Maggie Carter's blog

Sunday, May 4th: Rain, rain...go away! We arrived today in a very beautiful city...Auckland, New Zealand. On the outskirts of town, between the airport and the city, is very country-like. People who were riding with us in the airport van said just a few short years ago the airport was a cow pasture where people would drive up and park their cars on the grass. Things have changed! Auckland is a bustling city which houses the University of Auckland. We started our touring there today because the grounds look like an arboretum. Jim just couldn't stop talking about the trees. Some must be several hundred years old. As you can see by Jim's umbrella, it was raining. Tomorrow we are signed up for a wine tour.

Monday, May 5th: Today was a very beautiful, sunny day! Our wine tour guide, Phil Parker who is the owner of Fine Wine Tours, has a website www.insidertouring.co.nz . He has a new book coming out soon from Random House called Weekends For Mad Keen Wine Buffs. Phil took us to three wineries. The first one was Kumeu River Wines which sells about 15,000 cases of wine a year and the wine was great! The second winery was called Nobilo which sells (hold on) three million cases a year and the wine was very good. The third winery was West Brook which sells 50,000 cases of wine a year and the wine was light in taste. In this wine growing area they do not irrigate their vines because they have an annual average rainfall of 36 inches. We are bringing wine home for the winemakers to taste.

Wednesday, May 7th: Welcome to Melbourne, Australia! This is the city of the old and new together. There are beautifully preserved buildings of the 1800's and older surrounded by new skyscrapers. Our hotel told us we could ride the local transit system for free... we wanted to see the city. We hopped on and rode across the city and back until the driver noticed we were still on the trolley. It turned out it wasn't free and they don't take cash, so we got off. As you can see by the red tree, it is fall in Australia. It really is pleasant here and the weather is mild. The church in the picture is 150 years old. More pics in the photo gallery. Buy the way, we are a day ahead of you because we crossed the international date line. Tomorrow we are taking a tour of the countryside. Hopefully we will get to visit wineries. Just wanted to mention that even though we are having a wonderful vacation of a lifetime, I really miss the USA! Home sweet home.

Thursday, May 8th: Hi Everyone! Hope everything is going good where ever you are. Today we took a tour of the Beach Road. It was the best! The above picture is an area we saw today called The Twelve Apostles located in the Tasmanian Ocean. It was inspiring and very beautiful. We visited several surfing beaches which is most of the beaches. Tomorrow we will tour wineries, ride the train, and have a delicious lunch. Take care!

Friday, May 9th: Fun day! Took another tour and visited three wineries. We had lunch at the first winery, Fergusson Winery, which was included in the price of the tour. The lunch was really fantastic! It was sliced roast beef with roasted veggies. It was the best food we have had on our trip. Everyone enjoyed wine tasting and shopping in their gift shop. Our favorite winery of the day was a champagne house called Moet-Chandon. We had a tour of the facility with sampling of the champagne. I chose their sweet champagne and Jim had the Brut. Very good!!! On the way back to Melbourne we saw quite a few kangaroos.

Sunday, May 11: Happy Mother's Day! We are in Sydney, Australia...what a place!! We stepped onto our patio at the hotel and there was the Sydney Opera House. It is a very famous landmark. We went to the opera house and enjoyed Neil Sedaka on his last Australian tour. There is so much happening in Sydney. It was completely different from the other two cities. We will post more pictures in our Photo Gallery under Travel. Thanks for joining us. What a great vacation.

Please visit www.michellesplace.org for the most caring people and volunteers.  On May 16th, Michelle's Place will be having the annual SPRING FLING.  There will be a wonderful dinner, silent auction, entertainment, and dance the night away!  It will all be happening at South Coast Winery Resort & Spa.  Don't miss it.  Get your tickets through Michelle's Place.

CREAM TOGETHER:
                         2 cups butter (not margarine)
                         2 cups sugar
                         2 cups brown sugar

ADD:  
                         4 eggs
                         4 tsp. vanilla

MIX TOGETHER:
                         4 cups flour
                         5 cups oatmeal (grind oatmeal in your blender
                                                 into powder after measuring) 
                         1 tsp. salt
                         2 tsp. baking powder
                         2 tsp. baking soda

AFTER MIXING INGREDIENTS TOGETHER, ADD:
                         24 oz. bag of chocolate chips
                         8 oz. Hershey bar (finely graded)
                         3 cups chopped nuts

Make golfball size cookies, 2 inches apart.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet or line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Bake @ 375 degrees for 6 minutes.  Check to see if done.

Makes 112 cookies

I went to my family reunion 3 years ago.  We made up a book celebrating my grandparents life and family.  In the book is a large recipe section and this is one of the recipes courtesy of my distant cousin Zenda.  I have made alot of cookies through the years, but this chocolate chip cookie recipe is the best ever!!!  When I made these, I brought them in to the resort warm out of the oven.  People didn't quit talking about how delicious they were for about a month.  They are that good.  I haven't made any lately because "a moment on the lips, forever on the hips."  Oh well, maybe I could just have couple.

My name is Crystal Magon, and my "job" at South Coast Winery Resort & Spa is Director of Sales and Marketing. I put the word "job" in quotation marks because, quite simply, not only do I love where I work, but I have fun doing what I love: marketing one of THE MOST dynamic winery resorts in Southern California Wine Country! Possessing over 20 years experience in the field of sales and marketing, I've never had the opportunity to "sell" anything quite like the experience found here. Literally, the sky is the limit - especially when one considers the beautiful blue skies that surround the vineyards and the resort!

When I'm not at South Coast, my free time is spent at home enjoying my family - a wonderful husband of 11 years (a retired US Marine) and my incredible son - reading, serving on several committees and Board of Trustees of nonprofit organizations that are near and dear to my heart.

Hugo Garcia is a server and lead busser in the Vinard Rose Restaurant at the winery. He loves his work and it shows from the wonderful comments from his customers. Hugo says he learns from people everyday. Whenever he talks to Mr. Carter he learns new things about the restaurant and winery. Customer service is the most important to him.

His career goal is to become a firefighter and paramedic. Hugo is taking piano lessons and enjoys music...anything from classical to soft rock. He just bought a house a year ago and likes to entertain his friends.

There are many things happening at the winery.  Jim and his son Joe are preparing acreage for a new vineyard.  They are ripping, bulldozing the soil, and using the earthmover to smooth it out.  It takes alot of time and work to prepare for a vineyard.

On Sunday, April 27th, a good time was had by all of our 200 guests and wine club members who attended the "Blessing of the Vine."  We had a delicious lunch with BBQ ribs and chicken plus cranberry and apple cobbler topped with french vanilla ice cream.  Our favorite priest was on hand to bless the vines.  There was a tractor-pull tour with our antique 1922 John Deere tractor.  The trailer that everyone sat in was once owned by the original Callaway Winery.  It was used to take the farm workers out into the field everyday to work the vines.  The guests toured our sparkling wine facility. We enjoyed beautiful music which included one of my favorite violinists, Diego Mondragon.  You may view pictures of the party by clicking on "Gallery of Friends."  Be sure to watch for our next party "Blessing of the Wine" in late summer.  Last year we did grape stomping!

We had a special event on Wednesday, Apricl 16th for the wine club members.  It was all about our new sparkling wine 'Muscato Spumonte.'  It is delicious...sweet and fruity!  Yum!  There were many delicious desserts to taste with the new release.  You may see a photo of yourself and others who attended the special event on our 'Gallery of Friends' page.

On May 16th there is a wonderful event going to happen at the winery called the 'Spring Fling' put on by Michelle's Place.  This event is very near and dear to my heart because it raises money for breast cancer.  There will a dinner, silent auction, and entertainment.  You can dance the night away.  

Have you come by to see the spring flowers at the winery?  They are beautiful and fragrant!  Everything is blooming. 

Maggie Carter

It's that time of year, again, when the flowers are blooming everywhere at the resort.   If you have visited in past years, you know the flowers are extremely beautiful.  The lavender wisteria is hanging from the arbor, the red roses and the deep pink bougainvillea are circling and clinging to the posts.  Huge hanging baskets of pink petunias all in a row on the back veranda used for outside dining.  Below the hanging baskets are large flower pots of mixed flowers in all colors.  The front veranda has hanging baskets of pink and white geraniums.  As our guests enter into the gift shop, villa registration, or into the restaurant, there are large flower pots everywhere bursting with various flowers smothering their pots with beautiful color.  

When visiting South Coast Winey Resort & Spa, feel free to stroll through the arbor and around the property to soak in the beauty.  Visit the GrapeSeed Spa with the wonderful fragrance from petunias and star jasmine. 

Enjoy! 

One tub of lite nondairy whipped topping or whipped cream

One tub of low fat cream cheese

1/3 cup of sugar

One graham cracker pie crust 

Mix nondairy whipped topping with cream cheese.  Blend in sugar until fluffy.  Pour batter into ready made pie crust.  Insert into a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Let pie cool one hour and then refrigerate for at least four hours.  Top with desired topping such as fresh strawberries.  Yum!

This is delicious!  It comes to me from my sister's son-in-law, Rob. 

We took a four day weekend, recently, with my sister and her husband, Carolyn and Steve.  We headed east to Phoenix in our car.  It was such fun!  We had dinner that evening at a wonderful restaurant in Scottsdale called Houstons  on Scottsdale Road.  The restaurant is excellent!  They don't take reservations...it's first come, first served.  The wait is worth it.  The food is scrumptious.  We toured the area and looked at the beautiful homes and, of course, we did stop at a shopping center for a little one-on-one with the stores.

The next day we took off for Sedona.  What a beautiful drive.  Everything is red.  Red rocks and red earth are the theme for the area.  We took lots of pictures, which I will try to post.  There was a great Mexican food restaurant in the center of town.  We did alot of walking and went into many gift shops.  It was time to leave and head to Flagstaff.  That evening we went to Lowell Observatory.  This area is 7000 feet above sea level.  We got to view Saturn and two moons, Titan and Phoebe.  Flagstaff was very chilly that evening and some snow on the ground.  The observatory was definitely worth the visit.

On our third day we went to the Grand Canyon.  Jim had been there before, but the rest of us had not.  I had a mental picture of the area and had seen many pictures but I wasn't really sure what to expect.  Oh, my gosh!  It was unbelievable!  It was as though I was looking at a huge painting or a movie backdrop.  It just didn't seem real.  The Grand Canyon is beautiful beyond words. We drove to Las Vegas for a one night stay.  What more can I say...it was a great four day weekend.

2/3 C Butter Softened
1 2/3 Cups Sugar
2 Large Eggs (room temperature)
1 1/4 Cup Mashed Ripe Bananas
2 1/2 Cups Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
2/3 Cup Buttermilk*
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

*If you don't have buttermilk, add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to 2/3 cup milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add banana. Mix well. Stir flour, salt, baking powder and soda together in small bowl. With mixer on low, alternately mix flour in fourths and buttermilk in thirds into batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Add vanilla and beat 1 minut on medium. Divide batter into 2 greased and floured cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cook and frost with caramel frosting. Top with chopped pecans or walnuts.

BROWN SUGAR FROSTING

1 Cube of Butter or Margarine
1 Cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup of Milk
3 1/2 Cups of Powdered Sugar
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Walnuts or Pecans sprinkled on top (optional)

Melt butter (or margaine) in a sauce pan. Add 1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar. Stir and cook until it starts to bubble. Take pan from heat and add 1/4 cup of milk. Use a wooden spoon to quickly stir until mixture is smooth. Add 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. Keep stirring with wooden s poon until spreading consistency. If desired, when frosting is spread on cake, sprinkle about 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecans.

NOTE: This was a special recipe of my Mother's that she would make when my sisters and I were little girls. She would make it every year for my sister Carolyn's birthday.