Sonoma Valley Weekend

It is now a day before a ‘final’ and a square of chocolate (or two) into procrastinating, I’m listening to Ingrid Michaelson’s ‘The Way I am” and chuckling to lyrics about buying your baby Rogaine when they start losing all their hair; I’m remembering my own future Rogaine baby and our recent weekend up to Sonoma.

Having heard amazing exclamations about abundant dairies (eg. Andante, Spring Hill) as well as Egg Farms (eg Judy’s), Fayvor, zipcar citrus and I pulled into down town Petaluma on an impromptu treasure hunt for Petaluma food stuffs. Goal: to see one of these farms and come home with goodies to share.

Our first stop a cup of java from Peet’s, Tagliaferri’s for a sandwich (not memorable enough to mention) and ask for help since we had no idea where we were going. Our first recommendation and stop, Spring Hill Cheese Company. Facing Western Street in an unpresumptuous building serving as the storefront for their dairy, we tasted and decided on three cheeses to take home. Their Colby Jack, Teleme and Old World Portuguese. My favorite, Teleme, was rich, creamy with just enough cheesiness to make it interesting without it being overwhelming.

A “where can we find fresh eggs” at the cheese shop and a suggestion of a sign off a neighborhood road led us to Bill and Vikki’s house and farm at 498 Lohrman. Two rounds around a lamb specked field later we ask misc. man on the side of the road about where we can buy eggs. Turns out it was just the man we were looking for!

Bill was kind enough to show me around to the back where he keeps his brown layers and small farm field. He explained how the overall chorus of clucking can be a litmus test for the health of the flock. Fayvor concurred as he reminisced his own childhood.

These very same eggs, some gifted others inhaled as is, managed to make it into my latest attempt at tiramisu. Not bad if I do say so myself.