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A Visit To A California Strawberry Farm

May 18, 2021 by Kate Ramos Leave a Comment

A California strawberry has a very blessed life. Brilliant sunshine, breezy seaside views and dedicated farmers who treat it like the queen that she is. Come along as I visit a local strawberry farm and meet the farmer who makes it happen!

Living in Ventura, I drive by strawberry fields going just about anywhere. California grows 88 percent of the nation’s strawberries and many of them come from right here in Ventura County.

In fact, Ventura County is home to the California Strawberry Festival! One of our favorite springtime activities (pre-COVID of course).

The long rows of strawberry beds are beautiful, but there is one very special farm that I’ve driven by a million times that always leaves me breathless.

A California strawberry field looking out over the ocean with two palm trees in the distance. — Photo by Amelia Lara for California Strawberries

Nestled between the hillsides and the ocean sits Sea Cliff farm. This long strip of land is the home to the most idyllic California strawberry farm and Uriel Hernandez is the farmer behind it all.

meet a california strawberry farmer

A man in a grey hoodie and ball cap standing in front of a strawberry field. — Photo by Amelia Lara for California Strawberries

I was honored to be invited for one of California Strawberries’ Strawberry Farm Stories. If you haven’t checked out this series of videos featuring California strawberry farmers, I can’t recommend them enough.

These beautiful short films highlight the devoted men and women who own and work in California’s strawberry fields.

This particular film is about Uriel Hernandez, the owner of Sea Cliff Farms here in Ventura. Head over to the California Strawberries site to watch it!

Uriel is emblematic of a farmer’s tenacity. Born in Mexico and raised in the Central Valley, his parents were migrant workers who raised eleven kids with very little money, but lots of love.

He has carried that spirit of purpose and faith from a boy who could barely speak English to a man who graduated from college with a degree in agriculture and a dream of having his own farm one day.

Rows of strawberries in a farm field overlooking the ocean with farmworkers picking strawberries in the field. — Photo by Amelia Lara for California Strawberries

His family grew melons and other fruits and vegetables that flourished in the hot valley sun, but when he moved to Ventura it was strawberries that he learned to farm.

Uriel now farms one of the sweetest spots in all of Ventura County and grows acres of strawberries that are shipped all over the country.

I learned so many things by visiting the farm. For instance did you know, no strawberry goes to waste? What can’t be sold as fresh gets prepped and frozen or made into jams, jellies, and even juice.

uriel’s favorite strawberry recipe

Barbecue chicken drumsticks on a wood cutting board next to strawberry barbecue sauce and fresh strawberries.

While Uriel was pretty tight-lipped about his favorite strawberry recipe he talked a lot about how much his family loves strawberries.

Whenever he goes home to the Central Valley to visit they expect him to bring a pallet of his fresh, juicy strawberries. They are just that good!

California Strawberries asked if I could share a recipe to celebrate our trip to the farm and I was inspired by Uriel’s family story.

When he was talking about his childhood in the Central Valley he mentioned how his parents would buy cases of chicken legs and every weekend have a grand barbecue.

The kids always thought they were delicious, however, it was his parents who knew another benefit: chicken legs could feed a ton of people for very little money.

My family adores chicken legs too, so I took to the kitchen and made these smoky, delicious BBQ Chicken Drumsticks with Strawberry-Chipotle Sauce .

In other words, these will definitely be on heavy rotation around here this summer. Head to California Strawberries for the recipe!

more strawberry recipes to try!

see the magic for yourselves!

If you can’t visit a California strawberry farm in real life, head to the California Strawberries site and check out Uriel’s Strawberry Farm Story. Then hop on over to their recipes page and grab the recipe for my BBQ Chicken Drumsticks with Strawberry-Chipotle Sauce.

In support of this small business, ¡Hola! Jalapeño earns revenue in a few different ways. Several sponsored posts are published each month, such as this one here which is sponsored by California Strawberries. I also earn an affiliate commission on the sales of products I link to— there are a few of those links in this post. I only feature items I genuinely love and personally use on a regular basis. This commission is an arrangement between the retailer and ¡Hola! Jalapeño (readers never pay more for products) therefore, this income allows me to run the site. Thank you for reading!

Top photo by Amelia Lara for California Strawberries

¡Vamos! Baja California

November 2, 2016 by Kate Ramos 2 Comments

Travel Baja California, Mexico with this definitive list of where to eat, sleep, and drink in Tijuana, Tecate, and Valle de Guadalupe.

If I told you there was a magical place less than eight miles from San Diego that had modern, high-design resorts, craft beer, incredible innovative food, gorgeous scenery, a wine country that rivals any in California, not to mention the friendliest people, would you believe me?

I just ask because I don’t think I would’ve believed me either. Not that I didn’t think I would fall immediately in love with any part of Mexico, but I was not expecting it to be so modern yet so true to its roots. So down to earth yet forward thinking at the same time. Such luxury and so incredibly close to Southern California. It is a place very much like home but the second you set foot in Tijuana, you are absolutely in Mexico. Here are a some of the places we visited starting with my favorite spot in San Diego, then Tijuana, Tecate, and Valle de Guadalupe. ¡Vamos!

San Diego, CA

Casa Artelexia Before heading south don’t miss this Mexican boutique now in two locations in San Diego. Owner, Elexia De La Parra has curated the best of handmade Mexican linens, tableware, toys, books, and more.

Tijuana, Mexico

Once in Tijuana you must not miss Mercado Hidalgo (we went twice). This large outdoor market is fun to simply stroll through but is also an excellent place to buy tableware, candy, traditional Mexican clothes, piñatas, at ridiculously low prices.

Tecate, Mexico

Tecate is a beautiful town about 45 minutes from Tijuana where we stayed at the gorgeous Santuario Diegueño and stopped by El Mejor Pan de Tecate for some breakfast pan dulces.

Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico

Our next stop was the stunning Encuentro Guadalupe. Seriously. Stunning. The accommodations in its Eco-Villa; an architectural marvel of wood, steel, and stone blend seamlessly into the desert environment. Also, don’t miss a visit to their tasting room for a glass of wine.

Lunch was at Finca Altozano, Javier Placencia’s baby in the wine country. This open-air restaurant feels ramshackle but the food is not. The tacos (pictured at top) are traditional Mexican food at its best and the desserts, like the wood-roasted sweet potatoes with ice cream give simple a whole new meaning.

Our last stop of the day was Adobe Guadalupe a winery and inn on traditional Spanish-inspired grounds. Apparently their food truck is not to be missed but it was closed the day we went.

We started the next day at Monte Xanic one of the oldest wineries in Valle de Guadalupe. Make sure you get a taste of the Chenin Colombard.

My favorite meal of the trip was at Traslomita. Chef Sheyla Alvarado is making some of the most innovative food anywhere. You’ll want to eat: the octopus salad, barley agua fresca, aguachile in a sauce made from ashes, mesquite-smoked chicken, and lavender custard.

Our last night was spent at Cuatro Cuatros, which is basically my kind of campgrounds: 14 cabanas with glorious king-sized beds and indoor plumbing nestled in a vineyard overlooking the mountains and ocean. Oh, and they serve a mean breakfast too.

For more information visit the Discover Baja California site who sponsored this trip. All opinions are most definitely my own.

¡Vámanos! Michigan

August 25, 2014 by Kate Ramos 2 Comments

Traveling with children is equal parts exhaustion and fun. The words road trip will understandably strike fear in many a parent’s hearts but there are beloved moments you spend as a family that can only be had away from home.

A couple weeks ago the four of us packed up and headed out; 2000 miles, one ferry ride, and maybe an argument of two later I am here to tell you we had a great time. Wanna see what we did? ¡Vámanos!

Our first leg took us from North Dakota to Wisconsin where we stayed overnight with some friends before catching the SS Badger car ferry to Michigan.

Once on the Michigan side we spent 4 glorious days at my uncle’s beach cottage in Holland. The cottage was built in the late 1800’s and has all the charm of an airy Victorian lake house. I instantly fell in love with this place.

The beautiful sandy beach was just a short walk away and that was where you could find us just about everyday we were there. The water was ffffffreezing, but the kids didn’t care, they could’ve splashed and played and ate sandy sandwiches all day.

I did manage to pull the kids away from the shore to visit the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park which had an incredible Children’s Garden and an amazing sculpture collection (not to mention a gigantic horse).

Next we headed up to Leelanau County to visit our friends Tony and Jennifer who run Little Bee’s Italian Ice shop in Sutton’s Bay. We stayed not too far away for a ridiculously good deal in a cute house in Traverse City that I found on Airbnb. Leelanau County is just about as unpretentious and gorgeous as it gets with boats bobbing the water and trucks filled to the brim with tart red cherries.

Aside from eating our weight in Italian ice we visited Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, gathered as many sour cherries as our cooler would hold and visited several self-serve farm stands. This one had a motion-detected recording from the farmer selling his wares and an unpictured boat that “runs good”.

Our next leg took us to Detroit where our friend Chris lives and works building high-design furniture and being an overall badass. He was recently featured in Vogue and this work shipped to a show in Paris shortly after our visit. Take a look inside his studio.

He also arranged a private tour for us at the Cranbrook Art Museum where we not only got the entire museum to ourselves but also were able to peak inside their vault. It was kinda, sorta awesome.

Detroit is crazy. That’s the only way I know how to sum it up. While there we gazed at the full moon from a parking lot, took a tour of Pewabic Pottery Studios, fed our friends carne asada, and had a fantastic lunch at Vinsetta Garage.

From Detroit we made our way back home, met up with my BFF who just so happened to be working in Milwaukee (what are the odds?!) and ate at this dang good (and maybe a tad bit hipster) taco joint called Bel Air Cantina.

And just like that it was over. I will admit…..I’m still recovering.

Little Bee’s Italian Ice

August 11, 2014 by Kate Ramos 4 Comments

If you’ve been following along on Instagram then you know we are on Day 11 of our epic family road trip. So far we’ve watched Ride Along while floating in a car ferry across Lake Michigan, stayed in an 1830’s beach cottage, 1970’s suburban home, and a live-work space that used to sell bingo equipment, and climbed a mile-high sand dune (slight exaggeration). It has been a proper trip, making memories over here.

Last Thursday we made our way up the Lake Michigan coastline to the tiny village of Suttons Bay where our friends Tony and Jennifer have an Italian Ice shop in the summer. Little Bee’s is the type of place you would visit at least twice a day if you were on vacation in a quaint beach town. I could see stopping for a tart cherry ice after a hot day near the shore and then again for a little sea salt caramel affogato after dinner. I can see all this happening because that’s what we did—four days straight.

You are probably thinking at this point that I am going on and on about this place because they are our friends and I want to support them and all of that is true but I am here to tell you that after nearly two weeks of eating a nightly frozen treat (we are on vacation after all) the Italian ice, sorbet, and gelato at Little Bee’s were hands down the best we’ve had on our entire trip.

The gelato is light, super creamy, and made with local fruit and nuts. The sorbet is eye-popping bright , made one batch at a time (they have no freezer other than the one they scoop out of) and melts into a fruity puddle on your tongue. But the italian ice, oh the italian ice, they have outdone themselves there. The texture is like that of a perfectly melted snow cone, not too watery, but no hard balls of ice either, and the flavors—watermelon, lemon, lime, and my personal favorite tart cherry—are the best incarnations of themselves.

If you find yourselves in their neck of the woods, go there! They are open until the snow starts falling (sometime around October) when they will shut down the churner and call it quits…..’til next year.

Little Bee’s Italian Ice
309 N. St. Joseph Street
Suttons Bay, MI
231-866-0646

Roasted Asparagus with Sweet Jalapeño Dressing

April 8, 2014 by Kate Ramos Leave a Comment

I escaped my house, my family, and North Dakota a couple weeks ago and went to Chicago. If you follow me on the Instagram you can see all my obnoxious food pictures from my trip.

Out in the world all alone is not a state I find myself in too often so I had to take full advantage. I ate out a lot……like a lot. And there were many memorable bites; Skinny Geisha cocktails at Union Sushi (which by the end of the night my friend Tess was calling Sad Geishas but let’s clarify—we were not sad). Every. Single. Vegetable. at Publican (why were those fries so good?) And I’m embarrassed to say I ate at almost every restaurant outpost at Eataly including La Pizza E La Pasta (twice), Il Pesce, and of course The Nutella Bar (Whaaaat? Why are there not Nutella bars in every mall across the country?!)

But one of the best things I ate, strangely enough, was broccoli tossed with garlicky breadcrumbs and of butter at . I’ve been fantasizing about this broccoli and not in a healthy way. I wanted to make something similar at home so I’ve been messing around with the ingredients ever since I got back.

But one of the best things I ate, strangely enough, was broccoli tossed with garlicky breadcrumbs and obviously lots of butter at The Purple Pig. I’ve been fantasizing about this broccoli and not in a healthy way. I wanted to make something similar at home so I’ve been messing around with the ingredients ever since I got back.

The only problem was that we don’t eat a lot of butter around here (with the hubby being all lacto-intolerante) so I had to come up with something else. The result? Nothing like what I ate that windy, freezing day in Chicago…..but still really good.

I decided to go with asparagus because I’m over winter and want to pretend that it is spring (despite the 2 feet of snow that fell last week). Instead of the ton of butter I decided to make a sweet and spicy dressing to drizzle over it, something similar to that addictive chile sauce they serve at Thai restaurants but, you know, more Mexican. The only element of the original dish that stayed the same was the breadcrumbs, (they were the best part) and give such a delicious, undeniable crunch that is so good on any vegetable. I’m not above having a canister of these crispy crumbs sitting on the counter on a regular basis….just ’cause.

Roasted Asparagus with Sweet Jalapeño Dressing and Garlicky Breadcrumbs

Yield: 4

Ingredients

For the dressing:

1 jalapeño, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

For the breadcrumbs:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup fresh bread (like Levain or some other Artisan loaf), torn into small pieces
1 clove garlic, minced

For the asparagus:

1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed
1 teaspoon olive oil

Instructions

Heat oven to 425°F and arrange a rack in the top third.
To make the dressing, combine jalapeño, garlic, lime juice, agave syrup, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk in the olive oil in a slow stream until completely incorporated. Taste and add more salt if needed.
To make the breadcrumbs, heat the oil in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs and toss in the oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Fry the breadcrumbs until crisp and toasted, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, stir to combine and remove from heat.
Wash and dry the asparagus thoroughly and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer.
Roast in the oven until just tender, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top and drizzle with the dressing. Serve immediately

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 0Total Fat: 0g

A Visit To A California Strawberry Farm

meet a california strawberry farmer

uriel’s favorite strawberry recipe

more strawberry recipes to try!

see the magic for yourselves!