Southern Sonoma Country Life

Plan a Holiday Photo Session with Victoria Webb During the Festival of Trees

What's not to love about this deal? One of my favorite local portrait photographers paired with one of the most beautiful home decor stores in the Bay Area - right here at Theater Square during the first annual Fabulous Women's Festival of Trees event.

Stop in at emma at home in the illuminated Square, opposite the movie theater December 9th or 10th between 6-8 pm for a pro holiday portrait sitting.

Victoria Webb will set up a festive studio in the store both evenings. Sitting fee is $10 and you'll be able to pick out specific photos online in the store for package purchases.

While you're there, check out designer Emma Gardner's gorgeous winter line of rugs, textiles, cushions, cozy throws, holiday scented candles.

15% of emma at home purchases made during the photo shoot sessions will be donated to the Festival of Trees charities: Mentor Me Petaluma, The Rwanda School Project and Petaluma Educational Foundation.

San Francisco's Crown and Crumpet Tea Room Hosts Book Signing with Sonoma County's Stars of Kiki & Coco in Paris

San Francisco's stylish and super-modern tea room Crown & Crumpet is hosting a “Kiki & Coco in Paris” book signing tea party on December 9th, 2011 from 4 to 6 PM for Bay Area moms and daughters - and anyone who'd love a signed copy of this gorgeous new book by Southern Sonoma County-based photographer Stephanie Rausser and writer Nina Gruener !

Coco the doll's designer Jess Brown, of Petaluma's chic store Maude will also be attending this special tea, selling her exquisite signature dolls and signing. Tickets to this event are $48 for adults (includes a copy of the book) and $10 for kiddies.

Tickets go on sale on Gilt City Thursday, December 1st, after 11am and as space is limited to 60 people, it's a buy now not later idea!

Donated Holiday Decor Brings Cheer to City Wide Schools

Everywhere we turn at this time of year there is clearly one quite desperate need after another requiring charity within our community. 

Most everyone does their bit in whatever way they are able to contribute, be it with monetary (tax deductible) donations, volunteer time or more simple gestures of spontaneous kindness and goodwill.

One of my favorite and easiest of ways to give back on a regular basis is to load my car's trunk with household items and clothing we no longer utilize and drop off the haul at Petaluma's Alphabet Soup Thrift Store on Western Avenue.

I stopped in yesterday to take some photos of the recently expanded store's glowing, holiday window displays and a well-stocked holiday decor department inside. Sales of other people's gently used, generously donated holiday wreaths, table ware, tree skirts and ornaments made for a record day at the cash register at Alphabet Soup last Sunday, boosting income for Petaluma Educational Foundation to distribute to schools throughout the city in the form of special program and grant funding.

Never before has education in our city been more in need of Petaluma Educational Foundation's vision to fund the future of its 13,000 plus students.

As you make room at home for your holiday decor this month, do keep a box or bag handy for donations of any gently used items that might be outdated to you, but likely will make for a treasured, affordable find for another.

Alphabet Soup will pick up large items of furniture in good condition, upon special request. Call Direction of Operations Rodger Swan at 707 778 4818.

 

 

Green Your Holiday Shopping this Weekend in Southern Sonoma County

 Gifts that give twice are all the more meaningful during times of increased economic unrest. Rather than line the pockets of large, retail conglomerates, let's focus on looking at the labels of quality, handmade goods that we select this holiday season, for the very best of seasonal gift giving.

Downtown Petaluma's wonderful One Planet Handcrafted Fair Trade Store is brimming with gorgeous color and texture and meticulously handmade, artistic offerings from creative people from scores of developing countries around the world. And its well worth noting that there are also lots of U.S. made products emerging in the fair trade market place.

A fair trade purchase not only provides essential income for artists who are painstakingly working to ease poverty for themselves, their families and their communities, it helps to preserve traditional arts and handcrafts, bring us closer to other cultures and reminds us of the beauty and utility of an authentic, individually created item of clothing, accessory or household item.

This Saturday only, December 3rd, 2011, you'll receive a 10% discount all day long when you drop by to shop at One Planet during the store's annual Open House. There'll be hot chocolate, desserts and a chance to win free gifts in a special drawing that day.

As one of the very best locally owned stores in which to buy gifts here in Petaluma, One Planet is extending is opening hours this holiday season. From December 15th the store will be open Thursdays and Fridays until 8 pm and Sundays until 6 pm. Monday December 19th until Friday December 23rd the store will be open until 8 pm. Shop Christmas Eve for those loveliest of last minute gifts until 3 pm.

One Planet's Noelle Marshall is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to telling customers the rich stories behind each and every one of her store's many product lines from around the world. She's more than happy to walk shoppers through the background and history of enchanting items.

Be sure to ask her about this season's hottest item, the fast selling knitted texting gloves, made with Alpaca wool in Peru ($28). Her Creative Brazil jewelry line continues to be a best seller with lots of new designs in store ready for this unique line's dedicated local following and for those yet to discover the outstanding beauty, style and quality of fair trade jewelry.

There are lots and lots of items for the little ones in your life, sweet knitted ponchos, hats, mittens, dolls, musical instruments and more. For the guys, too, cool, cotton t-shirts are especially popular.

Cottage Gardens of Petaluma's annual Holiday Open House is one for the calendar this weekend, Saturday, December 3rd & Sunday December 4th, 2011  from 9 am - 5 pm both days.

This delightful Holiday Open House features complimentary piping hot coffee, hot apple cider and delicious homemade cookies and treats to nibble on while browsing living gifts of greenery for the yard and home.

Receive a 10% discount off everything in the nursery. What a great way to shop for the gardener on your holiday gift list, as well as pick up naturally beautiful holiday decor, vintage ornaments, fresh greenery and bulbs.

3995 Emerald Drive, Petaluma, 707.778.8025

 If you haven’t yet made the pilgrimage out west for a visit to McEvoy Ranch, don’t let this holiday season slip by as a stranger to the sleeping giant that is the artisan olive oil Mecca of our region.

Stock up on the estate’s newly bottled 2011 Olio Nuovo and all sorts of delicious seasonal gifts at McEvoy’s annual Holiday Open House and Community Milling Day, Sunday, December 4^th 11am to 3.30pm.

Though admission is free, reservations are required. And if you happen to have a haul of pest-free Tuscan olives from a tree or two in your backyard, make the most of this fabulous fruit by harvesting and combining with others in the area to make your own communal oil. Call 707 778 2307 or rsvp online at mcevoyranch.com.

 

Most Scrumptuous Vanilla Ice Cream Ever Award - Straus Family Creamery

Youngest son and myself set ourselves a task to make pecan pie this Thanksgivining without corn syrup.

Results were pretty darn good, if I say so myself, though a little more runny and gooey than would otherwise be expected due to buttery, brown sugar concoction as opposed to the corn syrup standard route.

Needless to say, the vanilla ice cream pairing had to be up to task. It's not an easy task, standing before the freezer section of ice cream choices in either the Petaluma Market or Whole Foods here in the heart of artisan ice cream country.

In the end, I opted for Straus Family Creamery Superior Organic Vanilla Bean. First time and for sure not the last.

What I loved best, taste aside, was the natural look of this ice cream. If you're going to go to the lengths of making a pie from scratch, don't settle for anything less. Sublime. Local, organic, fantastic!

Handmade for the Holidays - Saturday and Sunday, Dec 3-4, 2011

7th Annual Lighting of the Snowmen - A Sonoma Valley Tradition

Wishing You and Yours a Happy Thanksgiving

"Forever on Thanksgiving Day; The heart will find the pathway home."

Wilbur D. Nesbit

Family, Heritage and History - One of Sonoma County's Best Loved Homes On the Market for First Time in Nearly Half a Century

T'is the season to celebrate hearth, home and family. What finer example of all three than the evocative charms of this outstanding heritage house in the prestigious D Street neighborhood of Southern Sonoma County's historic West Petaluma.

For full story click here to be redirected to sister site, West Petaluma Living.

Introducing Petaluma-Based Tresor Cuisine - A Passion For French Pastries

If you're harboring dreams of ditching the corporate world to follow your passion, here's a real-life, feel-good story for you. Though we are all masters of our own destiny to a certain extent and I do believe that if you dream it you can do it, there are rarely any short cuts to stumble into when it comes to gettings it all exactly right.

With this in mind, plenty great cooks in this area have dabbled in the fantasy business concept of launching their own artisan baked goods business, but not too many would-be pastry entrepreneurs step up to the proverbial plate after years of meticulous planning, international baking experience and such outstanding new product appeal that orders are now being shipped to aficionados around the country.

Meet Greg and Mary Schramer of Petaluma-based Tresor Cuisine. The former Southern Cal corporate world professionals moved to town earlier this year to be close to family and to officially launch their exquisitely produced, throroughly researched, tried and tested, traditional French pastry line along with online sales of artisan salt, spices, cocoa and sugar.

Initial customers are lawyers and corporate executives around the country, ordering these very best of French baked goods available in the U.S. for classy and authentic gift giving.

Yet the Schramer’s have such a passion for their adopted home town of Petaluma, they’d like to let the locals know that they’ll happily hand deliver orders placed in the area for holiday parties, home entertaining and gifts this holiday season and beyond.

Having sampled the melt-in-your-mouth wonders of Tresor Cuisine, I was quite surprised at the reasonable price point for these high-end, artisan offerings, all beautifully packaged  and beribboned and encased for optimum freshness.

Classically trained as French chefs, once they'd taken the leap of faith to launch their culinary second careers, the Schramer’s followed their hearts from L.A. to study at the French Culinary Institute in New York and a further six months of intense and exhilarating kitchen work in four star restaurants in Brittany and the French Alps.

Back in New York, the couple furthered their fast track training at several classic French restaurants, pastry shops, bakeries and catering companies before returning to Los Angeles for a couple of years to decide upon their chosen path as chefs. "It took years of planning," said Greg. 

After many visits North, they set their hearts on a path that led them to Petaluma and the right timing to establish their own, boutique company."Eventually we'd like to have a storefront," said Greg. Though for now, their website is their portal to the world of French pastry lovers.

Francophiles in the U.S. who are familiar with Paris-based chocolatier, pâtissier Pierre Hermes no longer have to travel to the French capital to taste the quality of Hermes' legendary Bordeaux-style Cannelés.

Tresor Cuisine's sumptuous version of these small caramelized cakes are baked in small futed molds until they develop a crunchy, deeply caramelized exterior, with a moist and custardy interior to rival their famous French counterpart. "To eat a Pierre Hermes' Cannelé was an ephinany," shared Mary and Greg who made it their mission to create a cake every bit as unforgettable.