Chicken Scratches

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The building started as a produce packinghouse in the 19th century, and held stints as a winery, U.S. Army ammunition warehouse and, from the 1950s, a poultry slaughterhouse. After Fulton Valley Farms closed in 2010, the Fulton facility was vacant—until this month.

Modern track lighting now stands out against the old wooden beams of the high ceiling, and canvases large and small pop with color on the cement walls. The shiny, sloped floors where chicken blood once pooled are now covered by designer shoes and, perhaps, an occasional droplet of wine from an enthusiastic art lover—the former slaughterhouse is now a pop-up art exhibit. (It’s the second such transformation in the county, the other being Slaughterhouse Space in Healdsburg.)

Dubbed the Fulton Art Depot for its proximity to the future SMART rail station, the pop up has been a success with 300 attendees and over 75 artists, including Barbara Elliot (whose work is shown above), responding to a call for work, says Vicky Kumpfer, who helped set up the event. Despite the great response, “A Month of Sundays” will be just that—one month of art exhibits on Sundays. “The space is really raw right now in the sense that the owner is not sure what he’s going to do,” says Kumpfer. “Most likely he will keep it as an artist space.”

Catch “A Month of Sundays” at the Fulton Art Depot Jan. 12, 19 and 26. 1200 River Road, Fulton. 1–5pm. Free. 707.477.0567.

Burrata, Borracho

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Saturday morning at 10am: Leon and I are drunk.

Don’t get me wrong. We’re often quite sober at 10am, no matter the day of the week, but this Saturday was different. Instead of completing some marvelous health-giving exercise like running or yoga, we were sitting in Rosso Pizzeria in Santa Rosa tasting five different types of Sauvignon Blanc while John Franchetti, the man in front of us, taught us how to make cheese.

Each bolstered by the nutritious breakfast splendor of exactly one half of one fresh pear, we had arrived 30 minutes earlier, eager to learn about the mysteries of fresh mozzarella and, particularly, that of burrata. We had forgotten about the wine. Imagine our delight.

We were no burrata virgins, having often ordered it at Rosso. It arrives, gleaming and white on a plate, kissed with excellent olive oil and just a grind of salt. It gives to the knife like an indulgent lover and spreads in a glistening ribbon onto a hot, fresh pizzete.

But we had always thought that burrata was merely super-fresh mozzarella. And it kind of is. Except that it’s super-fresh mozzarella stuffed with three kinds of cheese—including mozzarella. Continue to imagine our delight.

We tasted through our Sauv Blancs, dutifully noting grass and citrus, apples and lemon, asparagus and passion fruit. We chose not to spit.

Chef finally got the cheese part started. Placing a pound of fresh mozzarella curds in a metal bowl, he had his sous add two quarts of boiling, heavily salted water. The curds immediately began to wilt as he stirred until they formed a large gluey ball in the water. Wearing gloves, he began to twist small balloons off the ball, placing them on a plate. He invited the group to come up, put on gloves and twist their own balloons of mozzarella. Leon and I sipped our wine patiently.

And then the burrata began. To make burrata, you first make the stuffing, taking a quarter pound each of ricotta and mascarpone cheese and mixing them together in a large, nonreactive bowl. Then you add a half a pound of mozzarella cheese curds, enough heavy cream to smooth the mixture, olive oil to further the smooth, and salt and pepper to taste. It takes a lot of salt and pepper to make all of this white stuff pop.

Once thoroughly mixed, you make more fresh mozzarella. Only this time, chef pulled out a rolling pin and flattened the gluey ball into a sheet thin enough to see his stainless-steel table through. Cutting the sheet into fours, he mounded the cheese mixture onto each square and rolled them like egg rolls. Molti bene! Burrata.

The apple and grass notes faded miraculously when paired with all the lovely fat that a slice of burrata provides. We sipped and tasted. Leon held my hand. I leaned against his shoulder. The room grew louder as the rest of the group got drunk on a Saturday morning. The class was done.

We walked unsteadily home at 11am, clutching each other against fall’s foul morning light. We sat briefly in the backyard. Leon disappeared into the house and reemerged clutching an excellent bottle of Pinot Noir. He smiled. His teeth glinted sharply in autumn’s sloping yellow glow.

Imagine my delight.

Rosso Pizzeria, 53 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa (707.544.3221) and
151 Petaluma Blvd. S. (707.772.5177). To learn of upcoming cheese classes at Rosso, sign up for the email newsletter at www.rossopizzeria.com.

Incarnation

Greetings from future Los Angeles! In Her, director-writer Spike Jonze digitally merges that city with today’s Shanghai. It’s rarely looked better—spread up and out, and crowded but prosperous.

Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a love-letter writer at BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, his heart aching as he sits in an office lined with glowing glass panels. Theodore composes little notes for happy couples, and tries to avoid signing the finishing papers on his divorce. One day, he learns of a new OS, a system essentially like the super-powered granddaughter of Siri. The bubbling, flirtatious voice on his pocket-sized computer calls itself Samantha. Theodore has found a new friend, and more.

There are a thousand ways this slip of an idea could have gone wrong. Essential to the success of the romance is Scarlett Johansson’s voice acting. Could it be that the allure of the actress goes so deep that even her voice is rich with it? The other women in the film can’t live up to this invisible imago, even a drabbed-down Amy Adams. Olivia Wilde, as Theodore’s highly demanding date, is a classic example of how a woman can be so beautiful that she’s almost ugly. Just as Samantha is all voice, Rooney Mara, seen in flashback, is the voiceless, moody ex-wife Theodore can hardly bear to think about.

But Samantha isn’t a perfect alternative to other women. She pushes back, withdraws, has flares of temper. This unlikely love story stays believable into a third act, as Samantha grows in strength and consciousness.

The film also has a smooth religious side to it, bearing a subtle metaphor about love as enlightenment; it’s irresistible with its living, compassionate computers, and its fields of skyscrapers glowing with Pacific sunlight. You sort of ache for wanting it to come true.

‘Her’ is now playing in select theaters.

Where’s the Water?

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The driest year in California’s recorded history has passed, and there is no promise that the drought will end any time soon. Some scientists think we are in a mega-drought cycle that could last for many years. We are writing to encourage municipal leadership on this issue, as well as action on the part of every Sonoma County resident.

The specter of extended drought is as scary as the “super storms” happening in other parts of the world. Equally frightening is the silence of our public officials, who have barely acknowledged this crisis nor called for mandatory conservation measures.

While we are told that our county does not need to worry about this unprecedented lack of rain because there is water in Lake Sonoma, the fact is that most of us depend on groundwater reserves for our primary or backup source of water. Water from Lake Sonoma is completely irrelevant to a significant part of our population, including virtually all of our farms and ranches. Even if Lake Sonoma refills this winter, which is highly unlikely, our seriously depleted groundwater reserves will not.

In the 1970s, California experienced a drought less severe than this one, and mandatory conservation measures were enacted in many communities. We stopped watering lawns, washing our cars and sidewalks with hoses, and used low-flow water devices. We let “yellow mellow” and took short showers. These measures made a big difference, and we found we could do just fine using less water.

We call on our supervisors, the Sonoma County Water Agency and the SCWA’s municipal clients to enact mandatory water conservations measures immediately. In addition to prohibitions and fees, there should be incentives for businesses to convert landscapes to low water plantings. Independent water districts and HOAs must mandate conservation measures as well.

And we ask each resident of our county to count every drop of water as the precious, scarce resource it is, and to do your part to adapt to our changing world. Even if there is rain in the next few months, extended droughts are likely in our region. It’s time to make conservation a way of life.

Rachel Kaplan works as a somatic psychotherapist, permaculture gardener and educator. She lives in Petaluma.
Wendy Krupnick teaches, consults and practices organic farming and gardening and is active with several related community groups.

Open Mic is a weekly op/ed feature in the Bohemian. We welcome your contribution. To have your topical essay of 350 words considered for publication, write op*****@******an.com.

Letters to the Editor: January 8, 2014

These Boots Are Made for Strummin’

Thanks for the article on Frankie Boots (“Buckle Up,” Dec. 25). You place Frankie Boots in a line that includes Kate Wolf and other Sonoma County folk-country-bluegrass figures, and rightly so. Indeed there are a number of good local, younger bands that could be placed there: Driftwood, the Bootleg Honeys and Old Jawbone, to name a few.

And, just to fill in a bit more of that history, it’s worth noting that Sonoma County was, indeed, a hotbed of that music for many years. I moved here in 1978 hoping to secure the guitar chair in Kate Wolf’s band (only to find Nina Gerber got there first), but what I discovered was a wealth of talent and band-playing opportunities.

Bluegrass, in particular, was popular during this time. Between the well-known bluegrass bands (Boothill, Eagle Ridge, HiJinks & the High Forehead Boys) and the old-time bands (too many to name), it seemed you could find really good acoustically driven music most nights of the week. In fact, I played bluegrass at a club, now long gone, on Fourth Street called Joe Frogger’s every week. It was a wildly popular club, overrun nightly with fans of that music.

Among local acoustic musicians from that era, some of the names of the best remain vital today: Chris Carney, Layne Bowen, Evan Morgan, Ted Dutcher. And then there’s Chip Dunbar. He was responsible for teaching many, many people the joy of the banjo, guitar, mandolin and singing. Though he passed a few years ago, Chip’s legacy lives on with groups like the Mighty Chiplings, so named to honor their first important teacher in this music.

And we shouldn’t forget important venues like the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati, concert home to many of the important figures in acoustic music. I remember seeing David Grisman (with a fresh-faced young singer who went on to some Nashville fame, Vince Gill), David Bromberg, Doc Watson (who politely requested that folks refrain from smoking so he could sing), Norman Blake and Bay Area bluegrass icon Laurie Lewis. I could go on and on.

So, yes, let’s hoist a glass and honor those great musicians here in Sonoma County who have always entertained us, educated us and endured with us the comings and goings of fashions and the closure of clubs that support this music.

A final tip of the hat to Sheila Groves down at the new Twin Oaks in Penngrove. Looks like country-bluegrass (i.e., Americana) may have a new home in Sonoma County.

Santa Rosa

Women and Prowling

Bravo to all of the contributors to this piece (“So Long, 2013!,” Jan. 1). You did a great job summarizing some of the most important issues that captured the spotlight and imaginations of the people of Sonoma County last year.

But I must clarify something. You report that Ms. Darling says that nobody is talking about the effect that Efren Carrillo’s conduct has had on women. This is not entirely true. While I (and others) perceived a dearth of outcry of shock and disgust from the women in this county for a time after this shameful incident occurred, that all changed at the second meeting held by the Citizens for Accountability, which was held at the Sebastopol Grange a week before Thanksgiving.

At that time, several women, one by one, got up out of their chairs, bravely faced the members of the large crowd and spoke of their own past unrelated experiences and how hearing about Carrillo’s reprehensible conduct in the early morning hours of July 13, 2013, violated their right to feel safe in their own home. Then, at the third meeting held by the Citizens for Accountability, several women once again rose up out of their chairs, took the mic and expressed similar feelings.

Also, it should be pointed out that I and others have been raising this issue since day one of this incident; in fact, I wrote a letter to this publication, which was published, identifying the real victim as the woman who, at 3:40 in the morning on July 13, was so terrified by Efren Carrillo’s actions that she found it necessary to call 911, not once but twice.

I will reiterate once again that I stand with this victim and hope that she will avail herself of each and every opportunity that may become available to her in her personal pursuit of justice. And it is my sincere hope that she is receiving the support that she needs to get her through this most trying time.

Sebastopol

Write to us at le*****@******an.com.

Keep Calm

As the first day of 2014 wound to a close, a mysterious fire destroyed part of a tent, photos and other sacredly infused objects at a large Moorland Avenue memorial to Andy Lopez, at the site where the 13-year-old boy was shot and killed by Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff Erick Gelhaus on Oct. 21.

Speculation about the fire’s origins immediately set the community on edge. In a letter addressed to retired Santa Rosa Police Department chief Tom Schwedhelm (he stepped down Dec. 20) and Sheriff Steve Freitas, dated Jan. 2 and sent via overnight delivery, Lopez family attorney Arnoldo Casillas wrote, “The first-hand accounts I have received indicate that the fire appears to be intentionally set.” Casillas continued: “The intentional burning of the monument represents a threat against the parents of Andy Lopez based upon their race/ancestry/national origin and is
a blatant act of intimidation. . . .” In the letter’s conclusion, he requested that officials undertake a “hate crime investigation.”

Other activists and community members soon leapt to the conclusion that the fire had been set with some sort of malicious intent; with tensions running high since the shooting and Gelhaus’ subsequent return to work—despite calls for his ouster—the assumptions are somewhat understandable. But it may be time for cooler heads to prevail. A daylong investigation by arson investigators from four agencies determined that the fire was started accidentally—most likely by a burning candle at the center of the memorial structure. Central Fire Authority chief Doug Williams told the Press Democrat that no evidence of accelerants, such as gasoline, were found at the site. Plans are in the works to rebuild the memorial.

Meadowcroft Wines

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Despite a steady drumbeat of press insisting that Riesling is a dry, dry, dry wine, I’m told that the most common remark among visitors to this tasting room is surprise that it is not always sweet. This after decades of well-intentioned incantations against the enduring infamy of cheap Liebfraumilch. But instead of despairing, perhaps it’s time to stop chanting that tune and accept that when the gods made Riesling, they gave it the noble stuffing to make both excellent sweet and dry wines. Meadowcroft has got your palate covered either way, and bless ’em for that.

All three in the current Riesling lineup are sourced from Borden Ranch in Lodi. Neither brisk with acidity nor deeply aromatic, they’ve got their own charms—with the 2011 Reserve Riesling ($26), it’s spicy orange tea aromatics and dry pear and peach juice flavors; chamomile tea, Sweet Tarts for the 2012 Thomas Henry Riesling ($18), named for winemaker Tom Meadowcroft’s father. The unfashionably sweet treat is the 2011 Foyt Riesling ($32), made for the family of four-time Indy 500 winner A. J. Foyt, but even this is really half-dry.

The tasting room inhabits a freestanding shack at the entrance to Cornerstone Sonoma, the diverting complex of sculpture gardens and antiquey-boutiquey shops whose signature feature was once a big, blue tree. Today, look for plastic snowmen. The atmosphere is casual, there’s stuff to buy and a big, sleeping dog to step around, and a comfortably furnished deck upon which to lounge.

At first sombre with mulchy notes shrouding pie-crust aromas, the 2011 Bonneau Vineyard Sonoma County Chardonnay ($26) brightens up for a rich, butterscotchy finish. Reds begin with a stewed Pinot and a rustic Sangiovese, picking up a bit at the 2011 Knight’s Valley Zinfandel ($28), a juicy and round enough claret. Meadowcroft’s main event is the 2010 Mt. Veeder Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($75). Like a lot of producers’ top Cabs, however, it displays obvious, promising quality with its dusty and well-knit finish and somewhat reduced, young and weedy aromas, but is not currently as much fun as the runner-up 2010 Oak Knoll Cabernet Sauvignon ($50), with its plush, cranberry-black cherry liqueur flavors. As for tawny hue and treacly, the chocolate liqueur smack of the port-style “All She Wrote” Cabernet ($36 for 500 milliliters) is just as delicious and sweet as it’s supposed to be.

Meadowcroft Wines, 23574 Hwy. 121, Sonoma. Daily, 11am–5pm. Tasting fee, $5–$10. 707.934.4090.

Taking the Bait

‘Pretty much from the word go, from note one, we do our best to give the audience an action-packed show,” says Reel Big Fish drummer Ryland Steen in a recent phone interview. “These days, you want to leave a show feeling like you’ve been somewhere. We do our best to give them a fun show, that kind of experience, and the music, universally, just makes people go crazy.”

For Steen, a native of Lincoln, Neb., playing fast-paced ska-punk was at first a challenge. “Growing up, I had knowledge of reggae music, but I didn’t know anything about original ska, much less the third wave of ska music that Reel Big Fish came out of,” he says. “It took me a couple years before I really felt comfortable.” Reel Big Fish play Jan. 7 at the Phoenix Theater.

The band enjoyed a surge in the late 1990s, when groups such as No Doubt and Sublime helped push ska to the forefront of the alternative rock scene. “Sell Out,” the single from the group’s 1996 album Turn the Radio Off, reached number 10 on Billboard’s modern rock chart, and the video saw considerable play on MTV. But the popularity of ska-punk proved brief, and Reel Big Fish never again cracked the upper tier of the rock charts.

After 20 years, singer Aaron Barrett is the only remaining original member of the band. Steen will soon mark his eighth year in the band.

“They go by in a blur,” he says. “When I first joined the band I thought, ‘I’ll be in it for a year or two.’ Eight years later, I feel really lucky to be in this band and to have it turn into the experience it’s become.

“Being able to be on a bus and tour the world six or seven months a year is so great,” Steen continues. “Wherever we go, we seem to have a great group of people to see the show, at every show. Because we’ve toured so much, the band has built its reputation on the live show. We try to bring it every night, and the people always do. We feed off of that.”

Reel Big Fish play Tuesday, Jan. 7, at the Phoenix Theater.
201 E. Washington St., Petaluma. 7:30pm. $20–$23. 707.762.3565.

The Chosen Spot

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West County, you really have it going on. When the sun’s light hits your apple orchards, the towns become lightly perfumed, genuinely sweeter; often it’s beams are softened and obscured by the coastal clouds.

You are the only place where I have been greeted, chauffeured and bid adieu by reused material that’s eager to please, tucked away in unfamiliar crevices kissed by the westerlies. The communal sensibility of your inhabitants supports growth and exploration without ever concerning itself with onlookers’ attempt at claiming you were once pigeonholed. I have seen members of your third to last generation meet in a rundown gym, pin apple-shaped nametags on each others’ chests; every so often two would cry in each others arms as together they grew older, week by week. The rest of the crowd offered no response beyond comfortable milling over the worn wooden floor.

Your towns are quaint enough to occupy the space between shrunken apples baked into a pie and its top crust. Even the highway that connects your towns totes the name “Bohemian” out of respect for the powerfully unconventional. It contours the sometimes moist (sometimes dry) land scattered with moss rocks and dangles from Sebastopol to Freestone; just a mention will cause locals to immediately recall the taste of the best freshly baked bread they have ever eaten.

Keep following it out to the beaches that line our charming span of the Pacific, or pierce the fog veil and wind your way to Occidental among the wise evergreen furs.

West County, please continue doing what you have always done.

Happy 2014.

Jamie Payne is a freelance guitarist and SRJC student whose paintings can be seen at JamesPayneful.tumblr.com.

Open Mic is a weekly feature in the ‘Bohemian.’ We welcome your contribution. To have your topical essay of 350 words considered for publication, write op*****@******an.com.

What We’re Reading

Everyone reads and writes Top 10 lists around this time of year, but how often does one get a peek into what their local region is reading?

That’s what Copperfield’s Books does annually by compiling its top-selling books of the year. This year’s list from the company’s local stores is refreshingly free of vampires, tawdry S&M and hunger games; indeed, it’s the most literary-minded list in years.

And the top-selling books are:

1. ‘Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Near-Death Experience and Journey into the Afterlife’ by Eben Alexander (pictured above)

2. ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’ by Neil Gaiman

3. ‘Wild’ by Cheryl Strayed

4. ‘And the Mountains Echoed’ by Khaled Hosseini

5. ‘Beautiful Ruins’ by Jess Walter

6. ‘Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls’ by David Sedaris

7. ‘Where’d You Go Bernadette’ by Maria Semple

8. ‘Flight Behavior’ by Barbara Kingsolver

9. ‘Inferno’ by Dan Brown

10. ‘Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation’ by Michael Pollan

—Gabe Meline

Chicken Scratches

The building started as a produce packinghouse in the 19th century, and held stints as a winery, U.S. Army ammunition warehouse and, from the 1950s, a poultry slaughterhouse. After Fulton Valley Farms closed in 2010, the Fulton facility was vacant—until this month. Modern track lighting now stands out against the old wooden beams of the high ceiling, and canvases large...

Burrata, Borracho

Saturday morning at 10am: Leon and I are drunk. Don't get me wrong. We're often quite sober at 10am, no matter the day of the week, but this Saturday was different. Instead of completing some marvelous health-giving exercise like running or yoga, we were sitting in Rosso Pizzeria in Santa Rosa tasting five different types of Sauvignon Blanc while John...

Incarnation

Greetings from future Los Angeles! In Her, director-writer Spike Jonze digitally merges that city with today's Shanghai. It's rarely looked better—spread up and out, and crowded but prosperous. Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a love-letter writer at BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, his heart aching as he sits in an office lined with glowing glass panels. Theodore composes little notes for happy couples, and tries...

Where’s the Water?

The driest year in California's recorded history has passed, and there is no promise that the drought will end any time soon. Some scientists think we are in a mega-drought cycle that could last for many years. We are writing to encourage municipal leadership on this issue, as well as action on the part of every Sonoma County resident. The...

Letters to the Editor: January 8, 2014

These Boots Are Made for Strummin' Thanks for the article on Frankie Boots ("Buckle Up," Dec. 25). You place Frankie Boots in a line that includes Kate Wolf and other Sonoma County folk-country-bluegrass figures, and rightly so. Indeed there are a number of good local, younger bands that could be placed there: Driftwood, the Bootleg Honeys and Old Jawbone, to...

Keep Calm

As the first day of 2014 wound to a close, a mysterious fire destroyed part of a tent, photos and other sacredly infused objects at a large Moorland Avenue memorial to Andy Lopez, at the site where the 13-year-old boy was shot and killed by Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff Erick Gelhaus on Oct. 21. Speculation about the fire's origins immediately...

Meadowcroft Wines

Despite a steady drumbeat of press insisting that Riesling is a dry, dry, dry wine, I'm told that the most common remark among visitors to this tasting room is surprise that it is not always sweet. This after decades of well-intentioned incantations against the enduring infamy of cheap Liebfraumilch. But instead of despairing, perhaps it's time to stop chanting...

Taking the Bait

'Pretty much from the word go, from note one, we do our best to give the audience an action-packed show," says Reel Big Fish drummer Ryland Steen in a recent phone interview. "These days, you want to leave a show feeling like you've been somewhere. We do our best to give them a fun show, that kind of experience,...

The Chosen Spot

West County, you really have it going on. When the sun's light hits your apple orchards, the towns become lightly perfumed, genuinely sweeter; often it's beams are softened and obscured by the coastal clouds. You are the only place where I have been greeted, chauffeured and bid adieu by reused material that's eager to please, tucked away in unfamiliar crevices...

What We’re Reading

Everyone reads and writes Top 10 lists around this time of year, but how often does one get a peek into what their local region is reading? That's what Copperfield's Books does annually by compiling its top-selling books of the year. This year's list from the company's local stores is refreshingly free of vampires, tawdry S&M and hunger games; indeed,...
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