Girly Goodness in Sonoma

Sunday morning we decided to explore Sonoma, CA. First stop: the girl and the fig, a charming little restaurant featuring "country food with a French passion."

The interior is cheerful and bright.

The walls are adorned with earth-toned paintings of languishing women, Gauguin-style.

They also sell a collection of their condiments and cheeses in the store (and also online). I'm totally kicking myself for not buying a jar of their fig compote.

The menu featured lots of cheese (yay!), an assortment of sandwiches, soups and salads, and other typical brunch fare.

I began with a white peach/white cranberry concoction sprinkled with some sort of bee pollen.
I could drink this everyday for the rest of my life, no problem.

There was a separate menu just for cheese - that's how serious this place is. lol

We got the works. No - that's what it's called, the works. It consisted of 3 cheeses (we added fourth), house-made fig cake with pistachios, sliced green apples, fig compote, assorted nuts, cured meats, olives (boo!), and a french baguette. We got two cow's milk, one goat's milk, and one sheep's milk cheese. This alone easily could have been enough tastiness.

Next up was pastis scented steamed mussels with garlic, leeks, herbs, grilled bread.

Dipping the grilled bread into the broth was a highlight. You have to work too much for mussels. And sometimes you mistake the shells for something tasty inside and say, aw man! when it's empty.

Main courses. We were going to split one, but ended up getting two. We should have split.

I got the frittata basquaise with yukon gold potatoes, peppers, onions & tomatoes, roasted red pepper coulis and a side salad.

The side salad looked pretty much like garnish, and I took a half-hearted bite. Wrong. I never imagined that red and green leaf lettuce with trace amounts of a vinaigrette could be so good. That lettuce was the best lettuce that I've ever had - seriously. The leaves were so tender and flavorful - it didn't taste like anything I've every bought at a store. When I mentioned this to our server, she informed me that the lettuce is harvested from their vegetable garden out back. Of course. This is wine country. Everyone has a vegetable garden out back.

Mr. Insom got the duck confit & potato hash with poached eggs, applewood smoked bacon. Although both entrees were delicious, I liked his a bit better. So did our dining companion, Pete Bunniberg.

After that incredibly large meal, we walked around historic Sonoma for a bit. Lots of cute shops like this one. I'm a sucker for fair trade nick nacks.

Pretty pottery. I bought a tea mug with a strainer so I can have cups of leisurely tea at work. lol

I thought these baskets were neat - they're made from recycled magazines.

Lots of cooking shops all over this town.

We headed to the town plaza to check out the Bear Flag Celebration.

Grilling. Yum.

Then we made our way to the amphitheater to watch a rather confusing skit about the bear flag.

A bunch of rabble rousers wearing authentic garb rushed the stage, firing their fake guns and yelling about Mexicans.

Dude in the sunglasses apparently disregarded the email about historical accuracy. And is he drinking a beer??

The fake guns were loud and made it hard to hear what the hell was going on.

Then the mob captured this guy that looked like a fat Abraham Lincoln.

And tied him up.

This was the leader. He kept talking about no longer being under Mexican control.

Then the fat Lincoln signed a paper with a quill.

And then we left. It was very educational.

Go Bear Flag!