not basketball

It finally dawned on me why today was a particularly lovely and uncrowded day to learn about heirloom tomatoes from wildboar farm and to hike in Sonoma County Sugarloaf Ridge Park. We were not watching basketball. Walking down the sidewalk in the town of Sonoma at the end of a busy day I overheard a woman telling her husband that Butler was in the final four. Logging into facebook this evening a high school friend commented that she was going to grudgingly root for Duke. From these two scraps of information I expect that the final game is Butler vs. Duke. We shall see...

Meanwhile, we spent the day learning about heirloom tomatoes from a local grower and hybridizer, finding such interesting varieties as Berkeley Pink Tie-dye. Chuck and Felicia came to the class to learn more about how to grow great tomatoes. We shall see if the advice improves our tomato crop this year. We have so many small plants that we will need to host a tomato festival in September.









After "class" we went with friends Craig and Millie to Sonoma County to hike in one of the state parks, hoping to see birds and wildflowers. We saw turkeys taunting us because they seemed to know that they were in a protected zone and no spring turkey hunting season applied to them.

There were some early wildflowers, but they seemed a bit confused by the weather that has been very warm, then freezing, now wet, and finally a day of sun.









Views from the Sugarloaf Peak trail are stunning. In such an intensely farmed region, there were only a couple of hillside vineyards visible from the trail, and none from this view looking over the Sonoma Valley north of Kenwood.












There were wildflowers and lichens:


















I was struck by the color contrast of the madrones and manzanitas in this greenscape. Ireland must be as lush and green as this landscape. But clinging to the hills are also these richly colored California natives.

Please forgive the formatting anomalies. "Scribefire" and blogger are both being difficult.

winter tomatoes

In the earliest days of spring, we only dream of summer tomatoes. This coming Saturday we will learn more about local heirloom tomatoes.

This evening I sat down with my son for a dinner of stale bread and canned tomatoes. This sounds rather stark and reminiscent of depression era frugality, but was prompted by a half loaf of stale sourdough bread. There are many recipes in Italy that make use of day old - or week old - bread. The recipe consulted uses fresh tomatoes - unavailable this time of year even here in California, the vegetable basket of the country. A substitution of a 1lb 12oz can of San Marzano tomatoes worked perfectly. I got the idea here at Sweet Amandine, in a post/recipe about the simplest tomato soup. The cookbook I consulted was one of my favorites, Italy: the Beautiful Cookbook.

As we waited for the soup to simmer, we talked of poetry. My son seemed more and more enthused by the aroma of the soup - and when we finally got to eat it, he went for thirds, apologizing for no leftovers. He also took the book of poetry back to his lair to study at his leisure.




Tomato and stale bread soup

3 cloves garlic, diced fine
2 tbsp. fresh sage leaves, finely minced
1 tbsp. fresh oregano, finely minced
3 tbsp. fresh basil, finely minced
1/2 c. olive oil
8 oz. stale bread, sliced
5-6 c. homemade chicken stock
1 lb. 12 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes
1/2 glass red wine
salt and pepper to taste
grated Romano Cheese and minced basil for garnish

Heat olive oil over medium heat, add garlic and herbs and saute till fragrant. Add bread and stir to heat and absorb olive oil. Remove from heat and place bread slices on broiler tray; broil till lightly browned, put back in soup pot. Heat stock in separate pot to add to soup. Place tomatoes in large bowl; use immersion blender to lightly blend, leave plenty of chunks. Add bread and tomatoes to soup pot, raise heat to medium. Add 4 c. heated stock, more if thinner soup is desired. Add 1/2 glass wine, taste for seasoning. Simmer 15-20 minutes. Blend in basil, garnish each bowl with cheese.

My son thinks this would be outstanding with a huge meatball in the middle!

Google fiber and Napa

This post has a simple title - referencing the Google fiber for communities initiative announced by Google in February and the City of Napa application to be considered as a location for installing this super high speed fiber optic network. A friend in one of the giant tech industry companies alerted us to this right after the announcement; and another local tech wiz sent a message a couple of hours later.

As a city council member, I was intrigued by this prospect and immediately looked up the announcement and reviewed the application requirements.

I set up a facebook page named "Napa Needs its Fiber!" and John created a small website for residents to log support at napafiber.net.


Fast forward to this past Friday.

A furious editing session for an op-ed piece for the local newspaper on Google docs and Google wave - complete with six people writing and editing at the same time. It was intense and suggested a future where high speed connections could facilitate a full multi-media collaboration.

The Napa City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of the Google fiber application. Other local governments and agencies have also supported the application. Here's a draft - probably slightly different from what will be published:

Dear Editor,

Google is looking for places to install a fiber-optic network capable of 1 Gigabit per second speed for internet access. The 1 Gigabit speed is twenty times faster than the fastest premium cable modem service offered; and several hundred times faster than the average cable and DSL subscription. Google hopes that in the city where this network is installed it "will make Internet access better and faster for everyone" and will serve as a model world wide. The City of Napa is now working on an application to the Google Fiber for Communities project, and it must be completed by March 26th. If Napa is selected, all eyes will be on our city.

Why would this super high speed internet access be valuable and important for Napa? And why should Google consider Napa?

Consider the benefits to business, education, and the environment.

Having better speed may open up more opportunity for business attraction of clean industries in our corporate park and in our downtown business district. Retail, tech industries, manufacturing industries - it’s a tool to use for efficient business. Every school from kindergarten to the Napa Valley College will enjoy better access and new opportunities to engage and educate students by using 21st Century tools. It's an opportunity to improve our workforce, to bring jobs to Napa, to have Google employ local contractors as they build their network, and for residents to benefit both for leisure and business use. All opportunities equal a sustainable future.

Over the last 18 years in partnership with the Napa business community, Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation our community has developed and sustained the nationally acclaimed Napa New Technology High School. We believe that the City of Napa is a critical partner in our efforts to continue to innovate and provide every student the opportunity to learn the essential skills they’ll need to be successful and productive in our society. Many of our families do not have access to high speed internet at home so the City of Napa winning the Google fiber grant would provide valuable educational resources to all of our students.

The Napa community has proven its commitment to large scale infrastructure improvements in the innovative $400 million dollar Napa River Flood Protection project. In the same way this community has played a role in revolutionizing flood control and the way the Corps of Engineers does business, we have the opportunity to break new ground in providing business, education and the general public unprecedented efficiency in accessing the information that is critical to success in today's world.

Because just saying we want it is not enough, we're asking you to register your support at our web site - napafiber dot net. With the registrations, we can say to Google: here are the subscribers to the Internet in Napa, you don't need a marketing study, this is the raw data you need.

Agencies can show their support by providing resolutions and letters demonstrating Napa's solid support for high speed fiber. Google needs an enthusiastic and unified community before it invests millions of dollars in the selected city's infrastructure.

We urge all residents and businesses in and near the City of Napa to show Google what working together can accomplish. Take these steps now and help make a difference in Napa.

Ad Hoc Committee to Bring Google Fiber to Napa

Mike Parness

Juliana Inman

Brad Wegenknecht

Lisa Batto

Mark Morrison

John L. Poole

Olive oil

I enjoy several food blogs, including Sweet Amandine by a young woman named Jess who has a way with words as well as recipes. I was intrigued by the recipe in this post entitled "Piece of Cake" since the main ingredients are citrus, eggs, and olive oil. I had just pulled the last blood orange from the tree in the garden, as well as a handful of perfect Meyer lemons. It was a chilly Friday after work, and guests were to come for a late supper. I suggested that since we were going to the fish market, perhaps we could stop at the local grocery for a grapefruit - the only ingredient not on hand for this unusual recipe. At the fish market were lovely pieces of sole for John's perfect sole meuniere.



As promised in the cake recipe, this luscious confection is light as air, a lovely yellow, and has a perfect crumb. Sometimes it is best not to name all the ingredients in the title of a recipe. Who would want to make an olive oil and grapefruit cake? I suspect that the grapefruit and the fruity olive oil are what gives this cake such a distinct "long finish". The flavor lingers long after the cake is gone. We served it with a tiny glass of Sauternes left in the refrigerator from Thanksgiving. I wondered if the wine would hold up from such long cold storage, but it seems to have maintained its special qualities.

I thought of using some of the local (about one mile away) olive oil from a friend's olive grove, but decided to use a very fruity Italian oil since this was a dessert cake.

Ah, chilly winter, candlelight and seasonal fruits!

Haint Blue number 2

I've been looking up at porch ceilings for many years. Growing up in the south, I found that porches are ubiquitous. Some have upholstered furniture, some have the requisite wicker furniture, some have swings, gliders, rockers or benches. A porch must be wide enough (six feet minimum) to sit and to allow one to get into and out of the furniture. After looking at porches for many years, I realized many in the south have blue ceilings - "haint blue" ceilings, that is. I find it interesting that haint blue is almost as ubiquitous as the porch itself - even being found on the ceiling of this 1892 Queen Anne Victorian in Napa. (A previous post shows the original paint hidden under the layer of stucco applied in the 1930's.)

We love our porches in Napa. My neighbor started a tradition last summer of inviting friends and neighbors every Sunday afternoon for a sit on her porch. What a lovely tradition!



Both of these houses were designed by Napa Architect Luther M. Turton.

before the next rain

In the midst of our relentless string of winter storms, this rainbow made a quick appearance. We spent the day last Saturday racking wine at the little ranch on Big Ranch Road (2009's), then at the garage on the eastern side of Napa (2008's). This is a view toward the eastern mountains from Big Ranch Road in the Oak Knoll District. I posted a picture from this series on my facebook page - and seemed to get more response than usual. Those of us living in California are just glad to get a small break in the weather.

Not everyone in the world is on facebook, however - and facebook does not serve all purposes. Missy is way off in Italy, showing pictures of the Tuscan snow, rain on the floor of the Pantheon, and glorious food even in the depths of winter. She does not appear to be a facebook user, and I'm thankful for the more thoughtful and thorough postings about her life in Italy.


John and I each caught swine flu, with just enough time between bouts to make a fresh batch of chicken noodle soup. Soup with lots of the secret cold and flu fighting ingredient - freshly grated ginger. This batch was courtesy of double turkey carcasses from a Thanksgiving of twenty-two guests. I made a huge batch of turkey stock, knowing that the winter could be harsh.

On my first day of high fever, John brought me the last of the winter roses and soup. On a tray. I felt like an ailing Jane Austen. At the time, I barely managed to snap a picture, but knew that this would be the last of the roses till April. We usually have some early ones -- ones as large as dinner plates. These are the hardy, fragrant, persistent ones, a bit brown on the edges, with some yellowing leaves - but fearless flowers all the same.

Hang Gliding Yosemite

Here's a unique perspective on Yosemite -- half dome, Yosemite Falls, panoramic views, and hang gliders.

Hang Gliding Yosemite

(This image courtesy of wikimedia)

Now I get it - the hang-gliding thing...
Click the link above to see a really neat video.