Tomato Water

We seem to have a knack for setting off with one objective and wind up accomplishing something completely different. Going out to lunch and visiting a winery in Healdsburg was our plan today. The winery is in Healdsburg, where there are no fewer a hundred excellent places to eat. We thought we'd go to Willi's Seafood, sister to our old standby favorite, Willi's Wine Bar in Santa Rosa.

We got to Healdsburg before we were ready for lunch, so we went to the Dry Creek outlet of The Gardener one of my favorite stores on 4th Street in Berkeley. Unlike the store in Berkeley, this one actually has a large garden and an eclectic variety of garden related items, beautifully displayed and very tempting. I have learned that many of the things that tempt me do so because they are displayed in groups of 10 or 12. When you buy one little bowl, no matter how beautifully made it is, it just doesn't have the same impact.

We passed on the temple bells and the placemats made out of twigs, and the hand blown glass olive bowls,but couldn't resist the irony of a rock drilled to perfectly fit a 4" pot with a little succulent in it. When we went inside to pay for our rock (a gift for Dana) we both fell for a beautiful round stone table with a cypress trunk base.

For lunch we decided on Cafe Lucia, a restaurant with a lovely patio and "new Portuguese" cuisine. When the tomato water was delivered to our table, I was somewhat unimpressed by the concept, but the first sip delivered a burst of intense tomatoey flavor. Our waiter said they puree a blend of tomato, garlic and herbs, and strain it through cheesecloth until there is no trace of tomato red. When we lamented later that we finished it before we thought to take a picture, he brought us two more. The rest of the lunch that followed was perfectly cooked and delicious.

For some reason, the lady at Geyser Peak Winery always remembers us because of our "fancy" car (OilMan's Ford Fusion hybrid). We are never distracted from the objective of replenishing our "wine cellar" (a couple of wine racks in a cupboard in the garage), We tasted several, but wound up getting just about the same selection as we have purchased before.

Filled with a delicious lunch and some tastes of our favorite wines we drove home, called the Gardener and bought the stone table for our patio. We always said that our main goal in moving to Sonoma County was being able to eat outside. Now the goal has been realized and we can truly declare the patio project finito.

Well, except for the chairs….