Southern Sonoma Country Life

Check Out this Great Local Give Shoes/Get Shoes Charity Event

OK, time to 'fess up. How many pairs of shoes do you have in your closet that you'll likely never slip your dainty feet into ever again? And how many pairs are lurking around in the shadows thathave never even seen the light of day since leaving the store? Chances are for most of us, at least one or two, right?

Here's a grand solution to free up a little space for some sweet new footwear to find their merry way righ back onto your shoe rack:

Southern Sonoma County-based style guru, TV personality owner of Clothe Your Spirit Image Consultancy and author of Growing More Beautiful, Jennifer Robin is hosting a Give Shoes/Get Shoes Event.

Our favorite fashion advisor came across the idea after hearing how her long-time Feldenkrais Method mobility teacher Kathy James (a strong and mighty 60), is riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles on the AIDS/LifeCyle ride this summer, from June 3rd through 10th.

James will spend a week pedalling 545 miles to raise funds and awareness for AIDS research and people living with the disease.

"I was thinking of ways to support her as I was pondering the fact that I was never going to wear many of my shoes again and a light bulb went off in my head. The rest is history," says Robin.

She's hosting a Shoe Adoption Event with a daily Facebook posting of like-new shoes available for only $10!

All proceeds go to sponsor Kathy James on her AIDS ride. Petaluma consignment clothing store OOH-LA-LOFT pitched in 25 pairs of fabulous footwear.

"I’ve been having fun photographing each pair and watching to see who claims them on Facebook," says Robin. "It is not too late for you to participate, even if you choose to avoid the nefarious social media."

Email Jennifer Robin your shoe size at jenyrobin@aol.com and she will send photos of shoes still available for adoption. Or call her at (707) 769-1172.

To sweeten the deal, San Francisco's branch of SHOES-N-FEET is donating a new pair of custom fitted shoes. Every person that donates $10 to James' ride will be entered into a drawing for the shoe of their choice.

Kathy James will pick the winner from all entrants when she returns from LA in June. "I am taking donations, or you can go directly to Kathy’s donation page," says Robin. "Let me know you’ve contributed and I’ll enter you in the drawing."

Robin offers the following tips on her blog for wearing comfort shoes with style:

• Build your outfits around the kinds of shoes you are able to wear. If you are shoe challenged, don’t leave them as an afterthought. A pencil skirt does not look good with Birkenstocks, but slouchy long linen pants do.
• If your shoes are not thrilling, distract the eye and send it elsewhere

 

Hemingway and Gellhorn HBO Special Prompts a Classic Selection of Summer Reads

As soon as I'm finished reading Fitzgerald's classic 1934 Tender is the Night, I'm moving on to his pal Ernest Hemingway's last novel to be published, his story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal, The Old Man and the Sea.

Hemingway was said to have been devastated when his writer friends began passing away, starting with Fitzgerald, of a heart attack, aged 44, in 1940. The friends had been a part of the American ex-patriate circle in Paris in the 20s that revolutionized American writing, including Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and John Dos Passos.

Perfect timing for my summer Hemingway book pick - HBO film Hemingway and Gellhorn aired Sunday night, in the midst of an action-packed Memorial weekend that thankfully didn't involve any perilous war reporting assignments, but did find me wondering if I'd make it through over two-and-a-half hours of the star couple's impassioned, tumultuous relationship, later on, during times of the Spanish Civil War, Normandy invasion, the rise of Franco, Mussolini, Hitler...

The movie focused on the journalist author's third of four marriages, starting with the 1936 meeting of Hemingway and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn in Key West. Casting was the first head-scratcher of this rather epic production, with British and Australian A-Listers Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman popping up in mid-century period guise as the couple emerged from some good, original footage, popping up into faded black and white to sepia, then color, complete with Kidman's off-putting pink lipsticked pout set against backdrops of bombing and rolling tanks.

Owen actually did do a convincing job, especially once the story exploded into its many dramatic moments (including a bonanza of plaster-falling bedroom scenes), but I'm a die-hard Clive Owen fan of old, so am completely biased. Kidman was the stranger pick as Gellhorn. Studying photographs of the journalist who was one of the first women in the world to report from international combat zones, it is possible to see some slight likeness, but Kidman's bouncy blond curls and that lipstick was distracting at best. The daughter of a suffragette and a gynecologist, Gellhorn would, during a 60 year career, report from almost every world conflict, stopping short in her early 80's due to her own frailty during the Bosnian war. 

Their marriage lasted almost five years, not long when compared to peace time unions, but considering Hemingway's fame and machismo, her classic line of having no intentions of: "being a footnote in someone else's life" and his attempts to stop her from traveling, Gellhorn's status as the only woman to ever ask Hemingway for a divorce failed to destroy their feisty four-year pairing being remembered as one of the greatest romances of the past century.

Hemingway later won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, his sparse, understated style of writing being said to have been derived from his experiences in war.

He had published The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, shortly before a near fatal plane crash on safari in Africa. Hemingway's home in Cuba where he wrote The Old Man and the Sea as well as For Whom the Bell Tolls and memoirs A Moveable Feast is somewhere I would like to visit if I have a chance to get to Cuba some day.

Though the HBO movie ended with Hemingway's suicide in 1961, Gellman - this great love of his life, would, ill and almost blind at the age of 89, also end her life by her own hand.

Drawn to the post-war period for some reason this season, Kazuo Ishiguro's 1988 novel and winner of the Booker Prize: The Remains of the Day promises a detour from American literature into the heart of the fading, insular world of England after World War II.

Though I vividly remember the 1993 James Ivory movie version with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins,I hadn't ever read Ishiguro's original, nor had I until lately, connected the author to the more recently filmed of his extraordinary works, the haunting "Never Let Me Go".

Hanging on for a while longer in England - book # 4 for early summer reading, travels back in time to Spring 1912, as preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honor of Emerald Torrington's 20th birthday. A few miles away, a terrible accident propels a crowd of strangers to take shelter at the ramshackle manor. The Uninvited Guests is the latest novel from modern British writer, critically acclaimed Sadie Jones.This one promised a delicious read of Edwardian drama and dark surprises. A stormy night and parlor games might be just the ticket by the time Fitzgerald and Hemingway are back on the shelf.

 

 

 

Petaluma Gap's Best kept Secret - Azari's Cool Climate Wines Paired to Perfection with Wood Oven Pizza

Here's a wine club to consider being a part of for an exclusive, new, family-style connection right here at the scenic southern gateway to Sonoma County wine country.

Petaluma's beautiful Mediterranean-style Azari Winery has been quietly going about the business of producing stellar, small production, cool climate mostly Pinots and Shiraz (Persian for Syrah) for the past few years, and is now finally, at the tasting room stage for the enjoyment of wine club members and private groups by arrangement only.

Family owned, Azari Winery reflects the passion and culture of its Iranian-American patriarch and matriarch, Kamal and Pari Azari (pictured center, right at the couple's most recent addition, a self-built, outdoor pizza oven).

"How's my pizza?" asked Kamal Azari during a recent sneak preview of the tasting room at the winery, set back off Spring Hill Road. "I hope it's as good as my wine!"

There was no problem in convincing guests of the delights of locally grown pizza toppings on a thin-crust, wood oven base, paired to perfection with the couple's aromatic, dark and spicy Sonoma Coast Shiraz. 

Azari Pinot Noir is blended from estate-grown 667, 777, and Swan Pinot Noir clones. Vineyard yields are kept extremely low, in order to intensify the characteristics of both fruit and terroir. "This wine is built to age gracefully," says Kamal Azari. Decanting for at least one hour prior to sharing is recommended.

Click here for info on estate grown wines available for Azari wine club members

Salute to an Unsung Hero - 22 Year Crossing Guard Louie Gomez

My friend Diana Gomez shared a photo with me taken during her surprise visit during her dear dad, Louie Gomez' last day working as a crossing guard for the City of Santa Rosa, this week. 

"When he and my mom retired almost 24 years ago, they moved to Santa Rosa and my dad wanted a little part time job to keep busy.  You see, he had worked almost all his entire life," she shared.

"As a first generation Californian, his family had five kids and lived in a one room house by the railroad tracks. Really! As the oldest son, he needed to do more than just help the family in the fields during the summer.  So, starting at 10 or 11 years old, he got his shoeshine box and hitched rides from Bradley to Camp Roberts (near Paso Robles) to shine the soldiers shoes. He has never stopped working since.  He raised three kids and put me through college and law school," said the Petaluma mother-of-two, who is also Sonoma County's Assistant District Attorney. Chief Deputy Gomez oversees criminal trial departments. She joined the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office in 2003 having served in the Vallejo City Attorney's Office and the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

"My 79 year old dad has decided it is time to give up working for good - well, working for pay, because he works around my parents house a few hours every day."

Louie Gomez leaves the City of Santa Rosa with no fanfare, no pension, and no acknowledgement, other than the fact that during the 22 years he has walked kids across the street at the intersection of Stony Point and the HWY 12 on-ramps, he kept thousands of kids safe. "Not a one was hit by a car," said his proud daughter. 

As a special thank you, Gomez rallied friends and families to surprise her dad on his last day on the job. "Thank you for your service, your loyalty and your hard work. You truly are a part of the greatest generation," said Gomez.

I know that I would be backed by many who would agree that we also have to thank Louie Gomez for being the role model for such an outstanding daughter.

For Louie and all of the unsung heros out there at the end of this school year - you have made the world a better, safer place for our young people and though there's not often nearly the fanfare you deserve, we applaud you.

Fleurs de Fallon, Exquisite Arrangements from Southern Sonoma County's Garden Valley Ranch

As my writer friend Elaine recently reminded me: "You can't throw a stone a few feet in this area without hitting someone with a fascinating story to tell."

Petaluma-based Fallon Shea Anderson tells hers and other people's stories with her exquisite floral arrangements, designed in a distinctly natural, free form style, with dewy, fresh-cut, antique roses hand selected at dawn from Garden Valley Ranch as main characters in each unforgettable tale.

"If a potential client tells me they don't like roses, we're not a good match. For me, it's all about the roses. Mine is a timeless style, I arrange flowers how they grow in the garden, wild and whimsical and of course, rose focused. It's very nostalgic. I am actually growing the roses for your wedding, or special event right here."

Anderson has emersed herself in the rose world since finding herself in awe on her first visit to the ranch five years ago. "I'd been at school studying interior design. I was working in retail, in clothing. I wasn't in a good place. I stopped by Garden Valley on recommendation of a friend and after two hours of intoxication by fragrance, I knew that I had found where I needed to be."

So convinced was she, that the plucky, then teenager, asked for a job on the spot. "I started on a week's trial and I've been here ever since."

Floristry was a natural next-step for Anderson, as brides planning weddings at the Ranch admired her self-taught handiwork with early arrangements on site.

"Friends in horticulture ask me why I am focused so entirely on roses," she said. "With over 30,000 different varietals in the world, I tell them it's ok. It's my niche. Each rose has its own shape, fragrance, character and habits and I am addicted to fragrance."

Clients find Anderson primarily through word of mouth (a recent Martha Stewart Living spotlight on nine-acre Garden Valley Ranch, featuring a photo of the florist in the field hasn't hurt her reputation, either!). With orders for up to two weddings a weekend during peak summer months, Anderson's regularly on the road around wine country and out to the coast, spray mister in hand, as she drives her floral fantasties to top-notch destinations such as the Pelican Inn at Muir Beach and Sonoma Valley's Beltane Ranch. Many of her arrangements are destined for weddings at the Ranch itself.

She begins with a client consultation that develops into an inspiration board, drawn from the early background in interior design. Creative commissions have included the construction of custom trellises and arbors and an intricate, three-way bridal bouquet that was tied together with ribbon to split upon release at the traditional end of festivities. The day that I visited the florist in her studio she was putting finishing touches of pale pink tea roses into a vintage tea pot, for an Alice in Wonderland wedding theme. Other prototypes were more dramatic, yet each, most strikingly original in its own way. Anderson drives down to the San Francisco Wholesale FlowerMart frequently to source sweet peas and other seasonal blooms as supporting cast members to the roses she hand selects and cuts herself. Greenery's sourced from the ranch and surrounding areas.

Fragrant English-style, hybrid tea and special spray roses are amongst the more than 60 varietals laid down a quarter of a century ago at Garden Valley Ranch by rosarian, renowned author and SF Chronicle columnist Ray Reddell. The Ranch dates back to the 1880s, when a lieutenant of General Mariono Vallejo, cattle rancher Harrison Mecham built an ornate three storey Victorian for his daughter, Isabel. Sadly, the home was lost to fire in the 1980s, though trellises, a gazebo, gravel pathways and Victorian-style ranch buildings set amongst the 10,000 roses at Garden Valley, provide a genteel atmosphere of preserved heritage.

The small cottage featured in the photo collage is actually a fully renovated, railroad depot from the days when Victorian farms and ranches were connected from inland out to the coast. The tiny old depot today serves a more refined role as dressing room for bridal parties marrying on the Ranch.

A small crew, including Garden Valley Ranch owner, Mark Grim with Anderson as his most intrical ranch team member when not designing for her own business, treats roses on the ranch with respect they deserve. "We don't use any harsh chemicals, keeping everything natural. We feed the roses fish emulsion(for sale along with bare root varietals in the Ranch store) and compost tea.You could eat our roses," she said.

I watched Anderson at work in her studio on-site as she shared with me tips on home flower arranging and how to extend that precious bloom time once cut roses are in the vase. "The ideal time to cut roses is around three hours after sunrise for the best fragrance," she said. "Take off almost all of the leaves, except for maybe one or two and cut stems, under water, at an angle. Add a little sugar and a drop of bleach to the vase water, recutting the stems and changing the water every day." Don't expect roses to last more than three or four days.

Anderson has visions of expanding workshops and classes, Mother's Day champagne brunches and other public events at Garden Valley Ranch, following an extremely positive recent experience hosting a group of 16 floral arrangers from the Little Flower School of Brooklyn.

Time is the only constraint for a rose florist such as Anderson. "I can't take on two many events at one time as quantity is a major challenge when working with white heirlooms and other roses in high demand." Despite the thousands of bushes in bloom at Garden Valley Ranch at any one time, Anderson's integrity as an artist is to keep her work pure. Hers are the best of the best, earmarked for her wine country weddings and shipped, on ice to top florists in New York.

What's next for this passionate, young stylemaker in rose floristry? Her mother's wedding, at the ranch, this June. "For once, I'll get to stay and party," she said, eyeing a pail of yellow roses sitting on the countertop, awaiting her touch.

Contact Fallon Shea Anderson at Fleurs de Fallon, after checking out the dreamy floral photography on her site.

Calling All British Ex-Pats and Anglophiles - Join Us at Petaluma's Big Jubilee Lunch 6.3.12

(Want to set a table like the one above: See Emma Bridgewater's UK site for shipping to the U.S)

We might be on the other side of the pond, but why let that stop us from joining the fun of Britain’s Big Jubilee Lunch? Ex-pats, our Commonwealth community and diehard Masterpiece Theater fans here in Petaluma invite you to join us in our very own Big Jubilee Lunch!

Britain’s annual Big Lunch aims to get as many people as possible across the whole of the UK to have lunch with their neighbors in a simple act of community, friendship and fun. We’d like to extend this great new tradition, Stateside,starting in our own Steptoe & Sons street party locale - ‘Oil Drum Lane’, at Heritage Salvage.

Last year around two million people took part in The Big Lunch. This year, the Big Lunch falls on the same weekend as The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations on Sunday 3rd June and as announced by Buckingham Palace, The Big Jubilee Lunch will be a part of the main program of events over the central weekend of the Diamond Jubilee. A record number of people are expected to take part.

Enjoy your very own good, old-fashioned knees-up at Petaluma’s Big Jubilee Lunch, street-party style festivities, to celebrate the Queen of England’s 60th year on the throne. London Telegraph’s Official Diamond Jubilee playlist & Brit Invasion Music from 60s, courtesy of dj Rob Bogan.

Do bring your own water, beer, wine and soft drinks and traditional British party foods for your table & some to share. Homemade Victoria Sponge Cakes and Trifles will be entered into our Best of British Dessert Competition.

Prizes will also be awarded for Best Table Setting (think Beatles, Major League Soccer UK paraphernalia, Mad Hatter’s, Royal Dalton…anything goes), Royal Trivia, Fancy Hat, Knobbly Knees and British Celebrity Look-Alike competitions! Please leave the Corgis & other dogs at home.

Free to attend, though a $5 donation is suggested for each adult attending Petaluma’s first ever Big Lunch, to help cover basic costs of this first-of-its kind, fun, participatory, community event. Kids are welcome. Inspired by thebiglunch.com, let’s make this
an annual event with future street parties popping up all over Petaluma. This event is not affiliated with any organization. It would be nice to know that you are coming – please email us care of petalumadowntown@gmail.com by Thursday, May 31st.

Le Creuset Truckette - Discounts, Doorprizes and a Celebrity Chef! Make a Date in Downtown Petaluma, Wednesday, May 30th 2012

What are You Doing this Wednesday Evening? Head North to Healdsburg's Simi Winery for the Keep On Truckin' Food Series with D'Bunchovus

Two top picks in one: Southern Sonoma County's D'Bunchovus brings "Random Acts Of Music" to historic SIMI Winery Healdsburg this Wednesday, May 23rd  from  5-7 pm for the "Keep On Truckin" food truck series.

Enjoy a spot of wine tasting along with a bite of delicious food from a variety of  vendors and wine tasting. 20% off all bottles of Simi wine. Bring a canned food donation for the Healdsburg Food Pantry.

If you're not in the midst of last week of school madness, take my advice and head north for a mid-week, early evening supper at one of my absolute favorite winery locations.

There's another connection to Petaluma at SIMI. The winery's former longtime Chef, Eric Lee lives here at the gateway to wine country. Chef Lee has been in the news of late, as he's set to compete in season eight of Food Network Star.

SIMI has a new Executive Chef on board, Kolin Vazzoler of Gary Danko.

Vazzoler grew up in North Vancouver, British Columbia, where his Italian grandfather made wine and grappa in the cellar and the family devoted much time to their garden where vegetables thrived year-round in the mild, maritime climate.   Putting together a meal was always about making the most of what was in season.

“My family cooked Italian food that was rustic and casual,” Kolin says, “but we always used fresh ingredients and that made all the difference in the quality of the dishes.  That experience I had growing up certainly lends itself to what is going on in California today.”

As a boy, he cooked with his mother and his Italian aunt.  When he first started working, though, it didn’t occur to him to become a chef. But his passion for cooking eventually took over.  He attended Vancouver Community College in Vancouver where he received both his culinary diploma and red seal certification—Canada’s highest level of government-certified endorsement granted only after a three-year apprenticeship is successfully completed.

Kolin landed his first job as at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver and worked at two other pretigious Vancouver restaurants before getting his first big break.  He caught the eye of Gary Danko and spent eight years at Restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco as executive sous chef responsible for managing a staff of 20 at the highly acclaimed eatery.

“When I started there, the restaurant was less than a year old,” Kolin says.  “It was an exciting time and Gary was a great help to me.”

Along with his abiding passion for cooking, in particular preparing Italian and Japanese food, Kolin also derives great satisfaction mentoring newcomers to his profession.

“I love it when you have someone just out of culinary school and is still very green,” he says, “and then two to three months later you see them able to do things without a second thought.   You can see that the light bulb has turned on in their heads.”

In 2012, Kolin took his first winery position when he joined SIMI Winery as executive chef.   Perhaps no winery could be more appropriate for someone with his background.

“My father came over Italy,” Kolin says, “the same as the two Simi brothers who started the winery.  And I’m second-generation Italian—just as winery matriarch Isabelle Simi was.”

I thoroughly enjoyed the cuisine at SIMI, on a memorable visit to the winery, last summer.  

Pictured here: Executive Chef Kolin Vazzoler with SIMI winemaker Susan Lueker

Cruisin' the Boulevard at Petaluma's 2012 Salute to American Graffiti

We all know that George Lucas' coming of age movie American Graffiti was filmed here in Petaluma back in 1972 - but the fact that we're still rock n' rollin' in the streets almost 40 years on speaks volumes as to why we love to live in this fabulously fun, quirky little river town of ours.

The movie was set in the 1960s, about the time of the British invasion on the music scene. Fellow Brit, Susan Villa (pictured above, with British Columbia native, Michael Bug Deakin of Heritage Salvage) kept the records turning in the 39th anniversary Petaluma Tribute to American Graffiti's sun-dapppled downtown live music station, today.

I captured this colorful moment with my iPhone camera, despite the fact that my latest Canon camera purchased a stone's throw down the street at Shutterbug was the second of its model sold in Petaluma, shortly after Mr. Lucas himself had, according to the salesman, purchased the first.

Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of American Graffiti, a guarantee of gleaming vintage motors galore.

Lagunitas Beer Circus 2012 This Sunday, May 20th - A Benefit for the Petaluma Music Festival, Keeping Music in Our Schools

Tickets are still available for over 21's to attend one of the more original annual fundraising events on the Southern Sonoma County calendar - the one and only 4th Annual Lagunitas Beer Circus, a benefit for the non-profit Petaluma Music Festival which raises much needed monies for keeping music alive in our city's schools.

Discounts for designated drivers! And if you're going and you don't have a DD, call Petaluma Green Taxi.