Napa Kids and Families

Earth Day Napa 2008

Napa's having an Earth Day festival Saturday, April 19th.

Events include:

• Native Tree Planting


• Solar Power Demonstration


• Kite Building


• Kids Yoga


• Earth Day Bingo


• Great Food & Entertainment

10 am – 3 pm
Napa Valley College Soccer Fields

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They are trying to keep it secret(ish): La Traiteur

My friend Shane recently told me about what he does on Thursday nights. He has a kid vacation every week, and all he does is order takeout and sit at home enjoying it. I am looking forward to trying out his source of grub: Relish.

You have to email these folks in order to get on their mailing list. CafeLucy [at] aol [dot] com will hook you up. I offered to do some internet magix for them. I think they were not stoked about the offer (see comment in newsletter below). Still, I did it anyway, I am crazy like that.

Here's this week's story, directly from their email. I have stripped out their phone numbers, so if you want ot get it, you need to email above.

Relish

~ La Traiteur ~

1755 Industrial Way, Suite #28 Pick-up from 5-7 Thursday & Friday

We are seeing many new faces these last few months at the take-out and wanted to thank everyone who is passing along the word. We are approached (& reproached!) for our lack of formal advertising. Our reason for being in the food business still is to share our own personal pleasures with like-minded people (Bill loves to converse, I love to cook and we both enjoy a good, simple meal.) Word of mouth spreads this experience . . . one we feel honored to share. We will be taking next week off (no take-out 3/20-21 - Easter & Lucy’s Birthday). Happy Spring, Happy Easter everyone and as always, thank-you! L&B

Thursday, March 13 “Box du Jour” Take-out Dinner $20.00
• Romaine Salad with Grapefruit, Avocado & Red Onion
• Spring Vegetable Curry with Fragrant Jasmine Rice
• Meyer Lemon & Black Raspberry Tart with Crème

Friday, March 15 Take-out Dinner Menu
• Smokey Split-pea & Ham Soup with Yogurt Crème 5.
• Baby Greens with Baked Goat Cheese & Crostini 7.
• Frittata with Swiss chard, Sweet Onions & “Three Cheeses “ 8.
• Seafood Salad with Prawns, Mussels, Calamari & assorted Veggies, Aioli & Greens 10.
• Seared Ahi Tuna “Au Poivre” with Roast Fennel & Olive Relish, Potato-Leek Salad 12.
• Keema Matar (Indian braised ground Beef with spices) Coconut-Jasmine Rice & Condiments 12.

Desserts and Such . . .
• Meyer Lemon & Black RaspberryTart with Crème 5.
• Chocolate Bread Pudding with Maple Crème 5.
• Golden Raisin Scone 2.
• Loaf of Bread 3.
• Mary Elke’s Organic Unfiltered Apple Juice 3.

Take Away at the Relish Kitchen 1755 Industrial Way, Suite #28 from 5:00-7:00 (just off California in the industrial park area) Cash & Checks only Pre-ORDERING Advised: Email and Fax254.0371 until Friday noon. Note: Email orders are always confirmed. On Friday please leave a way to confirm your telephone of Fax order. We take orders as long as we can! (Running out is possible so please order before Friday to reserve favorites). Relish Mail: 1370 Trancas St., #159 Napa 94558

Saturdays at the Smoking Cat: Classic Toons!

For the past three weeks, we've been heading over to the Smoking Cat Cafe on Main Street to enjoy coco and cartoons! It's really a fun time; they pull down a big projection screen and loop DVDs of classic Loony Toons, serving hot chocolate & toast with jam for the kiddos.

It's a really fun atmosphere. Kids are encouraged to show up in their pajamas.

The Smoking Cat is located at 1502 Main Street. The fun starts at 9 am. See you there!

Community Resources for Children fundraiser!

Visit Mary's Pizza Shack (3085 Jefferson St. 257-3300)

On TUESDAY AUGUST 7TH 2007 and support
COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN.

20 percent of sales generated will go to the CRC.

CRC will benefit with dining in, take out, and gift card purchases which can be used through out the year. You just need to bring a copy of the flyer for your purchase to count toward CRC. Here's a link to the flyer:

 

http://crcnapa.org/pdf%20flyers/DineDonateFlyer.pdf

 

Make copies and pass them around. People are always looking for a good
excuse to have homemade pizza & pasta! Available for Dine-In, Take-Out,
Delivery or Gift Card purchases.

www.crcnapa.org

Cornerstone Gardens

I have been driving past Cornerstone Gardens for some time now, since it opened a couple of years ago. It is really a living space; I have watched from afar as it has evolved through the seasons, and I was finally able to make it over there this weekend. I posted a little bit about it on One little tastybit, but it just wasn't enough: get your kids over there!!

Cornerstone is a blast, and watching the look on your kids face as they study the weirdness of these gardens is priceless. Make sure to allot yourself at least four hours, because there is a lot to do.

NCTPA Transportation Speakers Program

From an NCTPA Press Release...

Program 3: Transportation for Livable Communities

Napa, California (June 20, 2007) – Over the next four months Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency (NCTPA) will bring key transportation experts to Napa to talk about ideas and policies that have been successfully implemented in other communities, and share how these ideas might be applicable in Napa County.

NCTPA is updating the Strategic Transportation Plan for Napa County; the Speakers Program will help to bring new ideas and thinking to the table, and supplement the other public outreach and education efforts within our community.

• Do you want to know more about Transportation issues?
• What are the facts?
• What is possible here in Napa County?
• How are other cities and communities solving their transportation challenges?

Then you are invited to the third program in the series that will feature James Corless with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. In 1998, MTC launched the Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) Program. Since then the MTC has awarded over $80M to over 80 local projects that support multimodal travel, more livable neighborhoods and development of jobs and housing in existing town centers. Successful projects improve walking and bicycle access to public transit hubs and stations, major activity centers and neighborhood commercial

districts as a way of fostering community vitality. The TLC program provides technical assistance and capital grants to help cities, neighborhoods; transit agencies and nonprofit agencies develop transportation related projects fitting the TLC profile.

The fourth installment of the NCTPA Transportation Speakers Program will be held Thursday, June 28^th where Kim Baenisch, Executive Director of the Marin County Bike Coalition, will speak on their mission to promote safe bicycling for everyday transportation and recreation.

For additional information contact Bob Russell at 707-251-9428 or brussell@newlevelgroup.com.

Trains!!!

This information is widely known by local adult model railroad enthusiasts, I remember being completely fascinated by the model railroad at the fairgrounds going up, but for those who are new to Napa, or whose kids have a slight obsession with trains, head over to the Napa Valley Expo on Friday nights. The Napa Valley Model Railroad Historical Society has their permanent home there, including their HO Scale Layout, and Fridays they meet from 7:00 pm to midnight.

Who'da thought that HO Scale enthusiasts were such extremophiles!! It's my understanding that they typically run the trains on the second and fourth Friday of the month, so if you are keen to see some action, aim for those evenings. I, myself, find as much pleasure in the crazy detail of the layout. Look for Flickr sets to come!!

Extending the community: a new Vox group

I have been becoming more and more fond of Vox, largely because it does the community thing right. In fact, one of the first things I did when I was determining whether this website was a good idea was to look on Vox for a group or anyone posting about Napa. There were lots of people out there, but most were talking about their wine tasting weekends. That is when I knew napakids.org was the right thing to do. Since then, I have lamented that the only way that people can interact with Napa Kids and Families is to either become one of our bloggers, or to comment on posts that are up already. Not that those are bad ideas, but there was something missing.

I spent some time this week with one of Vox's big thinkers, and it hit me what needed to happen. I have set up a group on Vox where we can share our experiences and thoughts. 

Great list of kids' events!!!

While researching the post I was writing for the NVAOS, I stumbled upon Napa Valley Arts & Culture, a hub managed by the Arts Council of Napa Valley. There is a wealth of info there for anyone who wants to stay on bead with what's going on in the arts in Napa, and beyond that, there is a great set of calendar resources for folks looking for something of interest. This may well be the most exhaustive list of Napa community events in existence.

You can drill down to a Children & Family Events Calendar which has an active listing of events running through the rest of the year.

What an awesome resource!!

Napa Valley Artists' Open Studios 2007

The Arts Council of Napa Valley brings you: Napa Valley Artists' Open Studios 2007!!

Here are some key dates:

• 4/25/2007 — Participant Meeting
  @ Copia Theater
• 5/25/2007 — Application Due Date
• 9/7/2007 - 10/3/2007 — Robert Mondavi Winery Exhibit
• 9/14/2007 — Robert Mondavi Winery Exhibit Opening
• 9/22/2007, 9/23/2007, 9/29/2007, 9/30/2007 — Open Studios