Southern Sonoma Country Life

Inspirational Dinner at Cafe Bella

Although I enjoy a dinner out as much as my fellow foodies, here in Southern Sonoma County, the truth is that this is a rather hectic time of family life for me as a mother of three school-aged sons and the fact that we eat dinner together most nights of the week is miracle enough!

Making it out on the town for a mid-week meal is a big deal. Soccer, baseball, lacrosse, arts and animals and a half-acre backyard vineyard to take care of. It's more often than not a lot less hassle to rustle up a paesano pasta and meatball supper than truckin' all the boys across town for a table for five.

Nonetheless, we do have our favorite dining spots here in P'Town (a testament due to delicious Saturday night's dinner with visiting friends from Marin at prime table setting in Central Market, downtown). More often than not it's a matter of timing. Who's out and about, who has already eaten and how easily can we hit the dinner hour at one of our top picks?

The stars were in alignment for dinner at sleek East Side Cafe Bella this Wednesday 'eve. Only one son in tow for a mid-week treat on the town (despite the fact he's 13 and has the appetite of an entire soccer team after two hours of scheduled practice!). Friend of the Petaluma Gap Grape and Wine Alliance, Proprietor Mahmaud met us with a gracious mid-week mini wine tasting opportunity, in which we discovered a wonderful new small lot, hand crafted Sonoma Co Zinfandel favorite from Inspiration Vineyards. Winemakers Jon and Barbara have been crafting their zin since the turn of this century and they certainly have the fruit for a fantastic vintage in the 2005.

The way to my heart as a winemaker's Girl Friday is a local eaterie which makes every effort to support the small lot, regional wineries. One thing I'd like to see a lot more of is local Petaluma Gap winemakers and growers encouraging restaurants around town to boost their wine lists with locally grown wines. Cafe Bella proudly stocks Ridgeway Family Vineyards Pinot Noir and would be more than happy to host a few more highlights from our local hillsides.

Although I could easily work my way through a local wine list for dinner given the opportunity, it's generally highly advisable to add a bite or two of Petaluma's healthy and organic edible offerings to soak it all up! Mahmaud's Stuffed Petaluma Chicken Breast fit the bill, with prosciutto and mozzarella cheese, roasted garlic potatoes, green chard and honey carrots.

Good, honest food and generous portions. I was equally intrigued to hear of several house made ales undergoing various stages of evolution out back. It is a tough and challenging time for restaurants in this critical economy right now. Authenticity and friendly, efficient service such as that of Adobe Creek Center's Cafe Bella at is definitely to be celebrated and supported. 3120 Lakeville Highway, Petaluma. 707 763 0535. Open for lunch Monday through Friday 11.00 to 3.00pm, dinners from 5pm except Mondays and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10.00 to 3.00pm.

Solar Cooked Snacks in the Garden of Eatin'

 



Solar ovens are so 'right now' it is surprising that we are not seeing more of them in super health and environmental-conscious Sonoma County.

Still, I didn't have to travel far to see one in action, for Petaluma's popular Vice Mayor and leading light at the new North Bay Children's Center at Mary Collins Charter School at Cherry Valley, Karen Peterson Nau has a nifty little (non-profit produced) Sport Sola oven set up in the appropriately named Garden of Eatin'!

"Our philosophy within the North Bay Children Centers is for year-round fruit, herb and vegetable gardening to flow seemlessly into the daily curriculum," said Karen, as she and eight pre-school students showed me around their garden this morning. Pausing to pick artichokes for their daily snack, a happy group of three to five year olds were keen as peaches to put me on the right track for our edible plant tour.

"These are strawberries," said one little girl. " We eat our artichokes with hummus," said another. How fantastic for under fives to take such a role in their nourishment and well being, when so many American children their age have yet to see a swiss chard specimen, let alone munch on one for elevensis.

"The solar oven is a simple solution to staying off the grid," said Karen. "All that is needed is around three hours of daytime sunshine and a drop of water, and we can cook practically anything."

Yesterday's snack was freshly made potato salad from the previous week's garden harvest. In fact, all of the winter veggies are now out of the mix and NBC's master gardener has overseen the summer plantings of a surprisingly wide variety of edible bounty given the sustainable size of this half circular garden.

According to the non-profit Sola cookbook (portion of purchase price of each stove within the US goes to offset costs of sending solar ovens to third world countries) such delights as whole pot roast dinners and roast chickens can be concocted in these streamline, save the air contraptions. Can't argue with that. Although it might be hard to bake a big family dinner on a rainy Bay Area Sunday in December, there are at least nine months of the year when one of these ovens could very well come in handy. Not least during an earthquake - in an ideal scenario every California home should have one of these in their disaster preparedness kits.

Meanwhile, Karen is cooking up a storm at the children's center and the kiddies will be tucking into corn, pumpkin, peas, cherry tomatoes and all sorts of yummy organics this summer.

Something else I must mention from this morning's mini visit to 'the class farm' (and Karen did grow up on nearby Peterson's Farm of Petaluma, after all) is the Three Sisters garden. You may well know of this popular native American legendary style of planting, but it is the first I have heard of it, and I love it! Legend has it that mother nature had three daughters who had an irritating tendency to squabble. Instructing them to find a way to cooperate and live together in harmony, the sisters (corn, bean and squash) set about re-establishing themselves in the earth. The corn grew up with beans wrapped around her for support and the squash spread out on the surrounding ground to shade the soil and keep moisture from evaporating. Harmony! And three sister crops which appeal to little kids.

"There are 'Three Sister' gardens all over the world," said Karen. "The perfect solution for protein, carbohydrate and vegetable and the kids will eat them all!"

The North Bay Children's Center is a non-profit organization which aims to bridge the gap between what parents can afford to pay for child care in Marin and Sonoma Counties and what it actually costs to deliver high quality care.

The innovative Garden of Eatin' is an organic learning garden unique to North Bay Children's Centers and is intended to combat childhood obesity by teaching children to make better, well-informed nutritional choices as they learn about health and nutrition through an integrated, hands-on environmental curriculum.

Pikes Peak or Bust

Fourth Grade Gold Country camp has been a rite of passage for nine and ten year olds at Petaluma's Valley Vista  Elementary School for at least the past decade. And in this present period of stark educational cuts in California's fund-strapped public schools, a parent-funded Gold Country living history trip remains an educational highlight of the year for young students right on the cusp of creating their own individual identities outside of the nuclear family.

For many children about to embark on this week's long-anticipated  expedition to Gold Country Camp (Coloma, CA), this will be their first trip away from home without a family member in tow. It's a terrific environment in which to make that first, memorable break from the safe haven of the folks. And what better world to explore in our own home state but that of the Gold Rush era? Right here were it all began, by the side of the American River.

For the past few months the kids have been learning all about Gold Rush lingo, who was who at this pivotal point in California/US history, the geography, migratory routes, machinery involved and life as it was in the mid 1880s. To be fully immersed in the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of that very locale for three full days is an incredible opportunity for children to fully absorb their shared cultural heritage.

As my living history producer friend, Phyllis Patterson would say, the magic emerges when one "Tricks into learning with a laugh." The kids have a blast at Coloma, panning, hiking, exploring, dancing, dining and sleeping in cabins not unlike those of the miners of old.

And so it was with considerable sadness that I read a letter sent home on Friday in school backpacks from soon-to-be-retiring school principal:

"Dear Parents of Third, Fourth, and Fifth Graders," it said. "Valley Vista has come to the conclusion that we will no longer provide three years of outdoor education."

First to go is fifth grade outdoor ed, which has traditionally taken place out at Westminster Woods, or Mount Gilead near the Russian River or Walker Creek in nearby Marin. Wonderful, fun end of year highlights of which both of my older boys partook and remember with particular fondness.

OK, I suppose, that's acceptable. Parents are struggling to make ends meet. Fundraising is becoming a logistical nightmare for teachers. Cut out fifth grade camp and theoretically that gives us all time to save our dollars for the big sixth grade blow out.

I read on. Fourth Grade Gold Country camp will take place next year, but after that, it's apparently up for consideration of the enrichment chopping block.

Not all local schools have this particular tradition. Not all local schools have such a high proportion of immigrant children. As a naturalized American citizen myself, I particularly appreciated the school's approach to teaching California's rich, profound and lively history and my own children have benefited from a cultural immersion of which I would have been hard pushed to have provided myself.

It's nothing short of a tragedy that the Gold Country camp may very well be cut from the school's calendar. Like so many other valuable extra-curricular learning experiences, is this incredible educational opportunity to be lost to the dust of history, too?

"Each year teachers have willingly taken on the camp experience because they know children benefit from (it). However," wrote the principal "each year, teachers do give up their home life for the duration of the camp and there is no additional benefit to the teacher, other than knowing they are offering something for which children benefit."

Well, isn't that what it is all about? The benefit of our children. I'd like to imagine a State of California where every public (and private) school child is entitled to a two night trip to the inspirational heartland and International melting pot of his or her home state. I guess I'm dreaming of more affluent days in the Department of Education over in Sacramento. With my youngest about to pack his backpack and sleeping bag and dust-proof bandana to trade his lacrosse stick for a pick, we were pretty lucky to slide through before the tough times take this trip off the school calendar.

note: pictured above is the wonderful Fourth Grade teacher, Mrs W, who will be leading her young prospectors into Gold Country this week!

Petaluma Arts Center Close to Completion

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time,"
Thomas Merton 1915-1968 'No Man is an Island."

A decade-long dream of the greater Petaluma area's passionate community of visionary local artists will come full circle this Fall with the much-anticipated opening of its inspirational new Art Center.

Extensive renovations have been taking place over the past year at the City's historic Freight Building next to the railway station conversion of the Petaluma Vistor's Center and central transportation hub, a pivotal location where East meets West and major routes into town are heavily traversed.

Now that the expansive shell of this original 1920s era Freight Building has been meticulously renovated (thanks to significant funding from the City of Petaluma and the outstanding talents and determination of local architect Mary Dooley) in as 'green' a standard as possible, final construction phase is about to begin.

The Petaluma Arts Council is ready and set to take over the substantial project at this point, funding  the installation of gallery lighting, office space, a stunning, spiral-themed  reception area, wiring for multi-media  exhibits including film screens, outdoor sculpture space and two classrooms, one of which will house a kiln.

A large-scale private fundraising campaign by the Petaluma Arts Council has met with much success, and matching grants from major donors has enabled the interior vision for the center to progress at an efficient pace according to original timetables.

Much needs to be done, however, to maintain a planned endowment fund for anticipated annual running costs of around $120,000 to $200,000 to be met.

President of the Petaluma Arts Council, Photographer Murray Rockowitz firmly believes the future of this building as truly being a flourishing, financially sound 'community arts center'.  "Meetings, films, string quartets - we're all hearing music in here amongst the art," he said at Saturday's hard hat tour of the center."We are fully dedicated to keeping this place happening all of the time."

"Although we are unclear as to an exact opening date," said founding member and Santa Rosa JC Mahoney Library Librarian Karen Petersen "we do have firm plans for a (Giant Totem Pole and Goddess) sculpture exhibit by Mary Fuller and the late (Sonoma Mountain Painter) Robert McChesney and this year's Day of the Dead festival will transition from the Arts Center from October 19th to November 1st."

With committees hard at work for launch parties and other opening exhibits, there's much to look forward to towards the end of summer '08. "Things like the writer's forum, and the annual poetry walk will launch from here," said Petersen. "I'm anticipating a lot more literary activity."

"Art within our community just continues to grow," said Rockowitz, and: "As large and versatile as this building is, filling it up will be our collective responsibility," added Petersen.

Many such suggestions are filtering in from the community at large and one great idea which is being considered is the prospect of midnight art classes for the city's creative youth. Perhaps a revolving graffiti wall may be the answer to many a city plight!

Anyone interested in joining the Petaluma Arts Council as a donor/member/volunteer or simply to participate in upcoming art  programs, can explore the incredible momentum of the movement at: www.petalumaartscouncil.org.

Mum's Mint Sauce

We always had homemade mint sauce with those standard-import New Zealand lamb chops we so often ate for Sunday lunch in an England of the traditional nineteen-seventies and eighties. It wasn't until foreign travel became affordable for the masses in the nineteen-nineties that the main meal of the week began to gradually veer towards the daring and newly discovered dishes of neighboring countries!

My Mum, as most everyone's Mum I knew at the time, grew mint in the garden like there was no tomorrow. If there was nothing else on the planet to consume, we could have survived on the sprawling tendrils of invasive, aromatic, indestructible mint. Must have been the precipitation levels and the dark, peat soil.

I loved the smell of a homemade mint sauce. It was such a Sunday morning smell. Sharp and sweet and minty with an overwhelming scent of acidic cider vinegar. We slathered it all over those Sunday dinner chops as if our lives depended upon it, spearing new potatoes in Spring to mop up the excess of our saucy plates.

Mint sauce  is sold in jars on supermarket shelves here in the States, but it is not too often served as a homemade accompaniment to the delicious local lamb so frequently enjoyed.

Making a mint sauce like Mum used to concoct so many Sundays ago is not all that troublesome, so very tasty and makes good use of an excessively splendid crop in terracotta pots on my kitchen patio.

It lasts a long, long time, too, so once it's jarred, it's good to go for several tray-baked or barbecue lamb dinners a la mode of our dishy California cuisine.

Mum's Mint Sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup of extremely finely chopped fresh mint leaves

Mix sugar and vinegar and simmer in a saucepan over gentle heat for about 20 minutes. Add the finely chopped fresh mint leaves and pour into a sterile glass canning jar. Seal and shake. Chill before use.

Escaping the Heat

Phew, what a scorching couple of days here in sizzling Sonoma County. Last week the hills were hanging on to that last faint hue of Spring green, this week, we're sweltering in our cookin' valley bed of peachy-golden grasses and temperatures soaring into the low 100s.

With three more weeks of school and non-stop sporting schedules to keep up with, a constant round of baking-hot classroom open-houses and blistering  hours on bleachers is making for a remarkably steamy May.

Shuttered up to the best of our abilities, the house is beginning to take on that distinctive Mediterranean mode of darkened rooms in the heat of the day. It's the only way to survive the lingering heat later on. Opening up the windows for a cross breeze in the evening makes for a little bit of respite, but most folk in these parts are way too used to depending upon the natural air conditioning of the late afternoon ocean winds and overnight fog.

Not so this week. And swimming pools all over town are popular gathering spots for cooling off the body temp and chilling awhile in the shade. And if all else fails, the Petaluma River has been known to hold some promise of a cooling embrace from those relentless rays!

Talking of chilling, we've been slowly hauling cases of newly bottled  wine from the garage into any cool, dark hole-in-the-wall we can find which isn't already full to the brim with squirreled-away bottles of past vintages.

Grab a Passport for Sonoma Valley Wine Weekend

SoCo Wine Country's unofficial 'Passport' control will be adopting a strict Dolce Vita approach this coming weekend (May 16-18), as reams of wine-tasting explorers flood into the region for the hugely popular 2008    Passport to Sonoma Valley Wine Weekend.

Let's face it, who in their right fiscal mind will be jetting off to wine taste in Tuscany this Summer? Forget any romantic notion of pottering around the French countryside in a rented, open-top Citroen, uncovering ancient vines and spectacularly rustic bistro dinners in sun-drenched medieval mountain towns, far off the beaten provincial track.

For who can afford the flight? Sky high fuel prices have pushed air travel to Europe this summer, to dizzying new heights. And with the exchange rate for US dollars in the dumps, lodging, food and basic spends are calculating out at mind-boggling double digit conversions.

This is all good news for U.S. tourist attractions in regions of outstanding beauty and comparable bargain! Not only are we witnessing the arrival of dollar-drenched European holidaymakers, but the locals are also looking around at all the affordable fun to be had within a half-gas-tank day trip.

Not for a long time have we been so besotted with re-discovering "America"! And here in the Bay Area the possibilities for leisure and pleasure could pack a twelve month sabbatical.

Starting with this weekend's gateway to the best of Sonoma Valley's superlative offerings of winery tours, tastings and top participating restaurants, a mere $45 to $60 round-trip passport ticket will take you as close to Italy and France as you're likely to get this summer!

There's a wonderful map on the Sonoma Valley Vintner's website for this weekend's event, with some of my favorites showing up amongst participating wineries and eateries. Check out Gundlach Bundschu just outside of the city of Sonoma, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, as the oldest family-owned winery in California. Gundlach Bundschu wines are wonderful, earthy and authentic and it's all the more enjoyable to sip a vintage glass of GB knowing that the very same family still treads the much trodden paths of this six generation vineyard in the humble footprint of founder, Jacob Bundschu back in the halcyon days of the 1850s.

My top picks also include Bartholomew Park  perhaps not coincidentally owned by members of the aforementioned Bundschu  clan and converted back in 1994 from former colorful incarnations as  birthplace of the California wine industry,  country estate, Catholic archdiocese property, State-owned farm for delinquent women (locals love this part: prostitutes, druggies, crazy chicks from all over Sonoma County kept away from polite civilization and some rumored to haunt the cellars to this day). A stint as Sonoma Valley Hospital and a fire put an end to its institutional use and the Bundschu aquisition has tranformed this terrific old property into a paradise of vinicultural pleasures, with hiking trails in abundance  in this tranquil country setting.

St. Francis (producers of my favorite Cabs), Gothic-style Ledson, B.R. Cohn for smoky Cabs and award winning Chardonnay and eco-green, sustainable Kunde Estate. Can't go wrong.

All that wine tasting and trotting around the scenic grounds make for a hearty appetite. I'm inclined to highlight a gastronomic passport pit-stop for steamed mussels, grassfed steak tartare and matchstick frites at Girl and the Fig on the Plaza in Sonoma, cauliflower risotto and chilled oysters at The General's Daughter just down the road, followed by a rhubarb buckle at The Fig Cafe in Glen Ellen.

Probably a bit late to book a room in the heavenly Kenwood Inn and Spa, but if your appetite is dripping to drive on over to Sonoma Valley at a later date this summer, you'll never want to leave this place. Bit on the pricey side for most of us, but compared to an equivalent brief sojourn in the South of France, hey, it could actually be considered a deal!

Meanwhile, over the mountain just a little ways, the Petaluma Gap grape growers and wine makers are gaining momentum as a colorful consortium of grass-root and increasingly acclaimed vintners and it is fair to predict something along the lines of a "Passport to Petaluma Pinot" annual event on the cards for years to come. Tasting rooms are in the works, with several, such as Adobe Road Winery, Keller Estates and Kastania already welcoming visitors to the rustic off-road tasting experience at this end of Stage Gulch Road.

Last Call for Sowing the Summer Veggies

Wow, Mid-May already. How on earth did that happen? The kids will be out of school in less than a month and that will require a fortitude of steadily flowing tasty meals at the kitchen table: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not to mention the snacks. And the friends. And their astonishing capacity to be duly fed and watered whatever time of day or night!

One way to survive the onslaught of ravenous offspring seemingly round the clock is to put a little time into planting that summer veggie patch. And to benefit from an abundance of backyard bounty through July, August and September, this season's window of growing time is getting smaller by the minute.

According to the North Cal ag experts at UC Davis and the Sonoma County Master Gardener's Guild, summer vegetable gardens in these parts should be well under way by the end of May. There's an art to the ultimate veggie patch, as I learned from our great friends, Lori and Michael, this past weekend. For over the border into Marin, Michael must have rototilled his dear Dad Bill's classic octogenarian's ranch-style backyard into one massive vegetable patch this Spring.

Having put in every tomato under the sun, several rows of swiss chard, radishes, peppers, squash, herbs, corn, you name it, much of Bill's bounty is already producing by the bushel-load. It has proved a perfect multi-generational project for Michael and his Dad, with new-farmer Bill's grandkids pitching in for regular nightly visits to weed and water.

Bill is a story teller and he's been busy weaving his true tales of intrigue from World War II and beyond, as Michael and assorted offspring potter around the veggie patch as contented captive audience. The whole extended family will benefit from the sheer volume and quality of this semi-private organic garden and I'm hoping that with good weather and Lori and Michael's famous hospitality, there will be plenty left over for friends!

In the meantime, Mother's Day past in a bit of a blur for me. Down with a bug, I'd ditched any idea of trawling around the Bay Area on some random Mother's Day cultural pursuit. With inspiration from Lori and Michael's incredible, organic dinner prepared largely with produce from Grandpa Bill's Garden, I took myself  a matronly pew under a convenient sun umbrella and orchestrated the prepping of abandoned veggie beds in my own backyard.

The men in my life (of which there are a few - and yes, they do all know one another) rallied to the cause and couldn't have given me a finer Mother's Day gift if they'd tried (well, maybe an I Phone would have come close, but I do hear that there is finally going to be a new and improved version this summer)!

In addition to the conveniently located lower herb and tomato  garden on the kitchen patio, I'm looking forward to a summer set of raised veggie beds on the hillside. We're planting corn, pumpkins, arugula (in case a certain Mr Obama stops by SoCo for his favorite salad and a glass of Syrah), broccoli raab and squash. Now all I need to do is water, wait, water and work out how to sneakily integrate all of this tasty backyard produce into the summer vacation daily diet a pack of hungry teenage boys.

Note: Not planted your garden, but thinking of putting one in around Petaluma this May? Stop by Valley Vista Elementary School on North Webster Street, Petaluma, this Saturday (May 17th) from 9am to 11am and purchase your plant stock from a selection of 20 types of organic tomatoes. Perennials, herbs and trees will also be on sale from 9 - 11am to raise funds for what is undoubtedly one of Petaluma City School's most prosperous and impressive organic teaching gardens and a role model for many other schools in the area.  My fourth grader is testament to the amazing work of the Valley Vista Teaching Garden, telling me in great detail (and with considerable patience) during Sunday's weeding and digging marathon, all about the benefits of earth worms and how to introduce them back into a tired veggie bed. He's nine. He's saving our coffee grounds, too.

 

Timegames Turn Back The Clock to 1858

Highly historical and 'exceedingly entertaining' education await eager participants in the Andrew Carnagie-founded Petaluma Museum's innovative and imaginative Sesquicentennial collaboration with California's preeminent time-travel tour guide, Timegames.

The brainchild of Renaissance Pleasure Faire and Dickens Christmas Fair creator, Phyllis Patterson, Competitions and Celebrations and a richly interwoven program of first class performing arts promise to transport modern-day Petaluma families and friends back to the heyday of this historic riverfront city's glorious inauguration.

This one-of-a-kind opportunity to delve into the golden era of the delightful 1850s provides historians, history-hobbyists and  theatrical-types of all ages an incredible insight into the actual sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Petaluma at that pivotal turning-point in time.

Patterson, a celebrated California Tourism Department Entrepreneur of the Year, pours her lifelong passion for living history into the perfectly preserved Victorian surrounds of the Petaluma Museum (corner of 4th & B Streets) at a mid-point of the city's 150th year anniversary.

All sorts of splendidious gatherings will take place Saturdays through May and Saturday and Sunday afternoons throughout June, '08, starting at 12.30pm and concluding at 4.30pm.

Participants are highly encouraged to research their own family tree back to 1858, perhaps adopting the historical persona of a long-lost relative of that enterprising era. Registering ahead of the game with Timegames online further explains the rules of play.

Expert costuming advice,  guidance on expressive postures and declamations of the period, and family produced shadow plays and phantasmagoria for the drawing room are all part and parcel of this unique program for Petaluma.

Children are welcome, with Victorian Schoolyard Games galore, timely trivia and my own personal favorite: Miss Pinkerton's School of Etiquette! Don't be surprised at the sight of timeless scribe, Mark Twain himself, as he takes you through his captivating Timeline of the 19th Century.

After a forty year career in living British history event production on the massive scale of 20,000 people plus days at the legendary Renaissance Faires out at Black Point,Novato, Phyllis Patterson has hardly settled into semi-retirement. Her fascination with Gold Rush era American history right here in California could well put Petaluma on the map as a leading living history West Coast center.

Highly experimental yet completely authentic in her educational techniques, Patterson has pin-pointed the most significant historical era of her home base here in Northern California to promote a deeper understanding and appreciation of our incredible cultural heritage.

As a member of the Petaluma Museum, it is heartening to see such a terrific array of ever changing exhibits and living, breathing  lectures and lively events that make a small city such as ours so proud to be in touch with our historical past.

And it is especially poignant during this year's Sesquicentennial celebrations to witness our community  experiencing such a vivid slice of the life and times of 1858.

note: although I have worked with Phyllis Patterson extensively in past productions, this post was written in its entirety from the perspective of a captivated, local bystander and an admirer of her remarkable verve and spirit for the teaching of living history!

Coming Home to Paradise

Petaluma-based Come Home to Cooking's Kay Baumhefner knows better than anyone just how important it is to have a grand plan (or a simple one for that matter) for just what to do best and most efficiently (and deliciously) with all of the incredible bounty currently available at local Farmer's Markets.

The season is just beginning, with a multitude of farmer's markets in Sonoma County and Marin positively teaming with abundance. "The simplest, most economical, delicious and healthy food starts with fresh, in-season ingredients gathered as close to the source as possible," says Kay, as she invites us all to learn how to shop and cook what's best and readily available: "instead of heading out the door with a pre-determined list that so often leads to disappointment or frustration."

Queen of local fresh cuisine, Kay's new Come Home to Paradise class is in fact, an innovative monthly field-trip to the outstanding Marin Farmer's Market, in which hands-on culinary students will not only learn the ins and outs of how a farmer's market works, they'll get to meet Kay's favorite vendors and see, smell, handle and taste all  that's best right now.

With the first class meeting at the market 9.00am next Thursday (May 15th), you'll have plenty of time to shop for yourself with your newly acquired professional know-how. Mouthwatering brainstorming sessions about what to make with your edible treasures await, as does a healthy and delicious picnic  lunch in good company by the pond.

"Tables, boxes and baskets are brimming with color, texture and aromas to inspire your cooking and whet your appetite" says Kay, who snapped the gorgeous pics above to share with us on her visit to the Marin Farmer's Market this week.

"People of all ages and inclinations are brought together over their shared desire to eat well and experience the benefits of what their community has to offer," says Kay. "No matter how tired, grumpy or stressed I might be on my way to the farmer's market, I always leave it feeling restored and reconnected to my joie de vivre!"

To sign up for one of Kay's Come Home to Paradise Farmer's Market Field Trips, call her at 707 778 7143 or email kaybaumhefner@hotmail.com

Judging by this final snapshot, Kay's hubby , winemaker Don Baumhefner  looks to have worn some leather off his boots.... at least he's not complaining. Don's clearly pacing himself for the delicious dinner to follow!