There’s one right here in Petaluma, the Sonoma-Marin Fair, which, despite the name, is pretty darned small.  They are home to the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest (a fabulous event, drawing folks from around the country, that brings love and attention to dogs that might otherwise be unadoptable). They also have no nonsmoking policy.  I normally skip it but this year some friends had free tickets, so we went.  I had to use my respirator when outdoors, except in the kiddie carnival section (which consisted of about half a dozen rides) and it was insanely hot that day.  So I checked out the (air conditioned) exhibits then went home after an hour.  Michael and Miriam stayed another hour then I came to pick them up.

Sonoma-Marin Fair
Petaluma, Calif
5 days in late June
At least 6 acres
Adults (13+) $15, Kids (4-12) $10, Kids 0-3 free, Seniors (65+) $8. Admission includes rides
Parking free but tight

I also enjoy the Marin County Fair, which is a bit bigger with lots of exhibits, booths, and shows.  Plus fireworks every night over a lagoon.  Smoking is only allowed in a few well-marked smoking tents (that smoke does not easily escape from), though there are always a few who think the rules don’t apply to them. The Marin Fair doesn’t use pesticides and tries to use less toxic cleaning and other products, well as green projects to save energy.

Marin County Fair
San Rafael, Calif
5 days in early July (always includes the 4th)
28 carnival rides, at least 6 acres (for carnival)
Adults (13+) $15, Kids (4-12) $13, Kids 0-3 free, Seniors (65+) & disabled $13. Admission includes rides (extra charge for 3 rides)
Parking $6, very crowded (can take a long time to get in or out), & often a hike

But the fair I consider local is the Sonoma County Fair. A good number of booths, huge livestock/animal section, the “largest themed flower show in the United States,” and horse racing.  This fair suffers from a confused (and unmotivated) smoking policy.  Two days, kids days, are entirely nonsmoking until 7pm, with so-so enforcement and signage (though it was much better this year, possibly because I spoke with the staff about it ahead of time and they promised to do better).  The other days smoking is allowed everywhere except for a spot here, a spot there, and so on (with poor signage).  They seem to believe that only children need to avoid cigarette smoke (nearly all the outdoors nonsmoking areas are the kids’ areas and their signs ask people to protect children’s health) and that smoke does not travel (or that people don’t ever travel from one “safe” spot to another).  My hope is that I can convince them to follow Marin’s example and set up comfortable and convenient, but contained, smoking areas and make the rest smoke free.

Sonoma County Fair
Santa Rosa, Calif
13 days in late July, early August
Entire complex 200 acres; carnival 5 acres plus large separate kiddie carnival
Adults (13+) $9, Kids (7-12) $3, Kids 0-6 free, Special free days for kids or seniors.  A couple events and big name concerts are extra.  Rides are not included with admission.  Pay $3-5/ride or get a wristband for unlimited rides for $25 ($15 if purchased in advance)
Parking $6-8

Miriam's first real ferris wheel was at the Marin Fair last month, but this one in Sonoma was far bigger

Last year was the first time I’d ever entered a Fair contest.  Miriam entered 3 photographs and won 2 ribbons.  I won 3rd place for my blog (out of 5 entries) and nothing for my date nut bars.

This year, only I entered.  How thrilled was I to enter the exhibit hall and see this:

I won 2nd place for my dried apricots!

Until I went looking around for my competition and discovered this was it.

All entries for dried food

Yep that’s right.  There were 4 entries for dried meat and only one for produce.  Apricots were their own class (so were apples and pears).  I asked the staff why, if I was the only one, I didn’t get first place.  Apparently, it’s not just about the order you fall in but about meeting certain standards.  If you look at the meats though, you’ll see that only one of them won a prize, despite there being 5 ribbons available for each class.  So my fruit might not have been top notch (probably because I cut them before drying; they’re delicious but not the flattened globes most people are used to) but it was prize-worthy.

I fared much better with my other entry.  There were at least a dozen poems in my class, free verse, and I won 3rd place.

My poem, Suddenly Fall, wins 3rd place!

This is the poem, Suddenly Fall, I wrote after William’s death.  You can read the text more easily on its blog page.

I discovered this year that the Marin Fair, with huge numbers of contest entries, allows entries from neighboring counties.  And I might do the Sonoma Harvest Fair this fall.  For the Sonoma County Fair, fine arts (especially painting/drawing and photography) are well populated, but food contests are mixed.

As for the rest of the Fair, we had a swinging good time for 4 hours, until we went into the Pavilion to check out the business booths and Miriam suddenly started crying to go home.  She has been extra sensitive to foods and chemicals lately so who knows.  Unfortunately, we never did get to see the animals this year, see the flower show, go to most booths, play any games, or finish with our rides.  Ah well.  We’ll be back next year.

Miriam & Cyndi on the Fair swings

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

So when I heard an Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant was finally opening in Sonoma County, I had to go.  It took a while–it actually opened in early 2008, and another I never made it to was open briefly before it–because eating out regularly was the first thing we cut from our budget as money got tight.  But after a bad day Thursday, when I had an appointment near Michael’s office, I emailed him and said that after the appointment I was picking him up at work and we were going to lunch.

Abyssinia Restaurant
913 4th Street, Santa Rosa, CA
(707) 568-6455
Hours: M-F 11am – 3pm; 4:30pm – 9pm (closed Tuesday)
Sat 9:30am – 10pm; Sun 9:30am – 9pm

Vegetarian Combo

I’ve eaten in perhaps a dozen different Ethiopian restaurants in my time and they’ve ranged from barely passable to excellent.  My current favorite is Café Eritrea D’Afrique in Oakland, CA.  For the most part, they all have very similar dishes: Injera (the bread) served with we’t (meat or legume/vegetable spiced stews, also spelled wat or wet or wot).

Before I knew I was gluten-intolerant, I took a friend with celiac to Cafe Eritrea and she made sure that their injera was made from teff (a non-gluten African grain) only.  When they said it was, she tasted a bit and waited 20 minutes.  She is so gluten sensitive that she would have known by then.  She then ate a full meal (and many others on different occasions) and never had any symptoms.

I’d encountered wheat flour in some injera recipes (and even some restaurants) but assumed it was a Westernization of traditional cuisine.  Turns out it’s a valid variation, along with the use of barley flour.  I thought perhaps it was a regional difference, maybe Eritrea vs Ethiopia, but my readings tell me it’s more of a family or personal difference.

In one Vancouver restaurant that used barley flour with the teff, they said the bread was less sour than the 100% teff versions (the woman made a face as she thought about sour injera) and I’ve found this to be true.  Cafe Eritrea’s injera is thick and soft (but with body) and very sour; I love it.  Abyssinia’s injera is made with teff, wheat, and barley and is thin, dense, and with very little sour taste at all.  Both versions are good, it’s a matter of personal preference and of course of food tolerance.  If you can not have barley or wheat, check ahead of time what the injera you’re thinking of getting is made from.

I was disappointed: Miriam and I can eat gluten once in a while without any problems, but I prefer not to and this means we can’t bring gluten or wheat intolerant friends there.  And I really miss the sour stuff; it doesn’t hit my comfort food buttons without it.

Abyssinia is a nice place and it has received a boatload of good reviews.  It’s very clean and white with touches of native art and eating baskets (which I didn’t see in use).  Aside from the staff, I didn’t see anyone in the restaurant who looked like they came from Ethiopia, though I’m not sure how large the community is in Sonoma County so that may not be a true sign.

Our server (who may have been the owner’s son) was accommodating and quick.  We asked for water as we perused the menus.  I wanted hot water with lemon.  Michael asked for regular water.  And Miriam said “warm water.”  Our server obliged with a tray of drinks fit for the three bears.

Miriam's water is just right

Miriam had expressed an interest in chicken and that’s what Michael wanted too, but the sole chicken dish on the menu (Doro We’t $13.95) came with a hard-boiled egg.  The server said the eggs are already in the sauce but he’d check to see what he could do.  The kitchen was about to start a new sauce and they had no problem doing one egg-free (he seemed to understand that sauce that had touched egg was not safe).

Unfortunately, he mentioned that the chicken was spicy so Miriam refused to even try it, but Michael enjoyed it (and was glad not to have to worry about cross contamination).  He said it was “sufficiently spicy” but not so much that I wouldn’t have been okay with it (I’m a former spice wimp who is fine with medium hot).

Doro We't

I had the vegetarian combo ($18.95 for two, $10.95 for one), which they say is vegan (some of the meat dishes use a spiced butter).  It has a bit of every one of their six vegetarian dishes: garbanzo beans, split yellow peas, two lentil dishes, collard greens, and cabbage/carrot/potato.  Plus some green salad.  Only one was spicy (the lentils (miser) or garbanzos (shiro) on the far left of the plate, see top of page).  The collards had a deep green leafy flavor which was quite good.  Some reviews praise them for not being bitter, but I like that depth in collards.

The we’ts had a flat taste to them, like they lacked salt, though adding salt didn’t help much.  The food was also quite oily.  I’m someone who tends to cook with a fair bit of oil but this put me off.  I’ve had Ethiopian food before that had no oil and it is flavorless.  The excess here might have accounted for the dampening of the spice flavors. Part of the fun with this cuisine is eating the plate, the injera on the bottom that has soaked up the sauces.  But in this case, the injera had little sauce but lots of grease.

Considering Abyssina is only 20 minutes from my home, and 5 minutes from Michael’s work, it made a nice meal and I may go back again.  I can’t say it is as good as the Oakland ones (though those vary a lot as well), but they’re a good hour away.

Parking is difficult but we found a place around the corner.  It’s a few blocks from the center of downtown so there is street parking here and there.  The restaurant is wheelchair accessible and there is no incense or other strong smell.  But the bathrooms had so much air freshener that Michael and Miriam turned away at the door (when a 3 year old is willing to hold it, you know it’s bad).

To see the menu, click on the picture below and use your browser’s zoom function if needed.

Abyssinia Menu

Other reviews:

The Press Democrat (May 2008)
Chowhound (March 2008)
Yelp

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.