Kathleen Hill: ‘Holidays Around the World’ tasting and more

‘Holidays Around the World' tasting experience

Dec. 6 brings an unusual “Holidays Around the World” in two hours tasting experience at Vintage House, thanks to Sonoma Sister Cities Association.

Guests will have a chance to sample and feast on tasty traditional holiday foods from Sonoma's seven Sister Cities, including Aswan, Egypt; Chambolle-Musigny, France; Greve in Chianti, Italy; Kaniv, Ukraine; Patzcuraro, Mexico; Penglai, China; and Tokaj, Hungary.

That's a lot of tastes, and they are always interesting. Locals with heritage from those countries or simply admirers of the locations or foods have been working for days and weeks to prepare their specialties. Free to members, $10 for non-members. 264 First St. E., Sonoma. Groupspaces.com/SonomaSisterCityAssociatin/item/1237944.

Hot cakes at Williams-Sonoma

No, these are not what you think, meaning not flapjacks or pancakes.

These are some of the most beautiful cakes you will ever see or taste, and you will get to watch cake artist Michelle Heston make the cakes, decorate them with lots of secrets, and take home a small cake as well. The class is tonight, Friday, Dec. 6 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Heston will present three finished cakes including a Williams-Sonoma chocolate espresso cake with bittersweet chocolate frosting and caramel dipped hazelnuts.

And all, I mean all, of what you pay for the class will go to St. Jude's Children's Hospital to find cures for childhood cancer. Remember, as Marlo Thomas tells us on behalf of her late father, Danny Thomas, no child's family should have to pay to save their child's life.

Heston, who lives in Marin but has worked for many years at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, now works in marketing for FSMI's corporate owner, Acor, one of the largest owners and managers of high-end hotels and resorts in the world.

For two years in a row, Heston's cakes received “top honors at the Marin County Fair” and an award for her wedding cake designs at the Contra Costa Cake Show. Her cakes and recipes have been featured on “Good Day Sacramento,” and in Marin magazine, Chicago Tribune, on the “Dallas Morning News” and various syndicated subsidiaries. Do not miss. $50. 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Frenchie Fridays start now

Frenchie Picnics and Provisions just started delivering Friday lunches to Plaza businesses, with a menu that changes each week. For example, this Friday brings Spanish lentil soup with sausage, potatoes and paprika served with a baguette and/or a wedge salad of Iceberg lettuce, crumbled bacon, blue cheese, hard cooked egg, cherry tomatoes and dill ranch dressing ($13 each). Order by Thursdays before 3 p.m. at 343-7559. Lunches delivered from 11 a.m. to 12 noon each Friday.

Check out Frenchie's Holiday Marketplace on Saturday, Dec. 7 featuring local food vendors, holiday entertaining ideas, some excellent and interesting snacks and sips, gift ideas and discounts and kids' activities. Both chef/owners Sarah Pinkin and Liz Payne have kids so they have lots of practice at this part as well. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 521b Broadway, Sonoma. 343-7559.

New “Joy of Cooking”

Remember the “Joy of Cooking,” possibly the first cookbook you ever used or that you remember your mother or grandmother owning? And their “Joy of Cooking” had a broken spine and smudges of food on the cover with lots of newspaper clippings and handwritten notes stuck between the pages? Or did your parents give you a paperback edition when you went off to college, to make sure you could get beyond dehydrated and petrified ramen.

That original “Joy of Cooking” was written 75 years ago by Irma S. Rombauer. The 1975 edition was edited by Irma Brombeck's daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker, and the new updated edition is written by Irma Rombauer's great-grandson, John Becker and his wife, Megan Scott. Becker and Scott spent nine years at home in Portland, Oregon adding 600 new recipes to the previous 4,000 for new generations of readers and home cooks.

New additions to the “Joy of Cooking” include gooey butter cake, Cajun dirty rice, hot-smoked salmon, chocolate babka, Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, and Utica greens, plus kale salad, kimchi mac and cheese, and roasted cauliflower with green olives and lemon. You will even find Guyanese pepperpot, miso ramen with chashu pork, and lamb shawarma, a whole section on fermentation, how to cure egg yolks, make Nocino, and lots of up-to-date cooking methods.

Meet authors Becker and Scott for lunch at the Left Bank in Larkspur on Saturday, Dec. 7. There are still seats available. All food will be cooked from recipes in the new Joy of Cooking. Lunch and book $125 single, $200 couple, includes one 1,152-page cookbook. 507 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur. Last minute reservations at 415-927-0960 or bookpassage.com.

Or $40 at Readers' Books in Sonoma. Whatever your choice, purchase your copy from an independent and local bookstore. Keep these thriving community centers of reading alive and keep our neighbors employed.

Holiday pop-up shops this weekend

Sheana Davis's Epicurean Connection and David Cook's Cook Vineyard Management Mercantile will both hold open house pop-ups on Saturday, Dec. 7.

Epicurean Connection will have Davis's regular first Saturday of the month cheese shop pop-up with extra goodies for the holidays adding Nancy Lilly's Tall Grass Olive Oil, Rancho Gordo popcorn and beans (separately), panetone from distributor Steve Leonardi, samples of EC cheeses, mac and cheese, Fleur Sauvage chocolates, jams, soup, and tapenade all prepared in the Sonoma Community Center's Rotary Kitchen. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

CVM's Holiday Open House will include David Cook's Olive Sonoma olive oils, jams, sauces and baking mixes from Maine, lots of bubbles and nibbles (some even healthy), seasonal gifts, and candles and lotions. 19670 Eighth St. E., Sonoma. 235-9530.

SVMA hosts Pairing of the Senses

So what senses will the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and friends attempt to pair?

Let's see, we have at least touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. And they will all be available at this annual event, Sunday, Dec. 8

For touch, I guess we can touch each other or touch the food or wine glasses, maybe even books. And if we have sight we can see it all, colors, size and depth. Guests will be able to hear readings by “Flight of Fiction” writers Nancy Au, Hugh Behm-Steinber, Peter Thomas and Jenny Qi. These readings are always experimental and fun. Sommelier Chris Sawyer and writer-curator Hollie Hardy co-host the artistic part of the event and pairings.

Armando Navarro of El Dorado Kitchen, Sean Weyhmiller of Oak and Olive Kitchen, and Joanne and Keith Filipello of Sonoma's Wild Thyme will prepare all of the tastes to pair with wines selected by Sawyer. Tickets include a wine flight and snacks. $25 museum members, $35 public. 551 Broadway, Sonoma. 939-7862.

A Song for Lorene of Divewalk Café

Many people remember Lorene Reed, first of her noble organic food delivery business called Planet Organics, and more recently of her Divewalk Café, forced to leave what had once been home to Nicholas Turkey Breeding Farms offices and now home to Sonoma Springs Brewing Company.

Reed and business partner Marc Sloop made bowls and bowls of pho, banh mi sandwiches, huge savory and sweet crêpes and salads, as well as giving a Friday afternoon performance home to home-schooled students. Eventually she moved to Chico in hopes that Vietnamese food would be popular and that just didn't work out for various reasons.

Now Reed needs our help. Earlier this year she was diagnosed with a blood cancer called Multiple Myeloma and is responding well and optimistically to treatment, but at great expense. She is not asking for help, but her friends are asking to be able to help her, with no specific financial goal – just a gift and receive peace.

So in Lorene style, her friends are throwing her a Pho Party on Thursday, Dec. 12 at the Moose Lodge. Her former Divewalk crew is reassembling to cook. The Moose Lodge is donating its space and kitchen. Divewalk is donating the food, and all funds go to Lorene Reed. Jon Williams has organized the music, and there will be a “sound healing” by Teitzah Karys to close the evening.

Bands cheering everyone up to slurp their excellent pho will include the Family Jules, Leah Jones & Armando Rosales, Jon Williams and more, all to help the community heal Lorene Reed. Many locals are in similar need. Open mic and Pho 6 to 10 p.m. Moose Lodge. 20580 Broadway, Sonoma. 996-3877. Some info and RSVP on Facebook at Divewalk Café-A Song for Lorene.

Ramekins Culinary School updates catalogue

Many home cooks got used to several years of Ramekins' colorful catalogues, more recently a folded brochure instigated by the new owners.

The new brochure features some new classes inserted among the “regular” classes. Look for classes such as Healthy & Delicious Probiotic Sodas, Shrubs and Teas; Guilt Free Baking Without Grains, Dairy or Added Sugar; Vodka & Seafood; tamale and sushi workshops; the Art of Fermentation; Vegetarian Entertaining; Vietnamese Classics; and an Agave Fiesta with 3 Badge Mixology. 450 W. Napa St., Sonoma 933-0450.