Climate RWC – December 2022

WWarning: You may gain weight simply by leafing through this issue of Climate.

More than just offering favorite recipes from our fabulous writers, our feature article conveys the personal stories behind culinary inspirations as varied as eggnog pie and two-tone mashed potatoes. They’re the types of memories I’m sure you cherish in your families, as well.

When I say fabulous writers, I mean it. In early November, the San Francisco Press Club announced it had selected 10 of our contributors and staff for recognition in its annual competition for journalistic excellence across the greater Bay Area.

The full number of honors (we entered many stories) won’t be revealed until the press club’s banquet later this month. I really hope we win for my favorite headline, “The Dope on Cannabis Retail.” It introduced former editor Janet McGovern’s informative story about marijuana stores. Whether Janet, Jim and I were a little woozy when we dreamed it up also remains unrevealed. But when I say it’s a source of pleasure and pride to work with such a talented bunch, I’m not just blowing smoke.

Kidding aside (you thought I was kidding?), cannabis is legal on the West Coast and is intended to be used responsibly. Nonetheless, substance abuse has become a crisis throughout the country. So has homelessness, with which it is often intertwined. An admirable faith-based organization, Street Life Ministries, recently received an anonymous $2-million grant to establish a residential addictiontreatment center for the homeless on the Peninsula. You can read Aimee Lewis Strain’s report in our MicroClimate section.

Elsewhere in the magazine, writer Joanne Engelhardt meets up with the Cocco family of Redwood City. They grow Christmas trees in Oregon and have been selling them on the Peninsula for more than 30 years. Meanwhile, Jim Clifford’s history column recalls an innovative and effective minibus service that operated in Redwood City from 1968 to 1976. With so many of today’s gigantic double buses chugging nearly empty along El Camino Real, Jim asks the intriguing question, “Why not again?”

A sad note: Louise “Auntie Lou” Prado, who has graced our pages from time to time, died November 12 at age 105. Just last July 4, she served as Grand Marshal of Redwood City’s Independence Day parade. Our final sendoff is on page 30.

The passing of loved ones is always difficult, especially at the holidays. That said, the end of the year is a time for remembering and reflecting. We at Climate hope you can find a few moments to contemplate the things that matter to you most. From all of our homes to all of yours, we wish you a season filled with warmth, gratitude and joy.

the cover: Climate writer Kathleen Pender's three-and-a half-year-old granddaughter and sous chef Amelia gets down to business mashing

delicious

potatoes. Photo by Kathleen Pender

During these upcoming seasons, wouldn’t it be nice to change, even in a small way, the narrative of the Christmas story?

Let’s finally have room in the Inn.

Let’s finally hear and respond to families that are knocking on our doors.

Families that are in serious need of housing may not ride in on donkeys or knock on the door of a barn, but they are knocking nonetheless. Let’s be receptive innkeepers and, this time, welcome them in. Help the St Francis Center find, build, renovate housing for families desperately in need of "homes".

St. Francis Center

151 Buckingham Ave, Redwood City stfrancisrwc.org

as a courtesy of Neighbors helping neighbors - since 1938

Publisher

S.F. Bay Media Group

Editor

Scott Dailey scott@climaterwc.com

Creative Director Jim Kirkland jim@climaterwc.com

Contributing Writers

Scott Dailey Janet McGovern Jim Clifford Susan Jenkins Emily Mangini Kathleen Pender Joanne Engelhardt Heidi Van Zant Kimberly Carlisle Jill Singleton Barbara Kohn

Photography Jim Kirkland

Advertising Director

Scott Dailey scott@climaterwc.com Editorial Board

Scott Dailey Jim Kirkland Adam Alberti

CLIMATE Magazine is published monthly by S.F. Bay Media Group, a California Corporation. Entire contents ©2022 by S.F. Bay Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. CLIMATE is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. CLIMATE offices are located at 570 El Camino Real, Ste.150 #331 Redwood City, CA 94063. Printed in the U.S.A.

Eat Your Way Through the Holidays

Secret family recipes from the writers of Climate

“Food, glorious food!”

Thus opens the famous song from the musical, “Oliver!” Although the mealtime scene portrays the hideous conditions inside a 19th-century British workhouse, the atmosphere is still joyous as Oliver Twist and his mates celebrate what little they have.

Along with many on the Peninsula, we at Climate are fortunate to live in a region of plenty. In most cases, we get to spend the holidays with family and friends, finding new and creative ways to pack on pounds that we can then resolve to take off after New Year’s. With that in mind—and remembering those who have less—we hope you enjoy these 12 short stories about holiday food and the accompanying family recipes. Who knows? This might become a tradition. Dig in!

Scott Dailey, Editor

Scott Dailey Glee’s Eggnog Pie

Glee's Eggnog Pie

1 envelope powdered gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons rum or brandy (dark rum is especially good)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 pint (1 cup) heavy cream

A few shakes of powdered nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Baked 9-inch pie shell—cooled

1. In a cup or bowl, mix the gelatin in the water until it dissolves. Set aside.

2. Using a double boiler with simmering (but not boiling) water, add the milk to the top pan and heat. (You can also float a smaller pan inside a larger one, but it’s a bit unwieldy.)

3. In a separate bowl or cup, combine the egg yolks and sugar. Pour the mixture slowly into the hot milk (still in the top pan of the double boiler), while stirring constantly. Cook for about 15 minutes, always stirring. If the water in the double boiler gets too hot, the mixture tends to separate. If that starts to happen, turn the heat down a little.

4. Add gelatin, rum, vanilla and salt. Stir thoroughly, making sure the gelatin has melted.

5. Remove the mixture from the heat and cool it completely on the countertop. When the mixture has cooled, whip the cream. Fold the whipped cream into the egg mixture until it has an even texture. Pour the finished mixture into the baked pie shell and sprinkle the top with nutmeg. Chill the pie until it’s firm.

Since the time I learned to talk (and talk, and talk), I called my ma ternal grandmother “Glee.” My parents never explained why; may be they were as mystified as I remain today. Still, I wasn’t alone. My best friend called his grandmother “Gaga.” Even my father got in on it, in a reverse fashion. When my sister’s first daughter was born, my dad humbly suggested for himself the moniker, “El Supremo.”

Like my mother, my grandmother was an accomplished and innovative cook. At the holidays, her specialty was a custard-like creation called eggnog pie. It is now being enjoyed by at least its fifth generation.

One thing about my grandmother: She was a little sneaky, es pecially when it helped to promote her culinary prowess. My moth er always wondered why her own eggnog pie never tasted quite up to par. After Glee died in the early 1990s, my mother discovered her original recipe. It contained one additional ingredient—vanilla.

Here is the now-authenticated, rigorously tested and, most of all, complete recipe for eggnog pie. If you don’t fall in love with it, check the recipe again. You may have left something out.

Photo by Chris Dailey

Heidi

Van Zant

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Our Van Zant holiday meals were messy, loud affairs of 60 guests and counting, all crowded into a rec room filled with card tables, picnic benches and lawn chairs. We always gathered at a relative's house early in the afternoon for deviled eggs, chips and French onion dip, stuffed celery, Ritz crackers with cold cuts and enough black olives for every kid’s fingertips. A sideboard displayed the mincemeat and pumpkin pies Mom had stayed up late to make— but for those, we had to wait until after dinner.

In the kitchen, it was happy bedlam getting that meal to the ta ble. The beast of a turkey came out of the oven, stacks of side dishes went in, gravy was stirred and cranberry sauce was slid from cans onto ornate little glass plates. Meanwhile, my brothers, Bobby and Steve, squabbled over who would receive the bigger patch of crisp, golden turkey skin.

With seven Van Zant children and, in time, 26 grandchildren, no one could leave the table once people were crammed into their seats and the cooks began passing out paper plates heaped with green gelatin salad, yams with marshmallows, turkey with stuffing and Mom's homemade biscuits with melting butter. There were no custom orders—and no sniveling or eating until all had been seated and the blessing had been said.

But even with the abundance of family and food, something was always amiss.

It was the mashed potatoes.

They were from a box, instant and gruel-like, because in our cramped kitchen we had no room or time to whip up real ones for the masses. But all of that glorious ly changed in the late 1970s when delicious MakeAhead Mashed Potatoes joined the party. My sis ter-in-law, Nancy Van Zant, got the recipe from her mother and still has it in a tattered cookbook in her Pacifica kitchen.

These days, our Van Zant holiday gatherings are in smaller groups, with the good china and fan cier side dishes. But those creamy, steaming-hot, save-your-sanity mashed potatoes that can be made days ahead continue to delight.

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

5 pounds russet potatoes

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons onion salt

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons butter

1. Peel and quarter potatoes.

2. Boil potatoes until tender, in a large kettle of salted water.

3. Drain and mash potatoes, and keep them warm.

4. Use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Slowly add to potatoes, beating until the mixture becomes fluffy.

5. Add salt, pepper and onion salt.

6. Spoon the mixture into a buttered casserole dish or foil pan and dot with more butter. Cover with foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

7. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.

8. Bake the mashed potatoes at 350 degrees until they’re heated through (around 1 hour).

Joanne

Creamed Chestnuts

Engelhardt

Creamed Chestnuts

1-1/2 to 2 dozen chestnuts, depending on the number of guests (around 3 chestnuts per person)

1. Using a sharp knife or a fork, perforate the chestnuts.

2. Boil chestnuts for about 1 hour, then let cool.

3. Shell the chestnuts, making sure to keep only the meat.

4. Chop the chestnuts into small pieces.

5. Make the cream sauce.

6. Bring the sauce to a boil. As it thickens, add the chestnuts.

7. Serve warm.

Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup milk or half & half

1/4 teaspoon salt (preferably Kosher)

A dash of freshly ground pepper (if desired)

1. Over medium-low heat, create a roux (a thickening mixture) by first melting the butter in a skillet or saucepan and then sprinkling in the flour and stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Season the roux with salt and pepper.

3. Stir in the milk or half & half and cook the mixture until it becomes thick. To avoid lumps, keep stirring. Be sure to control the heat to prevent scorching.

When my three daughters were young, I always wanted to make Christmas special for them even though I was working part-time, volunteering at their schools and always wishing for more hours in the day.

I especially wanted them to remember more than just Christ mas gifts. I always planned a special day for us to bake Christmas cookies. As Christmas came near, I told them they’d also get to help me make some of the other dishes we were having for Christ mas dinner. That usually meant cooking took a lot longer, but I hoped they would carry on some of my Christmas recipes when they grew up.

There were a couple of special dishes I had eaten as a child, and I made them every year now that I was the mom. To me, it wasn’t really Christmas without them!

Creamed chestnuts was one of the dishes I loved. It was a lot of work, but the results were always worth it.

Today, it’s very hard to find chestnuts in stores. You can usu ally order them from a nut farm, and sometimes you’ll find them at higher-end grocery establishments during the holiday season. Now that my daughters are grown, maybe someday I’ll buy a few chest nuts and make this recipe again just for me!

Janet McGovern Swedish Meatballs

My Swedish grandmother was not a gourmet cook, and she passed that along to my mother. Their family settled near Fresno in the town of Kingsburg, known as “Little Sweden” because 94 percent of the population for miles around was Swedish. After her husband left, Grandma became a single mother working to put food on the table for four kids during the Great Depression. She can be excused if her meals were adequate but didn’t qualify as fine cuisine.

My dad, meanwhile, was a career man in the Air Force. We moved around, returning to Fresno when I was in junior high. That’s when my sisters and I were introduced to Grandma’s Christ mas Eve version of a smorgasbord, which always included Swed ish meatballs, Swedish potato sausage, pickled cucumbers, pickled peaches, assorted non-pickled side dishes and persimmon cookies.

Over the years, Swedish potato sausage, which contains ground pork, ground beef, potatoes, onions and a few spices, became in creasingly difficult to find. As an adult living in Redwood City, I’ve even driven to pick some up in Kingsburg to bring back for the Jultide table. (That’s Swedish for Yuletide, if you didn’t guess.)

Grandma’s recipe for Swedish meatballs wasn’t passed down. (Was it because no one asked for it?) So when I tried to make them myself, I was in a pickle. I turned to the classic “Joy of Cooking,” which, instead of giving a recipe for Swedish meatballs, said there was no recipe superior to the one for German meatballs. That reci pe called for equal parts ground beef, veal and pork put through a meat grinder twice, various spices and a little diced herring. Then the meatballs were boiled in vegetable stock. I tried it. Trust me. There’s no way Grandma—or my mother—did this.

There are lots of similar recipes for Swedish meatballs, with more or different spices than others. This recipe works for appetizers but also as a main dish with potatoes or noodles—and lingonberry jam!—on the side.

Swedish Meatballs

1 pound each ground beef and ground pork

2/3 cup half & half

1/4 cup white bread crumbs 2 eggs

1 tablespoon butter (for cooking the onions)

1/2 yellow onion, very finely chopped 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon allspice 1 teaspoon nutmeg

4-5 additional tablespoons butter (for cooking the meatballs)

Gravy

3/4 cup half & half 1 tablespoon flour 2 tablespoons beef broth

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. To a large bowl, add the bread crumbs and pour the half & half over them.

3. Melt the first tablespoon of butter in a skillet and add the chopped onion. Sauté for 3 or 4 minutes or until the onion turns soft.

4. Add the onion and all the other ingredients to the bowl with the half & half and the bread crumbs, and mix them together.

5. Form the mixture into 1-inch-diameter round meatballs.

6. Melt the remaining butter in the same skillet to cook the meatballs, allowing space between them. Cook on each side for about two minutes, carefully turning each time. Make sure they are browned on all sides. Make sure the meatballs are thoroughly cooked, to about 165 degrees internally. Test to make sure they are not pink inside. Note: This is a large recipe and you will probably need to cook the meatballs in batches.

7. Transfer the browned meatballs to a baking dish and keep them in the warm oven while you finish cooking the rest, which also go into the baking dish. Leave the dish in the oven while you make the gravy.

8. For the gravy, mix the half & half with the flour and slowly add it to the meatball drippings in the skillet, stirring as the mixture thickens. Add the broth to the desired consistency, and add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the meatballs.

Kathleen Pender

High ROI Recipies

High ROI Baked Brie

Get a wedge or round of Brie cheese and a tube of refrigerated crescent rolls. Separate the crescent roll dough into halves. Use the two halves to cover the Brie completely with one layer of dough, stretching and shaping the dough as necessary. (Do not remove rind of the Brie.) Plop the whole thing into an oven-proof dish and bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown. Serve immediately with crackers or a thinly sliced sourdough baguette.

High ROI Mashed Potatoes

2 large Russet potatoes

1 large orange-flesh sweet potato*

2-3 tablespoons butter

2-3 tablespoons orange juice

2-3 tablespoons milk, warm or room temperature

Salt and pepper

1. Peel potatoes and cut into cubes about 2 inches square.

2. Add potatoes to a large pot of salted boiling water. Boil about 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft and just start to break apart.

3. Remove potatoes to a colander and drain very well.

4. Return potatoes to the pot. Add butter, milk and orange juice. (Adjust these ingredients to taste and for creamier or less creamy potatoes.)

5. Mash with a potato masher and/or electric hand mixer.

6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

*Be sure to use orange-flesh sweet potatoes, which have a smooth, purplish skin and are sometimes labeled yams.

Feel free to substitute Yukon Gold potatoes for some or all of the Russets. The idea is to use one-third to one-half sweet potatoes by volume and the rest white or Yukon Gold.

When I was working full-time as a financial columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and raising two kids, the holidays stressed me out. So I was always looking for dishes that were big crowd pleasers but required minimal preparation time and ingredients. I called them “high return on investment” or “High ROI” recipes. After I semi-retired, I had more time to cook and enjoy the holidays, but my family still insists on these dishes every Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The first is an appetizer so easy my three-year-old granddaugh ter, Amelia, can make it. The second is a simple blend of white and sweet potatoes that appeals to people who like, or dislike, one or the other. Add a squeeze of orange juice and it’s so flavorful you won’t need gravy.

Photos by Kathleen Pender

Emily Mangini

Fruitcake: A Call to End Dessert-Shaming

The holiday season is in full swing and that means one thing: It’s time to dust off the fruitcake jokes. Still, we need to ask: From where did the collective disdain for this sometimes boozy, always chockfull-of-fruit-and-nuts cake come?

In the spirit of culinary neutrality and exploration—and be cause it’s the holidays—it seems appropriate to give this maligned delicacy a chance. Initial research into fruitcake reveals it is not so much a cake as it is a stout bread. But names can be misleading. The modern fruitcake’s homeland is Britain, a topsy-turvy land where breads are called “cake” and cakes are called “pudding.”

What about the fruitcake’s booze? No matter what holiday is celebrated this time of year, it’s understandable to need a little nip to survive the craze. But the fruitcake’s rum, brandy or other hooch has a further purpose. Starting in the Middle Ages, leftover fruits and nuts were smashed into a loaf instead of tossed into the trash. The loaf shrank as it was eaten, and then grew as more fruits and nuts were add ed. Soaking the fruit in alcohol and regularly drenching the loaf kept the whole lot moist and safe from spoiling. Will the fruitcake ever crawl back atop the holiday throne? Maybe. More than one version is so filling that it could pass as a protein bar, which might bestow a healthier image. Or eventually it might become ironic enough to be adopted by hipsters. Even if that never happens, it’s time to end dessert-sham ing and bring back homemade fruitcake. After all, it is the holidays.

The American Fruitcake

Thought to be from Good Housekeeping (circa 1980)

2 6.5-to-8-ounce containers of candied red cherries 12-ounce package of pitted prunes 10-ounce container of pitted dates

3.5-to-4-ounce container of candied green cherries

1/2 cup cream sherry

24 ounces of salted mixed nuts

6 ounces of pecans

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

6 eggs, slightly beaten

1. In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Let stand for 15 minutes or until almost all of the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.

2. Line a 10-inch tube pan with foil. (I found this to be a bit chal lenging, so I lined the bottom and the center tube-y bit, and went without covering the sides. The cake turned out just fine.)

3. Stir mixed nuts and pecans into fruit mixture. Remove 1.5 cups fruit/nut mixture and set aside.

4. Stir the flour, sugar and baking powder into the fruit mixture until everything is well-coated.

5. Stir in the eggs until everything is well-mixed.

6. Spoon batter into the prepared pan, packing firmly to eliminate air pockets.

7. Sprinkle reserved fruit/nut mixture on top.

8. Cover loosely with foil. Bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours. Remove foil and bake for 30 minutes more, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean and the top of the cake is lightly browned.

9. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes; remove from pan and carefully peel off foil. Cool cake completely on rack. Wrap fruitcake tightly in foil or plastic wrap. Refrigerate.

Kimberly Carlisle

Mom's Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie

Crust and Filling

1 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups water

2 lemons, juiced and zested

2 tablespoons butter

4 egg yolks, beaten

1 (9-inch) pie crust, baked

Meringue

4 egg whites

6 tablespoons white sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. To make the filling: Whisk the 1 cup sugar along with the flour, cornstarch and salt together in a medium saucepan; stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter.

3. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of the hot sugar mixture. Whisk this mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until the contents are thick. Remove from heat; pour filling into baked pie crust.

4. To make the meringue: Beat egg whites in a glass, metal or ceramic bowl until the mixture becomes foamy. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie filling, sealing the edges at the crust. Sprinkle some zest on top. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes until the meringue is golden brown.

My beautiful mother, who left us four years ago, had a dark and troubled life. The holidays illuminate her absence, but also her many talents, which I choose to celebrate. She loved pies, partic ularly lemon meringue. My father's family proffers a delicious key lime pie recipe. Between the two, this citrus-loving, original Florida girl is smitten. Usually not much of a cook, I am delighted to dis cover that I have a smidge of my mother's baking touch. Here is her lemon meringue pie recipe. If we do this again next year, I promise it will be key lime. (Editor’s note: That might already be a “yes.”)

Photo by Shelly Carlisle

Barbara Kohn Buttered Almond Toffee

Move over, candy canes! While they might hold the top spot among holiday confections, in our family buttered almond toffee reigns su preme. The holidays wouldn’t be complete without toffee to enjoy at dinner parties, give as gifts and mail to family across the country.

Buttered almond toffee—especially this version by my friend, Michele Johnson—is relatively easy to make. But even so, you can ruin a batch by rushing things. As in life, patience is a virtue in making candy. You must be patient while stirring the toffee as it slowly caramelizes to reach a nice, rich color. You will find a candy thermometer a must.

Candy making is both a science and an art. Treat it as such.

Buttered Almond Toffee

2-1/2 cups sugar

2-1/2 cups unsalted butter

2 cups roasted, chopped almonds and an additional 1/2 cup to sprinkle over top

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon water

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pinch

of salt

1. Combine sugar and butter in a 4-quart heavy pot.

2. Over medium heat, stir sugar and butter until melted.

3. Add water, stirring the mixture until it begins to simmer.

4. Add vanilla and salt.

5. Add the 2 cups of chopped almonds.

6. Continue stirring for 20 to 25 minutes. Keep candy thermometer in pot (hooked to side of pot, not touching the bottom).

7. When the temperature reaches 300 degrees, the toffee is almost done. The mixture should keep turning a richer, more deeply golden hue. It will be done at about 303 degrees. You cannot rush the process. If the pot gets too hot too soon, the mixture may separate. Stir and be patient. The desired dark caramel color will come.

8. When the candy has reached 303 degrees, remove it from heat and quickly pour onto a large cookie sheet, spreading it out with a large spoon. You need to do this very quickly as the mixture begins to set up and harden.

9. Immediately pour the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips over top. Give it a minute and the chips will begin to melt. With the back of a large spoon, spread chocolate evenly over the toffee. Sprinkle the remaining chopped almonds over the top.

10. Let the toffee set in a cool place a couple of hours. Then it will be ready to break into pieces.

Jill Singleton Wild Rice Turkey Dressing

Wild Rice Turkey Dressing

2 cups wild rice

1 cup brown rice

1/2 cube butter or margarine

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 medium onions, chopped

1 to 2 cups celery, finely chopped

5 tablespoons parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

1 teaspoon curry powder

3 small cans minced clams

1/2 cup clam juice (drained and reserved from the cans)

Salt (however much is preferred)

1. In 2 quarts of water, boil wild rice until it’s tender (30 to 40 minutes or more).

2. Cook the brown rice according to the directions on the package.

3. In a large skillet, melt the butter or margarine. Sauté the garlic, onion and celery until tender.

4. Add the clams to the skillet for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

5. Combine skillet mixture with rice.

6. Add the clam juice, parsley, rosemary, pepper and curry powder.

7. Salt to taste.

8. Mix the entire concoction well and stuff it into the turkey. You should have enough to fill both the neck and the heart cavity of a large bird. You can freeze leftover dressing.

Sharing this recipe causes me great anxiety. What if everyone starts making my mother’s wild rice dressing? From the beginning, we were taught wild rice was precious and rare. What if we run out and my second-generation descendants, should I ever have them, never enjoy their culinary heritage?

After all, look at what’s happening with crab cioppino. It’s vir tually a Christmas Eve sacrament for Bay Area cradle Catholics like me. Now, this year, with crab season delayed, it’s truly frightening!

My mother and wild rice both originated in Minnesota. Every holiday season, one of my uncles sent a bag, with a note about how hard it was to get. And expensive! Even in the 1950s, wild rice was around $10 a pound when steak cost just a dollar.

Minnesota wild rice was harvested from lakes by Na tive Americans in canoes. It came in a plastic bag with a knot. I still remember washing the rice and straining away pebbles.

No more. Today, wild rice comes in boxes with logos and nutritional data at the super market. It’s more likely to be farmed with modern equip ment in California than handpicked on a Minnesota lake. Wild rice is cultivated on 20,000 acres in both states now. Maybe I can relax. Maybe.

We have turkey with wild rice dressing (only a philistine would call it “stuffing”) on Thanksgiving, and again on Christmas. Never any other time. The only reason for turkey on Christmas is so we can have wild rice dressing again. Fact: The only reason our family still gets together at the holidays is to eat wild rice dressing. Fact: Ours would be a riven clan without it. Wild rice dressing is like our family glue. Try it. You’ll see.

The author's niece, Shannon Smith (left), and family friend Emily Avery make sure the dressing is perfect.

Jenkins Holiday Matterhorn

This broccoli-cauliflower dish, which I call my "Holiday Matterhorn,” has become a tradition for me over the last 20 years. It's so simple and easy to make, and is always pretty. I serve it plain, but it would be nice with a sauce, too.

I use two bunches of broccoli, two heads of orange cauliflower and one head of purple cauliflower. (If you can't find orange and purple cauliflower, use regular white.) I blanch it all (separately) for about 20 seconds, then put the vegetables on a plate or countertop, spacing them out so that they cool as fast as possible. (Otherwise, they will keep cooking and lose their bright color.)

I use a medium-sized mixing or serving bowl and gradually place the pieces stem side up and out (no butter or greasing required). When the bowl has been filled, I cover it with foil or cling film and place something heavy on top. Then I let it sit in the refrigerator or just on the counter until right before dinner is ready. Next, I microwave the bowl of cauliflower on high for about 4 to 5 minutes. To remove the cauliflower, I place a platter over the bowl and invert it, lifting off the bowl.

The vegetables hold their shape easily until serving time. It always works and adds a festive, colorful touch to the buffet table. Happy Holidays!

Susan

Jim Clifford

Pasties – “A Letter from Home”

Pasties

Crust

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup water

Filling

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cube butter

1/4 cup milk

1-1/2 pounds round steak, cubed

6 medium potatoes, cubed

2 carrots, cubed

2 large onions, cubed

1. Mix the crust ingredients into dough.

2. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a sheet.

3. Cut the dough into circles approximately the size of a saucer. (If you want to be precise, you can turn a saucer upside down onto the dough and trim around it.)

4. Mix all the filling ingredients except the butter and milk.

5. Cover half of each round of dough with the meat mixture. Fold the dough over and press with one hand to hold it together. With the other hand, seal the edges of the dough. Make a small hole in the center and place a dot of butter there. Then spread milk lightly over the top.

6. Bake the pasties for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

7. Removes pasties from oven and drop 1/2 teaspoon of water into the hole in the center.

8. Return pasties to oven and bake 1-1/2 hours more at 350 degrees.

A friend told me I could get a pasty, a hardy meat pie packed with history, at a popular downtown restaurant in Redwood City. He was right, but, unfortunately, the pasty was small, providing just a few bites. The ones my mom made for our San Francisco family back around 1950 had enough bites to keep you going all day—exactly as they were meant to do.

Mom learned to make pasties (pronounced “pass-tees”) as a young bride in Butte, Montana, where my dad toiled in the copper mines that earned Butte the nickname, “The richest hill on earth.” Almost all mining towns were blessed with pasties, whose recipes varied depending on their country of origin. The pasty, a meal all by itself, was dubbed “a letter from home” by immigrants from several lands, but mainly England, Wales and Ireland.

I found Mom’s recipe in an old church cookbook. It’s still as good as I remembered—savory, crunchy and satisfying, especially on a cold winter day after a morning’s hard work.

Dehoff's Key Market Standing Rib Roast

With five kids in our family, you can imagine the excitement Christmas brought. We always celebrated with our extended fam ily—grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins. The morning started with presents under the tree, followed by a big breakfast. Shortly after, we started cooking dinner.

My dad usually ran down to our family’s market to make sure everything was in order and all the refrigeration was running. It was the only day of the year when the store was closed. When Dad returned, the rest of our family was arriving and the cooking was in full swing.

The meal was always based around a prime rib, boned and trimmed with the ribs tied back, which Dad always said was the best way to cook it. Our roast was always accompanied by horse radish and sautéed mushrooms, along with all of our traditional sides: Green salad, our family’s “Famous Orange Salad,” twicebaked potatoes, peas, green beans, red cabbage (a nod to our fa ther’s German heritage) and sparkling cider with decadent choco late cake for dessert.

I’ll always remember one year when Dad had cut the strings, removed the ribs and had begun slicing the meat while our yellow Labrador, Daisy, watched attentively. As soon as we sat down and started the blessing, one of us noticed her. Overwhelmed by the irresistible aroma, she had grabbed the small pile of strings from the trash and scurried out of the kitchen. We all jumped from the table and frantically ran after her, hollering, diving and trying to catch her before she could eat them. Ultimately, disaster was averted, and we dug into our amazing Christmas feast.

Standing Rib Roast

1. Start by prepping the prime rib the night before. Pat it dry and season liberally using Roosevelt Rib Rub (or other prime rib seasoning). Be sure to cover the entire roast. Place the roast in the refrigerator (uncovered) overnight or even up to a couple of days. Starting early helps make a perfect crust over the meat’s surface.

2. Remove the roast from the refrigerator and set it on the counter for approximately 2 hours so it can reach room temperature before cooking.

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place the roast, bone side down, in a large, shallow roasting pan.

4. Cook at 450 degrees for 15 minutes to give the roast a good sear. Then lower the temperature (without opening the oven door) to 325 degrees for the remainder of the cooking time.

Cooking Times

11 to 12 minutes per pound for rare. 13 to 15 minutes per pound for medium-rare.

Monitor the internal temperature of the roast with an instant-read digital thermometer. Check every 15 minutes until the temperature reaches 115 degrees.

Be careful not to overcook the roast. Remember, you can't uncook it.

Remove the roast from the oven and tent it loosely with aluminum foil. It will continue to cook under the foil. Let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing. After resting, the roast should be 125 to 130 degrees (which should be mostly rare to medium-rare).

Happy Holidays from all of us at Dehoff's!

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Last Curtain Call for Bethlehem A.D.?

By Janet McGovern

Bethlehem A.D., a living nativity event that allows visitors to “experience” life in the village where Jesus was born, will be pre sented later this month for the 30th—and perhaps the last—time. The vacant lot on Middlefield Road where volunteers build a Judean village and populate it with bibli cal characters has been sold for a proposed very-low-income housing development.

Unless organizers locate another site and new leadership, the popular fami ly-oriented event may not return after this year’s three-night run, December 21-23.

“Whether or not we’re able to move the project somewhere else is totally up in the air,” says Paula Dresden, Bethlehem A.D.’s director. “At this point, I have no plans of doing that.”

She and her husband, Karl, have been heavily involved with the event from the beginning. The couple will be “totally will ing to come alongside and mentor some body, but carrying this full load,” Paula says, “I think it’s our last year.”

A Trip Back in Time

Bethlehem A.D. is unusual in that people get to walk through a historical reenact ment, among King Herod and his entou rage, rabbis teaching from the Torah, danc ers from the 12 tribes of Israel and vendors selling bread, spices and pottery. Organiz ers strive for authenticity and an event that is informative and enjoyable to people of all faiths—or of no faith.

Barnyard animals, including sheep and donkeys, camels and birds, take up residence among the bales of hay, along a pathway that leads to the tour’s culmina tion—the manger scene with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. Angels on top of the stable dance continuously.

Members of a Roman military reenact ment group called Legio X Fretensis once again will appear in their armor and set up their barracks in Redwood City. This year, a gate will be opened so visitors waiting in line can talk with them. They’ll also be able to see the angel Gabriel, attired in shining robes, announcing Christ’s birth.

“People get afraid of the (long) line, but the line is actually very fun,” Dresden says. “Usually, it doesn’t take that long to get in. ... So if they see a line, they should just consider it a part of the program.”

Bethlehem A.D. is free, although visi tors can drop donations into baskets at the event or contribute online. Hours are 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., rain or shine. Parking will be available in the Kaiser Permanente Center garage on Veterans Boulevard, and shuttle buses will bring visitors to the event at 1300 Middlefield Road. Disabled and el derly people can ride through the “village” in golf carts that will be provided.

Volunteers Needed

About 300 participants make Bethlehem A.D. happen, and Dresden encourages volunteers to contact info@bethlehemad.

com. “We have holes to fill,” she says. “We need actors, for sure.”

Rise City Church, which owned the lot where the event takes place, sold it several months ago to Sand Hill Property Co. The developer has submitted plans to Redwood City for 94 units of “100-percent affordable” housing in a seven-story structure.

The sale proceeds will allow the church to make upgrades and renovations, according to Pastor Derik Scott. Selling the lot was a big decision for the church, he says, but members desire to do more for the community, and affordable housing clearly is needed.

Scott says church leaders fully intend for Bethlehem A.D. to continue. They want to think “creatively” about how that can happen, possibly at the church, and want to hear how the Dresdens, who are church members, feel.

Paula Dresden has mixed feelings about not putting on Bethlehem A.D., which kept her busy 10 months of the year. “Of course, we’ll miss it,” she says. "Thirty years. It’s been like a child to me. We don’t have any kids … I’ll just have to transition. It’ll be like the empty nest syndrome.”

Street Life Ministries to Use $2 Million Grant for Residential Rehabilitation Program

By Aimee Lewis Strain

One kind gesture can tap a wellspring of compassion. More than 22 years ago, Pas tor Tony Gapastione of Peninsula Cove nant Church in Redwood City ordered a pizza for a group of homeless men hud dled near the Menlo Park train station. That single act eventually led to the cre ation of Street Life Ministries (SLM), which today serves 40,000 meals annually in Red wood City and Menlo Park while also pro viding clothing, toiletries and connections to medical services, healthcare and shelter.

Now, thanks to an anonymous donor, SLM has received a $2 million matching grant to launch and sustain its new Home less to Healthy (H2H) program, a faithbased residential drug-and-alcohol reha bilitation effort.

Nicholas Rubingh, SLM’s grant and program manager, says the initiative will treat approximately 20 men at a time, of fering them a year of in-house recovery “not just from life on the streets and all that comes with that, but a fresh start, with job and life training.”

The first six months of the program will focus on rehabilitation and emotional counseling.

“It’s hard for people to work on themselves without addressing trauma,” Rubingh says. “It’s nearly a universal ex perience for everyone to have trauma. [With SLM’s clients], trauma led to addic tion, which led to losing jobs and homes, which led to life on the streets, which led to [more] trauma.”

The following six months will ad dress life skills and job training. Rubingh notes that for many of the men who will be treated, having been out of society’s main stream means seemingly routine experi ences such as self-checkout at the grocery store can be difficult.

“The set of skills you need to survive on the street differs greatly from the skills you need in society,” he observes.

David Shearin, who functions as SLM’s executive director and lead pastor, says the biggest challenge now is securing a building where the H2H residents can re side and learn. He adds that SLM recently hired a spiritual director, Ricky Wade, and a director of recovery, Mike Murray.

Once a site is located and prepared, perhaps within a few months, SLM plans to begin with about five or six residents. While the residential program takes shape, SLM continues to rely on volun teers who contribute more than 16,000 hours per year.

Serra High School senior Tryston Stone began volunteering with SLM about seven months ago to obtain the service hours required to graduate.

“Helping sort and make meals really made me feel like I was making a differ ence in the community,” Stone says. “I then started doing more work with Street Life outside of fulfilling my service re quirements because I loved helping the homeless and talking with them.”

Stone, who lives in Redwood City, believes SLM’s greatest effect on the com munity is through the relationships estab lished among the homeless, the staff and the volunteers. He says the organization’s consistency in providing help gives its homeless clients a sense of trust that they can rely on SLM for services.

“It’s a really beautiful thing to see people so passionate about helping those that are less fortunate than others,” he says. “It just all comes down to us being human beings.”

More information on Street Life Ministries: streetlifeministries.org

“It’s nearly a universal experience for everyone to have trauma. [With SLM’s clients], trauma led to addiction, which led to losing jobs and homes, which led to life on the streets, which led to [more] trauma.”

Photos by Aimee Lewis Strain

Serra High School senior Tryston Stone

How Lovely Are Thy Branches

Across four decades, Redwood City’s Cocco family has brought Christmas trees to the Peninsula.

By Joanne Engelhardt

For many people, the holidays would be nothing without a Christ mas tree. Reaching high to place an angel or a star atop a tra ditional evergreen isn’t limited to those who celebrate the season in a religious manner; non-Christians also enjoy the invigorating scent and spirit that rise from the graceful boughs of a brightly trimmed tree.

Since the 1980s, the Coccos of Redwood City have been selling Christmas trees and wreaths on the Peninsula. And the busi ness has always been a family affair. Mike and Judi Cocco’s five children, now grown, started helping as soon as they were old enough. And most are still part of the long-running enterprise.

Mike grew up in Redwood City and Sunnyvale, attend ing Stanford on a baseball scholarship and graduating with a geology degree in 1972. He met Judi in Arizo na while traveling the west as a young geoscientist. They married in the mid-1970s, and in 1980 settled in Pescadero, where Mike took up farming and Judi entered the nursing profession, eventually work ing at Kaiser Permanente in Redwood City.

Mike grew pumpkins on 100 acres, and soon split his property equally between fu ture jack o’ lanterns and a new venture— Christmas trees. But in 1985, before the first tree crop had matured, he and Judi sold the farm and moved back to Redwood City. The Bay Area’s housing market tak ing off, and Mike became a building con tractor, constructing and remodeling hous es. Says daughter Shelly Cocco, who was 8 years old at the time, “If you could drive a nail in it, my dad was building it.”

But Christmas trees still appealed to Mike and Judi. They leased various lots along the Peninsula, and in 1990 estab lished a cut-it-yourself Christmas tree business in Cupertino. Then, in the mid1990s, they bought 40 acres near Portland, Oregon, and finally started growing trees in earnest.

Honey and Christmas Trees

Along the way, the Coccos became friends with Hans and Dieter Else, brothers who operated a Christmas tree lot on Woodside Road in Redwood City. Hans doubled as a beekeeper. Their business, Honey Bear Trees, offered a free jar of honey with ev ery purchase. In 2006, the Elses were ready to retire. Mike and Judi bought their com

Selling to the public always brings a few good stories. Shelly says one year, a recent ly divorced man wanted Hon ey Bear’s biggest evergreen because his ex-wife never let him buy tall trees. He select ed one 15 feet high. Shelly recalls that it hung halfway off the man’s truck when he pulled away.

pany and continued both the name and the tradition.

Gradually, they expanded to another lot in San Carlos and two in San Mateo near the county event center. They left the latter sites after four or five years; Shelly says their location away from heavily trav eled streets made it difficult to develop a clientele.

But business remained brisk at the Redwood City lot on Woodside Road and

the San Carlos location on El Camino Real. Last year, how ever, the family learned the Woodside Road spot would be developed. So this year, the Coccos are operating on one lot in San Carlos, across from Trader Joe’s on El Camino.

Size Matters

Selling to the public always brings a few good stories.

Shelly says one year, a re cently divorced man wanted Honey Bear’s biggest ever green because his ex-wife never let him buy tall trees. He selected one 15 feet high. Shelly recalls that it hung halfway off the man’s truck when he pulled away.

This holiday season, Honey Bear is offering 6-to-7-foot conifers for the same $108 it charged last year. As for once-pop ular flocking sprayed to imitate snow-cov ered branches, Shelly says demand has waned because the necessary equipment increases the cost significantly. For those who keep their trees up for a month or more, she recommends Nordmann fir or noble fir. Douglas-fir, she says, tends to dry out more quickly.

Customers looking for big trees should be able to find what they need. Shelly notes Honey Bear can provide taller trees, be tween 10 and 20 feet in height, which she says can be hard to find. The company also offers special orders and deliveries for larger clients, one of whom requested 20 trees this season.

Shelly says few people realize the fami ly’s sales begin in mid-fall; this year, the San Carlos lot opened on November 12. “I know it sounds crazy,” she says. “But a lot of peo ple want to buy their trees that early.”

The San Carlos Honey Bear lot crew

The Coccos hope to sell between 3,500 and 4,000 trees this year. Shelly says if the inventory gets low early, “we’ll scramble to harvest more” from the family’s tree farms in Oregon. (Mike leases another 10 acres beyond his own operation, and son Mikey tends 30 acres nearby.)

A Commuter Business

Much of the family shuttles between the Bay Area and the town of Oregon City, population 37,572, in suburban Clackamas County, southeast of Portland. Mikey, the youngest sibling, spends considerable time there. (Shelly, the next-to-youngest, calls him “the baby of the family” despite his having been one of the original partners in Honey Bear Trees.) Even Mike and Judi, who own a home in Redwood City, also live part-time in Oregon City, with a broad view of their rows of Christmas trees, which extend to the wooded hills beyond.

Indeed, many in the Cocco brood are still part of the business in one way or another. Shelly’s brother, Jeff, helps at the main farm in Oregon City, tagging trees, harvesting and “doing just about anything else we need him to do,” Shelly says. Another brother, Chris Cocco, now lives in Texas but has worked on the tree lots and, like Shelly, managed one of them. Chris now has four sons, three of whom have worked for the company over the years. So have Jeff’s son, known to the family as “Little Jeff,” and Shelly’s boys, Conor and Joey.

Another Cocco sibling, Nikki Boyle, lives in Redwood City with her husband Aaron and their two children. Nikki is a realtor; Aaron was also one of the orig inal partners in Honey Bear Trees, but left to work in the restaurant business. (He sold his share to Shelly.) These days, their daughter, Hudson, and their son, Bowie, also help at the tree lots, and Bowie sometimes makes deliveries with his Uncle Mikey.

Supporting the Community

The Coccos’ business has traditionally pro vided seasonal employment for dozens of local young people. High school and col lege students have cleared the tree lots be fore opening day and pitched in over the long Thanksgiving weekend, when things get especially busy.

Shelly estimates that, over the years, the business has donated more than $80,000 to support local schools, clubs, churches and other nonprofits in both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. She says Honey Bear donates 15 percent of the price of a tree or holiday wreath to local institu tions such as Sequoia and Woodside high schools, Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton,

Woodside Elementary School and the San Carlos Education Foundation, which dis tributes the money among public schools in San Carlos.

By December 20—whether or not they’re sold out—Shelly says, “we’re all dead on our feet.” At that point, the fam ily closes the business in order to enjoy the holidays with family and friends.

Their takeaway after all the frenzied months of work?

“I’ve always loved seeing the joy we can bring a family during the holidays,” Shelly says. “Even now, that’s my favorite part. It never grows old.”

Mike Cocco with daughter Shelly

The view from Mike and Judi's house looks out on acres of growing Christmas trees.

Halloween Fun Comes to the Peninsula

Candy flowed and fun was everywhere when Redwood City, San Carlos and Men lo Park threw open their doors to host Hal loween gatherings for kids, parents and a few pets. Red Morton Community Center in Redwood City was the place to be for its annual Spooktakular, where kids cos tumed up, played games and wandered through the famous Monster Maze. San Carlos’s Laurel Street was flooded with fairy princesses, mermaids, Spiderman su perheroes, dinosaurs and candy bags full of other imaginative costumes. Menlo Park centered its festivities at Fremont Park with games and live entertainment, including the La Entrada Middle School band. And all of this days before Halloween.

Day of the Dead Gets Lively

Día de los Muertos—the Day of the Dead— is a traditional Mexican holiday when fam ily and friends remember those who have died. But it’s a more joyful celebration than the title suggests. It’s a time not only to hon or the deceased, but also to celebrate life with gifts, treats, music and dance.

On November 6, Redwood City held its own Day of the Dead festival, organized by Casa Circulo Cultural, at Courthouse Square. Home altars, called ofrendas, lined Broadway and inside the San Mateo Coun ty History Museum while crowds of revel ers shopped at artisan booths, ate Mexican delicacies and enjoyed live cultural perfor mances. Actors, dressed colorfully as the dead, roamed the crowds, pausing solemnly to have their photos taken with patrons. No body looked scared, but all seemed happy.

Goodbye Auntie Lou; Hello, Auntie Lou's Brew

November 12 and Little Green—a Redwood City plant bar—were the date and place planned for celebrating Louise “Auntie Lou” Prado’s exit from retirement at age 105 to launch “Auntie Lou's Brew,” a decidedly delicious offering of coffee beans and teas.

But the supportive crowd was shocked and saddened by unexpected news. Auntie Lou decid ed that very morning to skip the festivities and fly to heaven's gate.

“She looked forward to the event,” said Chris Sakelarios, Auntie Lou's niece and caregiver. “But we can celebrate her with every sip.”

The purpose of the new, commercially avail able coffees and teas was to help save the home in Redwood City where Auntie Lou had lived for more than 50 years. At age 89, she had taken out a reverse mortgage, never suspecting she would outlive the contract.

“I love my little home and losing it will break my heart,” she had said.

More information: auntielousbrew.com

Redwood City Honors Veterans

In 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, World War I ended with the armistice between the nations aligned with Germany and Austria-Hun gary and the forces led by the U.S., France and Brit ain. In “the war to end all wars,” 40 million people perished in a continent-wide conflict set off by the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Veterans Day, celebrated in the U.S. every No vember 11, was originally called “Armistice Day.” On this past Veterans Day, American Legion Post 105 of Redwood City, led by legionnaire and retired Red wood City/San Carlos Fire Chief Stan Maupin, recog nized servicemen and women past and present with a solemn ceremony that included a stirring singing of the National Anthem by Katie Maupin and a solo performance of “Taps” by a member of the Newark Symphonic Winds. The keynote speaker, U.S. Navy Seal Lt. Joseph Molina, offered a sobering and touch ing message about being a combat soldier, husband and father.

“The Little Engine That Could” is the clas sic children’s story about an undersized yet determined railroad locomotive that kept puffing away until it reached the top of a steep hill. The book, by Wally Piper, popularized the line, “I think I can, I think I can.” It was published in 1930 and later adapted to film and song.

Perhaps it’s time to tell the tale of the “little bus that could”—the minibus ser vice in Redwood City that had a short but very successful career.

The line, which operated from 1968 and ended in 1976 when SamTrans took over San Mateo County’s bus service, quickly drew praise. In 1972, it was fea tured in Nation’s Cities, a prestigious mag azine published by the National League of Cities. Among other things, the article laud ed the bustling fleet of six buses for keeping prompt half-hour schedules and dropping off passengers who flagged down the vehi cles anywhere along the routes.

Bob Bury, Redwood City’s mayor from 1968 to 1972, said the bus service was “one of the most satisfying things we have accomplished in government.” As if speaking about today’s issues, Bury noted that people without cars could get to their jobs more easily, and older people could be more independent by being able to get around without depending on others to take them somewhere.

Is there a chance the line might be reincarnated? Doesn’t look good. Rick Hunter, chair of Redwood City’s current planning commission, says SamTrans re cently reviewed its service and developed recommendations in a report entitled “Reimagine SamTrans.” If the old bus line “isn’t reflected in that document, there ar en’t any plans to have it return,” Hunter told Climate.

by Jim Clifford

The Little Bus That Could

Minibuses the Key

With such great praise, what went wrong? Nothing, at least not with the bus system itself. Like other Peninsula lines, Redwood City’s became a thing of the past in 1976 when SamTrans started rolling. At that time, an overriding problem was the lack of north-south bus service from one Pen insula city to another. Today, a major con cern is east-west service.

What made the Redwood City sys tem nearly unique were the buses and the labor contract. Instead of opting for big buses that had room for many passengers, which often meant a lot of empty seats, city officials went for those that seated 17 people with standing room for eight more. The contract was with an organization called ServiCar of Northern California, which provided drivers and partial main tenance. A key feature of the pact included an incentive clause that gave drivers raises when revenues went up—and they did.

The buses worked five routes, starting at what is now Redwood City’s Caltrain station but was then the depot for the old Southern Pacific railroad, which merged with the Union Pacific in 1996. They had regular stops that included Whipple Ave nue, Woodside Road, Marsh Manor, Farm Hill and Roosevelt. Before the unusual system was born, Redwood City, like most other towns, contracted with private bus companies. In Redwood City, the line was Peninsula Transit, which dropped to just one bus in 1967, resulting in outrage from stranded passengers. City council mem bers up for reelection took note of the pub lic frustration and called for a “mini muni” service in the county seat.

It was initially estimated that about 600 people would ride the buses every day. The fare was 25 cents and officials figured the

city would have to cover about $100,000 of the yearly $150,000 operating cost. The forecast was much brighter by the end of the first year of operation, when the deficit dropped to $63,000 and the number of pas sengers turned out to be far more than ex pected. In 1976, the nine buses carried more than 2,000 passengers a day.

Art Balsamo was the city director of transportation when the first buses rolled out on a rainy April morning in 1968. Inter viewed in 1976 when SamTrans took over, he recalled that the line had few problems. “The buses were serving the people, and they knew it and took care of them,” he said. Balsamo was asked if he would have done anything differently. His answer: “How do you change success?”

The system did have a few gaps. For one thing, there was no Sunday or late evening service. The system was designed to run on a 13-hour schedule during the week, starting at 6 a.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m. The buses ran for just nine hours on Saturday. Whatever the shortcomings, they must have been few. Researchers at the history room in Redwood City’s main library found no reported complaints.

Surprisingly, few people know of the bus line’s history. I asked Hunter if there had been a feasibility study about bringing back the line. He put the question to trans portation manager Jessica Manzi. Hunter said Manzi had “heard about the service, likely from your articles, but didn’t know anything more about it.” The article he re ferred to appeared in the June 2016 issue of Climate. Apparently, it didn’t gain much traction. I will keep writing about what I regard an important, and overlooked, part of city history until it gets the attention it deserves – all the time telling myself, “I think I can, I think I can.”

Below:

John Shroyer has been collecting bottles and local historic relics since he was a teenager, but to better understand what he was collecting, he’s had to do additional research at libraries and elsewhere. Along the way, Shroyer, who is a realtor, has amassed a formidable collection of Redwood City and San Mateo County ephemera, including maps dating back to the late 1800s, real estate brochures, postcards, photographs, documents, letters, business receipts and more. He is a one-man museum.

Asked why he collects, Shroyer says, “It’s a tangible part of history, which I enjoy. It makes history more real to me. I think as you go through life, today we see things around us and we take them for granted. And then all of a sudden, it’s gone.”

"Snapshots Through Time" will now be a regular page in Climate�

John Shroyer

Left: Redwood City circa 1905 view looking south down Main Street. Note that Broadway on the right “T’s" into Main Street. Across the street from the San Mateo County Bank is the Eureka Saloon, also known as “Eureka Corners,” which is now the location of Sequoia Hotel, circa 1912.

Same scene in 2022

For historical fun visit the County History Museum in downtown Redwood City

Contributed Editorial Content

Beer Friday Craft Beer - Live Music- Food Every Friday 9 Holiday Hootenanny Starts at 2pm 21 Blood Drive 9:30am-1:00pm 935 Washington St., San Carlos For more info go to: devilscanyon.com

HOMETOWN HOLIDAYS

3 Tree Lighting 6pm

10 Hometown Holidays

10am to 6:30pm Courthouse Square, Redwood City

For more info go to: redwoodcitydowntown. com/hometownholidays

4 Christmas at the Fox

2221 Broadway, Redwood City

For more info go to: foxrwc.com

San Mateo County History Museum FREE First Fridays

For more info go to: historysmc.org/free-first-Fridays

Pub Trivia NIght

Every Thursday @ 7:30pm

831 Main St., Redwood City

For more info go to: alhambra-irish-house.com

First Wednesdays: Burlesque

Second and Fourth Wednesdays: Standup Comedy Every Thursday: Board Game Night Every Saturday night: LIVE MUSIC

Special events

Fri 28/Sat 29/Sun 30: “Halloween at The Hub” with live music every night.

2650 Broadway, Redwood City

For more info go to: TheHubRWC.com