City Parks & Recreation Registration Fair

"Don't do what Donny Don't does."
-Bart Simpson

Don't be like me and FORGET to register your kids for super-competitive enrollment activities offered through the City of Temecula. You will be stuck in wait-list limbo.

The new summer/fall catalogue of activities should be coming out any day now (seriously! When? I keep checking my mailbox for it), and it will have online registration dates and times, but you can beat the crowds and up your odds of getting into the most popular programs by visiting the city's registration fair this SATURDAY, APRIL 30, at Temeku Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This is a fun event for the whole family, with prizes, deejay, and giveaways, but the best part is beating the rush and hustling everyone into six months worth of rec classes.

TRIED AND TRUE:

* yoga -- if you do the Saturday morning classes, they are held outdoors. What an exhilarating way to start the day

* Little Learners preschool -- a WONDERFUL preschool program for your three or four year old. This was so popular they added a bunch of sessions but it still fills up every time.

* cooking classes with Celine Coussou -- she specializes in fresh, simple, and local. If she offers her farmer's market tour with cooking class (you cook what you bought that morning), do it! It is a not-miss.

* etiquette classes with Angela Sturdivant -- so much fun! They drink tea and learn how to keep their elbows off the table.

SWIMMING: the city's aquatics program has a separate enrollment process. A tip: on the last day of each session, the kids have fun at the end either with fountains (Chaparral High) or water slides (CRC.) If your kids are dead set on going down the slide, enroll them at CRC. But if you want CRC and don't get it, console them by knowing the fountains at Chaparral are probably the aquatic program's best kept secret. They seriously never turn these things on except for the last day of rec class session, so nobody even knows they're there.

Spring Dos in Temecula

All across the Temecula Valley there is so much to do now! Spring is THE hot time for galas, silent auctions, golf tournaments, and every type of fundraiser you could imagine.

If you have time, here are a few great events for worthy causes coming up in the next few weeks:

TEMECULA VALLEY FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION (TVFEE):

Check out Taste of Temecula Valley this Saturday, April 30, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The party continues with local faves Aunt Kizzy's Boys into the night. This is the inaugural year for this event, which will be held at the new Old Town Temecula Civic Center (if you haven't seen it yet, you must!) in Old Town.

SANTA ROSA PLATEAU FOUNDATION GARDEN TOUR:

Spring is an ideal time to check out the Santa Rosa Plateau, and the garden tour (also on Saturday, April 30) is a wonderful opportunity to be a welcome "looky-loo" into some beautiful gardens adjacent to the open space. Go to the Santa Rosa Plateau Foundation's site for more information and to buy advance tickets.

TEMECULA VALLEY SLOW FOOD FIELD TO FORK AT LEONESSE CELLARS:

Mark your calendars: this very popular event for the entire family will be May 21! Go to Slow Food's site to buy presale tickets. Proceeds benefit the school gardens program in our Temecula Unified School District schools.

Temecul-AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Mwah! That is me, giving YOU, my Temecula Valley peeps, a huge hug and kiss. I missed you guys.

Daily Temecula is back. Honestly I can't say it's "better, stronger, faster," since all I did was a few behind-the-scenes technical things so readers can actually find us, but hey, here we are...

Do All Towns Starting With "T" Look Alike?

The Temecula Rite Aid (in the Stater Bros shopping center on 79S/Temecula Parkway) appears to be a great place to stock up on all of your Temecula merchandise:



Including tees:



Maybe they stored them alphabetically in the warehouse and this one got thrown on the Temecula truck by mistake:



Turlock is a Central Valley town which is home to the world's dwindling Assyrian (not Syrian, ASSYRIAN) population. It is also some 400 miles from Temecula.

We used to know folks from Turlock. And coincidentally I just picked up this Turlockian pita bread when we were in Glendale the other day, before I spotted the shirt at Rite Aid:



Now if only they'd import the pita bread to Temecula...

Off the Beaten Path: Temecula's Rose Haven Heritage Garden

Tucked away just off busy Temecula Parkway (formerly highway 79 South) is a beautiful rose garden tended by the experts of the Temecula Valley Rose Society.









Sprawling ranch-style houses dominate here, and larger McMansions dot the hills just above this horsey neighborhood. These immediate neighbors to the rose garden have playful horses who greeted us when we arrived.

These neighbors across Ynez/De Portola have llamas:















One of the things I miss about living in Riverside is UCR's terrific botanic garden. It was one of my favorite relaxation spots and Eva, who came home from the hospital to our Canyon Crest apartment and lived there until she was 15 months old, toddled around on the grass there on many lazy afternoons.

Rose Haven's focus is definitely on roses, but they do have other natives which make good rose companions, so I can get a taste of my botanic garden fix just five minutes from home.







I have a spot at home where I want to grow sprawly ground cover roses like these:







"Look, Mom! Frogpoles!" Jane couldn't linger too long because she was art director for my Salada Tea spokesperson contest 30 second video entry. (Our rose garden attempt had too much wind noise in the background, unfortunately. We're still working on it.)



The Temecula Valley Rose Society's Rose Haven Heritage Garden is located at 30592 Jedediah Smith (near the intersection of Jedediah Smith and Ynez/De Portola.) Open daily.

Temecula Old Pacific Coffee (79 South/Temecula Parkway) Closed

Sorry to see you go.

Gluten Free Bakery & Cafe in Temecula

(plus vegetarian, vegan...and a bunch of other good stuff)

Tucked into an unassuming corner space in the Armstrong/Michaels shopping center on the corner of Ynez and Rancho California Roads in Temecula is All of the Above Incorporated Bakery & Cafe.



Mother-daughter owners Lorilyn and Caitlin Teasdale rolled out their bakery, the first of its kind in Temecula, a few weeks ago, and word is quickly spreading.

All of the Above is a little hard to find, but it's well worth the search for locals from Temecula and Murrieta (and even gluten-free folks in Fallbrook, North County San Diego, Menifee, and other Southwest Riverside cities within easy driving distance of the bakery.)

And as Lorilyn Teasdale points out, "We may be hard to find, but once you know where we are, we're really easy to get to. We're right off the freeway and right here in the middle of town."

Lorilyn Teasdale is well known in the local autism community and has been baking gluten-free for her own family for years. You could say she is "gluten free OG."

Today more and more people are switching to gluten-free diets, whether by diagnosis of celiac or suspected celiac, as a treatment or adjunct to therapies for autism spectrum or other conditions in kids and adults, or for a dietary intolerance to gluten.

Many people interested in gluten-free products like to eat healthy, but the Teasdale team point out that they are a bakery, not a health food store. Their goodies are more gourmet than crunchy-granola, which is good news for gluten-free folks searching for special goodies like muffins, cupcakes, and cookies.

The display cases clearly label each product, with All of the Above's signature checkmarks informing patrons whether products are gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, or contain nuts.

This bakery will undoubtedly become a lifeline for families who follow special diets, whether for everyday or weekly goodie shopping, or for occasions like birthday parties. It would also be a great way to be extra inviting to guests with special dietary needs when entertaining at home; rather than labor through a new and untested recipe, present your guest with her own safe to eat warm pumpkin muffins, iced cupcakes, or "yellowies" (yellow cake.)



The interior of the space is clean, airy, and inviting, so this also is a welcome addition as a neighborhood hangout/cafe. In fact, whether or not you have special "kneads", an afternoon spent with a cup of tea and one of All of the Above's cookies or pastries would be simply heavenly.





Please visit Lorilyn & Caitlin Teasdale at their All of the Above Incorporated Bakery & Cafe in the Allstate Building in Tower Plaza (near Armstrong/Michaels), 27423 Ynez Road, Temecula, (951)693-4000. Hours: 9-5 daily except Sundays, when they are open 12-5; closed Tuesdays. You can follow them on Twitter, and while you're at it, follow me too!