Sometimes people are looking for something original from Grass Valley, Nevada City or Nevada County at large, but don’t really have the time to go mooching around all the shops or visiting street fairs such as Cornish Christmas or Victorian Christmas. Well some of the local artisans have discovered a web based outlet for their work in the form of Etsy.com (http://www.etsy.com).
The day after Thanksgiving saw good crowds at Cornish Christmas in Grass Valley on a clear night with the temperatures in the low 40s F. While it felt busy, Mill Street felt like it had fewer stalls than usual this year, with a cluster down near the Del Oro and another cluster near Main Street, but isolated stalls in between. If this is the case then hopefully the good crowd tonight will bring more stall holders out for the remaining evenings before Christmas.
As always we frequented the Frontier Angel handmade soap stall and purchased a good number of soaps to send out as presents. Feedback on the soaps is always good from friends and family so why mess with a winning formula? We also enjoyed the bright lights of the stalls in Main Street and some of the Christmas window displays, the one at Foothill Flowers being particularly bright and welcoming.
If we’d not just enjoyed Turkey Dinner 2, then we’d have probably been tempted by some of the good smelling food on offer from a number of the stalls, and braved the line for the chestnuts too. Good to see some of our local shops packed out with people too, although navigating with a stroller in Tess’ Kitchen Store is not to be recommended when the store is packed out! I declined to enter Yuba Blue as it was even busier than Tess’. Good.
The weekend after Thanksgiving is when we get our Christmas tree. For a few years now this has meant a short drive down Allison Ranch road to the Rainbow Ridge Tree Farm in Grass Valley.
Vern and Sue Gross have a large selection of pre cut trees and also trees you can cut yourself. Over the last few years we have had different types of tree from this Christmas tree farm and have never been disappointed.
Rainbow Ridge Tree Farm, 10737 Rainbow Ridge Rd, Grass Valley, VA 95949, or call (530) 477 0639.
On Thanksgiving weekend, the 28th, 29th, and 30th of November, come enjoy the Nevada County Christmas Faire at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. As well as a large selection of unique crafts and gifts, there will be live entertainment, gourmet food, gingerbread houses, carolers, errand elves and of course, santa claus. The event is open 10am to 5pm on Friday and Saturday and 10am to 3pm on Sunday. Admission is $4 with anyone under 12 entering for free.
Serving Pilot Peak wine
Another in our random series of items that may make good gifts during the holiday season. Today we’re looking at Pilot Peak, a local winery in Penn Valley that’s been crafting some really good wines in recent years and generating a fanatical following in the form of the “Peakers” wine club.
We stumbled on Pilot Peak by accident during one of the wine events and we’ve been going ever since. We’ve also been taking people from out of town there because of the warm welcome these people get, and also because of the ambience. They have created a small mediterranean garden that is just the place to enjoy the samplers, or, enjoy a whole bottle of the wine you liked best during the sampling!
And their wines? They have a wide selection (see the wine list at http://www.pilotpeak.com) with our personal favorites being their Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel and Viognier. Alas the latter two were the favorites of so many people that the current vintages sold out earlier this year, but not to worry, the PrimoZin is an excellent substitution for the Zinfandel, and we know they have other wines coming in the future that will satisfy our Viognier habit.
Anyways, we have often given bottles of Pilot Peak wine to people for occasions and have never had any hate mail sent back to us. In fact usually we’re asked if “the winery will be open for tasting when we come”. Now if someone asks us to tell us the dates the winery is open so they can plan their trip around them maybe we’ll get a little suspicious about why they are coming to see us…. We’ve also given the wine as corporate gifts too.
One word of warning, if you are sending the wine out of state, do check the rules on shipping. Not all states welcome wine shipments from California!