Bite Club is cruising the Islands of Hawaii this week and has left you in the hands of strangers, what to do, what to do? Well, I’ll try my best to find something suitable for today’s rambunctious holiday.

Ok, ok, maybe you can’t get as green around the gills as you might like this Saint Patrick’s Day, it falling on a Monday and all, but at least in Petaluma you can get your “Irish” on after a hard days work. Finbar Devine’s is pulling out their inner Leprechaun for their Saint Paddy’s Day celebration.

Obviously Finbar’s caters to an Irish appeal, but who can ignore an invitation for $5 Corned Beef Sammys to-go starting at 11am. Love it.

You can also pull up a bar stool with a Corned Beef and Cabbage meal or Shepard’s Pie, $13.95 lunch/$14.95 dinner.

And don’t skip the beer – Duh! Guinness, Harp, and Smithwicks (pronounced Sm-dicks) for $6 per 20oz pint, are sure to get you adequately happy even if you’re not a smidge Irish (but please remember to at least wear your green undies if you’re not).

Starting at 5pm, watch Keenan Irish Dancers parade around the street front beer garden being erected specially for today’s festivities. From 6:30 to 7pm the MacIntosh Pipe Band will also be wowing crowds, and at 7pm the party moves indoors for the Pladdohg Band, who will apparently be rocking the house till 10pm.

Finbar Devine’s, 145 Kentucky Street, Petaluma 762-9800. Open early for Saint Patrick’s Day – 11am-till the party ends!

Oh, and in case you can’t make it out to party, thought I’d pass on one of my favorite Irish recipes.

Cheers!

Meloni Courtway is a freelance food writer and blogger, contact her at www.melonicourtway.com

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Courtway’s Irish Soda Bread

Heat oven to 375 if using a metal pan, 350 if using glass

4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
6 tablespoons butter
2 cups dried currants
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp. Baking soda

In a large bowl combine and mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cut the 6 tablespoons butter into the dry ingredients. Add the two cups currants. In another bowl combine buttermilk, egg and baking soda. Beat well and then stir into dry ingredients. Mix until just moistened. Turn out onto clean lightly floured board and knead lightly until smooth. Shape into a ball and place in a greased 2 qt. casserole. Cut cross in top with a sharp knife and brush with milk. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes or until done. Cool for at least 10 minutes, turn out and cool completely before slicing.

While I’m eating my way through Maui (stay tuned for details), I’ve asked a few friends to fill you guys in on some of their favorite finds in Sonoma County. Today, Vince gives the lowdown on Beverage People, where he gets the hookup for making his own cheese. I love this spot!

One of the great things about living in the wine country is our proximity to all of the wonderful artisanal foods Bite Club has so graciously pointed out to
us. I mean, hey, there’s nothing like having a glass of Merry Edwards
pinot with some Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk or a baguette with some Olive Press
olive oil and some B.R. Cohn vinegar or how about a nice cold Russian River
Brewing Co. Pliny the Elder, all by itself? Yumm! One thing we
often overlook, though, is that the so called artisans are people just like
us. So why can’t we make an amazing brie, a fine wine, an audacious beer
or a luxurious vinegar? The answer is we can!

One of my favorite places to pass the time in Sonoma County is our local home
brewing shop, The Beverage People, on Piner Road in Santa Rosa. Calling
it a home brewing shop is a bit of an understatement, though. They
specialize not only in brewing but also wine making, cheese making, mead making
and vinegar making. Byron, Nancy, Bob and the rest of the staff there is
friendly and very helpful for novices like me. They can provide recipes and
instructions as well as all the equipment and special ingredients you need to
make lots of different home made foods and drinks. The procedures for most are
quite simple once you do a few batches and let me tell you, eating or drinking
something you made yourself is a wonderful feeling.

So give it a try. Bust out those baking pans gathering dust in the back
of the closet and make your own bread. Take that Two Buck Chuck you don’t
want to drink and throw it in a jar with some mother* in your pantry and see what kind of vinegar you can whip
up. Search Craigslist during crush to find some premium cab or merlot
grapes and make some wine for your family and friends. Many vineyards
have extra grapes for sale and some will even crush on site for you.

My most recent
venture was to try cheese making. There are three main types of cheese: Soft fresh,
mold ripened and hard aged. This is a
vast oversimplification but these are the most basic divisions. Since fresh cheese is ready the quickest (well,
besides a 30
minute mozzarella) I decided to try that first. I picked up some cheese molds, cheesecloth,
starter culture and rennet from The Beverage People and also some goat’s milk
from Trader Joe’s. The basic cheese
making process is to warm milk up to a temperature that a culture can grow in,
usually around 90 degrees (a good thermometer is critical here). You then add
the culture and the rennet, which curdles the milk and allows the curds and
whey to separate. The curd is gathered and drained, and pressed for hard
cheeses. Finally the cheese is left to dry.
In the case of mold ripened cheese a bacteria strain is added to create
the mold covering and add flavor. In my
case, once I put my curd in the cheese molds I let it dry for a couple days,
flipping it so that it kept its shape. At that point you could eat it fresh or
get fancy and add some Herbes de Provence or cracked black pepper and let it
pick up the flavors for a couple weeks before eating it, like I did.

If you’re
intimidated just jumping in without any instruction, The Beverage People offers
classes, as does Santa Rosa Junior College. There are also lots of great
resources online. Don’t be afraid to try though. Wine, beer,
vinegar, cheese and leavened bread were all originally made by accident, so you
can’t mess it up too bad!

The procedures
for other cheeses are slightly more complex, but still easy if you’re patient.

The Beverage People, 840 Piner Rd # 14, Santa Rosa, CA 95403 (707) 544-2520

*Mother is the starter for vinegar, it contains acetic acid bacteria that
transforms alcohol into vinegar

UPDATE >CLOSED
Just a quick find before I jet off to the islands-
Steamed pork
buns are a love ’em or hate ’em kind of thing. All puffy, white and
doughy, they’re a bit like eating a pillow stuffed with meat. There’s a
certain nursery-like comfort to them, as well, though. When done right
(and they rarely are), they’re a steamy, sweet-savory treat that has no
real English translation “other than a sort of pork-filled jelly
doughnut.
I’ve had a tough time finding them fresh in the
North Bay. Sadly, Asia Gourmet, which routinely brought them in from
the city, recently closed its doors. In a stroke of good luck, however,
I stumbled on Jade BBQ on Santa Rosa Ave.
The spot’s been there
just a few months, serving up the usual take-out Asian fare, along with
hamburgers, fish ‘n chips and a few BBQ items. What’s more interesting,
however, is their steamed pork buns and duck special. For $14.99, you
can get half a crispy duck with a complement of plumy Hoisin sauce and
four fresh steamed buns.
The duck’s a bit fatty, but hey, it’s
duck. Chopped into mostly bite-sized pieces, you get a breast, leg and
wing with plenty of crispy, sinful skin. Be warned, the buns are
addictive.
Aloha!
Jade’s BBQ, 2790 Santa Rosa Ave, Santa Rosa, (707) 527-8536. Open Monday through Saturday.

Just a quick find before I jet off to the islands-

Steamed pork buns are a love ’em or hate ’em kind of thing. All puffy, white and doughy, they’re a bit like eating a pillow stuffed with meat. There’s a certain nursery-like comfort to them, as well, though. When done right (and they rarely are), they’re a steamy, sweet-savory treat that has no real English translation “other than a sort of pork-filled jelly doughnut.

I’ve had a tough time finding them fresh in the North Bay. Sadly, Asia Gourmet, which routinely brought them in from the city, recently closed its doors. In a stroke of good luck, however, I stumbled on Jade BBQ on Santa Rosa Ave.

The spot’s been there just a few months, serving up the usual take-out Asian fare, along with hamburgers, fish ‘n chips and a few BBQ items. What’s more interesting, however, is their steamed pork buns and duck special. For $14.99, you can get half a crispy duck with a complement of plumy Hoisin sauce and four fresh steamed buns.

The duck’s a bit fatty, but hey, it’s duck. Chopped into mostly bite-sized pieces, you get a breast, leg and wing with plenty of crispy, sinful skin. Be warned, the buns are addictive.

Aloha!

Jade’s BBQ, 2790 Santa Rosa Ave, Santa Rosa, (707) 527-8536. Open Monday through Saturday.

After months and months and, well, months of the good life in Wine Country, BiteClub needs a little break. I’m headed to Maui for a week of tropical drinks, beaches and all the Spam I can possibly avoid–leaving the store to you guys.

I’ve lined up a couple of foodie friends to weigh in while I’m gone, but I’m still looking for a handful of the area’s forklifters to share their favorite restaurants.

So, if you’re up to the task (no money involved, just my undying gratitude), send me your best efforts for possible inclusion in this week’s special Guest Blogs. The best three or four will be posted while I’m away, thrusting YOU into the culinary spotlight.

Now, keep in mind, I can smell a rat a mile away. Submissions that are overly fawning or obviously written by the chef ain’t gonna make it. You’ll also need to include your name and email so I can get back to you if I have any questions.

Bon appetit and Aloha!

Submissions must be sent to hirwin@pressdemo.com.

Check out my day at the Artisan Cheese Festival (scroll down if you can’t see it)

With 40 flavors on the menu, Del Secco’s gelateria’s has the scoop on Sonoma County’s sweet tooth. The recently opened Rohnert Park shop features exotic sorbet and gelato (kind of like ice cream, but creamier) flavors including blood orange, cantaloupe, gingerbread, 50-50(think Creamsicle) and snowflake--a mixture of white chocolate and coconut.

The gelato’s not made onsite, but by the uber-popular, flavor-savvy Gelateria Naia folks from the East Bay. Hungry yet? Grab a spoon.

Del Secco’s, 6285 Commerce Blvd., Suite 308, Rohnert Park, 585.1100, open daily.

Is 420 Mendocino Avenue cursed when it comes to restaurants? After spending months on an interior redesign, the short-lived Vivere has closed its doors. The spot never seemed to gain traction due to some strange staffing choices, inconsistent reports on the food, the lack of a liquor license and well, we’ll call it the curse of 420. The spot is up for lease, along with neighboring BarCode. What’s downtown coming to?

Check out my review of Vivere.

BiteClub’s been on a burger quest lately, with varying degrees of success. The latest grill: Healdsburger in (you guessed it) Healdsburg.

BiteClubbers had a few comments about this new(ish) burger spot after the Gayle’s post, so I figured it might be worth the 20 minute trek north to check things out.

First sign that things might go wrong was a nearly deserted restaurant during what should be a noon-time crush. The second uh-oh was a dissatisfied customer (one of only two people in the restaurant) complaining about his $8 burger. But the biggest skidout was ordering a $9 gorgonzola burger and having the cook throw a frozen patty on the grill. Ouch.

Overall, the burger wasn’t exactly awful and the sweet potato fries were passable. I’d probably order it again for $5. But for $9? I’m gonna have to put this one in the deep freeze.

Healdsburger, 48 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 473.9604. Open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.