Mouthful: Dicken’s Dinners at Madrona Manor

Dickens Dinners: As of press time, there were still seats available for Madrona Manor’s popular Dickens Dinner series, which started on Dec. 7 and continues through Christmas Day. Only Dec. 23 and 25 are currently sold out, with the 13th and 20th filling up fast. Open dates include Dec. 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 24.

Dinner features a five-course prix fixe menu, with entertainment by the Twelfth Night Singers throughout the evening, which gets started at 6:30 p.m.

Although menus vary from night to night, chef Jesse Mallgren’s menu highlights include Dungeness crab salad with estate oranges and Green Goddess dressing; truffle risotto; beef Wellington and, of course, Christmas pudding. Prices vary depending on the night, but start at $100; certain menu items include a supplement and tax, beverages and gratuity will be added.

For reservations: 433-4231. Madrona Manor is at 1001 Westside Road, Healdsburg.

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Festival of Lights Celebration: On Saturday, Dec. 20, at the West End Farmers Market Warehouse (817 Donahue St., Santa Rosa), Goodman’s Delicatessen hosts a Hanukkah Pop-Up dinner.

The menu includes a wide array of foods from throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Greece. Things get started with canapes at 5 p.m., followed by a sit-down, family-style meal. Menu highlights include bastilla (Moroccan chicken almond pie), latkes with creme fraiche and applesauce; crispy cauliflower and roasted lamb should with pomegranates.

Heather Klein, a widely praised soprano and classical Yiddish artist, will entertain.

Cost is $20 for children 10 and over and $70 for adults. Kids aged 10 and under eat for free. A portion of the proceeds benefits the market’s EBT (food stamps) matching funds program.

Reservations: at brownpapertickets.com.

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Breakfast with Santa: On Saturday, December 13, and again on Saturday, December 20, Costeaux French Bakery (417 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg) hosts breakfast with the fat man in the red suit from 9 to 11 a.m.

Tenaya Fleckenstein Photography will provide complimentary photographs with your kid or pup on Santa’s lap. There will be cookies for the kids and there might be t-r-e-a-t-s for your well-behaved doggy, too.

It’s getting to be time to place your order for holiday cannoli, as well. They are available only on Christmas Eve and must be ordered in advance. Cost is $25 for six cannoli. The bakery also has a selection of other holiday desserts and their fabulous cinnamon walnut bread, which makes yummy French toast on Christmas morning.

To place an order by phone, call 433-1913.

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Ramen Gaijin Opens Friday: Chef Mathew Williams hosted extremely popular pop-up ramen dinners during his tenure at Sebastopol’s Woodfour Brewery. Now he’ll have a regular spot for his Asian noodles. Ramen Gaijin opens on Friday in the Forchetta portion of Forchetta Bastoni at 6948 Sebastopol Ave. in Sebastopol.

Forchetta was the Italian part of the Asian-Italian dual restaurant. Bastoni, which includes the popular bar and outside patio, has always done well with its Asian-street-food-inspired eatery, but Forchetta never found its footing. A ramen cafe might be the perfect pairing.

Initially, Ramen Gaijin will serve lunch from noon to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Current menu highlights include shoyu ramen, with rye noodles, pork belly woodear mushrooms, wakame and egg ($14); tantan ramen, with Sapporo noodles, pork belly, ground pork, charred cabbage, mustards, scallions and egg ($14) and albacore tataki, with hedgehog mushrooms, edamame, sea grass, sake and Meyer lemon ($11). For desserts, there’s grapefruit sorbet with persimmon crisp and yuzu curd ($7) and black sesame ice cream with meringue and coconut granola ($7).

After its trial run through December 20, the restaurant will close for the holidays and reopen on January 2.

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Seven Fishes, Seven Nights: Starting on December 18, Spoonbar (219 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg) hosts seven nights of the Feast of Seven Fishes.

Chef Louis Maldonado and his crew will prepare a different menu each night, with five courses featuring seven fish each night.

Highlights include ocean trout sashimi; potato and clam gratin with sea urchin and scallions; kanpachi tartare; spaghetti with abalone; lobster bisque with crab and fennel fritter; Gulf snapper tartare with caviar and green papaya and grilled John Dory.

Each menu is $78 plus tax and gratuity. For reservations, call 433-7222. To view all seven menus, visit spoonbar.com.

The Feast of Seven Fishes is a traditional Christmas Eve celebration among Italian-Americans and is thought to have originated in southern Italy.

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Holiday Aloha: You can put a little tropical breeze in your holiday shopping on Saturday, when Halau Hula Na Pua O Ka La’akea, the largest hula school in the North Bay, hosts its 15th Annual Hawaiian Holiday Craft and Bake Sale.

The sale takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Parish Center, 409 Magnolia Ave., in Larkspur.

The celebration includes a huge array of handmade gifts, baked goods, spice blends, tea blends, fresh bouquets and more. One of the most popular elements is a raffle of more than a dozen beautiful gift baskets, some themed, some with hard-to-find ones and some for kids. And if you love searching for gently-used treasures, you’ll love the Hana Hou (“do it again”) table.

There are also delicious things to eat on the spot, including kalua pork with cabbage and rice, Chinese chicken salad, vegetable curry and haupia, a coconut pudding, for dessert.

From 11 a.m. on, there will be top-of-the-hour performances by the keiki -–children’s-- class and live music throughout the day. For more information about the school and the sale, visit hulaon.org.

If the fete doesn’t satisfy all your aloha cravings, there’s more. Na Leo, a trio of three childhood friends--Nalani Choy, Lehua Kalima and Angela Morales-- perform in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35. To snag a seat or two, email tickets@sonoma.edu, call (866) 6040 or visit gmc.sonoma.edu. The Green Music Center is located in the northeast corner of the Sonoma State University Campus in Rohnert Park.

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Farmers Market News: This Sunday, December 14, marks the final day of the 2014 season for the West End Farmers Market, which takes place on Donahue St., adjacent to the DeTurk Park and Round Barn from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fabulous Hubbub Club will be there celebrate the season’s finale.

In Sebastopol, the market has moved for the month of December. Instead of taking place in both the parking lot and the town plaza at the corner of McKinley and Petaluma Avenues, it is all nestled into the plaza, leaving the parking lot for holiday shoppers. It makes for a more intimate market that, last week, was filled with happy shoppers singing along with the Love Choir. This Sunday, I’ll be there, with roasted garlic meatballs, creamy lemon vinaigrette and copies of my latest books for sale and signing. Stop on by, even if it is simply to say “hi!”.

Michele Anna Jordan has written 18 books to date, including the new “More Than Meatballs.” Email Jordan at michele@saladdresser.com. You’ll find her blog, “Eat This Now,” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.