Kathleen Hill: Cochon Volant on TV, and where to eat for Thanksgiving
Cochon Volant on Food Network tonight
'Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives' will feature the first showing of host Guy Fieri's visit to Cochon Volant tonight, Friday, Nov. 9 at 9 p.m. Lots of locals are in the segment; and the show's producers say the segment will feature photos of last year's wildfires taken by Robbi Pengelly of the Index-Tribune. Watch to spot some friends and drool over some good smoked and barbecued meats, cole slaw, beans, salads, fried chicken and Lizzie's chocolate chip cookies.
Owner Rob Larman has been busy with catering, donating and serving lunch for 50 at Sonoma Overnight Support's shelter, the Haven, and filling in at the last minute to supply juicy beef brisket for 300 at Julie Atwood's recent benefit for Slow Food Russian River, the Heritage Turkey Project and Worth Our Weight.
Vinegar making class
Sheana Davis will give a class on making red wine vinegar today, Dec. 9 at Cook Vineyard Management, and each guest will take home their own recipe and 'mother of vinegar' from which you can make your own vinegar. Attendees will also taste vinegars and David Cook's olive oils with complimentary wine. $35 per person, limit 15. 1 to 3 p.m. Reserve via Martha at 938-7917.
Yum for the scrum
At a press preview on Monday, folks tried a variety of goodies at the new Mint and Liberty restaurant, such as dice-sized version of the sprouted lentil salad made with Sweetwater Spectrum's lentil sprouts, Missy and Austin Lely's Bee Well Farms' beets, and yogurt created by chef Michael Siegel, formerly of San Francisco's pan-Asian Betlenut restaurant, Bix and Shorty Goldstein's. He and his wife Katelin live in town and she is part of the winemaking team at Repris Winery.
Siegel has assembled a multi-national kitchen crew to make everything from pork belly steamed buns, 'baked potato pierogi,' chopped chicken liver, Matzah ball soup, egg salad with Challah toast points, and a Rachel sandwich, sister of Reuben. You will also find Praka or beef stuffed cabbage rolls, shrimp gumbo, and turkey pot pie. Siegel even makes his own hoisin sauce and pork buns. And his pastrami is made with Wagyu beef brined for five days, something he brought along from Shorty's.
Don't worry – there are still good sounding breakfasts ($12 to $17), lots of burgers from grass fed 5 Dot Ranch beef with cheddar cheese and an Impossible burger ($12 to $14) with fries ($3 to $7 extra), a 'Fancy Pants' grilled cheese and a Green Goddess Cobb salad. In fact, owners James and Mila Hahn loaded six staff members onto a plane for a 24-hour trip to Chicago to research hot dogs and delis, eating their way around town at Stephanie Izard's Girl & the Goat and Little Goat Diner, and at Portillos of Chicago Dogs. All this on M&L's general manager Thomas Painter's first day on the job.
Mila's family owned Sears Fine Foods and Copper Penny for many years. Lots of local liquors and beers. 19101 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma. 996-5949.
Plan ahead for Thanksgiving dinner
Known to some as Turkey Day with football, Thanksgiving is already coming on Nov. 22.
We know Thanksgiving must be next when stores replace Halloween candy and costumes with Christmas and Hanukkah decorations.
The whole holiday started in 1621 when some Pilgrims and Native Americans of the Wampanoag community near Plymouth Plantation got together and celebrated the harvest by feasting on fowl, flint corn, squash, porridge, chestnuts, shellfish and venison.
George Washington first declared Thanksgiving to be on Nov. 26 in 1789, and the first National Football League game played on Thanksgiving was in 1934.
Depending on whether we 'feast' alone or with others, we all have slightly different ideas of what Thanksgiving dinner should include either to serve at home or take to a potluck.
Maybe a turkey sandwich, a spiral ham, wild duck, goose, salmon or none of the above. Some of our favorite side dishes include green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes with or without garlic or parsley, sweet potatoes, candied yams, winter vegetables broccoli and cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, glazed carrots, creamed spinach and cornbread or rolls.
As for those rolls, we sometimes try to continue family traditions, such as cranberry muffins in the McKelligon-Thompson-Hill family, which are a lot of work. It's OK to give in occasionally and purchase rolls from a local bakery or grocery. Check the ingredients.
Dining out for Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving dinner can be quite expensive to cook, even for a few people. If you would rather spend the money to go out and not have to do all that work, here are some Sonoma restaurants serving special holiday menus. Many restaurants are closing for Thanksgiving to give their staff the day off.
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