Chances to taste, press olive oil

It's olive oil time:

On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Olivino and Terra Savia (14160 Mountain House Road, Hopland) hold their annual Harvest Open House.

The celebration will include tastings of the newly pressed olio nuovo and reserve chardonnay, petit verdot and cabernet.

Olivino is an olive mill with both traditional and contemporary systems for pressing olive oil. In addition to their own estate oil, sold under the Terra Savia label, Olivino presses for nearly three dozen other producers, including DaVero of Healdsburg.

Several other local olive mills host community milling days this weekend, a time when you can add your olives to the community blend.

Dry Creek Olive Co. (4791 Dry Creek Road, Building 9, Healdsburg) hosts the first of two community milling days on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Appointments are not necessary and you can bring between five and 300 pounds of olives. Cost for milling is 50 cents per pound. The mill will host a second community day on Dec. 7.

The Olive Press (at Jacuzzi Family Vineyards, 24724 Arnold Drive, Sonoma) is also hosting its first community day on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will accept between five and 300 hundred pounds. The milling cost is 60 cents per pound. If you have olives, you should read the details provided at www.theolivepress.com. A second milling day is planned for Nov. 30.

For the first time, McEvoy Ranch (5935 Red Hill Road, off D Street, Petaluma) is offering community milling, with two days planned, this Sunday and Dec. 7. Cost is $1 per pound. Olives will be accepted between 9 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. For complete details about requirements for community milling, visit www.mcevoyranch.com.

When you add your olives to a community blend, you receive oil based on the weight of your fruit. Each mill has different requirements -- some require you to bring containers; others do not allow outside containers -- so be sure to do your homework.

For the fourth year, the galleries and other businesses of South A Street in Santa Rosa are hosting Winter Blast, an evening of lights, music and neighborhood cheer. Festivities take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday; admission is free.

In addition to the artist studios and galleries that will be open, several beauty salons, clothing stores, a yoga studio and Seed restaurant will join in the fun, as will the Peace and Justice Center.

Bistro des Copains (3782 Bohemian Highway, Occidental) kicks off a three-night celebration of the year's newest wine, beaujolais nouveau, with a special prix fixe menu. The menu will be offered tonight through Saturday night.

Things begin with a pear poached in beaujolais and served on brioche with Forme D'Ambert blue cheese and a pear reduction. Next comes a choice of lentil soup, salade Lyonnaise or sunchoke brandade cakes with arugula and aioli.

For an entree, you have the difficult choice between beef Bourguignon and skate wing seared in brown butter. Dessert is either a lemon tart or apple-quince galette. Cost is $45, which includes a glass of beaujolais nouveau; tax and gratuity are not included.

The multitalented Joe Szuecs of Renga Arts, along with the Way To Go Joes, will provide live music. For reservations, call 874-2436.

On Saturday and Sunday, 11 artists are hosting their fourth annual Joy Art Walk and Fall Sale on Joy Road in Sebastopol.

Carol Cole, who makes the finest bees wax candles we've ever seen, will be among the vendors. Others include Theresa Joyce with garden art and vintage cake plates; Rosalie Lecount with hat pins, paper art and photography; Rebecca Love with African masks and baskets; Nancy Morgan with functional pottery; Susan St. Thomas with watercolors and mixed media works; Linda Sauter with holiday ornaments, and Peter and Gerrie P&G Art -- we know them from the delightful Putto & Gargoyle in downtown Sebastopol -- with their whimsical art pottery.

The sale takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2400 and 2502 Joy Road, eight miles west of Sebastopol off Bodega Highway.

On Saturday, the residents of Friends House (684 Benicia Drive, Santa Rosa), a retirement community based on Quaker values and traditions, will hold its annual holiday fair and tea.

There are two seatings for tea, 10 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 2:30 p.m. Morning tea includes cheese scones with cucumber and tomato, cheddar cheese, Ann's shortbread and Victoria's Sandwich Cake, filled with raspberry preserves and butter cream. Afternoon tea includes scones with strawberry jam, lemon curd and clotted cream, along with the shortbread and sandwich cake.

Tea will be served, of course, but if you'd rather have coffee just ask.

There will be many handmade gifts for sale, including quilts, jewelry, baked goods and canned goods. There will also be international crafts from Guatemala and Russia, along with a "White Elephant Thrift Shop" and chair massages.

The sale begins at 10 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m.

Admission is free. Tea is $10 per person. You can purchase tickets in advance at Friends House or keep your fingers crossed that there will be space available the day of the fair.

Monday night's Chef's Choice returns: Forestville's Farmhouse Inn (7871 River Road, Forestville) is bringing back its Monday night prix fixe menu, a response to numerous requests from locals.

It is a great opportunity not just to enjoy one of Sonoma County's most acclaimed restaurants. It is also a perfect time to get to know your neighbors, as it is very much a locals night.

Here's how it works. Each Monday chef Steve Litke creates a three-course menu for $45 (plus tax and gratuity), with a choice of entree. Reservations, which you can make by calling 887-3300, are always a good idea.

The Chef's Choice menu will continue through March 2009.

Saint Rose updates: Saint Rose (9890 Bodega Highway, Sebastopol) is now serving lunch Wednesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reservations are not necessary.

Chef and owner Mark Malicki also will be offering his Thanksgiving take-out menu again this year. Selections include potato-onion soup with with twice-smoked bacon ($16 per quart), Hog Island oyster stew ($24 per quart), Dungeness crab bisque ($32 a quart), roasted brussels sprouts with chorizo ($14 a pound), cassoulet with white beans, lamb, duck confit and garlic sausage ($48, four servings), rabbit fricassee with chestnuts and chanterelles ($52, four servings) and cioppino with Dungeness crab, mussels and rock crab ($56, four servings).

For a complete menu, call 829-5898. Orders must be placed at least 48 hours in advance.

A fiesta, Mayan style: Next Tuesday, chef Mateo Granados revives his Missing Link Kitchen dinners at Tayman Park Clubhouse (927 S. Fitch Mountain Road, Healdsburg) with what he calls an Old-World Mayan Fiesta, featuring local ingredients and wines from Passalacqua, Preston of Dry Creek and Pedroncelli.

The five-course meal is $35; for wine pairings, add $15.

The menu includes Yucatan style squash puree with popcorn dust, escabeche of turkey over nitrogen-puffed masa with El Yuca sauce, Salmon Creek Ranch duck breast and Black Sheep Farm suckling pig ribs with cranberry beans and wilted purslane salad and much more.

For reservations, call 433-2338.

Michele Anna Jordan can be contacted via e-mail at michele@micheleannajordan.com.