Since it was almost 5pm, California Carnivores, in the rural southern part of Sebastopol, turned out to be our last stop. And it seemed fitting — why not watch another species eat for a while? It’s purported to be the world leader in quality carnivorous plants. I was looking forward to seeing Venus Fly Traps and expanding my ready knowledge of other carnivorous botanicals.

Oh. They close at 4pm. Most stores and wineries close around 4pm or 5pm, so I wasn’t very surprised.

But I still looked inside…. and could make out two skeletons amidst some plants.

I think that even carnivorous plants are in their winter phase this time of year. Their plants outside looked pretty recently pruned… but given my lack of teaching, these may or may not be carnivorous.

On the road back down to Sebastopol, we stopped at Mom’s Apple Pie.

I’m not going to lie. We were feeling the effects of all the food at this point. But we walked in with open minds, looked at their pastry cases of double crust pies and cream pies, and promptly ordered a medium sized peach pie.

I think there’s always room for pie, especially because I don’t really eat the crust. I can recognize a good one, but to me, it’s just bland, buttery stuff that gets in the way of the fruit. That turned out to be a good thing, because this pie crust tasted more like flour than anything else. Maybe it wasn’t chilled or baked long enough, or–god forbid–had too little fat in it. It was kind of flour-y and dry. You can tell by the picture that it’s a bit too light and dull.

The crust was a bit dome shaped and was mostly divorced from the filling that lay on the bottom, with a big old air pocket between the two. The peaches were more like preserves than pie filling. It may be a thin line of difference, but I think pie fillings should be slightly gelled and a little looser than preserves. The flavor was ok, but more tart because of the concentrated fruit.

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I don’t think that winter is a good time to visit Kozlowski Farms in Forestville, which is north of Sebastopol and a mile down the road from Iron Horse. It would be fun to buy fruit there when it’s in season, but when we went, there were jars and jars of jams and sauces and dressings, and a few pastries in the pastry case. Many free samples, which were good, but I wasn’t smitten by anything. Unless I can find something that I absolutely can’t make myself and must have, I’m not so much into those. I considered the Kiwi Jam (which wasn’t offered as a sample that day), but in the end, I just walked away. If you’re into bottled stuff, though, this is your paradise.

We took a break from food for a wine tasting at Iron Horse Vineyards which is considered to be in the Green Valley region of Sonoma County.

For some reason, it reminded me of a cool rock band that I’ve just discovered, whose songs are beautiful and full of intricate surprises without showing off , and acts like they’re just doing what they were born to do. They made goodness seem easy. I have a feeling that there’s more going on with their wines than I was able to absorb at the first first tasting, and I’m looking forward to giving them another spin.

It was a thorough tasting — 12 wines, including 3 limited reserve wines, for $5. They claim that sales and tours are by appointment only, but we ascended the narrow and curvy palm tree-lined path up to their hilltop abode and were served without any question of a reservation.

They are especially known for their sparkling wines, which are all made by the methode champenoise, which is a certain way to make wine bubbly and was originated by Dom Perignon himself. To give you an idea about this detailed process, I found a website that cites the stylistic decisions within this method that are made by each producer: viticultural practices, cultivars, maturity, pressing vs. crushing, types of press and press pressures, press fractions, phenol levels, use of SO₂ and the oxidative condition of the base wine, yeast for primary and secondary fermentation, barrel fermentation and aging, fermentation temperatures, malolactic fermentation, post primary fermentation lees contact, age of cuvée, reserve wine, blending, time spent sur lie, nature of the dosage, and CO₂ pressure.

It’s awfully nice for them to go to such lengths to please even those who merely saunter in, reservation-free, to swig some. They have a beautiful outdoor tasting area. The counter looks like this.

The view looks something like this.

It was the Wine Country equivalent of a tropical bar set right on the beach.

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And we persevered. Next was Patisserie Angelica, a few blocks away from Screamin’ Mimi’s, but rather than downtown, it was more in a commercial park area. It was housed in a chalet-like building.

This place has serious pedigree — one of the co-owners trained at Fauchon and La Maison du Chocolat in Paris, and attended Callebaut College and Cacao Barry School–so not just one chocolate school, but TWO.

I found the pastries and chocolates to be in a classic style with a touch of the eclectic.

Baked Frangipane Tarts, key lime tart with oreo crust, parisien pastry, tiramisu pastry, fallen chocolate souffle pastry. There were chocolates and an icing wrapped “package cake.” A marvelous display, in a humble pastry case so that the offerings stand out like jewels. There were pictures of amazing wedding cakes on the walls - elegant and skilled, and very much in control though they had complicated designs.

Despite our fullness, we tucked into the Cardinal Sin: a flourless chocolate pastry with chocolate ganache and chocolate shaving toppings.

I also had a free sample of their raspberry cheesecake — I don’t know where they found such juicy, flavorful raspberries, but that bite was a sensation in its own right. And the Cardinal Sin… was rich… and delicious… yet somehow felt light enough so that we made rather good progress with it.