INSPIRATION: Home Cooking on the West Coast

For food ideas, try a trip to Santa Cruz County’s Freedom Rose House Bed & Breakfast (2313 Freedom Boulevard, Watsonville, California, 831.722.2190), which has only four guest rooms, but features a library with more than 11,000 cookbooks. Located in an airy, natural-light-flooded room of the recently restored 1880’s Queen Anne Victorian home, the culinary collection houses some titles that date back to the 1850’s. Find tips on preparing seaweed, or a book titled Cooking for Dimwits. Innkeeper Pam Dunlap got many of the books from her mother, who collected cookbooks from around the world when she traveled as a sales representative for Sanyo and Panasonic. (Her mother now writes the food column in the local newspaper.) When Dunlap prepares guests’ meals, she culls recipes from the library—as well as ideas from her mother and her own favorites—and meals always use seasonal fruits and vegetables from local farmers and merchants. —Alesandra Dubin
Photo: Orbie Pullen Photography
Posted 09.22.05