Alex and I were working in our front yard one afternoon. Amy, who lives three doors down, and Erin a friend who lives in “the Castle” stopped by to ask if we wanted to join them for dinner. Amy was hosting, and her husband Tom was cooking. Upon arrival at Amy & Tom’s Mediterranean/Spanish Revival home, we were treated to a grand tour complete with historic details. Tom is Greek, and they recently replaced the awnings with bold, bright blue canvas, so if you remove the homes on either side, and imagine the home dangling on a cliff, you might think you are in Santorini, or maybe the south of Spain. You decide. The blue theme continues inside the home where the remodeled kitchen has stunning blue marble countertops with Grecian inspired curtains. Their home is filled with family antiques and unique finds from their travels. Out back, they have the oldest pool in Santa Ana on record. Don’t think that means it’s run down though, it’s not. Hearst would be proud to have this lap pool at his own Castle. It’s surrounded by fruit trees, and flowers. Perfect for relaxing in the sun.
Amy’s husband Tom loves to cook themed dinners. Apparently, their pomegranate tree was producing an abundance of fruit and Tom had devised a pomegranate themed dinner party to use it all up. Erin and Pete, Trish and Las, Rich and Tammy all joined in the pomegranate fun and every course featured a new use for the beautiful tiny red seeds. Amy’s pride in Tom’s cooking and creativity made the dinner even more satisfying. We left with some new friends, and new ideas on how to use the fruits of our garden’s labor.
How to be Neighborly: When life gives you pomegranates… share them.
Here’s how I use the fruits of other people’s gardens:
Wild Rice with Kale & Pomegranates
- 1 c wild rice
- 2 1/2 c chicken broth (or veggie broth if you are vegetarian)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 onion, diced
- 2 c kale, chopped
- 1/4 c pomegranate seeds (*)
In a sauce pan, combine rice, broth, salt, pepper, and onion. Bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat down to low, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes until the rice is cooked. Once the rice is cooked, remove from the heat, and add the kale and mix until it wilts slightly. Add pomegranate seeds, mix and serve.
(*) If you don’t have pomegranates, dried cranberries work well too.
Serves 4
Combine oil, zucchini, dill, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl and coat the zucchini. Put the zucchini on a sheet pan and roast at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until just softened, but not mushy or brown. Let the zucchini cool to room temperature. Once cool, add zucchini, onion, pomegranate seeds, avocado, and lemon juice to a bowl. Stir to combine, but be gentle with the avocado.
The teams rolled out, maps and instructions in hand. We all crouched around the posts, cleaning, painting, inspecting, and then admiring. For 3 hours, we joked, sipped, munched, discussed the neighborhood history, upcoming events, people, plans, etc. The four teams communicated over the radios, less for supplies, more for fun.
Half way through the task, we ran across another volunteer crew, independent of ours: The Tree Huggers. They had organized themselves to at our neighborhood herb garden to spruce up the joint. The garden is large enough for a handful of benches to surround a large evergreen. For such a small space, it can grow an impressive amount of weeds. Half of them were on hands and knees, weeding and planting. The other half were raking, sweeping, and pruning. It appeared we weren’t the only ones interested in contributing and building that sense of community.
We are fortunate to have a couple chefs in our neighborhood. When we became Membership Directors of the neighborhood association and were responsible for creating a welcome basket for new neighbors, I wanted to create a basket of locally produced treats. I reached out to one such chef, the Brazilian wonder Chef Mila, to see if she might contribute her “Chocolate Sauce for Adults.” Kinky? No. Delicious? Yes. It’s a rich Kahlua chocolate sauce that is good on everything. She sells it in high end boutiques, and at our neighborhood events. She graciously agreed to supply the sauce, and a friendship was forged.
Our old neighbor from our last home just happened to do concrete work, so we called up Sergio to help us with the driveway. He and his crew installed our new and improved driveway and left room for the ribbon in the middle. Countless neighbors would walk by and ask, “So, what are you going to do with the ribbon.” Here’s where Alex and I had to get our hands dirty. It’s about a 50 foot strip about 1.5 feet wide that traditionally would hold grass. Unfortunately, we don’t have any irrigation there, and California has a draught situation at the moment, so turf was out of the question. We opted to go with a synthetic grass strip around the exterior (about 6 inches on each side) and river rock down the center. Design in hand, we headed to the home improvement store to purchase the supplies. Oh, the engineering that went into this…. 150 feet of pressure treated redwood, three pallets of gravel and stone, and three rolls of synthetic turf later, we were ready to get to installation. It just happened to be one of the hottest days of the year that we chose to embark on this effort. First was gravel, on neighbor had let us borrow their tamper to even everything out, then the wooden strips with synthetic turf, and then finally the river rock. Half way through the day (1/2 way through gravel, that is), our neighbor Alisha drove by. She was headed from a pool party to her house to pick up some snacks. On her way back, she stopped in front of our house- we
thought to check out our progress. But no! A most wonderful thing happened. She pulled two red Solo cups from her center console, and proudly presented them to us and said “You two look like you could use a drink.” In the red Solo cup was the “house drink,” the specialty of the house at that fabulous home that resembles a Cabo San Lucas oasis.
When we arrived, we were greeted with a big hug, and personalized wine glasses affixed with heart studded wine charms with our names on them. In attendance were both singles and couples, all of whom shared a love of wine, cheese, food, old homes, and equality in love. They had set up stations around the living room that paired various wines with various cheeses. White wine and cheese to the right, red wine and cheese to the left. Dessert table in the middle. I don’t know where their furniture went for the night, but much of it was removed to make room for mingling. One piece remained, and it was the long antique pew from an old church. This was the spot where everyone rested for a spell between sips. In the kitchen, the hosts set out two soups, roasted tomato and veggie, with tasting cups to ladle as you saw fit. Next to the soup, they had sliced tender, delicious, bread from our local restaurant Crave to dip into the soups. They had also made an apple crisp topped with bleu cheese and walnuts, which we munched straight out of the oven. Everything was delicious, and truly heartwarming.
That night, we sipped, we mixed and mingled, we munched and chatted, and sipped some more with new found friends. That night, I observed how love can be all accepting and all welcoming. I watched how neighbors could truly love each other, and that was far better than any pre-fix menu.
When Alex and I had decided to make an offer on our home, we knew we had to stretch our budget. The home was listed higher than we had originally wanted to spend, but it was the only home we had found that had all the features we wanted. So, we considered our options, decided we could stretch a bit, and sent in our offer just under the list price. Happily, our offer was accepted. During our home inspection, we learned from the seller’s real estate agent that a backup offer had been made on the home. Above our price. Alex and I knew we couldn’t compete with that, so all negotiations from that point forward landed squarely in the seller’s favor. Fortunately, they were a lovely couple and the home had very little to negotiate over so it was a smooth process and we moved in about a month later.
About 10 doors south from us is a grand white colonial home. Its two story façade is reminiscent of a southern plantation home. Joanne and Kelly moved in about 6 months after Alex and I, so we are both discovering the neighborhood at the same time. The colonial has been a labor of love for Joanne and Kelly for about 2 years. They are restoring the home which had been poorly maintained over a number of years and through a couple rentals. We first met Joanne and Kelly at a neighborhood mixer. Turns out, Joanne & Kelly were the other bidders on our home. Kelly was disappointed he didn’t get our home, but we now laugh about how things might have been different for each of us had Joanne & Kelly been selected by our seller. Certainly, Alex and I would not have had the courage (or finances) to take on the restoration of the white colonial, but we are happily maintaining ours. Two historic homes saved.
Put eggs in pot with ½ tsp salt, cover with water, and bring water to a boil. Once the water starts to boil, turn the heat off, cover the pot and let sit for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, submerge eggs in ice water. Peel eggs and slice in half. Wipe your knife on a paper towel after each egg for clean whites.
Neighborly Life 