Southern Sonoma Country Life

Pedal Power

Perusing this Monday morning's headlines over my cup of PG Tips I was not surprised to see that oil prices have surpassed $143 a barrel for the first time in U.S. history. Oil is officially double the price that it was at this time last year with the price of gas at the pumps also hitting an all-time high.

The ouch factor is effecting pocket books big time, and in an unprecedented effort to economize (and reduce the carbon footprint) increasing numbers of committed Californians are hitting the kick stand and cruising around town to work and play by good, old-fashioned pedal power.

Taking the bull by the horns, I've been brandishing backpacks and water bottles and the sensible shoes and boycotting the monster car whenever possible this summer. It's all the rage in rivertown too, as the boys and I discovered in full force on this morning's meander downtown to the post office and pit-stop at a local fresh watering hole!

Sitting outdoors on the sunny side of the Boulevard for a brief spot of refreshment, we overheard a terrific diatribe by a bunch of starving college students.

"We haven't used a car since school got out," said one. "And we've figured out it's way faster as well as cheaper to ride our bikes to work and the store."

"I'm actually enjoying shopping for my food on a daily basis, by bicycle," said the cool boy with a beard. "We met my Mom at a restaurant for dinner one night and we beat her there on the bikes."

The conversing on economical benefits of bicycles went on for quite a while. The sight of so many cyclists taking to the sidewalks and bike paths reminds me of the year I spent working in Cambridge, England, the quintessential college community where town and gown has since decades past taken almost entirely to pedal power as opposed to clogging the curious alleyways and commons with cars.

We have a long way to go in the suburban areas of America, where car has been king for so many years. Despite growing ranks of luxury leisure cyclists taking to the back roads of Marin County and wine country on thousand dollar models of mechanical supremacy (with pricey Tour-De-France style outfits to match), it's the burgeoning round-town cycling bug which will make the biggest difference within our communities and personal cash-flow.

Huffing and puffing my way back up B Street on the steep return trip portion of this morning's foray into fitness and efficiency (with tonight's dinner of Tagliaferri's fresh ravioli tucked carefully into my backpack), I took note of at least two middle age couples cycling merrily downhill on tandem bikes to take care of their weekly errands. No spandex required. And the scores of teenage girls who gracefully pedal around P'Town in their summer frocks and sandals set a trendier tone for bicycle transportation as the norm.

Helmets are essential as a legal requirement for under 18s and a good idea for anyone attempting the rugged roads of coastal Sonoma County and beyond, but to potter down town to the post office and back it's not an absolute necessity (taking care at crossroads) to make it a bad hair day. No excuses. Get on yer' bike!

Note: Northern California wildfires are still blazing into the thousands of individual corners of the countryside, though today's cooler climate is diffusing the risk levels of additional blazes. The sky over Petaluma is blue with fluffy white clouds for the first time in a week. Perfect for bike riding. Make hay while the sun shines..

Caramel - A Lebanese Leg Wax

I have heard of a few things in my time, but never that Lebanese ladies like to use home made sticky, sweet, hot caramel to remove the fine hairs on their upper lips, legs, and other more unmentionable places.

Makes a lot of sense, in reality. After all, it's just sugar and water and so practical to pop a little caramel to the side for a tasty treat in the middle of all that painful follicle extraction!

There is so much that we don't know about other cultures, even today when we take so much pride in being global citizens and worldly wise.

Noelle is from the Lebanon and she's very proud of her Arabic heritage, despite the fact that she has spent far more of her life here in California, than she did growing up in the Middle East. Yet, the Lebanese culture is still deeply ingrained, and so for her birthday this year,  Noelle decided to induce a bunch of her closest girlfriends into the social civility and delicious flavors of a Saturday night in the Lebanon.

Not that we had to travel any further than her pretty little P'Town front room, for our hostess had cooked up a Middle Eastern storm to make any old Lebanese lady proud! A trip into Santa Rosa to Traverso's famous deli unearthed some amazing Lebanese wines and a bottle of Ouzo to accompany Noelle's signature dessert dish of home made, melt in the mouth Baklava. Falafel, Tabouhle, pita, baba ghanouj, hummus,  green beans in tomato sauce, olives, lamb and onions....

Grand finale of this festive evening was a screening of Caramel, the lovely, laugh-out-loud Lebanese movie making a hit in the West this year. After witnessing the aforementioned waxing scene opening, I was as wide-eyed as the party guests beside me. Not a single inch of familiar ground to an American audience and I'm ashamed to say that as I had to duck out in order to track down galavanting offspring, all I really know about the Lebanon is Noelle's incomparable cooking!

Languish in a Literary Escape

Fancy yourself on a magic carpet this July, as we brace ourselves for virtual travel plans in a season of extortionate air and road trip costs?

Dive into San Francisco/Beirut author Rabih Alameddine's glorious, gorgeous and bewitching "The Hakawati" , which Bay Area great Amy Tan describes as "Both genius in and out of the Ink Bottle".

Gifted to me for the birthday by Naomi (who shares with me a very similar taste in literary diversions), The Hakawati has something for everyone looking for an outstanding read this Summer. True love, family saga, adventure, fable, informative, adventure, this new classic is said to be the bomb when it comes to all of the above!

After the fires are out (this weekend will offer a critical turning point in wildfire ravaged Northern Cal), and the air quality steadily improves, long, lazy evenings outdoors with an unforgettable book are begging to be indulged in. There's nothing to compare with the heartbreaking beauty of a superbly written story sweeping the reader into its magical realm as the soft, peachy glow of an evening sunset bathes the page, the porch, the paving stones leading back into the open kitchen where a crisp bottle of pinot gris is chilling in the fridge for supper.

No relief in the skies above Sonoma County as we fast approach a second weekend of raging wildfires in Northern California.

Worst effected this week has been Mendocino County, with thousands of homeowners under evacuations, and intolerable smoke cover making living conditions throughout the North an on-going nightmare.

Firefighters are fearing more lightning strikes this Saturday and Sunday which would only exacerbate the crisis in the North.

Grasses like these on the outskirts of West Petaluma are a tinder-box, with fire-season conditions coming several months earlier than typically expected in these dry, parched parts.

It's surprising and more than somewhat alarming to see firework booths popping up all over downtown Petaluma this week, in anticipation of Fourth of July fundraising efforts for non-profits, Church groups and sporting teams.

Many at-risk Northern Cal communities have already taken unprecedented steps to place a ban on fireworks this Fourth of July. For those who do elect to allow the night skies to be fully illuminated next week, the critical eye of each city's firefighting departments will be of immeasurable importance.

Meanwhile, masks are making a summer statement all over Sonoma County and most heavily in the fire ravaged Northern counties beyond, as residents ready for another new day of smoke and critical air conditions.

Tastiest SoCo Summer School

 

Perhaps you are not one of the fortunate few to make it over to Europe this summer for a fortnight packed with long, lazy, luscious picnics by the Loire and panini in the Pyrenees!

Who would blame you after all? Have you taken a look at the price of international air travel this season? Coupled with the costs of paying premium for your baggage and a bite to eat, the outrageously dire exchange rate is keeping even the most ardent of ex-pats on U.S. home soil this sweltering, sizzling, summer 2008 season.

Truth is there is plenty to keep us all occupied here in the grand old U.S. of A. And it's kind of nice to not have to deal with out-dated passports, jet-lag, and Euro conversion just when you're feeling the need to kick back for a bit.

So, if you're stuck in the Bay Area for the summer duration, don't be moping around bemoaning the state of the union and the fact that practically everyone else in the world is glad to see the back of us Americans for once in a long, long while.

For there's plenty of work to be done in the 'hood, rediscovering who we really are from the inside out. Sound like a lot to digest? Not really, readers. For this summer it is all about pairing down, simplifying the savoir faire, learning to live a little more responsibly with the bountiful resources available to us in this abundant country.

Which leads me (finally, you say) to the point of the post, which is the sensational summer school program of SoCo's own home wonder chef supreme, the inimitable Kay Baumhefner. For Kay has cleverly concocted a delicious series of summer school classes to capture the essence of a Sonoma County sweltering season, in which all we really want to do is pack a picnic and be off to the Russian River or the beach for the rest of the decadent day.

"Picnics happen when you pick up your pail and shovel," says Kay, from her inviting West Petaluma teaching kitchen. "Come play in my kitchen and we'll build layers of flavor."

One of Kay's most appetizing classes this summer school season is undoubtedly her traditional red, white and blue Buttermilk Fried Chicken, with Red and White Summer Bean Salads and Blueberry Shortcakes.
How about Zuccini Blossoms, Sauted, Roasted and Stuffed? 

Staying around town? For more information contact Kay at:kaybaumhefner@hotmail.com.

Kay Baumhefner is the chef-owner of Come Home to Cooking, where she teaches small classes in her professional home kitchen. Before opening this school, Kay was the executive chef at Della Fattoria Café & Bakery in Petaluma, which was awarded a rating of 27 (=“extraordinary to perfection”) for its food by the 2007 Zagat Survey.  She is an experienced teacher who has been instrumental in creating and shaping a number of Sonoma County restaurants, while also working as a consultant on recipe and menu development. When her career first turned to cooking over thirty years ago, the only way she could get truly fresh, flavor rich ingredients was to grow them herself.  Now she is grateful to take advantage of the abundance in our local farmers’ markets as the inspiration for her seasonal, country cuisine.

 

Lunch at Alice's Edible Wonderland

First I read the book. Alice and Chez Panisse, by Thomas McNamee. Then I actually rented the movies. Marcel Pagnol's 1930's black and white trilogy: Marius, Fanny and Cesar. On Netflix. One at a time. Way too much to watch over a weekend. The type of old movie that no one else in the house has any interest in viewing, whatsoever.

And I can't say that I blame them. So incredibly long and indulgent was each one (I fell asleep for a good portion of the 2 1/2 hour initiation to the pre-World-War II fictitious fish restaurant on the port of Marseille).

Having lived in the Bay Area for the past 18 years, it was positively atrocious for such a true believer in fresh and local and unabashedly homemade to admit that I'd never so much as set foot over the front doorstep of Chez Panisse,  Alice Waters' American cult cafe which lays claim to changing this country's attitude towards food.

For one thing a meal at Alice's Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley bistro is positively guaranteed to get a serious vice grip on the meager weekly earnings of the average Bay Area diner. And secondly, it's not the type of place to dine on a whim when the kids are off for the evening. Reservations are involved and considerably lengthy.

A mission to finally pull up a chair and tuck a Chez Panisse white napkin into my cleavage finally came to fruition when a couple of close pals put a hold on their day planners for a three hour, ultra-indulgent round-trip lengthy lunch excursion over to Shattuck Avenue.

Creeping up the narrow staircase like a bunch of naughty school girls skipping campus, we'd certainly made a dint in the days industrious achievements. And we were determined to enjoy every minute...

Service was a bit slow, to be honest. Yet the lunch time menu was as marvelous as we'd expected, with meat and fish and produce plucked from farms, ranches and fisheries with only the most sustainable practices.

I was delighted to spot Petaluma Gap Grape and Wine Alliance board member Mark Pasternak's Fried Devil's Gulch Ranch Rabbit on the cafe's lunch menu along with roasted fennel salad and pine-nut gremolata. The Pasternak's outstanding, rustic sausages and meats are featured on the holy grail menus of other such greats as The French Laundry, A16, The Ritz Carlton and Rubicon.

If you've ever met Mark, you'll know that the demand for his Devil's Gulch goodies has not gone to his head. Even if he takes his cowboy hat off, you'll find him as down to earth as the rabbits and vines that he has more than dedicated his life work to tending to on the family farm.

And seeings as I'd quite coincidentally indulged in none other than a Devil's Gulch sausage and squash and pesto pasta dish for dinner at home the night before, I opted for a simple lunch of white sea bass and a salad of little gem beets and creamy, garlic lettuce. With a glass of Chez Panisse Zin for good measure. Brightly colored and zippy, though young.

Couldn't quite evoke the rowdy, robust atmosphere of old Marseille somehow, but I suppose the downstairs dining room is really what it's all about. Will have to make that the next mission. Now that I'm done with the book, the movie, the mid-day introduction and all......

Wooly Weed Whackers of West Petaluma

Snapped this pic this morning on foot on the way down the hill to walk the youngest boy to Wildlife Day Camp. We were several minutes on the tardy side as there was such a wide variety of the intriguing natural world to take in en route!

Here are a few members of the flock of wonderful West Petaluman wooly weed whackers, presently employed by the city of Petaluma to chow down the perilous dry grassland which divides the hilly Victoria neighborhood from the older neighborhoods of this riverside community.

So much smaller is the carbon footprint of this industrious flock, that it's an immense improvement for the environmental impact of razing excessive acreage of such high fire-risk grasslands.

And it's all the rage here in Northern California, with open space at Infineon Raceway acting as HQ for the herders and their flocks. Vineyards throughout wine country are utilizing the services of wooly workers, though the little bleaters do need to be diverted at the opportune time to avoid munching down the precious new growth vines.

It may not be rocket science, but it certainly is grand to get a glimpse of practical nature in numbers, gradually traversing the golden hillsides behind an unobtrusive, temporary fencing.

 

Mr Bing's Cherry Picking Party

 

Mr Bing's annual Cherry Picking Party is the toast of a West Side Petaluma neighborhood at the end of each June. For Brian's big old Bing (tree) topples over with the ripest, ruby-red cherries at this time of year. Bag loads of the loveliest fruit found its way home with the most productive party guests at the end of this sweetest of Sonoma County summer soirees.

After an hour of impressive displays of muscular dexterity, cherry picking party-goers quashed a laborer's thirst with wines and artisan cheeses, as Mr B and his hostess-with-the-mostest Michelle put on a splendid outdoor feast of spit-roasted, garlic and herb infused lamb and summer salad greens with shaved Parmesan.

Had to duck out prior to al fresco movie screening and the sharing of a fancy fresh fruit trifle (yours truly knows the way to Mr B's ex-pat hosting heart). Topped with crumbled Cadbury's Flake on a bed of whipped cream, custard, strawberries, raspberries and sherry-soaked lady fingers, the Trifle was a late-night hit according to highly reliable source who stumbled in with even more bagged cherries just before yesterday turned into today!

Looking at the haul we've brought home on the countertop this morning, I've made a mental calculation of at least two pies, a giant cobbler and ....wait for it .... a mason jar of cherries in brandy for dramatic ladling gestures over other-wise typically stodgy Christmas-time desserts. A tablespoon of brandied cherries and juice would work wonders on a simple choccie loaf cake with lashings of whipped cream, mascapone maybe....

And taking inspiration from Mouse in the Pantry's Mel who made my mouth water this morning for her sun-brewed ice tea, here's a nifty way to sun-cook cherry preserves for that Christmas treat:

Brandied Bing Cherries - Recipe by Frances Rivetti

1quart of ripe bing cherries
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup brandy
1 quart canning jar

Wash & core cherries and chop off stems to 1/2 inch long. Pack into canning mason jar until full to the brim. Add sugar and brandy. Close the jar with a new rubber seal. Shake lightly. Stand in sunny position outside for one whole, summer month! Store in a cool, dark place through Fall and early winter. Perfect for the holidays! You'll be glad you  took the time. (If you are reading this in the UK, then don't bother with the solar cooking,unless, by some freak of nature, July or August turns out nice. Simply stick your jar of prized drunken cherries in the back of the pantry til  Boxing Day when you need something swell to stick on top of the frozen cheesecake to take to the in-laws!)

Raging Wildfire Smoke Over Sonoma County

Here's the view of smoky Sunday skies over Sonoma County and Northern Marin as snapped from the top of the vineyard this morning.

Some 400 wildfires are reportedly raging across the steep, grassy, bone dry terrain of Northern California this weekend, following several days of extreme and steamy early summer temperatures.

The smoke that we can smell inside the house this weekend is being sucked across county lines from some 3,500 acres of burning prime vineyard property in neighboring Napa Valley.

By the time the boys went upstairs to bed last night, their bathroom was filled with a dense cloak of smoke which had smuggled like a thug through an open window. There's an eerie atmosphere enveloping Northern California communities, as residents such as ourselves are keeping a close eye on the safety and security of open spaces.

Many neighbors are not wasting a minute in escaping out to the beach for some respite, yet the oceanic breezes of the Pacific are packing a slight punch over Sonoma County today, as temperatures are gradually climbing back down into the comfortable 80s.

Over 150 homes were evacuated over the hills into Fairfield, a notoriously windy, hot, sticky, slightly more  central valley community positioned between wine country and Sacramento.

These are the perils of life in paradise. Wildfire, floods, earthquakes. Keeping an emergency supply in the garage is a good idea for times of extreme natural disaster. Although we seem to be fairly safe so close to the coast on this occasion, all it takes is a foolishly discarded cigarette to set off a massive blaze. Certainly no campfires in the covered pit this week.

Off to Brian's annual Cherry Picking Party tonight. We might need to don gas masks to complete the technical operation of this gastronomic event. Actually, there is one hanging on the end of oldest son's bed. Right by the side of a vintage life jacket. Haven't ever asked him about the logic of his eclectic bedroom decor. Maybe it's because he's a Californian born and bred. Natural disaster preparedness being in-bred!

Monday Update: News this morning is that neighboring Mendocino County to the North is now incredibly under siege from out of control wildfires. Lightning-sparked blazes are the culprit, according to up-to-date media reports throughout the region. Grassland, conifer and oak forests are on fire in areas which have not seen this type of devastation in the last quarter century. Marin County firetrucks were filling up with water from hydrants in our quiet hillside neigborhood as I made my way home from the cherry picking party late last night. Not sure where they were heading, North or East, but no doubt all fire trucks in the region are on full-throttle right now. Do we have enough water supply for this scale of a regional wildfire season?

Sneak Peek at Pinot Kingdom Club

 

There are wine clubs and then there are the wine clubs.

Wine aficionados who've fallen prey to frequently signing away their dwindling expendable income following the proverbial sip, swirl and tasting sessions at jolly little boutique winery events will be the first to tell you if they've found a subsequent value in stingingly pricey club membership!

In order to avoid the cliche clubs in which rapidly overwhelmed and over-extended members end up stockpiling a wine collection they can't actually be bothered to drink (is that possible? Yes, surprisingly so!) a novice or even experienced wine collector is well advised to calculate the risk factor in trusting regular shipments of wine selections to the wine club's experienced sommelier.

Enter center stage Sonoma County's sommelier to the stars, this country's first official film festival sommelier and fellow Petaluman, Chris Sawyer.

It was clear that something was sweetly simmering over in Sonoma in Sawyer's world of wine, he'd been awfully quiet of late in the homelands over the Gulch.....

Turns out that Chris and his sommelier business partner, fellow Director and Co-Founder Debra Del Fiorentino have cooked up a sizzling dish of a brand new source for wine clubs, tasting events, online wine and accessory sales.

Wine Radius is almost but not quite officially launched, despite a flourishing national waiting list working its way steadily into the thousands.

With four distinctive wine clubs under the Wine Radius umbrella, Sawyer and Del Fiorentino have an insider's invaluable knowledge of the inner workings of the next generation superstar winemakers here in California wine country and beyond.

"The exclusive, limited edition wines that we are expertly sourcing for Wine Radius are the superstar wine makers' own individual labels," said Chris in the shade of a steamy Saturday afternoon outdoor preview at the new Wine Radius HQ in a tastefully redecorated original Frank Lloyd Wright one story property in downtown Sonoma.

"We are extremely fortunate to be working closely with the winemaker's themselves," he said. "And together we've created a super, love, love, love list of incredible wines."

With this level of enthusiasm and passion for customized wine and food experiences, wine education, regional and varietal tastings, personalized wine clubs, portfolio management and sommelier assistance, it's hardly surprising that thirsty clients are literally hammering down the electronic hatches to get a glimpse of the Wine Radius lists.

Reds, Whites and Beyond features delicious selections of the finest international and domestic wines that Chris and Debra can get their hands on. Every other month members are promised a prime red pick and one tasty selection of white, dry pink, port or dessert-style wine.

Young Turks Club offers an intriguing selection of new red and white wines produced by talented winemakers of the future.

Wine Radius International offers unique opportunities to taste top-ranked red and white wines from the greatest grape growing regions of the world, on a monthly basis. Whites will include Rieslings, Sauvingnon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Albarino and top-drawer Champagne and sparkling wines. Reds range from the finest selection of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barolos, Brunellos, Chianti Classics, Super Tuscans, Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Priorat and Ports.

Pinot Kingdom Club provides the best of both worlds, with quarterly deliveries of stunning new releases of Pinot Noir from the West Coast and collectable Red Burgundies from the Old World.

Chris and Debra are onto something very cool with their new wine club concept. Much more appealing to the younger and less stuffy wine collectors gathering steam across the states. There are currently only eight states in the U.S. unable to receive shipments of wine club wines, but chances are if you are reading a blog about wine, you'll be located in a prime spot for a nice package of Wine Radius selections to be sent on its way to your front porch!

Check out the website for Wine Radius or phone 707 933 1649 for more info on how to inch your way up that list in time for the first shipments!

Pictured above: Chris Sawyer of Wine Radius, Jeff Maddux, of Vinformativ and fellow Brit (& possible long-lost distant relative) Graham Parnell, wine competitions, seminars and consulting