Bonnie Carroll's Life Bites - Epicurean Events

Nimita Dhirajlal, Santa Barbara business owner of Nimita Cuisine, has submitted her request to form a new Sister City in Santa Barbara. Her family live in Gran Canaria, Spain, and this will be her new and active sister city committee very soon. Following a trip to the Gran Canaria last month where she met with officials, she began plans to work with Sister Cities International and City of Santa Barbara to extablish the seventh sister cities committee in her home town.

To share this news with members of the committe Nimita held an "Evening in Gran Canaria Islands" event that included introductions of Fernando Garcia, celebrity host from Gran Canaria, who prepared a fabulous dinner for attendees of favorite foods on his island. Introductions were made, a video on the proposed sister city destination was shown followed by a question and answer period.

The seven tapas dinner made by visiting celebrity Chef Garcia represented tastes from the seven islands, and were enjoyed with delicious Sangria cocktails and mocktails. The event location was hosted by Alan Macy, who will be an active board member for the new sister city, lending his special expertise and special organizational skills.

Among the attending guests were City Consul member Oscar Gutierrez, former Mayor Helene Scheidner and a bevy of supportive community friends and sister city members from the Sister Cities Administrative Board.

Ms. Dhirajlal has an impressive prospectis on extremely interesting projects detailed for upcoming execution that will prove beneficial to both Gran Canaria and Santa Barbara. Community members working with Ms. Dhirajlal are highly enthusiastic about this new cooperative opportunity with these beautiful Spanish islands off the coast of Africa, and look forward to assisting with their development.

SANTA BARBARA SISTER CITIES CELEBRATES SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL 70^TH YEAR

The 2026 Sister Cities International Dinner attracted members from all six sister cities, who provided outstanding dishes from their member counties that proved to be interesting and delicious. The City of Santa Barbara Sister Cities gathering included a full program of dining, entertainment and sharing by members and invited officials.

Old Spanish Days 2026 Fiesta Spirits Jenna Ramirez and Jr. Spirit Penny Hernandez provided a beautiful and inspiring performance for the attending dinner guests who represented all the Santa Barbara Sister Cities Committees

Sister Cities Council Liaison Oscar Gutierrez, who attends all bi-monthly Sister City Advisory Board meetings, was also in attendance at the dinner. Oscar Gutierrez cut the Sister Cities International Cake.

Margaret Saavedra, chair of the sister cities advisory board and committee representatives Bonnie Carroll, Jill Stassinos, Linda Matthews, George Papazachardioudakis, George Lili, and Margareta Zaske, and Nimita Dhirajtal all provided helpful event services, welcomed guests and invited them by table to savor what is considered by all as an adventure in international dining.

The assorted dishes brought by attending members included a lovely variety of flavors from George Papazachardioudakis, President for Patras, Greece; Margarita Laske, President for Miraflores, Peru; Bonnie Carroll & Alicia Sorkin, Marti Garcia for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Linda Matthews, President and Takako Wakita, Past Chair and President of the Sister Cities Advisory Board Toba Japan; and Jill Stassinos of Weihai China group, as well as a variety of dishes from many additional attending members.

The evening included a Sister City gift basket presentation, a brief but fun greeting from Takako Waikita who is celebrating as founder and first president of Toba Japan Sister Cities Association, and a special thank you to Weihai member Cynthia Woo for her beautiful dinner table flower arrangements and her birthday.

Special thanks also to the planning committee members including Bonnie Carroll and Jill Stasisnos, Margarita Gonzales, Peru, Rory Moore, Japan, George Papazacharioudakis, Greece and a village of wonderful Sister City volunteers who made it all happen. Additional dinner sponsors included Bonnie Carroll, Nimita Dhirajtal, and Cynthia Woo, and thank you to each sister city for providing a beautiful gift basket that some lucky guests took home to enjoy as a remembrance of yet another wonderful City of Santa Barbara Sister Cities Committee International dinner.