Innehållsförteckning för February 2017 från Sunset

A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, when my family and I were contemplating a cross-country move to California, I became obsessed with Bay Area real estate and read everything I could get my hands on. One of the articles was from Sunset's February 2014 issue: a cover story called "Best Places to Live," with a blurb on an East Bay island called Alameda. For some reason, that story stuck with me; when it came time to pick a location for my temporary rental, Alameda was where I chose to look. Now I can picture myself happily growing old here. Thank you, Sunset, for steering me to the hometown I always dreamed of having. A few blocks from my house lies Alameda's downtown core, Park Street—home to a killer Burmese restaurant,…

GROUSE ALL YOU WANT about the Las Vegas Strip—too crowded, too phony—but at some point everyone gets sucked into its tractor beam. Whether you're being dragged to a bachelorette party or yukking it up at a convention, chances are that sooner or later you'll find yourself on Las Vegas Boulevard. And that, we're here to tell you, is a good thing. A recent spike in visitors has paved the way for new investments and a beefed-up and, in some ways, stripped-down Strip. One with scaled-back hotels, urban parks, and more of an emphasis on dining than ding-ding-ding. So say good-bye to long taxi lines (thank you, Uber!) and watered-down Jack & Cokes, and say hello to 4.3 miles of awesome. DON'T MISS … The Park's 40-foot-high Bliss Dance installation which,…

One of Erin Benzakein's earliest childhood chores was snipping sweet peas out of her great-grandparents' garden in Walla Walla, Washington, to put in vases. Now a flower farmer and floral designer in Washington's Skagit Valley, she does the exact same work, with dialed-up hours (sunup to sundown) and on a larger patch of land (2 planted-to-the-brim acres). Of the 170 types of flowers she cultivates on her farm, Floret Flowers (floretflowers.com), sweet peas are still prized. "Every year, I think I've grown them all, but I always find dozens more," says Benzakein, who works directly with breeders in England and New Zealand to grow sweet peas with longer stems, more weather-resistant blooms, and unusual hues. "There are some crazy psychedelic colors that are coming out right now," she adds. Here,…

[The following content appeared in the Northern California edition.] GARDEN WE LOVE Green screen While good fences make good neighbors, they can sometimes take attention away from the garden itself. By choosing a traditional fence made out of willow branches woven in a metal frame, landscape architect Andrea Cochran (acochran.com) seamlessly integrated the structure into this yard; the willows were sustainably grown in Pescadero, California (thewillowfarm.com). Climbing hydrangea and "Sally Holmes" rose use the fence as support, further linking it to the landscape while drawing the eye upward. In the beds, a soft trio of silvery lamb's ears, emerald green olive shrubs, and a grassy profusion of Miscanthus "Morning Light" anchor the scene. PLANT Choose magnolias, such as the dramatic but compact pinky purple "Black Tulip", while they're in bloom,…

Rich Fischolowitz and his 14-year-old daughter have been in line since 6 a.m., staking out their spot with a couple of beach chairs and a cooler. Behind them, the line has swollen to about 100, like a scene outside an Apple store. And then the market opens. "Fresh fish! Tuna! Opah!" calls a fisherman from behind his stall as the crowd surges forward. What's lured everyone here on a Saturday morning isn't the latest iPhone, but something perhaps more novel: fresh, local, responsibly caught seafood. Launched 2½ years ago in San Diego, the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market has turned into a weekend habit for Fischolowitz, a fourth-grade teacher. He and his daughter can rattle off a long list of fish they've purchased here, from yellowfin tuna to whelk snails. "I…

CHICKEN BROCCOLI STIR-FRY SERVES 4 / 25 MINUTES The workhorse of the weeknight dinner, chicken gets a little zip of excitement by getting cooked in a hot wok with bell peppers and broccoli for crunch and color. Be sure to have all your ingredients ready to go before you heat the wok or frying pan, since cooking needs to happen fast. 4 tbsp. vegetable oil, divided 1 lb. boned, skinned chicken breast, cut into 1-in. cubes 5 tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce, divided 1 large red bell pepper, cut into ½-in. strips (2 cups) 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 6 cups broccoli florets (each about 1½ in.) 1½ tbsp. sambal oelek* or other chile sauce 1 tbsp. hoisin sauce 2 cups chicken broth 2 tbsp. cornstarch 3 cups cooked white rice…

This is what winter in the West looks like—at least in Hawaii. To get in the mood for next month's island-themed issue, we're partnering with Travaasa Experiential Resorts (travaasa.com) to give away a Total Travaasa package for two in Hana (worth $3,969): three nights in an ocean bungalow, meals, $175/person/day for spa treatments, flights between Kahului and Hana … and plenty of aloha. For more info on this Instagram contest, go to sunset.com/hanacontest.…

WHEN JEREMY JONES, the best big-mountain snowboarder on the planet, went looking to settle down, he didn't choose Colorado or Chile or the high reaches of the Swiss Alps. He chose California. "I'm in San Diego right now with my family getting one last hit of beach time before a long winter," says the 41-year-old father of two, speaking in late November. But the storms are beginning to creep into the Sierra Nevada, his home range, and he's feeling the itch. "I think I'll cut my surf trip short and drive to the snow." Getting to the snow has been something of a defining theme for the 11-time Snowboarder Magazine "Big Mountain Rider of the Year." After dominating the sport for years, Jones set off on another path, one less…

BRASS ADDS A ROMANTIC NOTE TINTED PLASTER GIVES WALLS DIMENSION APPLE CRATES NOD TO THE COUPLE'S LOVE OF THE OUTDOORS LIGHTEN UP As part of a three-year renovation, Eva Kosmas Flores and husband Jeremy Flores turned their finished attic into a serene master suite. In the bathroom, the claw-foot tub (left) is actually made of acrylic; its relatively light weight at 100 pounds made it easier to haul upstairs. Rayne acrylic clawfoot tub, from $1,099; signaturehardware.com. Restoration plaster; mas terofplaster.com. Plaster tinted in Nebulous White; sherwin-williams.com. MATERIALS MATTER The bathroom is grounded in earthy textures: a vanity made of salvaged wood, crates and baskets for storage, and a sink made of a special concrete-jute material that doesn't absorb stains. Trough 3619 NativeStone bathroom sink, from $1,225; native trails.net. Connor wall…

1 NEVADA CITY, CA 2 VENTURA, CA 3 BOISE, ID 4 PRESCOTT, AZ 5 VANCOUVER, WA NEVADA CITY, CA 1 WHERE THE SUMMER OF LOVE NEVER ENDED Ask Matthew Ticciati to describe his first Halloween after moving to Nevada City in the Sierra Foothills, and at first you get the happy clichés of rural life: the whole town dressing up, every porch lit with a jack-o'-lantern, the neighbor who gives out 2,500 pieces of candy. But then the clichés stop. "The best costume? A kid who came as No Face from the Japanimation classic Spirited Away. That was pretty great," he says. Lots of Gold Country towns have quaint main streets and good schools and affordable Victorians like the one Ticciati and his wife are fixing up—but fellow parents who…

Nutella Mousse There's nothing better than watching people smile when they eat your food," says Naomi Robinson, the blogger behind Bakers Royale. She's talking about the parties she and her husband, Matt—who has his own blog, Real Food by Dad—often host for their extended family in Southern California. But she could just as easily be referring to the "likes" on their Instagram feeds. Either way, when Naomi and Matt—who left office jobs for food blogging—want to make a crowd really swoon, they go for chocolate. Naomi is partial to classic recipes dressed up with easy touches like a piping of whipped cream or a shower of shaved chocolate. Matt loves to make "ooey-gooey desserts," often letting their three boys, ages 2 to 15, "get in and make a mess with…

No, this isn't your average spa vacation. Those seeking a cucumber-water-and-bathrobe kind of getaway need not apply. Because less than an hour after arriving at the private compound on Stinson Beach, California—once you step on the scale for your weigh-in (more on that later), slather your feet with petroleum jelly to ward off blisters, size your trekking poles, and strap on your backpack—you and your new acquaintances are ascending a steep trail up Mt. Tamalpais at a shockingly brisk pace. Welcome to your warm-up set: a 4-mile hike through redwood forests and creek-laced canyons, then over a pocket-size waterfall that you scale via a 10-foot ladder. This is The Coast Ridge, a four-day wellness program where nature is at the core of the transformative journey. Cofounded by Yarrow Schley, a…

WHEN NAHEED BASHIR walked into her local nursery three years ago, she wasn't looking for a designer; she just wanted a few plants to start her garden renovation. But among the potted shrubs, Bashir clicked with employee Heather Fletcher, who was dabbling in landscape design on the side. "I had no idea, when I met Heather, we would develop such a wonderful working relationship," says Bashir. Since meeting, the two have collaborated to transform Bashir's 20- by 30-foot San Francisco backyard (formerly a tangle of camellias and jasmine) into an evergreen oasis, taking advantage of the city's frost-free winters and slim rainfall. "I wanted the garden to flow seamlessly even while showing off a ton of different plant varieties," says Fletcher. While she adopted a more-is-more approach to the beds,…

Suspended in Air Just when you think you're out of planting space, look up. Yes, like many things "70s, the hanging plant is back, macramé and all. And the perfect candidate for hanging? The old spider plant—but the less common all-green variety. The plant has a more modern, structured look, plus plantlets that create a cascading effect. THE DETAILS Spider plants are bulletproof: They'll take bright- to low-light conditions. Water them weekly in the sink (drill holes in the container if necessary), letting soil drain fully before popping pots back into place. The Fernie hanging planter wire stills, $48 each; bluecaribou.ca. Dig Gardens pots in white, $18; diggardens.com. Frances Palmer Pottery handmade bowl, from $175; francespalmerpottery.com. Halston pitcher in Sky, $95, and Halston tumbler in cream, $30; the-citizenry.com. Shallow salad…

TIP MINT and EGG SALAD Wolfert grates the eggs, making them ethereally light in this dish. "START SMALL," Paula Wolfert said to the four of us from Sunset. We were standing in her kitchen in Sonoma, learning how to feed homemade vinegar. "Swamp it with too much wine, and it'll be dead." As in the cookbooks that have made her famous, Wolfert's instructions were exacting, earthy, and colorful. To this day, we use (and feed) a crock of her vinegar in our Test Kitchen. Wolfert has lived an epic life. Over nearly 40 years, she traveled across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, collecting traditional recipes with passionate and rigorous curiosity. She often lived with families in the countries she visited, and her nine cookbooks popularized dishes we now take…

DRINKS BEFORE DINNER? In this country, thoughts traditionally turn to martinis or Manhattans. The answer to the question in France, Italy, or Spain, though, is often vermouth—neat, chilled, or over ice. In the aperitif-wine family, vermouth is lightly fortified wine steeped with an array of botanicals, from roots, bark, and spices to fruits and flowers. The tradition was founded in the late 1700s in Northern Italy and in the South of France out of trust in the medicinal benefits of these natural ingredients—especially wormwood, which came to define the product. As our cocktail culture emerged in the late 1800s, we embraced vermouth—but only as a minor player. In true American fashion, we rejected nuance in favor of alcoholic power, and until recently tended to just wave the dry vermouth bottle…