Sacramento NWR, Part 2

We continued on the second half of the six-mile auto tour through the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.

Even though we were required to remain in the car during the drive, except for three designated areas, we were able to get relatively close to a number of the birds.

More than 95 percent of the wetlands of the central valley have been lost in the last 100 years, and waterfowl have become increasingly dependent upon the refuges of the Sacramento Valley.

In several sections of the refuge, the grasses presented colorful accompaniments to the photos of the waterbirds.

As we stopped and were watching a large number of birds on the water, something startled them and the sky was filled with this flurry of activity.

Even while sitting in the car, we could feel the effect of the stare of this master of the refuge.

Just as we were leaving the auto route, we saw this area. In the distance, it appeared as though the land was covered with rocks.

Upon closer inspection, those "rocks" were birds.

As noted in newsreview.com/chico/sacramento_national_wildlife_refuge: "They have traveled thousands of miles, from as far away as Alaska and Russia; battled stormy weather with tired wings; eluded hungry predators and encroaching human development; and now they need a place to rest and feed."

It's unfortunate that there isn't more "wing room" for these intrepid travelers.

The Sacramento NWR

About 70 miles north of Sacramento is the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). It is part of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes five National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) and three Wildlife Management Areas (WMA).

The Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex provides nearly 70,000 acres of wetland, grassland, and riparian habitats for a wide array of waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors, waterbirds, songbirds, reptiles, and mammals. The Complex currently supports nearly 300 species of birds.

The Sacramento NWR consists of 10,819 acres primarily of wetlands, with some grasslands and riparian habitats.

"Sacramento NWR was established in 1937 with funds from Emergency Conservation Fund Act of 1933 to provide refuge and breeding habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife, provide habitat and manage for endangered, threatened, or sensitive species, and alleviate crop depredation.

"Historically, the area of the refuge was known as the Colusa Plains which was a vacant, windswept plain with short grasses, shrubs and forbs. In January 1937, the federal government purchased 10,775-acre Spalding Ranch and christened it the Sacramento Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. From 1937-1942 the Civilian Conservation Corp's (CCC) "Camp Sacramento" housed up to 200 men at the current headquarters area. The men constructed levees, water control structures, and delivery ditches to create and sustain wetlands across the majority of the refuge.

"The refuge supports over 250 species of birds. Most notable are the huge wintering concentrations (November - January) of 500,000 to 750,000 ducks and 200,000 geese. Raptor numbers swell as the waterfowl numbers increase, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons. Waterfowl viewing is good between October and March" (fws.gov/refuge/Sacramento/Aboutthecomplex).

We accompanied cousin Barbara over the popular six-mile auto tour, which meandered along marshes and riparian areas and photographed the scenes in today's entry. Visitors are required to stay in their vehicles to prevent disturbance to the wildlife while on the auto tour but can get out at three stop-and-stretch locations, including the platform.

Granzella's: The Anchor of Williams

In October 2007, the historical anchor of the town of Williams, CA, sustained a substantial fire. Granzella’s, which was a small deli when the family purchased it in 1976, had grown. The Granzella family had expanded the restaurant, added food-specialty products, an ice cream parlor and finally the sports bar.

Only the sports bar, which had a required fire wall installed when it was added to the restaurant in 1997, was spared. But Colusa County’s second largest employer had 125 of its 300 employees out of work. (In addition to these businesses under one roof, the Granzella Inn is located a few yards away.)

One year later, the restaurant and related businesses were re-opened with services and products to meet the tastes of both locals and travelers (news10.net/news/article/49011/2/Granzellas-Celebrates-Grand-Reopening).

David Benda at redding.com noted that the Granzella family has given their employees two months' pay after the fire, and all 125 were back to work when the business re-opened.

Entering the spacious deli area confirmed the business' commitment to serving a wide range of tastes.

I noticed the display of the German thuringer sausage next to the salame toscano and San Francisco's Molinari & Sons sausage.

Opposite the deli was a wonderful olive bar,

and next to the deli case was a gelato counter. Some of the flavors included peach, lemoncello, tiramisu, and oreo.

In an adjacent room were the specialty food items. My eyes focused on the variety of hot sauces.

In general, hot sauces have some of the most creative names among food products. For example, I found Dave’s Gourmet had hot sauces named: Insanity, Temporary Insanity, Total Insanity, Ultimate Insanity, and Ghost Peppers (“So Hot It’s Spooky”).

Then there was Blair’s Mega Death Sauce and Desert Creatures Black Widow’s Kiss X-tra Hot Sauce ("Only a kiss of this concoction is sufficient.... More than that can be lethal.")

But my choice for the most ominous warning went to Spontaneous Combustion Hot Sauce ("Be careful or this sauce may turn you into an ash heap.")

So after just a few minutes in this large store, we would agree with this assessment: "…a quick glance around this small agricultural truck stop off I-5 showed me that the Granzella family has the tourist trade down pat. Owners of a full eatery, gift shop, catering and banqueting facility and motel, the Granzella’s seem to have all the bases covered when someone needs a pit-stop off the freeway" (bestbreakfastin america.com).

And the sports bar was just the place to top off our stop.

(OOPS: In my entry on Sandhill Cranes two days ago, I incorrectly identified the bird in the first three photos as a sandhill crane. My cousin Tom, a knowledgeable birder, noted that the bird in the photos was a blue heron. I regret the error and appreciate Tom's interest in setting the record straight.)

An American, a Russian, and a Frenchman…

walk into a Mexican restaurant.

Well, we’ll get back to them later.

In an article for AAA’s Via Magazine, Josh Sens described his family’s game plan for dining on the road. “Like lots of people who really like to travel and really, really like to eat, I have conflicted feelings about long family car trips. On the one hand, there's the pleasure of downtime with loved ones and the romance of the open road. On the other, there's the prospect of greasy drive-thru dining and the sight of fast-food wrappers strewn like crime scene evidence in the backseat.

“I know of just a few ways to avoid those pitfalls. One is to stock the car as if it were a stagecoach and survive on the provisions like a pioneer. Another is to map the trip in advance, traveling from big restaurant to big restaurant.”

But on a trip up I-5, he “…opted for a third way: We chose to wing it, relying largely on friends' recommendations and wise-sounding suggestions from the Internet…. Risky, to be sure. But our easy-going graze resulted in far more hits than misses, delightful bites that I'd be happy to return to the next time I head up that way.”

One of his finds was La Fortuna Bakery in the small town of Williams, CA (population 5,166), and this article led Chuck’s cousin Barbara and her friend to visit this combination bakery, taqueria, and Hispanic market where they tried the carnitas tacos as recommended in Josh’s article. And so, as we were driving north of Sacramento one morning, the three of us stopped by for a light snack.

We walk through the doors and are amazed by the amount of “stuff” crammed into such a small space.

You can purchase a straw hat with a brim wide enough to keep the sun from your face.

You can choose from a number of flavors of Emperator cookies.

“One of Mexico’s favorite little snacks, Emperador is a product of Gamesa, the country’s largest manufacturer of cookies based in Nuevo León. Gamesa’s roots stretch way back to 1921 when three Mexican brothers bought a controlling share of a pasta and cookie producer called Lara. They soon changed the name to Gamesa and set about satiating the country’s sweet tooth with their cookies” (uncommoncaribbean.com)

You can purchase a colorful piñata or two,

including this one that reminded me of the popular Japanese toy, Hello Kitty.

(Did you know that there is now a Hello Kitty airplane which gives passengers the chance to “use more than 100 in-flight service items, including Hello Kitty headrest covers, pillows, tissue, hand cream, hand-washing liquid, napkins, paper cups, utensils, snacks and meals?” [nbcnews.com]).

We placed our taco orders at the inside counter and found a seat in the small but colorful dining room located off to one side of the market.

Our tacos arrived and, yes, they are small but this size is authentic to “hole in the wall” taquerias. But they certainly weren’t small in flavor.

Barb ordered one carnitas taco.

“Carnitas, literally ‘little meats,’ is a dish made of braised or roasted and then fried or sauteed pork in Mexican cuisine. Pork carnitas are traditionally made using the heavily marbled, rich ‘Boston butt' or 'picnic ham' cuts of pork…” (wikipedia.org).

Chuck chose one pollo (chicken) taco (front taco) and one pierna (pork shank) taco.

And I selected one pork chile verde taco and one asada taco.

“In Mexican cuisine, carne asada (literally 'grilled meat' [specifically beef], though any type of dry heat cooking may be used) is made from thin marinated beef steak. The meat is marinated by rubbing with salt or with spice rubs such as lemon and pepper or garlic salt and lime before being cooked on a grill. It is usually cooked with a certain amount of searing, to impart a heavily barbecued flavor” (wikipedia.org).

Here is where I travel into food-geek land. We were home one day and watching Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel. Anthony and his friend Zamir (Gotta) are eating barbeque—burnt ends to be exact—at a BBQ joint in Kansas City, MO. For those of you who are not familiar with Zamir, “Gotta has been a character on No Reservations since 2005….’ Zamir, bringer of peace, singer of songs, drinker of vodka, guide to the Russian soul, accompanied Tony Bourdain in episodes in Uzbekistan, Russia, Romania, Rust Belt, and the Ukraine…’” (blogs.buffalonews.com)

“…Back home in Russia, Gotta is also a writer and producer of nonfiction films on a variety of social issues…. In the early days after the ‘Iron Curtain’ fell, Gotta did everything from representing Russian women for the Ford Modeling Agency to serving as a field producer for the ABC and the BBC. In 1989, Gotta co-produced the HBO special Midnight Train to Moscow with Billy Crystal. He then worked on a number of TV and film projects with American and European stars…. It was on one of those jobs that the Russian producer crossed the path of chef-turned-TV-host Bourdain. The two men took an immediate liking to each other….’ I'm an entertainer on a mission,’ is the way the filmmaker describes himself.” (ctpost.com)

Anyway, while they are eating the burnt ends, Bourdain explains the culinary reaction that causes the crunchy char on meat—the Maillard reaction which is a “culinary phenomenon that occurs when proteins in meat are heated to temperatures of 310°F or higher, causing them to turn brown. Named for the French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard who discovered the process at the start of the 20th century, the Maillard reaction is similar to the process of caramelization, where carbohydrates like sugar turn brown when heated. The Maillard reaction is the principle behind the browning of meat when it is seared as a prelude to braising it. This process creates a thick, dark-brown crust on the surface of the meat that enhances its appearance and flavor and can only be created by high-temperature, dry-heat cooking techniques” (culinaryarts.about.com).

So what do an American, a Russian, and a Frenchman have to do with my tacos? While the pork chile verde taco was delicious, the asada taco was righteous. The meat had been cooked, thinly sliced, and then roughly chopped and tossed back on a high temp grill, and each little bit developed the crispy, crunchy, and flavorful crust that I like so much in meat.

Now, you may be asking yourself how I can give 5.0 Addies to a taqueria inside a bakery and market. The answer is—you haven’t tasted these tacos.

To review the role of Adler, Kitty Humbug, and the Addie rating system, read the November 14, 2011 blog.