Aunt Momo at the Moose, rainy parklets, ‘Luscious Thighs’

Fans of Aunt Momo (Mara Roche) who know her food from Roche Family Winery, cookie deliveries, and First Sunday Community Breakfasts at St. Francis Solano Church will be excited to her new venture, Momo at The Moose.

Momo says she did a ‘soft launch’ Thursday night that will continue through Oct. 22, from 4 to 8 p.m. Everything is $5 to $16, most $12 and under. And the Moose Lodge bar is one of the best in town for real drinks for real people. For now she will be cooking at the Moose Lodge Thursdays and Fridays.

Momo tells the Index-Tribune: “The menu will change as we go further ... right now just keeping it simple to get the kinks out.

“We are going to always have a weekly soup (I'm Irish and soups are a cultural standard). I love making salsas with seasonal fruit, which means it will change as well ... salty, sweet and spicy.

“Since many of the members of the Moose are hunters and fishers I will be bringing certain items in and out of the menu with game ... this week we have the duck mole ... right now we are working on a recipe for Sonoma Valley rabbit (yes there is a farm here).”

Expect lots of appetizers and bar menu options such as shaved fennel salad on a bed of butter lettuce, roasted pepitas, mandarin oranges, slivered basil, avocado, lemon olive oil and white balsamic vinegar, to which you can add shrimp; the poached pear and arugula salad includes arugula tossed in hazelnut oil, topped with poached pears, Asiago and roasted hazelnuts.

The chili-lime drumettes are marinated in a citrus-garlic-chili sauce and grilled to order; Asian tacos of smoked pork are tossed in an orange-ginger glaze in a corn tortillas with a sesame-cilantro coleslaw, served with siracha on two tacos.

Then there’s the Child-at-Heart plate with sliced soppressata, cubed white cheddar, black olives, fruit and breadsticks; Demi Corn Dogs with three house-made demi-corndogs with a corn batter and beef frank fried in corn oil and served with a honey mustard (ketchup by request); bacon-wrapped Tater Tots wrapped in bacon, drizzled with Roche house chardonnay-ranch dressing, and sprinkled with jalapenos; and the Duck Mole Crepes – two mini crepes filled with a duck confit mole, and topped with crème fraiche, roasted pepitas and pomegranate seeds.

For the stuffed mushrooms you get six mushrooms stuffed with a pesto sausage and topped with Parmesan cheese; a tri-tip sloppy Joe slider consists of thinly shaved tri-tip in a warm pinot noir barbecue sauce in a Hawaiian roll, topped with spinach and served with a side of smoked maple horseradish.

This week Momo offers a few specials including potato Leek Soup with cubed ham; pomegranate and pear salsa with avocados, tomatoes, green onions, jalapenos, cilantro served with house-made chips; and The Regina – a demi-panini of raisin bread filled with brie, fig jam, prosecco-caramelized onions and bacon bits.

There is a lot more going on at the Moose Lodge than most of us know. They say, “We will continue to have dinners on Mondays and Fridays when we have cooks. Call administrator Jimmy at the Moose office if you’d like to learn more about helping. 996-3877. 20580 Broadway, Sonoma.

Rain on your parklets?

The parklets around Sonoma have saved some restaurants during the pandemic, especially when they couldn’t serve inside. Some of those that have started to serve inside with spaced tables in addition to their sidewalk space or parklets are doing as well in their businesses as they were without parklets pre-pandemic.

So who already has tenting in their patios and parklets and who does not yet? The tents that meet city and county standards can cost around $5,000 per month to rent, depending on size and features.

Those who already have coverings outdoors include Café LaHaye, Della Santina’s, Oso, EDK, Murphy’s, Taste of Himalayas, HopMonk, Wit & Wisdom, Swiss Hotel, La Hacienda on Highway 12, Delicious Dish, Glen Ellen Star, Tips Roadside, Salt & Stone and El Molino Central.

Many restaurants have opened inside and are planning to get tents include The Girl & the Fig and The Mill at Glen Ellen where Dana Jaffe says they have opened tables inside where they run the “modify air filters” and plan to tent part of their patio.

Those who might be harmed by lack of covering in their parklets and have partially opened their indoor seating could include Basque Boulangerie & Café, Plaza Bistro, Steiner’s, Valley, Mary’s in Boyes, Il Fuoco, Sonoma Grille, Garden Court Café, Jacob’s, Layla and Jack London Lodge & Saloon.

Canine Costume Contest on Halloween

Larson Family Winery and their wine dogs invite everyone who has a dog to dress it up for Halloween and come on down to the winery for Larson’s annual Canine Costume Contest.

Last year some of the dressed up dogs’ people also costumed up to go with the dogs’ outfits. In fact the first place winning family and dog dressed as Ghostbusters.

The Dog Parade starts right at noon on Halloween, and the Larsons suggest guests make a tasting reservation in the morning to enhance your parade watching experience.

First, second and third place pups will all take home a prize provided by Larson Family Winery.

This year’s judging panel includes community members Kevin Schuh, Pets Lifeline board president; Andriana Duckworth, director of member relations and sponsorships for Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance; and Sue Smith of Sue Smith Photography.

At Larson Family Winery the family has been farming the land since 1877, and dogs are always welcome.

The contest is free to enter, with forms at larsonfamilywinery.com/canine-costume-contest.

Don and Joyce Parsons

Much has been written about the passing of Don Parsons at 96, beloved former owner of Parsons Hardware, baseball coach and nice guy. But many of us miss seeing his wife, Joyce Parsons, who is very much alive.

For years Joyce was the always-elegant “sample lady” at Sonoma Market who did so much more than pass out goodies. She guided people, as if guests in her home, to whatever you might need. She rescued dogs and other animals. She saved food from the store and made sure it went to people who needed it, including Meals on Wheels. She found home goods that people needed and delivered them in her pickup truck. She was always linking people to other people and making everyone feel at home and special.

If Joyce Parsons feels like it, we encourage corporate Nugget to bring her and her local touch and good community works back to Sonoma Market. End of speech.

SOS dinner success

Sonoma community members devoured 205 of Sonoma Overnight Support’s drive-thru dinners last Saturday evening. The dinner bags included even more than I had enjoyed the privilege of tasting weeks before.

Four appetizers instead of one including a brie puff pastry, a clove of roasted garlic on the garlic mashed potatoes, delicious salad dressing for the roasted pear and Gorgonzola salad, ample slices of standing rib roast or Portobello mushroom with lobster mushrooms, excellent roasted root vegetables with balsamic glaze, and a Meyer lemon tartelette.

Sam Sebastiani’s La Chertosa Old World Wines Samuele’s Quarry red wine went well with both entrees. Many thanks to La Chertosa, Haystack Farm, Little Paradise Farm and Sun Ray Farm for their donations and thanks to the 32 volunteers who made it all happen.

Who’s got my Luscious Thighs?

Some people know that I have a very personal way of cooking chicken thighs, with the bone in and skin on, that have become known as my “Luscious Thighs.”

And, frankly, my cooking methods work better with fattier big company thighs (nothing personal) than with the lean specialty thighs we can get at Sonoma Market and Whole Foods.

But I can’t find any Foster Farms thighs or brands they package in three Bay Area Costcos (and I have tried repeatedly), none in Safeways in two counties and none in Lucky’s in Sonoma.

In fact a friend reported twice that, while shopping at a supermarket here, she was almost knocked over by the stench that leapt out of the poultry fridge that held mostly packages of chicken parts days beyond their “best by” dates.

There is actually a shortage of chicken throughout the United States, causing prices to rise to $11 to $12 per pound in some states.

So what is happening?

Several possibilities, including that they could be stuck in a container on one of the hundreds of cargo ships from Asia that are stuck in West Coast ports.

In the last couple of years consumer demand for chicken wings, thighs and breasts has been high due to fads such as competitive markets in chicken wings, breaded and fried “nuggets,” strips and chicken sandwiches, so maybe there aren’t enough chicken parts.

Maybe there aren’t enough workers to “dress” the chickens, which to me really seems more like undressing them by removing their feathers. It is well known that many meat processing employees either caught COVID-19, died from it, or lost relatives due to the virus. So why would they go back to dangerous minimum wage jobs if they could avoid such exposure?

Or maybe they don’t have enough truck drivers.

And then there is the Trump-era chicken deal with China. In 2015 China banned the import of chickens grown in the United States after an outbreak in avian flu (HPAI) that killed 50 million birds. The ban lasted four years, and apparently the U.S. has been clear of the bird flu since 2017 according to meatpoultry.com.

Prior to 2015 American poultry companies exported more than $500 million in chicken and turkey to China, with sales peaking at $71 million for turkey and $722 million for chicken.

China also lost millions of pigs in 2018 to African Swine Fever, which wiped out half of their popular pig supply.

In an effort to restore U.S. poultry growers estimated $2 billion in sales of chicken parts and feet to China, the Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) allowed 172 American poultry processing plants to export chickens to China to be processed and then brought back for the retail and restaurant markets here.

While the list of those 172 companies appears to have been removed from the internet, meaning the FSIS website says it is no longer available, many sources say major processors it includes are Tyson Foods, Inc., Sanderson Farms, Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Perdue Foods LLC, and California’s Foster Farms.

Smaller independent poultry growers have said that the Trump deal favors the largest processors and makes it difficult for the smaller producers to compete.

Foster Farms has plants in Livingston, Turlock and Fresno, some of which were closed temporarily due to COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths. It should be noted that fosterfarms.com says the “company partners with the Fresno Department of Public Health and Vons Pharmacy to vaccinate 1,000 essential workers at its Cherry Avenue facility (in Fresno).” And they hope to do the same at their plants in Merced and Stanislaus counties.

Meanwhile, where are the chicken parts? Why are there smelly ones in local stores?

Are they stuck in thousands of containers on ships from China sitting for months unable to dock in Los Angeles and Long Beach? And if so, how long have they been sitting there? How is the refrigeration working on those ships after several months?

And by the way, these chickens sent from the U.S. to China for processing (feather plucking and cutting up) and packaging and sending back to the U.S. can be labeled “American raised” or “American grown” without labeling “processed in China.” No one admits to doing this.

Tyson Foods, Inc. says the whole thing is “a hoax.”