What is olive oil?

Most people don’t realize that olive oil is actually a fruit juice made by mashing or pressing the olive. Olive oil is well known for its distinctive flavor and aroma. In their natural form, olives are very bitter and nearly inedible. To achieve the amazing flavor and taste, olives traditionally are cured in brine or oil.

Are all olive oils the same?

ABSOLUTELY NO. In fact olive oil comes in virgin, extra virgin, pure and light versions. Virgin means that no chemicals were used in the process of extracting the oil from the olive. Extra virgin means that the olive oil has gone through several tests to confirm its taste and to verify that it is free of defects. Light olive oil is a blend of pomace olive oil, which is olive oil that is extracted from the olive using chemicals and heat, and virgin olive oil.

Are all oils fattening, including olive oil?

Extra virgin olive oil contains some of the highest amounts of monounsaturated fats compared to other oils. These fats actually help lower a person’s total cholesterol level and LDL cholesterol level, or bad cholesterol. When olive oil is used in moderation it provides more health benefits than negative health issues. 

Can you use olive oil to deep fry foods?

Even though olive oils has a lower fat content compared to other oils and therefore, a low smoke point, olive oil is an excellent option for deep frying. Even though it would be more expensive than with other oils, it is possible and would add excellent flavor to your foods.

Olive oil versus butter:

Olive oil contains only 33% saturated fat while butter is composed of 66%  saturated fat. Olive oil has no cholesterol, while a serving of butter has 33 mg of cholesterol.

At the Stevenswood Wine Bar, we offer our special selection of unfiltered cold press assorted flavored olive oils. Our selection includes:

1. Tarocco Italian Orange
2. Rosemary
3. Verna Spanish Lemon
4. Key Lime
5. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Here is a chart of the different oils for cooking  and comparison to olive oil

2013 AAA Four Diamond Award

Once again Stevenswood Spa Resort was awarded for the 22nd consecutive year the AAA Four Diamond Award. Since 1991 Stevenswood was one of the youngest properties ever to receive this prestigious award and the first in Mendocino county.

Continuing a 77 year tradition, AAA’s professionally trained inspectors use published guidelines to conduct unannounced hotel and restaurant evaluations, assigning approved establishments a rating on a scale of One to Five AAA Diamonds. 

ABOUT AAA/CAA DIAMOND RATINGS

 AAA rates more properties than any other rating entity. It is the only rating system that covers the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean and the only rating system that conducts professional, on-site evaluations using published guidelines weighted by member priorities.

 AAA Approved and Diamond Rated hotel and restaurant listings can be found in the downloadable eTourBook^® guides and AAA Mobile^® app for tablets and smartphones, the TripTik^® Travel Planner and Travel Guides on AAA.com, and AAA TourBook^® guides available at AAA and CAA offices. Travelers can access information about AAA inspections and Diamond Ratings at AAA.com/Diamonds.

¨      For 2013, 163 establishments (101 hotels and 62 restaurants) were newly added to the AAA/CAA Four Diamond Award^® list.

¨      A total of 2,289 establishments (1,535 hotels and 754 restaurants) throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean received the Four Diamond Rating in the past 12 months, qualifying them for the 2013 Four Diamond Award^® list.

¨      The net addition of 44 Four Diamond establishments (all hotels) represents a 2 percent increase over the total 2,245 last year.

¨      North Dakota attained its first Four Diamond restaurant: the HoDo Restaurant in Fargo.

¨      Collectively, Four Diamond establishments represent just 3.9 percent of the current 59,000 AAA/CAA Approved and Diamond Rated establishments.

¨      Four Diamond hotels account for 5.1 percent of the total 30,000 AAA/CAA Approved and Diamond Rated hotels; Four Diamond restaurants account for 2.6 percent of the total 29,000 AAA/CAA Approved and Diamond Rated restaurants.

¨      Thirteen hotels have maintained the Four Diamond Rating for 37 consecutive years, since 1976 when the Diamond Ratings were first introduced for hotels.

¨      One hundred and ten hotels have maintained the Four Diamond Rating for 25 or more consecutive years.

¨      The Green Room in Wilmington, Del., is the longest tenured Four Diamond Restaurant, since 1985 when AAA began rolling out Diamond Ratings for restaurants.

¨      Sixty-three restaurants have maintained the Four Diamond Rating for 20 or more consecutive years.

¨      States/provinces with the most Four Diamond hotels: California (180), Florida (132), Texas (91), New York (66), Ontario (54), Massachusetts (47) and Arizona (46).

¨      Cities with the most Four Diamond hotels: New York (43), Chicago (28), Boston (27), San Francisco (23), Toronto (23), New Orleans (20), San Antonio (18), Dallas (17), Montréal (17), Orlando (17) and Seattle (15).

¨      States/provinces with the most Four Diamond restaurants: California (75), Florida (60), Ontario (55), New York (50), Texas (34), Nevada (28), Arizona (26) and Québec (26).

¨      Cities with the most Four Diamond restaurants: New York (40), Las Vegas (26), Toronto (26), Chicago (15), San Francisco (14), Boston (13), Atlanta (11) and Vancouver (11).

¨      States/provinces with the most Four Diamond establishments: California (255) – 180 hotels/75 restaurants, Florida (192) – 132 hotels/60 restaurants, Texas (125) – 91 hotels/34 restaurants, New York (116) – 66 hotels/50 restaurants and Ontario (109) – 54 hotels/55 restaurants.

So come and enjoy a FOUR DIAMOND EXPERIENCE in an intimate setting, surrounded by forest, and close to beaches and minutes away from the bluffs for the seals, birds, whale watching and of course the beautiful sunsets.

For dinner phone 707-937-2810 or online at urban spoon.

For lodging phone 707-937-2810 or online at reservations.

For spa reservations phone 707-937-2810 or online at Indigo Eco-Spa.

Stevenswood Wine and Olive Oil Tasting Bar

Stevenswood Spa Resort is happy to introduce HAPPY HOUR starting at 5:00 pm at the Wine and Olive Oil Tasting Bar. We are excited by introducing from Japan Alakey Shochu. Only the finest hand selected barley is used to create this extraordinary liquor. Originating in the Middle East this liquor was called “Alack’” meaning “vital water”. The secrets of this liquor were passed down orally over many generations. As it made its way East, the name “Alack” evolved into “Alakey’” Japan’s premium Soju!

Why Alakey Shochu? Alakey Shochu only has 35 calories in a 2 oz. serving verses 120 calories for 2 oz. of vodka and is known to be hangover-free. Alakey is versatile enough to be paired with many foods and is a drink for any time.

Alakey is a high quality shochu, made with the masterful blend of two distillation methods. Single-distilling for profound, distinctive tastes which attracted a lot of Shochu connoisseurs, and multiple-distilling for a very smooth, refreshing flavor and crystal clear taste which is ideal for mixing in cocktails.

Lemon Drop Martini

Some of the favorite martini drinks include our Lemon Drop Martini. This consists  of a chilled martini glass with the rim dipped into lime juice and then dipped into sugar. We pour 3 ounces. of shochu with a 1/2 ounce of lime juice and 1 ounce of sweet and sour mix, then shake vigorously and strained into the the prepared martini glass, with a long twist of lemon zest. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. Other martini drinks include our Mango Martini or another favorite is our Appletini. In addition you might enjoy our Cape Mendocino Cocktail or our house favorite Steven Collins, White Grapefruit Cooler or our refreshing Seabreeze Cocktail. 

We feature a specialty drink daily. and of course we offer a great selection of wine by the glass, champagne cocktails and assorted beers. So come and mingle and have some fun, enjoying our HAPPY HOUR from 5:00 pm to ?.

For dinner phone 707-937-2810 or online at urban spoon.

For lodging phone 707-937-2810 or online at reservations.

For spa reservations phone 707-937-2810 or online at Indigo Eco-Spa.

This forced us to start the process of finding a custom supplier all over again. Last time, it took months and month of samples, testing, washing, trying and feeling hundreds of linens, then finally selecting our custom color dye, sizes and more.

We ended up selecting a beautiful shade that complimented the natural setting of Stevenswood Lodge and chose a supplier based in Italy. It took nearly 3 months for our custom sets to arrive, in a plush 1000-thread count, beautiful Egyptian cotton.

Guests loved the sheets and we were proud that our hard work paid off. This time, we decided we should try to find a more local source to reduce the environmental impact and support our communities.

We’re glad we did. In the process, we learned the ugly truth about linens.  According to ChasingGreen.com In the land of bed linens, Egyptian cotton is luxury at its finest. Or that’s what department store clerks and their price guns would have you believe. But according to Human Rights Watch, the children who pick the cotton and remove leaf worm infestations from leaves to produce the indulgently soft, high thread count sheets work 11-hour days, 7 days a week, while typically being beaten by their foremen in 100 ⁰ F heat, for miniscule wages.

Even if we were to ignore the human rights issues associated with the manufacturing of bed linens, there’s the matter of cotton farming to consider. This water-bogging crop, which, by the way, is mostly grown from genetically engineered seeds, receives 25 percent of the world’s insecticides. Not only is it covered in chemicals that contaminate local groundwater and make wildlife and workers sick, it’s then bleached with chlorine, soaked in chemical dyes, and sprayed with a wrinkle-resistant, permanent-press chemical finish such as formaldehyde.

This eye-opening research was not the stuff that helps us sleep at night so we decided to make a small difference in our choice this time.

That’s when we stumbled upon Coyuchi: Founded in a small town on the Northern California coast, Coyuchi offers a signature bedding line made from 100 percent certified organic cotton. Everything they create is designed to nurture a connection to the natural world in customers’ lives and homes. Their cotton products are certified to the Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) and produced using fair labor practices, which are verified by in-country auditors. Coyuchi sheets are available in a variety of fabrics and weaves including percale, sateen, flannel, jacquard, damask, twill, linen, and flax. Their bedding line gets its hues in part from naturally colored cotton strains from Latin America .We were so excited to learn about this amazing linen company, with the funny sounding name and have worked with their designers to craft the perfect bedding line for our signature sleep systems at Stevenswood.

Guests often tell us our beds are one of the best features of their stay (Yes, Seth, they love your waffles too!), and we took this responsibility very seriously when we needed to replace our bed linens. We think our guests will agree with our choice and we invite you to come experience them in person.

You can learn more about Coyuchi on their facebook page here, http://www.facebook.com/CoyuchiHome and while you’re there, be sure to Like Us on our Stevenswood Page on Facebook.

Congratulations Stevenswood Spa Resort.

Stevenswood has been honored in recognition as a Business Leader in the PG&E ClimateSmart Program, supporting environmental conservation, restoration and protection projects balanced out more than 110 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Designed by PG&E, the ClimateSmart program was the first of its kind. This demonstration program lets cusstomers take personal action in the fight against climate change. This convenient and easy way is a chance for customers to offset their homes carbon footprint. 100% of the contributions went to funding environmental conservation, restoration and protection projects.

Why does it matter?

PG&E provides its customers with some of the cleanest energy in the nation, but every time you watch TV, turn on a light or heat your home you cause the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases are increasing the greenhouse effect, trapping more heat at the planet’s surface. This creates dramatic changes in the environment, including more frequent and intense storm events, increased droughts and wildfires, reduced snow packs in the Sierra Nevada, and rising sea levels that affect coastal, bay and delta areas.

The ClimateSmart program is a way PG&E can work together with there customers to make a real difference in preserving the health and natural beauty of the planet for ourselves and future generations.

• Complimentary subscription to Touring & Tasting magazine!
• Members-only discounts of up to 70% off retail on all wine purchases!
• Monthly newsletter detailing the featured wines, complete with recipes, tasting notes, wine country events calendar and more.
• No memebership fees. Cancel anytime. Membership is ongoing.
• Risk Free: We guarantee every wine 100% delicious or you don’t pay!

• Slate floors from Madagaskar in the Lobby and bathrooms in all the suites.
• Cork flooring in all the suites and in the Hallways.
• Tempurpedic Sleep systems in all of the suites.
• New micro-fiber Italian furniture.
• Glass Venetian Bowls in the newly remodeled bathrooms.
• Ocean view exercise room where the new infra-red sauna is located.
• New expanded ocean view deck.
• New furniture for both decks.
• Outside propane heaters for the decks for extra comfort for our guests.

• High-end Herme collection from France for the new toiletrie items.
• Italian coffee makers. (coffee, lattes, and espresso)
• Expanded lavish breakfast for our guests.
• Free Wi Fi wireless internet for our guests.
• Complimentary use of the computer in the mezzanine.
• In room safes.
• Iron & ironing boards.
• Radio, CD Player that is IPOD and MP3 ready.
• Plasma TV’s.
• Turn down service.
• Library selection of pillows. ( heavy orthopedic, tempurpedic, or buckwheat pillows)
• 1,000 count Egyptian cotton sheets and pillowcases.
• Courtesy town car service for our guests.
• Free long distant phone calls
• Pet friendly

• Dermologica Intensive Facial
• Hydra Facial
• Aroma-Stone Therapy
• Pacific Sea Detox
• Executive Facial
• Swedish Massage
• Comprehensive Deep Tissue
• From Here to Maternity Massage
• Love in Paradise – Couples Massage
• Craniosacral Therapy
• Grape Seed Oil Scalp Massage
• Olive Oil Foot Soak
• Anti-Inflammatory Hand Treatment
• Humboldt Salt Scrub
• Lavender Intensive Eye Therapy
• Citrus Leg Therapy
• Lomi Lomi Massage
• Reflexology
• Reiki Massage
• Body Chemical Dioagnostics
• Gentlemen’s Choice Facial
• Parafin hand and foot treatment