"Final Exam" (December 2) At Lake Lagunitas Preview

"Fall 2" officially comes to a close next week with a hike followed by our traditional "Final Exam" luncheon at Lake Lagunitas in the MMWD watershed. Here's Wendy's outline for the outing:

"We make a partial circle around the lake, looking for ring-neck ducks, ruddy ducks, grebes and other birds, and then make a loop past Pilot Knob, returning on Southern Marin Line. REMEMBER TO BRING PLATE, UTENSILS, AND SOMETHING TO SHARE FOR THE GOURMET FINAL EXAM! (Let’s think green and try to cut down on paper and plastic throw-aways as much as possible). We’ll leave the food in the cars and eat when we get back but bring your water bottle. Potluck at my house in San Anselmo if it rains."

Directions to trailhead: As you enter Fairfax on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard jog left when you see the movie theater and make an immediate right. This puts you on Broadway, the street that parallels Sir Francis Drake, but is on the other side of the Parkade parking lot. Make the first left which is Bolinas Avenue. Follow the Bolinas-Fairfax Road for about 1 mile. Turn left onto Sky Oaks Road. (If you miss the Sky Oaks Road turn-off and you get to the Meadow Club golf course you have gone too far). You'll need to pay the $7 day-use fee at the kiosk unless you have an MMWD pass. Continue to the parking lot at the end of the road. Driving time from COM 30 minutes. Outhouse at trailhead.

Weather forecast: As of Wednesday, November 26, the National Weather Service forecast for Fairfax was sunny, with a high near 67. (Click here for an updated forecast).

More on this hike: The Martin's book, Hiking Marin, sets out a shorter hike shown below; instead of following the Pilot Knob trail back to the parking lot, we'll take a longer route back by continuing eastward and then looping back the west, picking up the Southern Marin Line Road (called the Filter Plant Road on the Martin's map). (Click here to view, zoom in on, and print a map of the MMWD watershed lands).

Lagunitas Pilot Knob Hike and Map

Get your own at Scribd or explore others:

(Click here to view and print out a complete description of the hike and map from Martins' book. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).

A Perfect Delightful Holiday Dinner

Thanksgiving dinner is over, the table is cleared, the guests have gone home, and the dishes are done. Maybe you were lucky and the Thanksgiving Fairy (pictured here) came to your home and made the meal and cleaned up afterward.

The TG Fairy will be busy helping Santa during the next month, just when you have to start planning the next, big holiday meal. But you've lucked out again: Dick's done all the planning for you! You just have to shop for the food, cook, and put it on the table! Here's a menu that he and Cindy have served up during the holidays at least four or five times to rave reviews. The meal is designed to be served in courses (as would be the case in a fine restaurant) rather than as a buffet or "family style" meal, but without trapping you, the cook, in the kitchen all night and away from your guests.

Make all or just some of these dishes, mix and match them with your favorite recipes, or serve them as part of another meal. Here's the complete dinner menu (along with wine pairing suggestions). More comments on each course follow the menu. (Click here to view and print a copy of the menu; click on individual courses to view and print the recipe).

Appetizers
Smoked Almonds
(Champagne or Sparkling Wine)

First Course
“Crab Louis” Towers
(Chardonnay)

Soup Course
Winter Squash & Chestnut Bisque
With Wild Mushroom Crisps & Cornbread-Chive Croutons
(Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier, or a White Rhone-Style Blend)

Main Course
Crown Roast of Pork
With Fig & Lime Jam
or
Pan-Roasted Halibut with Caper Vinaigrette
and
Brussel Sprouts Roasted with Bacon
or
Roasted Baby Carrots and Cauliflower
(Pinot Noir with the Pork)
(Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier, or a White Rhone-Style Blend with the Halibut)

Sorbet
Limoncello “Martinis”

Salad Course

Grilled Pear and Frisee Salad
(Sauvignon Blanc)

Dessert*
Mango Creme Brulee
or
Apple Tarte Tatin with Late Harvest Riesling Sabayon

Comments on each course:
Appetizers: There is so much food and wine being served during the course of the meal that we go very light on appetizers; just some store-bought smoked almonds along with champagne or another good California sparkling wine).
First Course: The "Crab Louis" Towers require no cooking. While nice to serve during our winter crab season, they could be made any time of year. The presentation will "wow" your guests. Make them in the afternoon, put them in the 'frig, and "unmold" and serve at mealtime.
Soup Course: Hands-down, this is the very best winter squash-based soup Dick has made and guests love it. You could skip the "mushroom crisps" used as garnish and flavor enhancers to save time and money, or if your guests dislike 'rooms. Baguettes, a crusty French or Italian bread, another cornbread recipe, or herbed bread croutons could be substituted for those in this recipe. (Note: Dick served those "Croutons" to you with a chilled Carrot-Ginger Soup at our Winter "Final Exam").
Main Course: The Crown Pork Roast is very simple to make --- your butcher does all the work "Frenching" the rib bones and joining the two "rack of pork" cuts used in this impressive dish. You apply a simple spice rub to the pork, and pop it in the oven to roast bones-down while you and your guests enjoy the earlier courses of this meal. The Fig & Lime Jam is a condiment served alongside the meat and made ahead of time. The roast will probably have at least 12 if not 16 chops --- enough to feed a small army, a large dinner party (only an NFL lineman could eat more than one), or provide ample, tasty leftovers. The meat will probably cost you $80-$100, but it's well worth it. Substitute your favorite roast meat or poultry, or even fish (like the halibut in the recipe Dick has given you) for a more moderately priced main course or one producing a smaller amount of food.
Vegetables: We've had the brussel sprout recipe (designed specifically by the originating chef to accompany the Crown Pork Roast recipe) for a long time, but we made it for the first time this Thanksgiving. It went well with roast turkey and could be served with most grilled or roasted meat or poultry. Serve the oven-roasted carrots and cauliflower instead of the brussel sprouts with the halibut; these vegetables also pair well with the roast pork.
Limoncello "Martinis": This is Dick's creation, designed to clean the palate after the pork and vegetables. You can skip the Limoncello (an Italian, lemon-flavored vodka, served ice cold) for those guests who don't drink or feel they've had plenty of wine already. We've served this dish as dessert, skipping a more formal dessert after the salad course (which we've also sometimes omitted from the menu).
Salad Course: Dick usually uses Red Bartlett Pears for this dish, but any pear would probably work fine. Other bitter greens such as arugula or watercress could be substituted for the frisee, although that salad green makes for a nice presentation. You can broil the pears, cook them on a gas or charcoal grill, or follow Dick's method and cook them on the stove top in a non-stick grill pan. They key is to caramelize the sugars in the pears and leave nice toasty-looking grill marks, without turning them black.
Dessert: We've tried various desserts with this dinner, some of which have been good flavor choices, but the recipes have sometimes been disappointing. Dick would recommend avoiding a heavy dessert like chocolate cake with this meal. Dick has given you two recipes he hasn't made, a Mango Creme Brulee (from chef John Ash whose Crown Roast Pork is featured on this menu) and an Apple Tarte Tatin (from Mary Karlin of Ramekins who created the recipe for the Winter Squash and Chestnut Bisque), which should go nicely with this meal.
Wine Pairing: You might get away with serving a Chardonnay or Savignon Blanc with the entire meal, although the choices Dick has recommended do match particularly well with each course. Merlot might work with the Pork Roast in lieu of Pinot Noir which has become a bit pricey thanks to the movie "Sideways"; Cabernet Sauvignon is probably not a good choice for this meat dish. No suggestion is made for the dessert since the key is getting the sweetness of the wine to match that of the dessert. However, with the tarte tatin, you could serve the same late harvest riesling used in making the dish.

Bon Appetit!

No Rain On This Parade (At China Camp, November 25)

Last week at Bahia it was summer. This week at China Camp the low, gray skies made it look like winter, but air temperatures in the low 60's and high humidity had us shedding layers on the uphill portions of this hike. The clouds never parted and we didn't need any sunscreen for this trip, but only a handful of rain drops fell on our heads during the entire walk.

We left our cars along San Pedro Road near the edge of the wetlands, walked eastward in the direction of the park's ranger station, then we turned south and began ascending a tree-line trail. Despite a fairly dry three week period since early November, Honey Mushrooms were abundant in this Bay and Oak forest. (Too bad we couldn't use those in the mushroom dishes Dick posted to the blog!). The luckier among the group got to spot a Pileated Woodpecker although most, if not all of us, got a good long look at a little Brown Creeper later in the walk. (Click here to view and print Wendy's list of flora and fauna spotted on this hike).

After climbing up to the ridge above the Peacock Gap housing development, we continued west to a saddle where the trail dipped down to our starting point, and plopped down there on logs, tree stumps, or along the trail for a midday lunch. Several mountain bikers passed us during the hike, and the trail we took to return to our cars was steep, rocky and rutted, probably due in part to erosion sped up by bike tires churning up the earth.

NEW! Meandering Photo Albums Changes

Photos from our November 25th China Camp-Miwok Meadows hike are now on-line, along with two other on-line albums of hike photos.

Just click on the link below (or on the right-hand side of the blog) for the photo album you want to view:

• Latest (China Camp 11/25/08) Hike Photos
• 2008-2009 Hike Photos (November - )
• 2008 Hike Photos (Through October)