Thanksgiving next Thursday
The calendar makes our Valley-wide thanksgiving and gratitude official next week, which feels to me like a week too early. It really snuck up on me with all we are dealing with post fires.
Regardless of what we lost or didn't, we all are thankful for being here, being alive, and having the occasional friend to lean on and trade stories.
It looks as if just being together with friends or family will be our favorite way to spend Thanksgiving this year, regardless of what we cook or eat. So invite someone over who might be alone, share with those who lost their homes, give lots of hugs, and listen to people who need to talk. They, too, will be thankful.
Dungeness crab is in
Sonoma Market received its first order of fresh Dungeness crab yesterday, Thursday, and the fish buyer told me it should start at $7.99 a pound. Of course they will clean and crack it for you. A new experience for me: When Sonomans Tony and Suzie Eglin and I were in England in May, I ordered linguini with crab on “Locals Tuesday” at a country pub and every bit of what we expect fishmongers to “clean” out – all that dark stuff – was included in the dish. Very fishy. It's all in what you are used to. And the pasta was topped with a delicious cod filet.
Pop-ups and Friday farmers market
Sheana Davis's Epicurean Connection will host a popup shop at Steiners Tavern on Friday Nov. 17 and Wednesday, Nov. 22, from 3 to 7 p.m. She will sell her jams, relishes, tapenades and cheeses, including her new P-1 Double Cream Brie.
The Friday farmers market will be open on Tuesday, Nov. 21 before Thanksgiving instead of Friday, Nov. 24.
Lori Goldman is again selling her best-ever fruit cakes at Chateau Sonoma at Cornerstone.
Nina Gerety, of Potter Green, will hold her annual Celebration of Color, Light and Jazz at Cornerstone's Garden Barn to honor artists Shelley Masters, Susan Stark, Don Kellogg, Nancy Granger and Howard Weiner, all of whose work will be for sale.
A silent auction to raise money for the Sonoma Fire Relief fund will include wines from Cline, Meadowcroft, and Obsidian & Keating, spirits from Prohibition Spirits, Vella cheeses and baskets of local products assembled by Potter Green.
Mad and Eddie Duran will play jazz, while winemaker Charlie Tsegeletos will pour Cline wines to go with Vella cheeses, Basque Boulangerie breads, and herbals by Alison Kelley of Great Owl Herbs. Noon to 5 p.m.
Silver Moon Theatre brings back old radio
Local actors and impersonators bring their hilarious “Old Time Radio Show” back to Murphy's snug for a “Jack Benny Holiday Special” show with vintage commercials on Sunday, Dec. 3 and Monday Dec. 4.
Plus, you can have dinner of fish and chips, bangers and mash or a pub burger at 6 p.m. Proceeds will benefit local fire departments. $30. 464 First St. E., Sonoma. Tickets at murphys@sonomapub.com or at Murphy's.
Murphy's to be sold
In other Murphy's news, the pub is now for sale for $350,000, and as of Dec. 1, Sondra Bernstein and John Toulze will no longer be involved with the business. Apparently the property is already being shown.
Tips Roadside offers permanent art installation
Andrew and Susie Pryfogle of Tips Roadside restaurant-to-be in Kenwood and the already extant Tips Tri-Tips Trolleys that fed hundreds of firefighters, will commission an original art installation to memorialize the fires that raged through the Sonoma Valley in October.
They invite proposals from local artists who want to turn donated items into an original work of art. Residents who would like to donate memorable objects to go into this piece of art can call Susie Pryfogle at 509-0078 or stop by their offices behind the restaurant that used to be Vineyards Inn on Highway 12 in Kenwood. The Pryfogles hope to open Tips Roadside this spring. susie@tipsroadside.com.
Michael Bauer puts out Wine Country list
Probably not coincidentally, San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer came out with his Wine Country “favorite restaurants” column the same weekend as the Michelin Guide was released.
While Bauer mentions that he “takes test runs of new restaurants” in wine country, he also just lists the ones he returns to “again and again,” which is pretty obvious because, again, I recognize his writing. One has to wonder how recently he tried new dishes here in Sonoma.
But congratulations to Fremont Diner, Café La Haye, Oso, El Molino Central, and Glen Ellen Star for making Bauer's list. Other Sonoma County restaurants mentioned include Madrona Manor, the Shed, Bravas Bar de Tapas, Brass Rabbit, and Single Thread, all in Healdsburg.
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