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Sonoma school food way ahead of feds

Sonoma Market and Mary’s Pizza advances; Sweetheart Gala hearts kids; Kitchen Garden Snippets

Interested as we were about First Lady Michelle Obama’s influence on new federal guidelines for school lunches and snacks, we were especially excited knowing that Sonoma Valley Unified School District and food services program manager Donna Luzzi are way ahead of the curve, thanks to initiatives by her and the SNAC committee.

Sonoma public school students now have fresh fruit available all the time, salad or fresh fruit and veggie bars in six schools and complete salad bars at secondary schools. Soon, more vegetables from our school gardens, grown by students, will show up in salad bars as well.

Luzzi and her food staff have integrated organic milk, organic apples from Walker Apples in Graton, Alvarado Street Bakery bread including sprouted wheat hamburger buns, sprouted multi-grain sandwich bread and Kids Bread, an organic bread for smaller children.

The district has also eliminated chocolate milk, sodas, MSG, lots of sodium and most trans-fats from school foods. We should be proud.

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Sonoma Market and Glen Ellen Village Market now accept deli, meat and seafood orders via text messaging. Here are the text numbers for all of us to use, if you text. Sonoma Market Deli (sandwiches and taqueria items): 509-9155; Sonoma Market meat and seafood: 934-7557; Glen Ellen deli (sandwiches): 934-7559.

Both local groceries sell See’s candies for Valentine’s gifts, with all profits going to the Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation.

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Friday farmers market will organize all prepared food vendors in a sort of “food court” in a few weeks, complete with tables and chairs to enjoy local treats together. The farmers market will also have a basket drawing this Friday, Feb. 3, at the Arnold Field parking lot.

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Another advance comes from Mary’s Pizza Shack, which has added a full line of espresso drinks and Mighty Leaf organic teas served in proper tea pots and cups.

Mary’s also currently features its “Meal for 2” for $20.95 where customers can select a large platter of spaghetti with two giant meatballs, a medium pizza with two traditional toppings or a calzone with two toppings, all accompanied by soup or salad and soft drink for each person.

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Sonoma Valley Grange offers a healthy start to Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 5, even or especially if you won’t be watching the game, at the Grange’s fabulously popular organic pancake breakfast. Expect organic everything including the wheat flour pancakes, chicken sausages, fresh squeezed juice, frittata, real maple syrup and beverages. $10 adults. $5 children. 9 to 11 a.m. 18627 Sonoma Highway, Boyes Hot Springs. 935-1322.

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If you don’t want to watch the Super Bowl at home with your own creative snacks, you can go to almost any restaurant or bar in town to watch in a crowd.

HopMonk Tavern will host special indoor music events Friday and Saturday, with the game taking center stage on Sunday. HoppyHour prices reign with well martinis, cosmos, margaritas, St. Francis chardonnay or Buena Vista pinot noir for $5, and Kenwood yulupa sparkling at $4, along with beef or pork sliders or two fish tacos for $3 in addition to the regular menu. 691 Broadway, Sonoma. 935-9100 or hopmonk.com.

The Fairmont’s Big 3 will feature beef or spicy sausage sliders, bite-size pigs-in-a-blanket, various wings with blue cheese dressing, chicken quesadillas and housemade chips and salsa before, during and after the game.

Among other Valley venues hosting Super Bowl viewers, you should check out Murphy’s, which will displace some live music with the big game; Steiners, which always erupts with Super Bowl excitement; and the new Cary’s Sports Grill, an excellent big screen viewing site with what are reputed to be the best onion rings in town and a very tasty beer list.

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Deborah and John Emery recently returned from Whistler, British Columbia, where Deborah booked a Heli-skiing day for John’s birthday. A Canadian Winter Olympics gold medal winner, John hopefully didn’t start any of the frequent avalanches in the area. Congratulations.

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Sonoma Valley’s Boys & Girls Club will honor the fabulously generous Lise Sonnen for its 27th annual Sweetheart Gala & Auction on Saturday, Feb. 11, launching the club’s 50th birthday celebration and “The Golden Age of the Boys & Girls Club.”

All funds raised will go directly to the club’s after-school enrichment and education programs provided for more than 500 Sonoma youth each day, such as arts, athletics, computer science and homework. The club served nearly 3,000 meals to Valley children last year.

Erin Riley and Lisa Cavalli co-chair the “Old Hollywood Glam” event. Katie Holden says that guests will dine in a replica of the late Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood.

Attendees will enjoy Santé/Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn’s Delta asparagus velouté with black truffle creme fraîche; filet of beef with heirloom corona bean ragout, spinach or a vegetarian option of cheese manicotti with light pesto cream; followed by a citrus parfait or Meyer lemon mousse with blood orange curd with crispy meringues, all accompanied by fine Sonoma wines. $200. 5:30 p.m. Maxwell Clubhouse. Reservations: 938-8544, ext. 118, or bgcsonoma.org.

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Chicken pot pies: Chicken pot pies exemplify the ultimate winter comfort food, particularly if one is of British/Irish background.

Having sampled several chicken pot pies in one of my personal food surveys in a few countries, I find the chicken pot pie at The Red Grape to be my favorite here. The crust is light and tempting enough that we like to peel it off the ramekin and sneak it into our mouths with our fingers, the sauce or gravy is thick and not runny, the “pie” is loaded with freshly cooked chicken, peas and carrots; and it comes with a side Caesar salad, an excellent choice to balance flavors and textures. ($12.50). 529 First St. W., Sonoma. 996-4103.

Our second favorite is, surprisingly, at Twin Oaks Tavern just south of “downtown” Penngrove. We enjoyed it for late lunch, which meant we really didn’t need dinner. First a full dinner salad arrived with choice of dressings. Then Dorothy, the hilarious bartender and server who was fresh back from Vegas, brought the chicken pot pie alone on a white plate with a soup spoon, which turned out to be appropriate. While the soupy part is indeed soupy, it was delish and loaded with fresh chicken, potatoes, peas and carrots, as it should be. ($9.50). 795-5118.

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Runners in the 29th annual Kaiser Half-Marathon Sunday, Feb. 5, will be treated to new sponsor, Jon Sebastiani’s Krave jerky as a high-protein energizer he developed while training for the New York marathon. Sebastiani claims his jerkies, some of which taste sweet, are made from domestic meat and “all-natural gourmet ingredients … materially lower in salt, cholesterol and calories than its major competitors … and are 97 percent fat free.”

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Moore’s Landing update: Ron Dardis, co-owner of Moore’s Landing on the Napa River at the foot of Cutting’s Wharf Road with Carl Larsen, says the great dive’s menu will stay the same as will the raised booth seats. The partners have remodeled the bar and are now open every night for dinner, with “frequent all-you-can-eat specials such as prime rib, pork chops and spaghetti.” Next up is replacing the restaurant’s ceiling fans. (Don’t look up.) The food and adventure are still great and extremely casual.

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We missed the Chinese New Year celebration featuring Martin Yan at Jacuzzi Winery and staged by Sonoma Sister Cities due to our grandson Sawyer Freschi’s fifth birthday party at his karate class in Concord.

Garland Lamb and father, Jim Lamb, enjoyed Yan’s cooking demonstration of making dragon noodle salad. The dim sum luncheon included pork sui mai, honey-baked pork buns, steamed pork buns, shrimp with cilantro dumpling, chicken and chive dumpling, five happiness fruit and fortune cookies with tea, all accompanied by Cline and Jacuzzi wines.

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Larson Family Winery just launched its annual hilarious “Get Lucky at Larson” limerick contest open to kids, teens and adults. Entries must be received by March 1. Councilmember Ken Brown, Jody Purdom and I will serve as judges in the Irish poetry contest.

All of the winning entries will be displayed at Larson Family Winery March 17 and 18 as part of the winery’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Find forms, rules, and past winning limericks at larsonfamilywinery.com. 800-938-WINE, ext. 25, or email Jennifer@larsonfamilywinery.com.

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Kitchen garden snippets:

Sonoma Mission Gardens hosts a free fruit tree pruning clinic Saturday, Feb. 4, where you can learn proper pruning methods. Or you can hire their landscape department to do it for you. 851 Craig Ave., Sonoma. Reserve your space quickly at 938-5775.

Sonoma Garden Park offers a winter gardening and pruning workshop by Maile Arnold on Saturday, Feb. 18, from noon to 3 p.m. $10 members, $15 non-members. Reservations at 996-0712, ext. 113, or megan@sonomaecologycenter.org.

Wedekind’s Garden Center has loads of potato varieties, onions, berries, table and wine grapes and recipes currently. 21095 Broadway, Sonoma.

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Don’t miss the Winter Artisan Cheese Fair hosted by the Epicurean Connection Sunday, Feb. 26, at MacArthur Place, with seminars for American artisan cheesemakers, buyers and food writers from Feb. 25 through 29.

The Sunday event, open to the public, will include tastings of artisan cow, sheep and goat cheeses served by the cheesemakers, and microbrews and wines served by their makers. Sunday will also feature a winter mac and cheese cook-off and second annual Cheese Rolling Event, as well as a special tasting hosted by Janet Fletcher of the San Francisco Chronicle, the only weekly cheese columnist in the United States. Tickets $40 at the Epicurean Connection, Readers’ Books or at the door, or complimentary with full conference registration.

Another don’t miss: Sheana Davis’ addictive black olives dry-cured with pomegranate and honey at The Epicurean Connection. 122 W. Napa St., Sonoma. 935-7960.

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Eighth Street Wineries open house rolls in on Saturday, Feb. 25, in which 10 local artisan winemakers host a benefit for Matt Damon’s nonprofit global water charity, water.org. Participating wineries and chefs include Anaba/Zuzu, Enkidu, MacRostie, Parmelee Hill/Epicurean Connection, Stone Edge Farm/Chef John McReynolds, Tin Barn with Fremont Diner, Three Sticks/Chef Willie, Talisman Wines/Tracy Gentry, Ty Caton and Patz & Hall with Melissa Teaff Catering.

Acknowledging that it takes 750 liters of water to make one 750 ml bottle of wine and its ecological and social impact, the wineries will give 10 percent of online ticket sales to water.org. According to organizers, “eight tickets will buy one villager access to water for a lifetime.” 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 21692 Eighth St. E., Sonoma. $20 wine club members, $30 advance, $35 at door. Eighthstreetwineries.com.

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Nibs & Sips:

Sunflower Caffé honors photographer Sandie Nalezny tonight, Feb. 3, with wines by St. Supéry and music by JoyRide. 5 to 7 p.m. … Not just pretty faces: “Bachelor” Ben Flajnik and partners Mike Benziger and Danny Fay actually won a gold medal for their 2010 Sonoma Valley Sauvignon Blanc at the 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition … Women for WineSense Napa/Sonoma will host a “member extravaganza” Thursday, March 1, at Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards. Stay tuned … B.R. Cohn Olive Oil Company launched a new Blackberry Balsamic Vinegar at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago … Justin Hart has rejoined the Renaissance Lodge at Sonoma Resort & Spa on Broadway as director of operations. … Charles Creek Tasting Room & Gallery currently shows the work of Douglas DeVivo, a collage artist who says he “paints with paper.” 483 First St. W., Sonoma. 935-3848.