On to happier news…

So, before I got all distracted by today’s headlines and a raging cold, I had planned to write about last night’s Slow Food Coffee-Port-Chocolate Soiree at Old Soul.

I dragged the SO along to the event, even though he’s not much of a coffee drinker, chocolate nibbler, or port tippler. The evening opened up with Jason Griest waxing pretty darned poetic about the aroma of coffee. His talk was like a 30-min PhD program in how to buy, appreciate, and enjoy coffee. As someone who has been patronizing Jason’s cafes for a few years now, I have always appreciated the excellent quality of his coffee, but I never fully appreciated the sourcing. I particularly appreciated his discussion of how some coffee farmers are too small to attain fair trade or organic certifications. I usually try to buy organic and/or fair trade, but Jason’s talk centered around the importance of knowing the coffee purveyor and building that relationship of trust.

 Carrying on that same theme was Eric Aafedt of Bogle Winery, who shared the winery’s Petite Sirah Port while discussing how port is made and giving a brief history lesson. Until last night, I knew Bogle wines as drinkable, inexpensive, and “from somewhere in the Delta.” Now that I know it’s a small, family-owned winery that chooses to grow grapes that are appropriate for its location, I like them even more. The SO and I both enjoyed the port, too!

The last speaker of the evening was Ginger Elizabeth, who brought several truffles for us to taste. If you had asked me yesterday if Sacramento needed a couture chocolatier, I am not sure how I would have answered. But, after listening to her very enthusiastic talk and tasting the chocolates (personal favorite: the spicy Olmec truffle), I cannot wait to go check out her newly opened shop. More info at www.gingerelizabeth.com.

All in all, a great experience. I’m more convinced than ever that there are many exciting things going on food-wise right here in Sacramento, and I’m more determined to seek out people and businesses like these three.

Epiphany…the update

About 2 hours after I posted today’s item on Fargo, I received a call from a Sac State sociology student who was conducting a poll (the student pollster said the results would be in the Bee soon). The questions were often awkwardly worded–allowing for only either/or answers in some cases, which annoys me to no end. (For example, one question asked if I favored having the US military remain in Iraq until our goals are met or if I favored a scheduled troop removal plan. This was not the exact wording of the question, but you get the gist.) Ugh. Okay so, it’s a class; they are still learning how to write decent survey questions. Whatever.

Several questions pertained to my level of satisfaction with Sacramento City politics and leadership. Funny they should ask. One of the questions was who I would vote for among Fargo, KJ or Dave Jones…

After the call, I immediately jumped on the computer to see what, in fact, our Assemblymember is up to (because I confess I haven’t been paying a single iota of attention to him). Turns out, he’s nearly termed out. Aha. A little digging and I found R.E. Graswich’s blog at SacMag: 

http://sacmag.com/blog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=339&blogId=8

I really don’t keep up with Graswich, nor with SacMag these days, which obviously I should at least give it a cursory glance now and again.

Should Jones run for mayor? Will he? It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Fargo’s big epiphany

So, a while back I posted a rant about Mayor Fargo and the Sacramento levee situation. In the days that followed, what I saw in the news and elsewhere was that pretty much nobody bought her and Kerridge’s responses of “shock and outrage,” for the good reason that they were patently ridiculous.

In my post, I also mentioned that moving the city toward true sustainability meant not relying heavily on new construction as a primary revenue stream. So I was sorta pleased a couple weeks later to see a similar comment from Fargo. If we really are going to have a livable city, our leaders and we citizens are going to have to look seriously at what sustainability is and how to get there. At least the people in City Hall have the issue in mind–even if the follow through seems a bit whimsical:

From the SacBee, 2/7/08:

“Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo said Wednesday the city is too reliant on development as a revenue source and a change is in order. ”

However, from the same article:

“When asked how she would lessen the city’s reliance on development as a revenue stream, Fargo said she thought that development service employees should be contract workers, rather than full-time employees.”

Now, I can see some cost savings there, but where’s the plan for assuring a stable, reliable revenue stream? Yeah, I thought not.

Lest I sound like a complete basher here, let me just say I dig Fargo. I think she’s a good human being. I think she means well. I have voted for her in the past, and I may even vote for her in the next mayoral election (if KJ is the only opposition). But I am seriously disappointed in the leadership coming out of City Hall these days. And I’d like nothing more than to see Sacramento elect a mayor with some real vision and gumption. Actually, the redevelopment plan for the railyards is one of the best ideas that has come out of Fargo’s mayorship. When I drive/walk around midtown, I see the quickly changing face and the infill development that is (arguably) a good thing. But really, when I look back at Fargo’s record since 2001, I have to say, it just seems, well, mostly bland with a few serious lapses in leadership that deeply concern me.  I actually laughed out loud when I read Josh Pane’s sycophantic OpEd in the Bee on 2/3/08:

“Not stopping or stumbling in the face of problems, Fargo continues to pursue our collective vision as other great urban leaders do.”

You’ve got to be kidding me…I don’t despise Fargo, but “great urban leader” is a bit of hyperbole. More realistic, I think, is the comment by Marcos Breton in one of his Feb columns, noting that:

“…Fargo has been running unopposed so far not because she’s a strong leader, but because she has stronger name recognition than other local elected officials.”

What a bummer. I think Sacramento needs a mayor who is really serious about maintaining (and improving) the quality of life here and who is serious about moving the city toward capital-S Sustainability: stable revenue streams, balanced budget, effective public services, more environmentally friendly, and not dependent on the ridiculous/soulless old-school sprawl of the past. (And a plug here: Heather, how ’bout getting that city trolley idea up and running? Less pollution, less traffic, more people out and about in the central city. It wouldn’t suck.)

That all being said, I shudder to think of KJ running for mayor. I really do. I mean, St. HOPE is a pretty cool idea, but the guy is obviously not overly enamored with what we call “follow through.”

Is this really the best we can do for a mayor? C’mon. Somebody please step up. Sacramento does deserve a “great urban leader”–especially right now. Let’s get one.

I’ll take that “false spring” thing, again, please

Did anyone else notice how chipper everyone seemed to be during that week-long spell of sun and near-warmth? It got me thinking about how we perceive winters here in California. What’s awful to us is considered mild weather for most of the country. But, as a native Caleefornyan, I pretty much can’t take it. My favorite winters have been those I spent in the 80-degree days of the tropics. And, as much as I like this town, I have made a vow to get the hell out for a couple of weeks every January from now on. While I kind of dig the big dramatic storms, it’s really the weeks of dull grey sky that seem to get to me (and probably everyone else).

A midwest transplant I know actually said something to the effect that this has been a bitterly cold winter, which is amusing once you consider how much her frame of reference must have changed since her arrival in sunny Cal. On the other extreme, I’ve been receiving updates from a good friend who moved back to Minnesota last year and is encountering -40F and has ice on the inside of her double-paned living room windows. Egad.

Anyway, in early February, I was getting to that stage of winter where I could barely muster the wherewithal to leave the house. I just wanted to curl up under the comforter, nestle my toes under the dog, and crank up the heater. It’s not just me, either: The semi-feral cat who has adopted me decided to take up indoor-cathood and has refused to leave the house for weeks. I told myself the answer was long walks–fresh air, exercise, etc. Except that didn’t seem to help. I tried making all kinds of healthy vegetable-rich meals and even taking multivitamins and B-complexes and some herby stuff from the Co-op. Still, all I could really think about was hibernation.  I started paying very close attention to the antidepressant commercials on TV. On the positive side, I have read a record number of books this winter…more on that in a sec.

Then, poof, the sun comes out and we get a break from the dreary grey sky and things look up for a bit. At least it felt like I got my sunshine reserves replenished. Now that the grey and cold are back, they don’t seem quite as bad. It sounds like we’re going to get slammed this weekend, but I’m prepared for some serious hunkering down with the SO.

But before the hunkering, we are going to Slow Food Sacramento’s coffee-port-chocolate tasting tonight (http://slowfoodsacramento.com). I have been to some events hosted by Slow Food members, but this will be my first “official” event. I am looking forward to meeting the Slow Foodies, and I’m probably going to join the organization. Among the books I’ve been reading is Georganne Brennan’s A Pig in Provence (http://www.georgeannebrennan.com). She is a chef and cookbook author who lives in Yolo Co part of the year and in southern France the rest. The book is really series of vignettes, with a recipe following each story. It has really inspired me to try to cook better and more complex dishes than I’ve tried in the past. Most of the ingredients she talks about are from nearby villages or home grown…and this fits in nicely with the Slow Food philosophy. This will be my Slow Food year–I’m planning to get more of my produce from the local farmers’ markets and I’m even going to attempt to grow a small garden (my last attempt, about a decade ago, was a pathetic, dismal failure that we shall never speak of again). And I’ve bought a bunch of new cookbooks to expand my rather limited repertoire. I’m taking up Michael Pollan’s mantra as my own: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

 Although I earned my street cred over 8 years of being a vegetarian, I am now an unrepentant omnivore. While I’m not prepared to go the distance and take up hunting and cleaning my own meat, I am being a lot more careful about the kinds of meat I buy and where. It will be an interesting year–and one of the things I am hoping to share here are my discoveries of great local/regional farmers, rare and seasonal treats, and I promise: no freaking proselytizing.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to the end of winter more than ever. In a couple of weeks, I’m going to start figuring out where the new garden is going. And, fair warning, I’m probably going to succumb to the desire to call it a potager. I know it sounds pretentious, but I just really like that word.

Weatherstone’s new lease on life…

After several years of being part of the Java City conglo, the Weatherstone is going to be an independent cafe again. The guys who own Old Soul are taking over. It’s one of those cosmic-all-is-right-with-the-world moments.  But, seriously, the Weatherstone is one of those perfect examples of what a coffeehouse should be–nestled in a neighborhood, cozy, charming, welcoming. Ever since Java City took it over, it’s been a shadow of its former self. I noticed a Java City rep being quoted as saying it was a “one-off,” which I assume meant it didn’t fit in with their corporate branding strategy. Of course, that’s the whole point, isn’t it? A good coffeehouse is one you can walk into and not feel like you’re entering some marketer’s hamster wheel to purchase an elaborately choreographed “experience.”

Anyway, I’m stoked and looking forward to the new Weatherstone incarnation. Now, if they’ll just bring back the Kona Mocha…