breakfast at bovolo

So one morning last week, we just had to get outta da house. Up the road in Healdsburg is a slow food café tucked in the back of Copperfield's Bookstore. They have what they call a "back door breakfast" because you have to come in through the back door if the bookstore isn't open yet. And there's a little outside patio that feels like someone's back yard.

Bobolo (and their sister restaurant Zazu in Santa Rosa on the way to Sebastopol) is known for their own black pig bacon, and you know, they really do "bring home the bacon!" as their menu boasts.
But before we got into heavy duty breakfast, we had to try their "zeppole", made-to-order Italian donuts dusted with cinnamon sugar. Zeppole look like ... well, you decide ... (earthworms on steroids? sorry, had to say it) ... they're a bit like churros, but not quite as crispy. Next time I think I'll ask for extra crispy and I think they'd be perfect for my taste.

Den here come da bacon! Chopped in with roasted potatoes, mushrooms, truffle oil and baked egg, the bacon was simply transcendent. Sweet, caramelized bacon chunks with just enough fat to make it luscious but not too greasy.

And the chef. Really. He couldn't have been more hospitable, and apparently just in love with cooking and making people happy. These people know what they're doin' and having fun at it too!


Well you can see that the zeppole are almost gone, and we are some happy folks, ready to go back home and start our work day. (And Chris, if you're reading this ... Bart would LOVE this place!) You can see the Bovolo site here

The DK experience (not Donna Karan)

DK?

One winter's night in early 1991, over neon blue cocktails, Dennis and Karletta (D&K), and Bob and Marni and we, were talking about Paris and how great it'd be to go there together. Karletta began calling airlines right on the spot and whoosh, that Autumn we were there, in Paris, The City of Lights, having some of the most memorable times of our lives.

As life goes, we fell out of touch with D&K when they moved to San Francisco, but theirs is one of those precious friendships where time bends in such a way, that no matter how much time has passed, we just pick up where we left off. And pick up we have.

Last April we met D&K in The City (San Francisco) and ate, drank and laughed all night. We all figured it'd been since 1993 that we'd last seen each other when Karletta had graduated from Culinary School. A lot of Life has passed since then, but now we're enjoying each other all over again.

This past weekend, at Dennis' suggestion, we met at Taqueria La Hacienda in Agua Caliente, a small Hispanic workers' town just north and slightly west of the city of Sonoma. (The communities of El Verano, Boyes Hot Springs, Agua Caliente, and Fetters Hot Springs, collectively known as The Springs have been popular since the turn of the century, when the railroads first began promoting the Sonoma Valley. In 1901, the area's underground hot springs were a prime attraction. They still are from what we understand, but we've not been there ... yet!)

Agua Caliente reminds us so much of our travels to Mexico that we felt right at home. And ooooooh .... those Tacos al Pastor!!! Sweet, crispy pork, fresh salsa, chopped onions and cilantro wrapped in a soft tortilla. (Nely, if you're reading this ... you gotta come try these!) Dennis dove into a huge shrimp cocktail that he shared and couldn't finish, and although some of the other dishes weren't quite as spot on, we will definitely go back for more.


On to The Cheese Store! Vela Cheese Company (http://www.vellacheese.com) is a block or two off the main square of Sonoma. Dennis said the owner was 110 years old and I was almost more curious to see this Cheese Elder, than the cheese itself. Well the founder Tom Vella, was not there (wondered if he was still "with" us), but his son Ig was (gotta be in his '80s we guess). He was kind enough to let us take a photo together, after sampling those incredibly unique cheeses of his. It's impossible to choose a favorite, but one of the most unique was an aged, dry Jack that shreds like Parmesan and has it's own salty, tangy flavor. We used some just the other night on pasta and yes, it made our eyes roll.


Across the street from Vella Cheese Co., in front of a darling 1930-ish home, was an honor-system fruit and veggie table. The peaches, as you can see, were picture-perfect.
Good GOD! MORE food? Well, when ya gotta, ya gotta. The strawberry stand cannot be missed. Just east of the town of Kenwood, there is a strawberry field where they pick daily and sell out nearly every day. These berries are too fragile to be commercially grown, but are little flavor bombs (as Ted calls them) that just burst in your mouth. We usually have to eat them within a day or two before they begin to turn, but honestly, that's no problem. They're usually gone the same day.


An Asian family runs the strawberry patch. How can you NOT buy a bushel of berries from this sweet faced girl?

DK came back to our house for a bit where we (yes I'm not kidding) ATE cheese and berries and talked and laughed some more. Both Dennis and Karletta have websites and blogs, so check them out if you're interested ...
Dennis www.grayincolor.com and www.vintageramblesandrumbles.com
Karletta www.CulinaryMuse.com and www.TheArtofTastingChocolate.com and www.KarlettaMoniz.com

Then, can you believe it?, we went that afternoon to a pool party at my sister and bro-in-law's. Had pork ribs, watched baby Nayla play with her friend Logan, and fell into a food overdose coma. But that's another story ...

Sweet "P"s and Sundays

When I was a kid my favorite sweet things were Cotton Candy, Watermelon and the scent of Sweet Peas warmed by the sun. I believe that delicious scent is what really sent Dorothy and her cohorts into dreamland in the Wizard of Oz because honestly, although poppies are pretty, their scent is not nearly so intoxicating.

One day each year "Enchanting Sweet Peas" in Sebastopol invites the public to wander through their sweet-pea-only nursery with noses wide open. Intoxicated, we were! Ted was in digital camera heaven, "snapping" every pea flower in sight while I flitted from stalk to stalk hummingbird-style drinking in their perfume.


Down the road, we noticed the cultured sweet peas' wild cousins growing along the roadside. Ted stopped to do more "snapping" among the poppies and vineyards, while I picked a few wild sweet peas — barely scented, much tougher in texture, but charmingly roguish still.


And speaking of rogues ... Mater from "Cars" is alive and well in someone's front yard.

The Sebastopol area is a weekend voyeur's delight — full of Quirk Factor. Old, deconstructing trucks, tractors, barns pop up to surprise, and oh those Patrick Amiot sculptures! (Read about Patrick and his wife Brigitte at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/17/NB165807.DTL)




Sunday Farmers' Market in Sebastopol is a crazy human stew that is just delicious! Gotta EAT it! One of the best ever Almond Croissants in the entire world lived there (until we ATE it!) Live music has kids dancing in the square, "Que-tips" (shall we say "gypsies" instead of "old hippies"?) wander around in tie-dye, and in between is every imaginable flavor of person ... just plain old havin' fun.

Our nine-month-old niece, Nayla, loves hard plums, so I searched the market to find the hardest plum I could find. The vendors thought I was nuts (crazy Que-tip?) because most people want 'em ripe, but I finally found a Satsuma that was so hard I was sure Nayla would be able to "gum it" (she has no teeth yet) to her heart's delight without breaking the skin. I was wrong. She did break the skin, but she also loves sour, so she was happy!

Anyway, Ted was so inspired from our sweet Sunday in Sebastopol, he made Butter Mochi when we got home. Butter Mochi is made with lots of butter, coconut milk, mochi flour (a kind of sweet rice flour), egg and sugar. So sweet, so rich, so soft yet slightly rubbery, Butter Mochi is strangely addictive. You eat a tiny piece and think you'll not eat another, until you do, again, and again, until it's all gone. And don't you just love to say those words together? Butter Mochi. Butter Mochi. Butter Mochi. Feels so good in your mouth just to say it.

So ... Butter Mochi All Y'all ... till next time ...

The Business Report from Sonoma County

Here I am waiting for potential clients to show up. I might have gained a few pounds since you last saw me, no sweat, I can lose them any time I want. I thought setting up an outdoor studio might be good for business, that's why I put the "OPEN" sign on the table. Any day now someone is going to need a logo, I can feel it.