In December, Pocket residents Edmund and Jade Abay will celebrate the second anniversary of the opening of their restaurant, the Pocket Bistro.

Edmund says over the past two years, the restaurant has become a community fixture, making it a “meeting place for the community” where guests constantly run into people they know. “We give the community a place to call their own – if you live here in the Pocket, you know where Pocket Bistro is,” he adds.

This is one of the things long-time Pocket residents Marina and Jeff Armbruster love about the Pocket Bistro. The couple says they see people they know all the time at the restaurant. “It’s a neighborhood place,” Marina adds. The Armbrusters also enjoy the “friendly bar atmosphere” and “wonderful” food, especially the clam chowder.

The Opportunity

The Abays had always dreamed of owning their own restaurant as both have experience in the restaurant industry.

Originally from the Bay Area, Edmund had received a degree from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 1995, and then worked for a variety of restaurants in Washington, the Bay Area and Sacramento, from private-owned bistros to chains like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

Jade grew up in the Greenhaven Pocket area, having attended Genevieve Didion K-8 School and Sam Brannan Middle School. She says she worked at various restaurants all through high school and college, focusing on the front of the house duties such as bartending, serving, hostessing, and training serving staff.

Now raising their children in the Pocket since 2003, the Abays found themselves with an opportunity to make that dream a realty in their own community. “We felt there was a need in the neighborhood for (somewhere) the community (could) go to have a good meal, have a cocktail or a nice glass of wine, and not have to go all the way downtown,” Edmund says.

The Food

For the menu at the Pocket Bistro, Edmund says his motto is to keep it simple, straightforward, and good. That starts with the ingredients – Edmund says he looks for the best quality at the best price so he can give his customers the best value.

Additionally, he strives to satisfy the tastes of the various ethnicities in the Pocket through the menu. “We have a large Asian community, we have a large Portuguese community, there’s a lot of meat and potatoes out there,” Edmund explains. He says he tries to satisfy all the diverse tastes through a smaller menu with specials that help add variety.

Edmund says some of the popular items on the menu include the braised short ribs and the skirt steak that he says is marinated in an Asian “sweet soy” marinade. Scallops, halibut, rib-eye and prime rib are popular items occasionally on the specials menu.

In addition to its lunch and dinner menus, the Pocket Bistro now offers a brunch on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering items such as salmon eggs benedict, biscuits and gravy, and omelets. “We wanted a place on Sunday where you can enjoy brunch and not have to go all the way to downtown or to Elk Grove,” Edmund says.

And for the sweet tooth, Pocket Bistro offers a dessert menu with all items made in house and from scratch by a pastry chef. “We wanted to stay away from purchasing outside of the restaurant for our desserts and keep everything in house – that was very important to me to make sure that we try to make everything in house,” Edmund says. And he says again items on the dessert menu – such as the coconut bread pudding – reflect the various tastes of the Pocket community.

The Community

When developing the menus for the Pocket Bistro, the Abays also decided to include a kids’ menu. “In the Pocket, there are so many young families with children, (and) ourselves, we have three young kids,” Edmund says. “We wanted to also give the value there for the kids.”

Kids can choose from a kid-friendly item like chicken tenders or grilled cheese, plus they receive a potato, vegetable, drink and dessert. All of this is served on a ceramic “TV dinner tray,” which Edmund says gives it a unique twist.

For first-time Pocket Bistro diner Michelle Miranda, the kids’ menu offered her a “good value to enjoy dinner together” with her husband, two children and dining companion Anna San Juan, who was the one who had suggested they dine at the Pocket Bistro that evening.

San Juan describes the Pocket Bistro as a convenient, family place that offers “nice dinner cuisine” in the middle of the neighborhood. Both Miranda and San Juan plan to come back to the Pocket Bistro.

Additionally, Jade says they feel they give the Pocket community “somewhere they can take their friends and family to eat when they’re in town – they don’t have to go all the way to downtown.”

Pocket resident Loretta Manfre agrees. A frequent diner at the Pocket Bistro, on this particular evening she was happy to have a place to take her friend visiting from Saratoga. Manfre says the Pocket Bistro “brings upscale dining” to the neighborhood, which is “something we have needed for a long time.” Yet, she says it’s still “casual enough you can just call and walk in.”

The Future

So what does the future hold for the Pocket Bistro?

In the near future, the Abays plan to expand offering brunch to Saturday as well as Sunday. Edmund plans to expand the menu a bit more by adding some specials that have proved to be very popular. “That’s what we’ve been doing over the last couple of years, you find out what the community is responding to – is it more seafood, is it more meat,” he explains.

And Jade says they plan on keeping things fresh, fun and exciting to “keep everybody on their toes.” “We don’t want anybody to get bored, so we definitely have ideas for the future,” she adds.

One of Northern California’s most loved walking holiday home tours returned on a rainy weekend early this month, with five elegantly decorated homes in East Sacramento’s historic Fabulous Forties neighborhood open for viewing. For 39 years, this popular tour has grown to include nearly 5,000 patrons from throughout northern and central California. The homes showcased elaborate renovation while preserving historic design, custom interior decoration and creative holiday décor that ignited the spirit of the season.
For more information, see www.sacredhearthometour.com.

Every winter, starting in late November and early December, massive amounts of citrus fruit begin to show themselves on front yard and backyard trees throughout Sacramento.  Lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges and kumquats all begin turning from their “hidden” dark green color towards ripeness.  For most people in our area, even with the color change, this amazing food source is still hidden in plain sight—grocery stores and farmers markets sell massive amounts of this same fruit, while our truly “local” fruit falls to the ground to rot.

Soil Born Farms’ Harvest Sacramento has been organizing neighborhood residents for the past four years to not only help people see this fruit, but to harvest the fruit and distribute it to local food assistance agencies like Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services.

In 2012 alone, over 53,000 pounds of fruit was harvested and donated with the help of 800-plus volunteers.

Mary McGrath, one of the East Sacramento home owners who initially started the project idea mentions,  “When I went to the gym, I got some exercise, but when I went out to pick, I got some exercise, and a huge pile of oranges to share, plus the good smell of oranges on my hands.”
One of the goals for this coming citrus season is to have neighborhood-based teams help coordinate the harvesting activities in the areas where they live.  Harvest Sacramento received a large donation of harvesting tools, so teams can have access to their own set.  In addition to tools, Harvest Sacramento will provide training, outreach materials and staffing support to help get teams started.  “This can start with one motivated individual, a student community service project, a family or a neighborhood association and at any scale.  There is no one right way to do it.  It is easy, fun and has tangible results” said Randy Stannard, Harvest Sacramento Project Coordinator.

Volunteers of all ages and abilities can provide meaningful contributions.  Harvest Sacramento is as interested in bringing people together and building community relationships as they are in harvesting fruit.

Randy Stannard added, “We don’t just need people to get up on ladders and pick fruit.   We can always use volunteers who like to enter data, organize and help with the coordination efforts via computer and phone.  We need people to walk neighborhoods and find trees to harvest, photographers, videographers, bloggers, and cooks to make food for post-event meals.  Young kids can help move buckets and sort fruit…we need people to drive vehicles.  Everybody can help—that is the beauty of it!”

In addition to volunteers, the project is still looking for more fruit trees to harvest.  Harvests take place year-round, so while they are looking for citrus to harvest this winter, they are also looking for stone fruit, apples, pears, figs, pomegranates, and persimmons.  They are willing to pick up pre-harvested fruit and vegetables as well.  It is easy to offer fruit from your tree or garden—they have an online form on their website or give a phone call or email to Harvest Sacramento.

For more information visit www.soilborn.org/harvestsacramento or contact Randy Stannard, stannard@soilborn.org or (530) 204-8082.

Editor’s note: We have had a few calls into the office alerting us to the chopping down of the beautiful pear trees on Pocket Road. So we are re-running this brief piece sent to us from city officials. Here are photos from the last few weeks, taken by a talented local photographer.

Nearly all of the ornamental pear trees that are getting chopped down are infected with mistletoe. Several years ago a campaign was launched to trim the mistletoe. The campaign was successful, but much of the mistletoe has returned. Ornamental pear trees are a susceptible species to mistletoe and other diseases. Mistletoe attaches to the branches of a tree and eventually kills the host tree. The City of Sacramento’s arborist, the Riverlake Community Association and Councilman Darrel Fong believe this will provide a long-term solution to restore the canopy along Pocket Road.

Toward the end of last month, the City’s Urban Forestry, Division of Public Works began the first phase of the Pocket Road Tree Replacement Project. New trees will be planted by Dec. 1. One hundred and twelve ornamental pear trees will be replaced with 15 gallon Emerald Sunshine Elms. The Emerald Sunshine is a vase-shaped shade tree, highly resistant to disease and insect attack, and adapts to varied growing conditions. It provides a cool green canopy, retaining a green appearance through the hot days of summer. The trees fall color is rich yellow, sometimes with purple tints on the tips and along the margins.

The replacement project began at the corner of Pocket Road and Greenhaven Drive and end at Pocket Road and Silva Ranch Way.

About 60 percent of the world’s population does not have access to fresh drinking water. By making simple changes, everyone can make a big impact on water consumption.
This concept was conveyed at a water conservation workshop presented by the city of Sacramento Department of Utilities Water Conservation Office on July 14 at 2260 Glen Ellen Circle.

Vincent Smelser, water conservation specialist for the city of Sacramento, began the morning by explaining the city ordinances in effect to save water. Smelser let folks know there are many ways to save on their water bill. He pointed out enforcement comes in the form of citations and fines can get up to $500.
Water use around the home
Smelser suggested when washing the car, use a shut-off nozzle. Running hoses are no longer allowed, he said.
Another way to save on water is sweeping the patio or sidewalk instead of hosing it down.

Smelser said per city ordinance, the only time water is allowed for cleaning a sidewalk is if there is an unsanitary event, but to be careful not to wash animal excrement or chemicals into the gutter, that also constitutes a fine.
When to water
Watering is allowed between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. For spring through fall, odd number addresses water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Even number addresses water on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
During winter, (when daylight saving time ends) folks are allowed to water only one day a week, either Saturday or Sunday.
Smelser said often times improperly functioning sprinklers waste a lot of water.
Another water waster are older toilets. The city has a rebate program up to $100 for toilets installed prior to 1992. The city also offers free showerheads and aerators for the sink.
On average a person saves 25 gallons of water the first 10 minutes of their shower using a water saving showerhead, he said.“The courthouse on Bicentennial Circle saved 300,000 gallons of water a year just by replacing the aerators,” Smelser said. “Just by using a water efficient toilet, one can save 12,000 gallons of water a year.”
City services
The city of Sacramento makes water-wise house calls for folks within city limits. A trained water conservation specialist will visit the home or office to identify potential water savings both inside the home and outside. If needed, the city will analyze and make suggestions on how to improve the soil, keeping water costs down.
Smelser said the city is able to identify leaks through smart meter technology. The water department is able to tell by looking at a residential water bill online where the leaks are located. Consumer’s now have the option of looking at their bill online to see where their water is being used most frequently.
Watering methods
Smelser demonstrated various methods used for watering; spray, hose and drip. The city provides information on the best watering system for different types of landscapes.
Smelser said to keep sprinklers in good repair. There are proper designs to keep sprinkler heads from breaking. Pop ups should be even with the ground. A good timer is essential to saving water.
“Seventy percent of water goes to landscaping in the summer, and switches to bathrooms in winter” Smelser said. “27 to a 1,000 gallons of water per irrigation is used for a typical landscape.”
A water-efficient yard
David Campbell, Siegfried Engineering and designer of the city of Sacramento’s water efficient demonstration garden, gave a presentation discussing drought tolerant plants, shrubs and grasses used for landscaping. He also discussed efficient ways to design yards and water saving irrigation systems.
Campbell, a licensed landscape architect, said when designing a landscape around saving water, there are specific things to think about.
The function and design of outdoor landscaping, turf alternatives and how efficiently the water is delivered are important in designing a water saving landscape.
“When thinking about what your yard is used for, turf is not the only answer,” Campbell said. “Grass is the cheapest, but not the most water efficient way to landscape a yard.”
Landscapes may include gardens, a place to escape to, or a place to attract birds and butterflies. Campbell said often yards are used for screening or buffering the home from busy streets and noise.
Types of plants
Campbell discussed a variety of plants, ornamental grasses, shrubs and groundcovers that are drought tolerant. He said some landscapes change throughout the year with the seasons and some folks enjoy seeing their landscape change.
There are many types of grasses that do not need constant mowing, watering, aerating, or fertilizing. He said ornamental grasses are not meant for foot traffic.
“A group called WUCOS (Water Use Classification of Landscape Species) now has empirical data on how much water certain types of landscapes use,” Campbell said. “The information can be accessed online through the University of California Extension.”
The irrigation system
Campbell explained there are different types of conversions kits people can use to update and improve their irrigation system. In general, overhead sprays are 30 to 55 percent efficient, rotators and rotors are 65 to 75 percent efficient, bubbles and micro sprays are 80 to 85 percent efficient and drip is 85 to 90 percent efficient.
All who came to the meeting left with buckets full of free goodies to improve water use in the home and information on how to conserve water with an efficient landscape.
For more information on water savings, visit www.cityofsacramento.org/utilities or call 311.
sally@valcomnews.com

One of the city’s popular holiday attractions, the Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour, is this weekend, Dec. 2 through 4. Among the houses on this year’s tour of five elegantly decorated homes is the two-story, Georgian-style, 46th Street home of John and Carolyn Reid.

This stop along the tour is highlighted by the fact that Carolyn was one of the founding committee members of the tour, which began in 1973.

The house was built in the late 1920s. Carolyn grew up in Seattle and moved into the house with John in 1966.

Design by Twiggs

The Reid house is already visually appealing enough on its own to satisfy guests of the tour. However, Carolyn said that her home is becoming even more attractive with the assistance of Wes Green of Twiggs Floral Design.

“Wes is doing all of the interior decorations all by himself,” Carolyn said. “I don’t know what you want to call him, because he does everything from inside, outside to design, flowers – the most beautiful flowers. He does weddings, things for the Crocker (Art Museum) and lots of people in town.”

Welcome by an angel

Green’s creativity can be quickly recognized by those entering the house, as it was his idea to place a large, gold-colored statue of an angel several feet past the

front door for guests to immediately view.

Carolyn said that although the statue always sits at the top of the home’s staircase, Green decided it would serve as a great way to greet the home’s guests.

“Wes said, ‘I want this to be a welcoming from the guardian angel as everyone comes through the house,’” Carolyn said.

Among the other rooms that Green has enhanced in the Reid home are the dining room and the breakfast room.

Working with the Reids’ china, glassware, and other pieces, Green intermixed the pieces to dress the table, which will also have gold-beaded, metallic chargers and a white floral centerpiece in a silver bowl.

The table in the breakfast room has been set for children, since children often enjoy having their own space.

In celebration of the holiday season, the children’s table is enhanced with Christmas decorations, including a festive and decorative carousel music box, which plays multiple holiday tunes, as the centerpiece.

Carolyn explained that Green’s creativity and dedication has worked well in meeting her interior design expectations.

“We wanted to show how you can design, in different ways, different things in different rooms, and that you can change these things by changing a cup or a plate or whatever, so you have an opportunity to do two or three different things out of one set of dishes, so you’re not just having one thing all the time,” Carolyn said.

Green said he is honored to embellish the already elegant nature of the home.

“The Reids have been great clients, so when (Carolyn) came to me (to request assistance), I was excited and honored to be able to do the job for her,” Green said. “The home has a traditional elegance, so I just tried to keep with the theme of the elegance of the home.”

Local art

In addition to Green’s artistic designs and arrangements, art enthusiasts should find the Reid home to be an important destination spot for its display of local art.

Carolyn said that she and her husband are looking forward to presenting their art in a convenient, informational manner.

“We have art in all of our rooms and so we felt that it was really important to (showcase the art),” Carolyn said. “It’s all local art (with few exceptions). What we have done is we’ve put little tabs on the bottom of every piece that tell them the title of the art and also who the artist was, so they get an idea and a feeling of the beautiful work that we have artists doing in Sacramento. It’s amazing. We’ve been collecting (local art) for 40 years.”

Homecoming memories

During this year’s tour of the Reid home, a special moment will occur when former residents of the 46th Street house will tour their old home.

Shingle Springs resident Kathy Goldman, plans to visit the house with her sister, Joanne Fitzgerald, a 1963 Mira Loma High School graduate who lives in Soldatna, Alaska. She noted that her time living in the home was cut short, since her mother, Thelma Gray, moved her family out of the house following the death of her father, John E. Gray.

John E. Gray, who died at the age of 42, was an eye surgeon at Mercy Hospital.

Goldman, who graduated from Encina High School in 1961, shared some of her memories regarding her former Fabulous Forties home:

“We moved there in about 1951 and, for sure, we left in the summer of 1955. The two bedrooms at the top of the stairs to the right were my sister’s and mine. My bedroom, the furthest to the right, had fluffy, white curtains and blue wallpaper with larger than life pink roses. Very fussy. My sister, the tomboy, had a more tailored room, green, yellow and brown. The bedroom at the top of the stairs, to the left, was converted to a study. Downstairs, the living room was really the ‘living’ room. There was no ‘family’ room. There were French doors in the back that opened onto a patio. The dining room hosted many large dinner parties where the menu was usually wild duck hunted by my parents. The entry hall was big and we played there a lot. The kitchen was a large square and mostly white – white tile with red trim, white and red linoleum floor and a red Formica table in the middle. The maid’s quarters next to the kitchen had two built-in twin beds, toe-to-toe, and a bath, home to an au pair. Between the kitchen and dining room was an odd little room, sort of a mini family room. The piano was there, where my sister and I had to practice a lot, and we could leave puzzles set up in there. We had no TV. A stairway led from the hallway down to the basement and it was creepy. It was a neighborhood with quite a few kids and summertime meant (playing the game) ‘kick the can’ in the middle of that wide street (which once included PG&E streetcar tracks down its center).”

Updates, upgrades

Changes to the house and property since that time include an additional room outside where the French doors were located, a guest house, an outside pool, the elimination of the maid quarters, as well as various remodeling upgrades.

Altogether, six rooms, including the guest house, will be featured on the tour.

Admission for the Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour is $30 and proceeds will benefit Sacred Heart Parish School.

For additional information regarding this event, call (916) 556-5050 or visit www.sacredhearthometour.com.

The Ducray Family lived across the street from our house on Janey Way: Justin Ducray, his wife Alice and their six children: Joan, Bill, Jim, Jennifer, John and Mary Kay. The two older boys, Bill and Jim, were fierce sibling rivals. They fought regularly. These were not the pushing and shoving kind of fights brothers sometimes have, but knock down drag-out fights that resulted in cuts, bloodied noses and black eyes. They were tough kids.

 

Jim seemed the wilder of the two boys and got into trouble early. His parents separated, then divorced during his mid-teens and that seemed to really throw him off. At age 15, he and two other boys took a car and went on a joy ride. The police apprehended them and Jim landed in juvenile court. The juvenile judge sensed he needed some supervision and placed him in the Sacramento Boys Ranch, a minimum-security facility that featured a working ranch where boys mucked stalls, fed animals and tended a garden. Jim seemed to prosper in this environment. He returned home six months later and seemed a changed person. However, his troubles were not over.

 

A few weeks before his 18th birthday, he stole a second car on the way to a job interview. Again, the police caught him and placed him in the Juvenile Hall. After release on his own recognizance, he went immediately to an army recruiter and enlisted. Somewhere on his way to basic training, the court system found out he enlisted and dropped the charges. Jim served two years in the army, including a tour of duty in Viet Nam. In 1968, he received his honorable discharge from the army and returned home.

 

After returning home, Jim had trouble adjusting. He enrolled at Sacramento City College, but soon dropped out. Then he took a job selling jewelry door-to-door. He soon found trouble yet again, when he tried to sell a small amount of marijuana to one of his customers who turned out to be an off-duty cop. This landed him in jail yet another time. This time he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of selling a controlled substance and spent six months at Sacramento County’s Rio Cosumnes Correctional Facility.

 

That time in incarceration changed Jim’s life path. After his release, he enrolled at Sacramento State University and four years later attained a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Following graduation, he went to work for the California Youth Authority as a youth counselor. Unfortunately, this career ended early when a youth gang member threatened his life. Subsequently, Jim returned to Sacramento State and completed work on a master’s degree in counseling, then began a long and successful career as a crisis counselor for Amador County.

 

After his career with the county, he started a private practice as a marriage and family counselor in Jackson. He has come full circle from run-ins with the law to counseling families and troubled youths. Jim lives with his wife and nephew in a beautiful Sierra foothills home he had built near Jackson. His story is truly one of redemption. It is proof positive that with the right kind of support, and friendships like the ones built on Janey Way, a young person can turn his life around and achieve success.

 

E-mail Marty Relles at marty@valcomnews.com.

With all the squawking about urban chicken ownership and whether it should be allowed, one local organization has stepped up to try to overturn the current city and county laws barring neighborhood chicken raising.

The Environment and Agriculture Taskforce (EAT) Sacramento, calls itself “a network of residents and organizations dedicated to increasing food access and food security” according to its Web site. The first order of business for the EAT Sacramento team has been to tackle the subject of urban chicken keeping. The organization’s position is that government should not be able to tell people where they can and cannot get their eggs.

Borne of this stance was the Campaign to Legalize Urban Chicken Keeping (CLUCK), which was put in charge of the chicken issue by EAT Sacramento.

But why is urban chicken keeping even against the law in the first place?

“I have a suspicion that owning chickens was seen as unfashionable when the law was passed,” said Abi Crouch, coordinator of CLUCK. For a city that might have been trying to kick the “cow town” label, Crouch thinks that getting rid of backyard chickens was seen as a good first step by lawmakers.

It seems chickens have been sitting ducks for local lawmakers for at least 20 years: A 1989 city law added chickens to a ban preventing livestock from being kept as pets, and a Sacramento County law made it illegal for urban homeowners to have chickens on their property unless they had more than 10,000 square feet of property.

“A lot of people who own chickens don’t even know that it’s against the law,” Crouch said. “I think it’s pretty ridiculous that people are allowed to have dogs and cats but not chickens. Dogs and cats don’t put food on the table.”

Opponents of the plan argue that keeping chickens could lead to outbreaks of bird flu and other diseases. Crouch addressed these concerns.

“Bird flu happens in large flocks in factory farms,” she said. She added that she is not aware of any cases of bird flu originating from a small group of chickens kept outdoors.

In order to keep the worries about bird-borne illnesses to a minimum, CLUCK plans to ask for a cap on how many chickens someone can own, likely limiting the number to eight.

Crouch worries that because of the law, some people will bring their chickens indoors to guard against being caught. This could exacerbate the likelihood of bird flu cases. Crouch spoke of cases of bird flu being traced back to families who shared a home with their chickens.

As far as CLUCK is concerned, overturning the various laws preventing chicken ownership would allow people to keep their birds outside to prevent sickness. And while the group advocates chicken ownership on a small scale, they also stand firmly behind mandatory chicken coops for those who own chickens.

Other less serious concerns about keeping the birds include noise complaints.

“There is a stigma about chickens that they make noise all day, every day,” Crouch said. “Hens are generally pretty quiet. They tend to make some noise when they lay an egg, but they usually calm down after a few minutes. Roosters crow all day long; they’re the real noisy ones.”

Roosters are not part of the campaign and CLUCK does not advocate the keeping of roosters. They don’t aid in the egg-producing process and are often extremely loud and sometimes aggressive.

The goal of the organization is to reach out to Sacramento City Council members and other political leaders to try to state their case for those who want to own chickens not just for egg production, but also as pets. And while this issue may not seem like a big deal on the surface to most people, Crouch warns that the law affects more people than one might think.

If all goes as planned, Crouch hopes to have the issue resolved by the beginning of the summer.

EAT Sacramento is an organization meant to aid in bringing healthier local food on a government level to those in the area. It has more than 100 members, some of which have been designated to serve as members of CLUCK. CLUCK meets on the third Tuesday of each month at Coffee Garden at 2904 Franklin Blvd. at 6 p.m. The organization welcomes help from anyone interested.

For more information about EAT Sacramento or CLUCK, they can be reached at 916-551-1883 or by e-mail at info@EATSacramento.org.

 

E-mail Benn Hodapp at benn@valcomnews.com.