Beautiful produce a-plenty and some specialty vendors. Not too crowded, it was easy shopping. We picked up salad makings, some interesting goat cheese and … this pie! Then we were off to find a park for our picnic lunch.

We wanted to make it to Foxen Vinyards (a good tip from neighbor John), so we headed inland and — with the help of the trusty iPhone — found the little Nojoqui Falls County Park. It is a nice, if slightly scruffy, community park tucked between hills that are now golden with dry scrub. A river runs through it. There are plenty of picnicking spots and near the river there were plenty of gnats. But we navigated to the furthest spot from the river and stopped to make lunch. We weren’t gnat-free, but it was fine, and as we took our things out of the car, there was a long-eared doe and her fawn giving us a good long look before they bounced away into the trees. New bird songs, new butterflies; nature beyond my backyard, a great place for lunch.

Val made a nice salad of teleme goat cheese, fresh heirloom tomatoes — one green and one red — arugula, cucumber, Hungarian red pepper. Olive oil and lemon. Cracked pepper. Sourdough bread.

Then to Los Olivos — which after our rustic lunch — seemed too slick, a little too built for shopping, for us to want to stop. We may give it another chance tomorrow. So we headed out Foxen Canyon Road, winding through the storybook-like countryside with storybook-like fat and furry cattle, to Foxen Vineyard. We stood in their barn-styled tasting room split a $10 flight of some really nice wine and bought a light and tangy 2005 Chenin Blanc and a deep and peppery dry farmed 2005 Cabernet Franc. Delicious.

We headed back to Santa Barbara and dinner at La Super Rica, a highly-praised real-deal taqueria. We split a bowl of pozole — a pork and hominy stew topped with avocado and red cabbage — and pork, beef and poblano chilie tacos made with thick, just-made, tender corn tortillas. They don’t serve chips or beans and rice, just the meaty main courses heaped on little paper plates. All very yummy. Sitting on plastic chairs in their backyard-style dining area and watching the sun go down while sipping a Bohemia beer, made for a perfect day’s end.

Then it was back to the Super 8 for blogging and pie. And that was day one.