Farmhouse was ,once again, honored to be invited to be among Northern California’s most elite restaurants and wineries in supporting the 22nd Annual Star Chefs and Vintners Gala benefitting Meals on Wheels, San Francisco.  Our executive chef, Steve Litke, represented Farmhouse.  This was his second (and last, he says) time representing Farmhouse without Joe or me, or actually anyone from Farmhouse, there to help.   (Last year Ken and his crew from our favorite sushi house, Sushi Hana helped him out).  Sad huh?  We are a little reclusive – but have promised that we’ll be there, with bells on, next year.

So I decided to sort of wade into the event by attending the “thank you” party being held by Nancy Oakes (the extraordinary owner of Boulevard Restaurant and the event’s chair person) and her husband Bruce Aidells (of chicken-apple sausage fame) at their newly-built home in the Dry Creek Valley.  They’ve been great friends and supporters of Farmhouse and our restaurant.  I’d read an article in the SF Chronicle, all about the house and the building process, a year or so ago, and was fascinated.

The house is a craftsman-style home. Truly a work of art, and I’d been dying to see it.  Especially his sausage kitchen.  So, when we got the invitation from Nancy, I thought, “what the heck- I’ll get the thanks first and do the work later”.  And anyway, I’m sure Steve worked extra hard at the event, since he was alone…

So Rod and I got a babysitter and headed out to Sweetwater Springs Road.  It was one of those super-hot, sticky days, that don’t come around very often.  And, Dry Creek is even hotter than Russian River Valley.  So, we briefly considered bailing.  But fortunately, we bucked up and stuck with the plan.  The location of their house is actually, basically, perfect.  They’re up on a knoll, overlooking the valley, with views from every direction.  They can see Mt. St. Helena to the east.  And best part, they catch the wonderful ocean breezes from the west, so it was lovely and cool.

We were greeted with a drink I’ve never had before- they took Go Vino glasses (do you have those yet?  They’re great, plastic, stemless and recyclable/reusable.  We use them like crazy here) and dipped the rim in ground sea salt and locally grown chili powder, then poured a fresh salsa in the bottom and filled the glass with half Mexican beer and half Clamato.  Slightly spicy, really refreshing and great for an afternoon party.  We’re committed to making them for our harvest party this year (I’ll let you know how that goes). 

As you can imagine, the food was, well, great.  They have a huge outdoor kitchen and they had women making fresh corn tortillas on an outdoor griddle- with roast pork, and steak to stuff into them, Hog Island  Oysters  (one of our absolute favorites), was on hand shucking oysters, the tamales (made by those same tortilla women) were the best I’ve ever had, and it was all served in the gardens, overlooking the sweetest little swimming pool, with views of everything. 

It was really so much fun.  We forget how much we love to re-connect with friends we don’t see very often (translate: people without young kids).  We ran into some of Rod’s old chef-acquaintances from SF:  Hubert Keller from Fleur de Lys and Roland Passot from Fleur de Lys, among others. 

On the way out, as we walked by the lush garden boxes filled with tomato and pepper plants, we noticed a small table loaded with beautiful little jars of pickled vegetables.  They turned out to be loaded with habanero chilis, cauliflower, carrots and onions bathed in olive oil.  Incredible- crunchy and very spicy.  I’ve asked Steve to come up with a recipe for me.  I’ll share it if and when he gets it to me…

Yes, that’s the kind of thing one stumbles across out here.   I came in Tuesday morning (my Monday) to find the path to the kitchen all blocked with caution tape and a big “stay out” sign.  We have a mama hummingbird sitting on eggs!  And, she’s chosen the worst location.  She’s on one of the lowest branches of our old fig tree, but right in the path of travel.  Evidently she was getting really stressed out over all the “visitors” just passing by, so Meilani blocked the path to give her some space.

The egg!

  Over the past year, we’ve really worked to increase our bird and butterfly habitats.  We’ve added feeders and an entire garden of “habitat”  (Hallberg Butterfly gardens, down the road, has provided a wonderful example) flowers and plants.   This is a wonderful sign that we’re succeeding.  We think she’s an Allen’s hummingbird- just based on her size- we can’t really see what color she is.  But there’s some debate that she might be an Rufous.

Whatever she is, it looks like the path is going to be closed for a couple of weeks while she nests, and then a few weeks until the babies leave the nest.  I’ll post pics when the babies get here.  I’ve actually never seen a baby hummingbird….

Doesn’t the 4th of July conjure up the memories of your Dad’s (or uncle’s in our case) scorched hot dogs and charred burgers, Auntie Whoever’s macaroni salad and maybe a nice Jello salad?  We always went to our Great Aunt’s for a swim party (which was really fun!) with all of our cousins and the relatives from Oakland.  We’d swim and eat all day, then after it got too cold to swim anymore (it always cools off in the evening here), we’d sit around for what seemed like forever waiting for the grown-ups to get the fireworks going.  I’m not talking about the big fairgrounds ones, but the little ones that you buy by the box that include crazy things like sparklers and those little fire-shooter things.   Joe and I can laugh for hours over all of the near-miss disasters.  And, while we have fond memories of our childhood 4th of Julys, our kids are definitely growing up in slightly safer and probably healthier summer holiday environment.

Sonoma County Wine Country is literally chock-full of great 4th of July events.  The parties start, this year, on Friday the 3rd, and continue through the weekend.  For full lists, go to: the Sonoma Uncorked website.  Some of our very favorites, though, are the Bodega Bay fireworks on Friday.  We love to spend the day hiking in Armstrong woods, then pack a picnic and some warm clothes and head out to Doran Beach for a campfire and a great view of the fireworks.  We also love the Independence Day events in Guerneville.  They center on the river, and the fireworks display is fantastic!

The Zindependence Weekend at Bella Winery  runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and sounds like a lot of fun. 

Check out our special 4th of July offer on Facebook - just become a Farmhouse fan, and you’re welcome to take advantage of one            fan-tastic offer.  (Sorry I couldn’t resist)

Life, for me anyway, is full of change and ideas.  I love to plan new programs and create packages and itineraries for guests that I know-or hope anyway- that they’re going to love.  I’m always thinking about what’s next- the next great adventure, the next season (we’re currently working on all of our holiday programs).  We work a few months ahead of ourselves in many ways.  But, what always brings us back to right-now-reality, is food.  We eat locally and seasonally.  And, it comes when it comes and often stays just a little while.

Right now we’re right at the cusp of early summer and full-on summer harvest.  We’re wallowing in strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.  Our favorite berry farm, Sebastopol Berry Farm, is delivering bushels of fresh berries, and we’re all gobbling them up like they’ll be gone tomorrow- which many of them will.  We’re getting both black and golden raspberries -which taste entirely different from the red ones you buy in the store.  Soon they’ll be just a memory but the blackberries will be coming in by the truck load.  Dry Creek Peaches have started rolling in, and Patti is roasting them like mad.  Carole and I are talking about jams and preserves that we’ll make and savor all winter long. 

On my ranch, where I live with my family, our strawberry harvest is in full swing.  My kids spend half their summer days down in the garden hunting for them and eating them on the spot,  still warm and dusty.

The favas, that we lived on all spring, are a sweet memory. So are the small, tender peas and that lovely green garlic.  So is the tart-sweet rhubarb that made everyone so crazy over Steve’s Rhubarb Napoleon with Deep Fried Pastry Cream.  

In my garden, there’s a little lull right now.  The chard and kale are still going strong, the cabbages are finally almost ready, but the real heart-of-summer stuff is about to explode. When we stand down there in the golden evening light, we can almost hear the bean tendrils climbing and the tomatoes and squash multiplying.  Every day there are more blossoms and more bees and more tiny fruits and vegetables.

When I find myself thinking, “Ugh, blueberries again?  I want melons!”  I try to remember how tired I was of those favas- and how I’m already longing to have them back.

Two posts in one day- oh my.  But, I’m really excited about something Geoff and I just finalized, and I want to share it.   Geoff’s position at Farmhouse is evolving.  We’ve just hired Matthew Stamp from V Mertz  Restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska (yes, really, Omaha, Nebraska) to take over the position of Sommelier in the restaurant.  He’s also studyinig for the MS and is eager to work and learn with Geoff.

Geoff will still oversee the Wine Program, buying all of the wine and maintaining the list, and he’s going to keep several floor shifts, but we’re moving him into more of a “property-wide” position.  Which means, that for you, our guests, the quality of our wine program in the inn is about to take a huge leap.  He’s going to really re-vamp the “in room” wine program, bringing you more selections and information.  He’s already created, and we’re about to debut, a six-bottle “to go” package, that gives you access to wines that you can’t find on your own.  He has some great stuff in this first offering.  And, he’s going to start a monthly program, where on the last Friday of each month, he takes up to 12 Farmhouse guests, loads them into a van, and spends the day taking you all over RRV- vineyards, wineries, caves, you name it.  Lunch will be included at one of the wineries.  Watch our website, I’ll have the costs and information up soon.  But, the first Friday date is July 31st.  So if you’re planning a trip, give us a call and we’ll put you on the list for more information as we have it.

Having Geoff on the team these past four or so years has been a great experience.  When Joe and I bought Farmhouse, there was literally no wine program.   Steve, our chef, would actually tell anyone who asked to bring their own wines- there was nothing on the list that went with his food.  The food was amazing, the rest of the restaurant was a train wreck.  The previous owner just didn’t care about the wine program, and didn’t have the finances or staff to allow anything to change.

So, Joe and I had nowhere to go but up.  In the beginning, I did the list.   But, tasting, ordering, updating the menu, training the staff on the wines, is really time consuming.  And plus, I wasn’t that good at it.  So I passed it off to our Maitre d’, who got things rolling along a little more swiftly, but still, it was miles from what it should have been to complement the quality of Steve’s food. 

Finally, after a few more stabs at sort of pasting a wine program onto the restaurant, the person who was running it, while maintaining a full server position, decided to move on.  It was time to give wine at Farmhouse some serious thought.  We were still really small, and money was still really tight, and the thought of hiring someone just to manage wine seemed impossible- we weren’t selling a whole lot of wine, and profits weren’t very good.

But, timing and luck have seemed to be in our favor over the last eight years (I probably just jinxed that one), and as luck would have it the person we were seeking was also seeking us.  Joe placed an ad in Craig’s List of all places, for someone to come in and I’m not sure what- basically take over the program, cost us little and make us tons. 

Within a day or so, Joe got a call from this “great sounding guy in New York”.  Geoff was working as Sommelier for Balthazarin the city, and helping to manage the programs for their other restaurants as well.  His girlfriend had been offered an opportunity to come out and work harvest at Williams Selyem, and so he was looking for something fun in Sonoma County, while he prepared to take the Master Sommelier exam.  We got together, struck a bargain and it’s been great for both of us.  Geoff passed the Master’s almost two years ago- and now finds himself on a short list of top young American wine professionals.  Which is, of course, great for us!

So, things like the StarChef award, while not uncommon for our Farmhouse Crew, provide great opportunities for us to get out, attend the events planned around the awards and see what’s really going on out here.  As we already knew, Wine Country is amazing.  Joe and I attended the “Gala Awards Party,” at Charles Krug Winery in Napa, last night. 

Charles Krug Winery at Sunset

What an incredible collection of talented people.  Visit the StarChef link above- it takes you to the list of winners, with their bios and the “Dish That Cinched It” for each of them.  Each chef prepared that dish last night, and Geoff paired all of the wines to go with each dish.  So, the Barrel Room at Charles Krug was transformed into a series of stations, where they were preparing and serving these incredible little morsels paired with wines or beers from around the world.  Two of the dishes that really stood out were Restaurant Eloise’s Egg Yolk Ravioli with Sweet Peas, Local Butter and Black Truffles and Bouchon’sTrumpet Mushroom and Sunchoke Salad.  John and Duskie, from our favorite neighbor,  Zazu, did housemade salumi and antipasti that were some of the best I’ve ever had.   I have all of the recipes- actually all of the recipes listed on the StarChef site- let me know if you’d like any of them.  And, Scott Beattie’s Bella Ruffinas and Bellinis

Scott's Bellini

were incredible.  He has a beautiful book out with all of the seasonal and ground breaking cocktails that he invented/created while he was at Cyrus.  A few of the wines that, had I not been driving, I’d have gone back for more of were the 2007 Pinot Gris, RRV, from Wind Gap (a new producer, right here in Forestville-we can make you an appointment to visit when you come to Farmhouse) and the Sheldon Wines 2005 “Vinolocity”, cooincidently the owner/winemaker, Dylan Sheldon, is part of our Farmhouse Team in his “spare” time. 

So, all in all, a wonderful evening under a spectacular Napa summer sky, celebrating tributes to well deserving industry professionals.  So, it’s not all hard work for me and Joe…

Farmhouse's Late Spring Garden in Full Bloom

Starting tomorrow and running through Sunday, is the  Resorts In Bloom event, benefitting the West County Health Centers and Childrens’ Services.  Tickets are still available if you’re interested… This is the first year of the event, and while we’re really pleased and excited about participating- we’re also a little nervous.  Remember, we’re just wrapping up from a winter of intense disruption in our gardens, and really, property-wide.  So, when they invited us to participate, we figured, “Why not?”.  When the house is a mess, plan a party and you’re sure to get at least some of it cleaned up….  The event brings visitors from the area, and out of the area, out to the resorts of Western Sonoma County, to tour their gardens and ground.  Some of us really do have some interesting/beautiful gardens, and some really interesting rare plants. 

At Farmhouse, we’re fortunate enough to have a fantastic team in our gardens.  Jana Mariposa handles all of our flower and edible gardens.  She’s a devotee of native species and really concentrates on creating gardens that aren’t just beautiful, but that are habitats for all of our incredible caterpillars, butterflies, humming birds and loads of other beautiful species. 

During the weekend event, Jana will be onsite from 12-2 each day, answering questions, providing advice and giving tours.  We’ll also be selling Patti’s soon-to-be famous brownies. In case you can’t make it to the event, here’s the recipe  (scroll or read down to the bottom of the article) that was recently published in our local paper.

So, if you’re in the area, grab a ticket and come out for a great cause.  If you can’t make it this year, let’s hope it’s successful and you can plan for next year…

Photo shoots are intensely intimate.  A one day shoot is like an entire relationship crammed into 8 hours if you’re lucky, but generally more like 12 or 14 by the time it’s all said and done.  You’d think that after eight years with Farmhouse, and with all of the experience accumulated in the years leading up to Farmhouse (I ran a winery and handled all of the PR and marketing, but that’s another story), that I’d remember from shoot to shoot what always end up to be the pit falls.  Well, somehow I never do. 

Ideally, in a perfect world, you’d fine one photographer, whose work you love, and work with them exclusively.  But, I can’t do that.  I can commit to one husband, happily, but one photographer?  Forget it.  They’re too tempting, too seductive.  Great and even really good photographers have a unique voice.  They see your property in their own way- whether they’re intrigued by the architecture, the story behind the property, the interiors, the people themselves.  Each one, if they’re passionate about what they do, falls a little in love with the place for the time they’re here.  If you’re lucky.  And, they make me fall in love with it all over again. 

I meet photographers everywhere-  sometimes I meet them on assignment for publications doing stories on Farmhouse, or at parties, or through designers.  When it comes time for a shoot, I’m nuts for days trying to decide who is just perfect for this particular shoot.  Do I use the person I used last time?  Rarely- I’m always chasing the next exciting voice. 

For this shoot I decided to use Tai Power Seeff.  She’s an incredible photographer who I met when she came to do a two day shoot for Brides Magazine (The story she shot comes out this month sometime).  She sent me a link to the images she’d shot and I was hooked.  She sees Farmhouse like I do.  A little bit traditional, kind of sexy, but really fresh and bright and happy.  She’s basically famous, and travels all over the world, but she and I hit it off while she was here, and she agreed to come back once we’d finished the Barn and do the images for me.  

We picked a date- two days after she got home from Paris and two days before she leaves again for South Africa- and I started working on my ever-too-ambitious shot list.  It’s always a challenge to distill it down to what I really need- not what I want, but what I need.  Right?  What I want is every new flower, the new breakfast dishes, that really cute little caterpillar we’ve all 

been watching (got that one).  But, what I needed, in this shoot anyway,  is several shots of each new room, the renovated pool area, new gardens and, if we’re really quick and efficient, shots of our new Winemaker Wednesday Picnic Basket and some Holiday shots.  I sent the list to Tai and got the thumbs up- with the caveat, “that’s pretty ambitious…”  Well, I already knew that.

The day before the shoot is all about pulling props together, hiding electrical cords and getting ready to be super-efficient.  I scour all of our wholesale flower marts, our gardens and even our neighbor’s gardens collecting enough flowers and plant material to turn into just a few subtle arrangements for each shot. I’m compulsive about not using the same arrangement twice (but as everyone asks, “who even notices?”  Well, I do…).

Tai and her assistant, McNair, arrived the night before, we walked the property and planned the day. Then they headed up to Healdsburg for dinner and a little socializing at Scopa, a terriffic little modern Italian place that’s always filled with locals and visitors alike. 

The morning of, I set up a station for cutting and arranging flowers, my stock of books, glasses, magazines and props and lots and lots of bottles of water.   Then we met for breakfast and got cracking.

First pit fall.  Models.  Somehow we never arrange enough of them, or someone can’t make it.  Tai’s roommate was scheduled to come and couldn’t- so we were lucky enough to get Kate, one of our absolutely darling restaurant servers to stand in.  And, since Tai’s assistant, McNair is great-looking, we decided to pull him in too.  So, models in hand, we headed up for some tub shots.

Now, here’s how the relationship goes.  First you’re kind of flirting.  “Oh, I love your stuff, want to get  together?”, sort of stuff.  Then you set a date.  The actual shoot.  But, you don’t know one another very well, and so things start off rather tentatively.  Translation: slowly.  Every single shoot- every single one- we get about two hours in, we have about one of fifty shots done, and I start to freak out.  So we ramp it up a little and I start collaborating a little more.  Until finally, by the end of the day, we’re averaging about ten really good shots an hour and we’re humming along. 

Kate and McNair, cute huh?

At the end of the day, I had literally 167 tub shots of Kate and McNair (many of them breathtakingly good) and 600 shots total.

Tai was amazing to work with.  She gets Farmhouse and her voice really tells our story.  I think I may have found my “steady” photographer.  As long as she doesn’t marry the guy in South Africa…

Keep an eye on our website, we’ll be filling the new images into the Barn pages soon…

For the last several years, Joe and I have been invited to attend the Wine Spectator Bring Your Own Magnum Party in Healdsburg.  Actually, Joe gets the invitation- but I’ve assumed that he’d take me as his guest if I wanted to go.  Which, for some reason, I haven’t.  He hasn’t either, so we’ve passed the invite on  to Geoff or Steve, or whomever.  Well, this year, the invite came and was “non-transferrable, ID required at the door”.  Our attention was caught.  This sounded serious.  So we decided to spiff up a little and make the trip up to Healdsburg. 

Now, all we needed was a magnum- one suitable to the event.  We checked our cellar.  Nothing under 10 years old and $275 on our list.  We needed to make some calls.  And quick, the party was starting in a couple of hours, and our neighboorhood wineries were closing for the day.  We called Alex over at Porter Creek.  Success.  One of our favorite Pinots, the 2005 Fiona Vineyard Pinot, in a magnum. 

So, the party started at 6:30 and we needed to pick the wine up by 5:30.  Time to kill in Healdsburg.  What to do?  We headed down to our favorite bar for a pre-party pick us up.  Cyrus, our friendly, neighborhood Michelin two-starred restaurant, is a fantastic place to spend an entire evening- start with the champagne and caviar cart and indulge all the way through to the rolling cart loaded with housemade candy and petit fours.  But, it’s also perfect for a quiet seasonal cocktail before heading somewhere a little less uhm, celebratory.  Cyrus opened their bar with Scott Beattie- mixologist extraordinarie, at the helm.  We’ve seen foams and froths and muddles like you wouldn’t believe!  They were offering two brand new drinks for spring- we couldn’t resist the Plum Dandy and the Spring Grove here’s the descriptions: http://cyrusrestaurant.com/pdf/cocktails.pdf.  Sure enough, refreshing and uplifting just like we’d hoped. 

So, we headed down to the party, magnum in hand and a with nice little glow.  We found the entrance, showed our IDs and were admitted.  As we walked away from the table, the very perky check-in girl asked us,  “Aren’t you just soooo excited about the party?”  Well… maybe.

The party was taking up the entire lower floor of the Hotel Healdsburg and its restaurant, the Dry Creek Kitchen- The place was absolutely packed with food and people, and they had a live band doing obscure 70’s covers.  Chef, Charlie Palmer and his two young sons were manning the grill and a big carving station, and wine was being poured, from magnums, in every direction.  The only thing missing, conspicuously missing, in my opinion, was white wine.  Everything was red, big and actually pretty alcoholic.  But, I guess, all big scorers Wine Spectator-wise.

Parties like these always make me realize just how very small our corner of the world actually is.    The upshot of the entire party- all of which was spent nibbling, sipping (I found a guy with some bottles of 2008 Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc, which I love) and catching up with myriad old friends, is that John and Duskie- that incredible chef pair from Zazu- agreed to make us the chorizo that we need for the Huevos Rancheros we’re bringing onto our Sunday breakfast program.  All in all a very fun and successful evening!