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The District 1 candidates debates will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, at Lower Lake High School's gymnasium, 9430 Lake St.; and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the Calpine Visitor Center in Middletown, 15550 Central Park Road.
The events are sponsored by Lake County News, Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce, Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, Lake County Farm Bureau, Lake County Association of Realtors and Calpine.
Lake County News Editor and Publisher Elizabeth Larson will moderate the debates, which will be videotaped for broadcast on TV Channel 8.
The election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Absentee ballots will be mailed to voters signed up to vote by mail on Oct. 6.
Community members are invited to submit questions to Lake County News at
Questions received by the audience that are not asked as part of the debate due to time constraints will be presented to the candidates for written response, and will be published on www.lakeconews.com.
For more information e-mail Lake County News at
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LAKE COUNTY – This year's Lake County Wine Auction will be the centerpiece of a weekend filled with activities that celebrate great wine and food while raising funds for worthy community causes.
The Wine Auction will be held on Saturday, Sept. 20, under the big tent at the Buckingham Golf and Country Club in Kelseyville.
John Ash, internationally recognized wine country chef, educator and author, is a special guest of the Lake County Wine Alliance during the ninth annual Wine Auction.
During a cooking demonstration and luncheon on Friday, Sept. 19, the day preceding the gala Wine Auction charity benefit, Ash will present an ambitious menu that starts with an antipasti plate of wild mushrooms, grilled asparagus with lemon olive oil and Pecorino, and grilled shrimp with Sangrita. His “Fire and Ice” Pear Salad is served with goat cheese, figs and Proscuitto.
The menu moves on to an entrée of fresh halibut in a spicy coconut curry broth and ends with a dessert of lemon polenta cake with fresh raspberries.
Each course of the meal will be paired with a fine Lake County wine, representing several of the vintners participating in the annual Wine Auction.
A limited number of tickets are available for the cooking demonstration and luncheon, which will start at 10 a.m. at the Buckingham Homeowner’s Association Clubhouse, 2850 Eastlake Drive, Kelseyville. Each ticket is $75 per person, after the purchase of a Wine Auction ticket for $100 per person.
Chef Ash will be assisted in the demonstration and in preparing the luncheon by Lake County chefs Jeremy Zabel of the Saw Shop Gallery Bistro in Kelseyville, Robert Cabreros of the Yuba College Culinary Arts Program and Julie Hoskins of Chic Le Chef in Hidden Valley Lake. Students from Yuba College will serve the meal.
Other special events on the evening of Friday, Sept. 19, include winemaker dinners hosted by six Lake County wineries at special venues. Participating wineries are Ceago Vinegarden, Langtry Estate, Moore Family Winery, Shannon Ridge Winery, Steele Wines and Wildhurst Vineyards. Capacity at each venue is limited. Tickets are $75 per person, after the purchase of a Wine Auction ticket.
The Wine Auction will be held at the Buckingham Golf and Country Club, 2855 Eastlake Drive, Kelseyville on Sept. 20.
U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson, First District of California, is the event chair. Andy Beckstoffer, CEO of Beckstoffer Vineyards, is the master of ceremonies. Auctioneers are Archie McLaren, founder of the Central Coast Wine Classic and a rare and fine wine consultant, and Jed Steele, owner and winemaker of Steele Wines of Lake County.
More than 20 Lake County wineries will pour wines, and 12 restaurants and caterers will present food to accompany the vintners’ selections. The evening includes live and silent auctions of wine lots, wine and travel packages, and fine art. Jim Williams and Friends will provide music for dancing.
Ten community organizations and agencies that work hard to make Lake County a better place have been chosen to receive the proceeds of this year’s Wine Auction. Over the past eight years, the Lake County Wine Alliance has donated more than $621,500 to local programs.
The beneficiaries this year are Kids 4 Broadway, Lake County Special Olympics, Wiloth Equine Therapy and Riding Center, Hospice Services of Lake County, Adult Day Care/Respite of Clearlake, the Military Funeral Honors Team, Church Women United, Operation Tango Mike, the Lake Family Resource Center, the County Literacy Coalition and the fine arts programs at five Lake County high schools.
The Buckingham Junior Golf Program receives support through the auction of golf balls to fund activities of the Lake County Junior Golf Council.
Members of the Wine Alliance board include Margaret Walker-Stimmel, president; Marie Beery, vice president; Pamela Shine-Duncan, secretary; Rob Roumiguiere, treasurer; and Jim Fetzer, Judy Luchsinger, Wilda Shock and Janet Thompson. The volunteer board and a large Wine Auction committee of volunteers meet year round to plan the charity event.
For more information and to purchase tickets for any of the events, call 866-279-WINE.
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KELSEYVILLE – On Aug. 23, the Clear Lake State Park Interpretive Association (CLISPIA) signed a contract with the California Conservation Corp to build an outdoor education pavilion.
Led by CLSPIA President Madelene Lyon, the board of directors has been raising funds to build this unique structure for more than three years.
The cooperation of the financially struggling California State Parks with CLSPIA and the local community has finally paid off. The contract has been signed and the groundbreaking ceremony is set.
The outdoor education pavilion has long been a dream of the volunteers and staff at Clear Lake State Park.
This structure will allow the hundreds of children and adults who already explore the Visitor Center museum and trails of Clear Lake State Park to enjoy more outdoor activities in an open-sided, sheltered area. The ability to observe creekbed organisms under microscopes, participate in ancient cultural activities, explore local flora and fauna will become a reality for students and other park visitors.
Groundbreaking will take place on Oct. 4 at the “Wild Affair In Your Park” celebration.
This groundbreaking event will showcase local wines, cuisine, musical talent and the outdoor adventures that the future pavilion will provide.
“In the 22 years that I worked at Clear Lake State Park, I have been dreaming of this type of outdoor education classroom,” said retired Ranger Val Nixon. “I am very excited about expanding the environmental education programs at Clear Lake State Park. I look forward to volunteering with the children's programs and using this facility. ”
For reservations for A Wild Affair in Your Park please call 279-4395.
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The crash was reported shortly after 4 p.m. on Bottle Rock Road in front of Pine Grove Resort, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP and Cal Fire responded to the scene, where the male rider was reported to have gone off the roadway.
The rider was reported to be combative, so he had to be sedated in order to be transported via REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, CHP reported.
REACH transported the man shortly after 5 p.m. to the hospital, where CHP ordered a blood draw.
The rider, whose name was not available Saturday night, was reported to have suffered minor injuries.
No information was available on the other vehicle reported to have been involved in the crash.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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My friend Jessica mentioned how she was avoiding artichokes because they were so fattening with all of the mayonnaise that she uses with them. I suggested eating them with melted butter with lemon, the favorite accompaniment in our house.
Then in the back of my mind I thought, “Artichokes are healthy and nutritious; why do we always have to serve them with fatty dipping sauces? I can come up with something healthier.” So I started thinking ...
Many people think of artichokes as “fancy food” and eat them only on special occasions, but artichokes are low in calories (60 per average), full of fiber (12 percent of your daily requirement), vitamin C (10 percent of the daily requirement), they’re higher in antioxidants than 993 out of 1,000 other fruits, vegetables, nuts and other foods tested – that’s right SEVENTH highest in antioxidants!
They also have properties that fight cancer, heart disease and harmful cholesterol, and studies are being done that look at how the artichoke may help the liver regenerate. They are a non-starchy vegetable so they are safe for diabetics. Artichokes should be a staple to your diet, not a specialty item.
The origin of artichokes has been lost to history. Some people think they were most likely developed from the cardoon plant by the Romans or the Greeks. There are ancient tile frescoes in Roman ruins that show flowering cardoon plants with small artichoke like flowers. Cardoons and artichokes are closely related, and some people think that cardoon is the artichoke’s forefather, and some vice versa. There is a wild version of artichokes that grows in North Africa. The only thing that we know for sure is that the artichoke originated around the Mediterranean Sea.
The first written mention of artichokes growing comes from Greece and dates to around 300 BCE. When I finally invent my time machine I will definitely go back and find out all of the facts on the artichoke’s origin, and I will correct this article accordingly when I get back.
Queen Catherine de Medici is credited for having brought artichokes to France from her Italian homeland, and her excessive eating of them and feeding them to king Henry II was thought of as scandalous by courtiers. In those days artichokes were considered such a powerful aphrodisiac that only men were allowed to eat them (it’s good to be the king). There are even references that overeating artichokes disturbed the digestion of the Queen Mother after a wedding feast. Wow, talk about interesting historical documents, we don’t know where Jimmy Hoffa is but we know about a member of the royal court in the 1500s having the trots.
Speaking of Jimmy Hoffa (not really, but you’ll get the idea) ... In the 1920s Mafia monopolies and “the artichoke wars” prompted the then-New York Mayor La Guardia to make the artichoke completely illegal in New York City. Only his love for the delicious flower bud caused the law to be rescinded a week later.
California supplies nearly 100 percent of the country’s artichokes. Although the “Green Globe” variety makes up most of the artichokes available on the market both at the supermarket and garden center, there are several different varieties.
The artichoke doesn’t grow well from seeds so most are grown by propagation from existing plants (think of it as God’s cloning). This however is dangerous because it makes most of the artichokes in California so closely related that one good disease could almost eliminate the entire country’s artichoke supply (remember the Irish and the potatoes?).
There are at least 140 different varieties of artichoke but only around 40 are commonly cultivated worldwide. Other varieties include “Anzio” (Italian commercial), “Big Heart”(U.S. commercial), “Campania” (French commercial), “Catanese” (Italian commercial), “Desert Globe”(U.S. commercial), “Fiesole” (French commercial), “Imperial Star”(U.S. commercial), “Purple Italian” (U.S. home garden), “Violetta” (U.S. home garden), “Purple Roscoff”(U.S. home garden) and “Lyon” (French commercial).
I grow my own artichokes, a rare heirloom variety called Romanesco (Italian commercial). If you want to grow your own, you need to know that artichokes like rich soil and cool temperatures. This is why they love Castroville; it has the cool coastal air year-round.
Here in Lake County the summer temperatures are somewhat extreme and will make artichokes wilt to the ground. In order to avoid this sad look in my yard, in the spring I harvest the last of the artichoke flowers and give the plant a few more weeks to grow. But the moment the plants start to whine and shows any sign of distress from the heat, I hack them to the ground with a machete until there is nothing but a stump poking out of the ground. I keep the soil heavily mulched and moist during the summer and the plants survive and completely bounce back when cooler weather returns.
Artichokes contain a natural phytochemical “sweetener” called cynarin, and studies are being done to make it a commercially available product. If you want to do an interesting experiment to test the sweetener in an artichoke do this. Cook an artichoke and pour yourself a glass of wine – any wine will do. Before you taste any of the artichoke, try a sip of the wine and take note of the flavor. Then eat some of the artichoke and immediately sample the wine again. You will notice that the wine has a completely different taste, so much so that you will think that it is a completely different glass of wine. The cynarin left over in your mouth reacts with the sugars in the wine and change the taste. This effect is one of the reasons that restaurants that serve expensive wines don’t serve dishes with artichokes.
The myth of how artichokes came to be tells how Jupiter/Zeus (whether you are reading the Roman or Greek version) came to lust for a beautiful girl named Cynara and took her as a mistress to Mt. Olympus. When she became homesick and snuck off to visit her mother, the god of thunder became enraged and hurled her back to earth as the artichoke plant. The artichoke’s Latin name commemorates this – Cynara scolymus.
So how could I fail while dealing with this fantastic plant? Well, I wanted to make a healthier dipping sauce for artichokes, but all I managed to do is shorten my life by clogging my arteries with cheese. This is now my wife’s new favorite dipping sauce for artichokes. I’ll head back to the drawing board.
Parmesan cheese dipping sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
½ cup sour cream
6 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese (as little as 5 ounces will work)
2 tablespoons white wine
White pepper to taste
Put the butter and flour in a pot on medium heat. As the butter melts whisk the flour together so you get a paste. Continue cooking this for about two minutes; the color should change very slightly to a blonde highlight.
Although it’s not necessary, I recommend you microwave the milk for 30 seconds. This will keep the splattering down as you add it to the butter/flour mixture (called a roux).
Add the milk slowly to the roux, whisking constantly to combine. The mixture will start to thicken fairly quickly, so reduce the heat to low at this point. Sprinkle in about one-third of the cheese, whisking constantly. You want the cheese to melt as slowly as possible, because melting quickly will cause the cheese to clump up and make a poor sauce.
Stir the cheese mixture until all the cheese is melted and then add another third in. Whisk until that’s melted and then ... that’s right, add the final third and whisk until melted. Then add the sour cream, wine and pepper. Mix thoroughly and then ladle into dipping cups. Serve with cooked artichokes.
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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Chrissy Pittman, a firefighter/paramedic with Northshore Fire Protection District, said firefighters were dispatched at 7:55 a.m. to the fire on First Street, between Main and Government streets.
The single-story home with a large attic was fully engulfed when firefighters from Northshore Fire's Upper Lake, Nice and Lucerne stations responded, along with a ladder truck from Lakeport Fire, said Pittman.
In all about 20 firefighters, including a chief and battalion chief, worked on the fire, she said.
The house's Victorian-type construction was a challenge for firefighters, said Pittman. “It took quite a while to actually get in and knock the fire down.”
Pittman said the fire was contained at just after 10 a.m., with another two and a half hours required for mop up.
There were conflicting reports about whether or not someone was in the house when the fire started, said Pittman. Firefighters had received information that children were in the home, but no one was in the house when firefighters arrived.
The house is a complete loss, said Pittman. Damage estimates are not completed.
She said the fire's cause is under investigation.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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