Salinas, California has several 24/7 businesses that benefit tourists, workers, and locals alike:
*Valvoline for car maintenance
*Denny’s Diner - 2 locations
*Winchell’s for Donuts, Sandwiches, and Coffee - 3 locations
*Chevron on North Davis (RV dump services in addition to gas)
*Shell on North Davis (diesel station)
This is an introductory list, which may grow.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Sustainable Wine Culture Practices in France by Ruth Paget
When I lived in France, I was able to witness several sustainable wine culture practices in the Touraine and Bordeaux wine regions. (My husband Laurent’s grandfather was a wine salesman for these regions, who kept several of these traditions alive in his family.) There is money to be made in all these practices that also create jobs.
*Making wine vinegar throughout the year
Unfinished red wine that has become sour can be made into vinegar with the addition of apple cider vinegar. I like how Normandy, which has apples, but no vineyards, is linked to the wine trade through the making of wine vinegar for both red and white wine.
The following youtube.com video shows the procedure for making red wine vinegar with measures:
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/u_SOgZWRxcs
*Making Salade à la Tourangelle with wine vinegar
This is a spring and summer recipe that makes use of the abundant baby greens that grow in the Touraine, the organic cendré chevre goat cheese from the Touraine, tomatoes for which the Touraine is famous, and wine vinegar.
My recipe for this salad follows:
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2025/10/salade-lavtourangelle-in-salinas.html?m=1
*Drinking Marc Eau-de-Vie
Marc is a French equivalent of Italian grappa. Marc is an eau-de-vie made from grape skins, seeds, and stems that remain after grape juice is crushed out of the grapes at harvest to make wine.
These leftover items are further crushed to make a bitter eau-de-vie. The most famous marcs in France are Marc de Champagne and Marc de Bourgogne, but technically every winegrowing region could make marc.
*Gathering and Using Grape Leaves in Several Kinds of Food Dishes
Once the harvested grapes are crushed and marc is made, grape leaves can be harvested for use in salads, sautéed like spinach, and stuffed with rice and/or meat.
My blog follows on how to work with grape leaves as food:
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2025/11/greek-grape-leaf-recipes-reposted-by.html?m=1
*Using Twigs from Pruning for Various Paper Products
The most immediate use of twigs from pruning is grilling. The twigs from grape vines are supposed to impart a good flavor to grilled meat. Twigs can also be made into paper products like toilet paper, tissue, paper napkins, paper tablecloths, paper towels, writing paper, post-it notes, and paper bags.
*Eating Boar Stew
Boars are wild pigs with curled tusks that live in vineyards and eat grapes and leaves. They are considered pests. The French have no qualms about eating one if they capture it. They can make boar stew with chicken, if they have not boars on hand.
Many variations of boar stew exist, but they usually include some winter root vegetables and maybe mushrooms along with a bottle of red wine in the recipe.
*Using Old Wine Barrels to Finish Tennessee Whiskey and Kentucky Bourbon
Old cognac barrels are routinely sold to the US for Tennessee whiskey and Kentucky Bourbon. The seasoned barrels add to the flavor of these beverages.
*Using Old Wine Barrels as Planters
Wine barrels cut in half make good planters. If you plant roses in them and place them by vineyards, they can provide early signals of blight and mildew that might affect the fields.
*Possible Use of Old Barrels to Make Paper Products
Old Barrels might be able to be made into paper products before using the option of burning them for heat.
These sustainable wine culture practices in France can be reproduced in the US, especially in California, to make money and create jobs. Some of these sustainable practices are centuries old, but not fully adopted in all regions where wine is grown. Adopting them might have the side benefit of helping reduce food insecurity by using grape leaves as food.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
Costco Online Ordering of Deli and Cake Items seems to be working on its app now.
The following article on the Woman’s World blog covers the many advantages of ordering this way:
This makes potlucks and events like team lunches easier.
Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
The University of Chicago Press is offering a free e-book for March on the science and cultural norms around breastfeeding - Back to the Breast: Natural Motherhood and Breastfeeding in America by Jessica Martucci.
For information and download details click below:
https://mail.google.com/mail/mu/mp/465/#cv/priority/%5Esmartlabel_promo/19cb46ae3d50b57f
Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
Agritourism at the Fattoria di Maiano in Fiesole, Italy outside Florence by Ruth Paget
My husband Laurent and I were invited to the Fattoria di Maiano in Fiesole, Italy high up in the hills above Florence by J., one of my college roommates at the University of Chicago during our honeymoon.
When I talked to J. on the phone, I told her I would find out how to take the bus to the central piazza in Fiesole from Florence, so her dad would just have to drive us back at night to our hotel.
Laurent and I loved having a dinner engagement to get to by bus. We went to a large bus stop by the Duomo, the cathedral, and found out the bus to take along with the correct fare for the bus to the zone where Fiesole was located.
Back at the hotel, I called J. and told her the time we would arrive and the bus number we would be on. I loved peeking into gardens and yards on the way up to Fiesole.
I was feeling very much the European citizen for using the bus to go to the suburbs. At the appointed time, we got off the bus and greeted J. and her parents and took BMW rental car to the restaurant. J.’s mom said she was going to take the bus downtown and go to museums.
When we arrived at the Fattoria di Maiano, we sat in the garden and began our farm-to-table meal. J.’s mom told us she was taking cooking classes at the Fattoria. She had been waking up early to make saltless Tuscan bread before the heat set in. She was going to markets to buy seasonal products to go with pasta and buying many delicious ready-made meals at the farmers markets. Everything was drizzled with the Fattoria’s wonderful and healthy olive oil.
I thought J. and her family traveled in grand style from San Diego, California to Fiesole. They flew from LA to Switzerland where they rented a car and drove to Fiesole for a month of organic food and wine lessons.
J.’s dad ordered dinner while her mom asked how we had traveled to Italy. We took charter flights from the US and had Eurail passes. On our month-long honeymoon we were visiting art museums.
The University of Chicago did not allow double majors, but I had done all the course work in both East Asian Studies (my major) and Art History. I was the honeymoon tour guide, especially since I had studied Italian Renaissance Art with Professor Earl Rosenthal. I showed J.’s mom the Let’s Go Italy guide I had published by Harvard for planning historical walks as well.
As we nibbled on minced liver crostini, we talked about the artwork at the Uffizi, the Bargello sculpture museum, the Pitti Gallery artwork, and Michelangelo’s David at the Academy.
Our primi pasta course arrived, which killed off most of the conversation. The pasta was fettucine with sautéed tomatoes, spinach, yellow squash, and seasoned with rosemary, thyme, garlic, and fine grain sea salt in a creamy sauce.
J.’s dad remarked that cooking with the seasons seems to mean sautéing what’s new at the market, adding it to pasta, and serving it in a cream or tomato sauce.
“Seasonal food is also supposed to be abundant and lower priced,” he remarked.
I think he was suspicious of pyramids of glossily shined tomatoes and zucchini.
He was waiting for the secondi.
“You can’t go wrong with bistecca alla fiorentine and Chianti,” he said as we all prepared to eat large steaks from Chianina beef with expensive Chianti – no straw encased bottles here. The steaks had sea salt on them with large drizzles of viscous, green cold press extra virgin olive oil made at the Fattoria di Maiano.
The steak was a first-class experience.
Our contorni, vegetable course, was a mound of organic baby greens with oil and vinegar dressing.
I was merrily eating and remarked as we looked at the lights in Florence below, “I am not sure how to get back to our hotel from here.”
Neither did Laurent. The churches of Florence were all illuminated along with their piazzas. “Each church is a neighborhood with streets radiating out around it like the spokes on a wheel,” I remarked, using information I had learned in art history.
We picked out the Duomo and the Santa Croce neighborhood where we were staying. Laurent suggested that J.’s dad drive us to the Duomo and we would do the rest of the trip on food. We would call from the hotel to let them know we had arrived.
This is a great memory I have of Europe, but Americans can now do agritourism in many parts of the US.
For example, I live in Salinas, California now, which has a large farmers market on Saturday mornings. The farmers market closes down a huge portion of Main Street. This is a great spot to buy basic organic ingredients with a few food trucks.
Another spot for agritourism happens on Wednesday nights at Northridge Mall in Salinas at the Farmers Market that has 100+ food trucks and food stalls. This market reflects the multicultural diversity of the region. It is a great place to try ethnic food at a reasonable price.
There are many ways to do agritourism including walks with picnics, cooking classes, olive picking, fishing, grape harvesting, grape stomps, visiting fish markets, going to a brew pub for a meal, learning to make jams, learning to bake various items, winery and brewery tours, winery tour by stagecoach, and hayrides.
All of these activities create jobs in the countryside, which is always welcome, and an incentive to seek out agritourism when traveling.
The Fattoria di Maiano has been in operation for more than 40 years doing activities like these providing lessons for all of Europe and the US on how to make money by promoting the best practices of the countryside.
Monterey County also has many opportunities to do agritourism including spa options.
Happy Touring!
Fattoria di Maiano Website follows:
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
Beverage Games Background Information Blogs by Ruth Paget
I have collected my blogs on beer economics, beer traditions, German wine labels, and wine and Chinese food pairings below to transmit family knowledge to the next and following generations.
To access the blog, click on the hyperlinks that follow the title or type the title in the search bar of my blog. A link to the games is at the bottom of the page.
European Beer Buying Tips
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2019/12/european-beer-buying-tips-lager-ale.html?m=1
Beer Economics
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2019/12/european-beer-buying-tips-lager-ale.html?m=1
Oktoberfest Food
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2018/12/oktoberfest-food-ideas-for-us-suggested.html?m=1
Beer Traditions - California Brew Pubs in Monterey, Salinas, and Paso Robles
Alvarado Street Brewery - Monterey and Salinas
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2026/02/german-style-kolsch-beer-and-loaded-blt.html?m=1
Firestone Walker - Paso Robles
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2025/11/pretzels-burgers-and-rock-music-at.html?m=1
Beer Traditions - American Bar Restaurants
Pub’s - the oldest bar in Salinas, California
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2024/10/prime-pork-chop-dinner-at-pubs-prime.html?m=1
Brass Tap - Cicerone Beer Server Training Ground with 100+ beers on tap, Trivia Nights, Sports
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2024/11/eating-crunchy-fried-shrimp-by-pacific.html?m=1
Crown and Anchor - British pub with ship models, English phone booth, royal Guard statue, beefeater mugs, and brass bad-relief plates
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2017/12/producer-mom-dinners-at-crown-and.html?m=1
Wine Traditions
Sustainable Wine Culture Practices in France
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2026/03/sustainable-wine-culture-practices-in.html?m=1
German Wine Labels
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2018/12/exploring-german-culture-through-wine.html?m=1
Wine and Chinese Food Pairings
Ihttps://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2019/03/wine-and-chinese-food-pairings.html?m=1
Fortified Wine Use and Solera System
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2025/08/chicago-meal-at-pubs-growers-pub-in.html?m=1
Beverage Games Created by Ruth Paget
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2026/03/beverage-games-created-by-ruth-paget.html?m=1
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games