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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Greg Cole, Traci Dutton, Ken Frank, and Peggy King will judge the second annual Cattails & Tules Wine & Food Pairing Festival, a major fundraiser for the Konocti Regional Trails and Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association.
The event, which pairs food from local restaurants with award-winning wines from Lake County, will be held Saturday, June 16, at Gregory Graham Winery and Vigilance Winery & Vineyards in Lower Lake.
Greg Cole is the executive chef and owner of Celadon and Cole's Chop House, both located in historic downtown Napa.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, Greg and his wife and business partner, Beth Fairbairn, opened the award-winning Celadon in 1996, and Cole’s Chop House in 2000. In 1998 Greg was selected as one of the 24 "hottest young chefs" in America by the Wine Spectator magazine.
Traci Dutton is the sommelier and beverage manager for The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, located in St. Helena.
Dutton is responsible for selecting and purchasing wine, creating wine lists, menus, and food and wine pairings, and staff training for all components of the CIA Greystone campus, including the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, the Professional Wine Studies Program, and Special Events. Her imaginative wine lists at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant have won numerous awards.
Ken Frank, the executive chef and owner of La Toque in Napa, is entirely self-taught. He began his career at age 16 with a dishwashing job in France, and quickly worked his way through the kitchen ranks to become a successful chef at a very young age.
In 1979 he opened the original La Toque on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood at age 23. In 1998 Ken decided to pursue his dream of moving to Napa Valley, where he opened a new La Toque in Rutherford. In 2008, La Toque moved to the new Westin Verasa in downtown Napa.
Cookbook author Peggie King joined the healthy food revolution with her first cookbook, entitled “Fit Food for Foodies.” Her simple recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free. Peggie has prepared her unique recipes for local community winery events featuring healthy lifestyle foods paired with local wines. Peggie’s “day job” is in environmental consulting.
Cattails & Tules will be held on June 16th from noon to 3 p.m. and will showcase local restaurants and chefs as they pair Vigilance and Gregory Graham wines with their creative cuisines.
The panel of judges will evaluate the pairings in four different categories: best presentation, most creative, best of show and best use of local products. Guests will vote on a special fifth category, "Consumers’ Favorite Wine & Food Pairing."
Tickets may be purchased at Shannon Ridge, Vigilance, and Gregory Graham Tasting Rooms, online at www.cattailsandtules.com or by calling 707-998-9656.
The price for the event is $40 per person, and proceeds will go towards the Konocti Regional Trails and Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association.
On Tuesday, June 5, 2012, Venus will pass across the face of the sun, producing a silhouette that no one alive today will likely see again.
Transits of Venus are very rare, coming in pairs separated by more than 100 years.
This June's transit, the bookend of a 2004-2012 pair, won't be repeated until the year 2117. Fortunately, the event is widely visible. Observers on seven continents, even a sliver of Antarctica, will be in position to see it.
The nearly seven-hour transit begins at 3:09 pm Pacific Daylight Time (22:09 UT) on June 5. The timing favors observers in the mid-Pacific where the sun is high overhead during the crossing.
In the USA, the transit will at its best around sunset. That's good, too. Creative photographers will have a field day imaging the swollen red sun "punctured" by the circular disk of Venus.
Observing tip: Do not stare at the sun. Venus covers too little of the solar disk to block the blinding glare. Instead, use some type of projection technique or a solar filter. A No. 14 welder's glass is a good choice. Many astronomy clubs will have solar telescopes set up to observe the event; contact your local club for details.
Transits of Venus first gained worldwide attention in the 18th century. In those days, the size of the solar system was one of the biggest mysteries of science.
The relative spacing of planets was known, but not their absolute distances. How many miles would you have to travel to reach another world? The answer was as mysterious then as the nature of dark energy is now.
Venus was the key, according to astronomer Sir Edmund Halley. He realized that by observing transits from widely-spaced locations on Earth it should be possible to triangulate the distance to Venus using the principles of parallax.
The idea galvanized scientists who set off on expeditions around the world to view a pair of transits in the 1760s.
The great explorer James Cook himself was dispatched to observe one from Tahiti, a place as alien to 18th-century Europeans as the Moon or Mars might seem to us now. Some historians have called the international effort the "the Apollo program of the 18th century."
In retrospect, the experiment falls into the category of things that sound better than they actually are. Bad weather, primitive optics, and the natural "fuzziness" of Venus’s atmosphere prevented those early observers from gathering the data they needed.
Proper timing of a transit would have to wait for the invention of photography in the century after Cook’s voyage. In the late 1800s, astronomers armed with cameras finally measured the size of the Solar System as Edmund Halley had suggested.
This year’s transit is the second of an eight-year pair. Anticipation was high in June 2004 as Venus approached the sun. No one alive at the time had seen a Transit of Venus with their own eyes, and the hand-drawn sketches and grainy photos of previous centuries scarcely prepared them for what was about to happen.
Modern solar telescopes captured unprecedented view of Venus’ atmosphere backlit by solar fire. They saw Venus transiting the sun’s ghostly corona, and gliding past magnetic filaments big enough to swallow the planet whole. One photographer even caught a spaceship, the International Space Station, transiting the sun alongside Venus.
This year should be even better as cameras and solar telescopes have improved. Moreover, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is going to be watching too. SDO will produce Hubble-quality images of this rare event.
For more news and information as the date of transit approaches, stay tuned to http://science.nasa.gov .
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Northshore Fire Protection District firefighters were called to a structure fire in Clearlake Oaks early Saturday morning.
The fire was first dispatched shortly after 2:30 a.m. in the 12000 block of The Plaza, according to radio reports.
Firefighters arriving at the scene reported finding a mobile home on fire.
The fire was located in the rear of the home, radio reports indicated.
The fire was reported contained at approximately 3:19 a.m.
The cause of the fire and details about the resources on scene were not immediately available early Saturday morning.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association has received a $5,450 grant from the California State Parks Foundation to aid the association's efforts to prevent the closure of Anderson Marsh State Historic Park.
The grant is part of CSPF’s Park Operations Challenge Grant Program.
“We are pleased to announce these grants as part of our integrated effort to help keep threatened parks open,” said CSPF President Elizabeth Goldstein. “The grantees that have come forward to assist parks need our help now, and more organizations will have similar needs in the future.”
“This is an example of the value of public-private partnerships,” said California Department of Parks and Recreation Director Ruth Coleman. “We thank CSPF for mobilizing donors and resources to assist our nonprofit partners to get through this budget crisis.”
“We look forward to the moment when the ink dries on the deals between these nonprofits and the state,” said Goldstein. “They are very much in the process at the moment, and we think these grant announcements are an important milestone toward their completion.”
“The Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association is grateful for this financial support,” said AMIA Treasurer Henry Bornstein. “This grant will help us to meet our fundraising goals and enable us to be ready to move ahead with confidence in negotiating an operating agreement with Department of Parks and Recreation. We appreciate everything that the California State Parks Foundation is doing to assist the nonprofits that are working to prevent park closures.”
For information about Anderson Marsh State Historic Park, AMIA and how you can help, go to www.andersonmarsh.org or contact AMIA at either
UKIAH, Calif. – This year’s “Gala on the Green,” Mendocino College Foundation’s annual fundraiser to benefit Mendocino College students and programs, will take place Saturday, June 23, at Campovida, 13601 Old River Road, Hopland.
The dinner will feature DK Catering and fine wines provided by Destination Hopland wineries.
The annual fundraiser includes appetizers and wine pairings, dinner, live and silent auctions, music by the George Husaruk Jazz Trio and dancing.
The gala begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be preceded by optional activities including an informational talk by Hubert Germain-Robin of Germain-Robin Distillery and a tour of the Campovida gardens between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
“This year’s line up of food pairings and fine wines prior to dinner, and the dinner itself, will not disappoint,” said Richard Cooper, foundation board member and chair of the Special Events Committee. “The entertainment also promises to be outstanding, and we look forward to having fantastic offerings in the live and silent auctions. Guests should also plan to arrive early to see Campovida’s gardens prior to the event. The garden tour is a real treat.”
Tickets for the event are $100 per person. Tables, with seating for eight people each, may be reserved for $700.
More than half the tables have sold, according to Katie Fairbairn, the foundation’s executive director; individuals wishing to attend should purchase their tickets soon, she said.
Additional information about tickets and table reservations is available on the foundation’s Web site, http://foundation.mendocino.edu .
Proceeds from the event are used to fund scholarships for students and provide support for college programs as recommended by the administrators.
Last year’s Gala on the Green raised more than $60,000 for scholarships and educational programs.
Expanding the “footprint” of the event by utilizing more of the Campovida grounds, the foundation’s Special Events Committee is planning for 400 guests this year for the largest gala ever.
“The Foundation is proud to be able to grow this event annually to help build awareness and raise funds to benefit the students of Mendocino College,” said Cooper.
DK Catering will prepare this year’s dinner. Event coordinator Travis Scott worked with the catering company’s husband and wife team, Dave and Patricia Huerls, to create “a wonderful menu of family-style dishes for the main dinner.” DK Catering also will produce four appetizer reception stations, Scott said.
The meal will consist of a Caesar salad, grilled chicken penne pasta with roasted mushrooms, red onions, sweet peppers and Chardonnay cream, plus Tuscan ravioli with tomatoes, herbs, Parmesan and light cream served with bread and butter. Dessert will be the chef’s choice.
The gala’s welcome reception is an added feature this year, according to the Mendocino County event planner and tour coordinator.
Eight wineries from Destination Hopland are scheduled to pour varietals during the wine and appetizers reception.
Participating wineries include Weibel, Parducci, Nelson Family Vineyards, Campovida, Cesar Toxqui, and Terra Savia, according to Scott.
Mendocino and Lake County food purveyors, including Stan’s Maple Café and Nicholas Petti of Mendocino College’s Culinary Arts Program, will join DK Catering in providing the appetizers.
Foundation board member and Mendocino Sheriff Tom Allman is tapped as the master of ceremonies for the evening’s presentations and live auction.
Several sponsors are lending their support to the foundation to present the Gala on the Green. Campovida LLC is a “Presenting Sponsor” for the event. Use of Campovida, the setting for the annual event the last four years, is provided by owners Gary Breen and Anna Beuselinck.
Additional sponsors for this year’s event are Mendo Lake Credit Union, the Skunk Train, TLCD Architecture, Richard Cooper, SHN Consulting and Gary Smith.
Wells Fargo Advisors has offered to sponsor the appetizers for the event while the Lake County Friends of Mendocino College is sponsoring the Gala’s Dessert Bar.
Midstate Construction is the sponsor for the martini bar. Kit Elliott and George Husaruk have once again signed up to sponsor the live music, which is provided by Husaruk and his band.
Most recently, Ukiah Valley Medical Center, Savings Bank of Mendocino County, Wright Contracting, Jared Huffman for Congress, Gary Nix, and State Farm Insurance agents Jay and Lisa Epstein signed up as sponsors, Cooper reported. Also, Tri County Certified Inspections has donated its inspection services.
For more information about the annual Gala on the Green or about the Mendocino College Foundation, call the foundation office at 707-467-1018 visit the foundation’s Web site, http://foundation.mendocino.edu .
AB 2284, a bill by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) to crack down on offenders who pollute the environment and endanger the public by growing or manufacturing illegal drugs on forest lands, is headed to the Assembly Floor for a vote after it was approved by the Appropriations Committee.
After recent amendments, AB 2284 would increase the penalties for those convicted of production or cultivation of a controlled substance on resource lands and timberland preserve zones of more than 50,000 acres.
“To address concerns surrounding the broad timberland definition originally included in the bill, I have continued to work with various interested parties to narrow the definition, which I included in the Assembly Appropriations Committee amendments,” Chesbro said. “I want to make it make it clear that the focus of this bill is on large industrial timber and public resource lands, and not smaller property owners and homeowners.”
He added, “This bill is not about the legal production or use of medical marijuana under California law. This bill is about pollution and illegal diversion of waterways, and the increasing violence that is occurring in our forests. AB 2284 is the direct outgrowth of two hearings I held this year as chair of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture.”
At the hearings, fisheries experts, the Department of Fish and Game and environmental groups described the increasing threat that illegal drug production represents, especially to endangered species such as the Coho salmon, Chesbro said.
AB 2284 would also, under a very limited scope, allow law enforcement to stop and question drivers transporting irrigation piping, which must be in plain view.
The vehicles must be traveling on gravel or unpaved roads within public resource land or timber preserve zones of more than 50,000 acres.
Law enforcement would not be able to stop and question those transporting irrigation piping on timber preserve zone lands under 50,000 acres unless the landowner has filed a written statement giving law enforcement permission to so.
“On many occasions law enforcement officers have seen people entering these resource lands with irrigation supplies in plain sight,” Chesbro said. “They do not have the authority to pull them over and simply ask questions, possibly stopping a marijuana cultivation site before it is planted. Preventing a site from being established is the best way to protect the forests and watersheds, safeguard the public and reduce the risk to law enforcement officers, who often face armed suspects while investigating established sites.”