14 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM of Molly Ringwald’s character in Pretty in Pink, you’re not alone. (I see you, my fellow Gen X-ers.) (Page 72) You’ve driven past Crystal Springs Reservoir and maybe even strolled its banks on the Sawyer Camp Trail, but how well do you really know the glistening man-made lakes along Interstate 280 in San Mateo County? From wildlife to water wars, Spanish explorers to stagecoaches and circus horses, we delve into the history and ecology of the Peninsula’s key water source. (Page 90) You won’t find circus horses at Safari West’s Wine Country wildlife experience, but you’ll encounter a lot of uncaged exotic beasts, like big-horned Watusi, curious ostriches, giraffes, elands and more. Find out what it’s like to spend the day—and the night—at this unique Santa Rosa getaway. (Page 39) If adventure is your style, meet David Wells and Chris Radkowski, two guys who can send you soaring above the surface of the Bay on a sleek hydrofoil (Page 46) or let Portola Valley’s Heidi Richards give you the inside scoop on what it takes to summit the highest peaks on seven continents. (Page 25) Also in this month’s issue of PUNCH, we pay a visit to chef Brandon Wu, who puts a little love into each expertly prepared dish at Sushi Ai, the highly regarded Redwood City omakase restaurant. (Page 55) If you’ve ever longed for a house straight from the pages of a fairytale, designer Bynn Esmond tells us how she transfigured the beastly interior layout of a San Carlos storybook Tudor into a place of beauty where a family can live happily ever after. (Page 67) July is here, summer is in full swing and we’re ready to soak up some sunshine. Grab your issue of PUNCH and enjoy all that the Peninsula has to offer this month! Andrea Gemmet andrea@punchmonthly.com {editor’s note} austerity of post-war Italy, the high price of fuel and the ongoing challenge of navigating narrow streets in ancient cities. The cleverly designed trucks offer an efficient and incredibly versatile solution. Selling food out of a specially outfitted Ape isn’t an uncommon sight in Italy, but here on the Peninsula, it’s pretty eye-catching. Georgette Nelson takes Large Marge, Kitchen Table Travel’s adorable customized Ape, to events to peddle cheeses and other delicacies. Georgette is a chef, Italy aficionado and tour guide who loves to share her passion for food while demystifying dairy creations both imported and domestic. I came away with tips on cheeses to try (among them: Red Dragon, an English cheddar; and Lenora, a soft-ripened Spanish goat cheese) along with the names of some good streaming shows for practicing my Italian. Georgette also created a wickedly decadent dessert recipe especially for PUNCH readers. (Page 60) In our July issue, we’ll introduce you to another creative Peninsulan, artist Whitney Alyssa, whose career evolved from designing wedding gowns to creating mixedmedia landscapes celebrating California scenery. Whitney got her start reconstructing thrift store finds and making her own prom dresses—if that makes you think The baffling-looking vehicle probably wouldn’t have made the Top 10 list of strange and wonderful things I discovered on the streets of Italy as a teenager. Cars didn’t have seatbelts in the backseat. (Yikes!) Welldressed senior citizens rode motor scooters! Even a bus driver on a narrow mountain road gunned the motor like a Ferrari driver. The sidewalk apparently could be a viable parking space. Stop signs were often optional. But the one sight that made me laugh out loud was a very large man in a very tiny truck with the word “APE” emblazoned across the front. His bare, beefy arm hung out the window, and I wondered if that was by choice or necessity, since the diminutive cab hardly seemed big enough to contain him. I saw those wee little threewheeled trucks all over, hauling almost anything you can imagine, from building supplies to boxes of produce. Made by Piaggio, the manufacturer of Italy’s legendary Vespa scooters, and pronounced “AH-pay” (the Italian word for bee), these sturdy vehicles could squeeze into places that a regular pickup truck couldn’t. And just like Havannah’s crumbling colonial architecture and ingeniously repaired vintage cars tell the story of life under the embargo, the Ape reveals something about the
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