Cooking with David Maciel

Sponsored by Ray’s Food Place, Furber Plaza
When our son was little, I always looked for an easy dinner on Halloween like pigs in a blanket. I put a twist on this recipe to give it a more gourmet taste that should satisfy any appetite.
These cheesy stuffed weenies are a perfect dinner or a great appetizer for those holiday parties or before trick
or treating​.

Ingredients
• ½ cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
• ½ cup bacon, diced small and cooked until crispy
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced small
• 1 small sweet apple (like Honey Crisp or Gala), diced small
• ½ cup dates, finely chopped
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 4 packages (4 each) all-natural smoked or plain sausages
• 4 tubes crescent roll dough

Dipping Sauce:
• ½ cup honey mustard
• ¼ cup Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the Mozzarella, Parmesan, cooked bacon, red bell pepper, apple, dates and parsley. Reserve the mixture to the side.

Make a lengthwise slice in the sausage that cuts down half the depth of the sausage. Line up the sausages on your cutting board and stuff each with 1 tablespoon of the cheese stuffing. Set them to the side until you’re ready to assemble them.

On a clean, lightly floured surface, roll out the crescent roll dough and pair up the triangles to make 4 rectangles per tube, ready for assembly. Evenly sprinkle approximately 1 tablespoon of the cheese filling over the rectangles and gently push the filling into the dough. Then, carefully roll each sausage up in the crescent roll dough, keeping the filling in the sausage. Slice each rolled-up sausage in half with an angled cut.

Arrange your piggies on baking sheets, one inch apart, and bake for 13–15 minutes, or until they’re puffed and golden brown.

In a small bowl, combine the honey mustard, Ricotta Cheese and apple cider vinegar. Serve the dipping sauce alongside the gourmet pigs in a blanket.

Lisa Ann Cacace was born in Yonkers, New York on July 17, 1959. She passed away from a sudden illness at home on September 8, 2023.

Lisa moved to Sonoma County in 1978 after majoring in business at SFU. She was a manager at several local businesses and was plant manager at Perler in Cloverdale for 14 years. She finished her career working for the County of Sonoma. She loved living in the county and could often be seen walking her chocolate lab, Keela.

She was married to Bryan Dorsett in 1990 after a five year courtship and their son, Tyler, was born in 1992. Lisa loved traveling, road trips, dogs, aerobics, the ocean and, especially, collecting rocks and stones. She decorated her yard with stones; she would bring them home in her luggage after trips. Once she carried a stone too large to carry in a stroller to get it home!

Lisa was an intense personality. When she was on a mission, prepare to step aside! A tumultuous and
chaotic childhood tempered her heart, molded her character and drove her daily ambitions. She was the matriarch of the family and her home was the hub of their connections.

She will be missed as a lover, wife, friend, sister, aunt, mother and mentor.

As rare as the blue moon itself, Mitzi Valera lay to rest on such a magical day, August 31, 2023, after battling multiple factors including strokes. She was born in San Francisco to Ray Tait and Mercedes Green. She was the oldest of her three siblings: Charlotte Donnan, Ray Tait Jr., and Steve Tait.

Mitzi and her late husband, John Valera were married 39 years before he passed in 2018. They met and fell deeply in love in San Francisco and decided to move north to Cloverdale for the country dream of land, animals, and to raise a family. Mitzi has been part of the Cloverdale Community since the late 70’s.

She leaves behind her son, John Valera Jr., daughter Vanessa (Valera) Bascherini, son-in-law Blake Bascherini
and her two beautiful grandchildren Landen Valera Bascherini and Leila Valera Bascherini, sister Charlotte (Tait) Donnan, brother-in-law Mark Donnan and mother Mercedes Green.

Mitzi enjoyed gardening, especially Gardenias, camping on the Russian River, Blue Lakes, Sugar Loaf and anywhere else she and Pop traveled. She loved traveling, especially to Puerto Vallarta, the Cayman Islands, Alaska, and Hawaii. She had a love for animals that she passed down to her children and grandchildren. She was also very active and loved being with her two grandchildren. She was part of the Redwood Empire Trail Riders Club and rode many times in the Citrus Fair Parade along with many years supporting the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Auxiliary 9268.

As the sun was rising over his vineyard in the Dry Creek Valley, Ed Seghesio died peacefully on August 15, 2023. He was born September 8, 1926 to Arthur and Irene Seghesio. He spent a happy childhood with his older brother Ray at the Home Ranch in Cloverdale. He learned to speak Italian from the family matriarch, Angela; he learned wine making and farming from his father; and he developed a love of growing flowers and cooking delicious Italian food from his mother.

When Ed was twelve, he began working in the family vineyards, thus beginning his life’s work of growing quality grapes to make fine wine. Ed was still working in the tasting room welcoming folks to the winery until he was 93, when the pandemic forced him to “retire”.

He attended grades 1-8 at Washington School, a one room schoolhouse in Asti. Adopting a strong work ethic, he helped his respected teacher, Mrs. Scherrer, daily by sweeping the school room floors and erasing the blackboards for $1.50 per month. It was at Washington School where he first met Fay Pellegrini. He said of her that “she was so smart that the teacher would send her home early”.

At Cloverdale High School, Ed was Student Body President. He excelled in sports, especially baseball. After high school, Ed served in the US Army in Italy. WWII had ended and he aided in the munitions clean-up. Upon returning home, he played baseball for the Odd Fellows and the Healdsburg Prune Packers. He said he always batted fourth and always had a batting average over 350. He remained a Prune Packer fan, throwing out the first pitch at the age of 95 in 2022.

In June of 1949, he married Fay Pellegrini. The Seghesio family had recently purchased a second winery site in Healdsburg where Ed and Fay began their lives together. They remodeled the antiquated farm house and welcomed their five children to this home. Ed was the head winemaker at Seghesio Winery, a family owned and operated business since 1902, for the next 30 years until he was able to hand the responsibility over to his son, Ted.

The search for a site to accommodate a new dog Park is finally over! After a multi-year search for a location, the city is moving forward with the construction of a new community dog park at 501 S. Asti Road. The project site, located just south of the Train Depot on Asti Road, is owned by the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART). The City collaborated with SMART on a License Agreement that enables the City to use the SMART property for the new park. The proposed dog park is positioned on underutilized open space that will provide Cloverdale residents a safe place for their dogs to play off leash while accommodating freeway travelers looking for a place to stop with their canine companions.

Project Budget and Design

In February of 2023, the City Council approved a budget of $245,000 for the design and construction of a new dog park including an accessible entrance path. The proposed dog park is designed to be approximately 12,500 square feet (250 in length X 50 feet wide), which is comparable to neighboring cities’ parks, and is a generous space for our four-legged friends. In terms of amenities, the site will be totally enclosed with new fencing, and new water service will be extended to the site to provide fresh drinking water. The site will be graded, drainage installed, and dog friendly mulch will be spread across the site. A total of 30 trees are to be planted along the west side of the park. That, and in time, will provide lots of shade and a landscape buffer from the adjacent roadway and train track. Although not currently in the plans now, the installation of the restroom could occur in the future.

The city solicited bids for the construction of the project in August. On September 13th, the Council awarded a construction agreement to local contractor Andersen Excavating for grading the site, installation of water service and construction of the accessible entrance pathway. The first thing you’ll see is the construction of the ADA ramp that will extend from the existing parking lot at the SMART station to the entrance to the park. Once the path construction is complete, a 5-foot-high fence will be installed with a double gate to provide safe entrance to the park. Expect to see work commencing in early October of 2023, with an estimated completion date of late 2023.
Existing parking at the Train Depot will provide ample parking spaces while the newly constructed pathway will enable quick access to the newly constructed park entrance. We expect the new dog park to provide a much needed play area for our furry friends with the amenities to support an enjoyable experience for dog owners. In addition, we are optimistic that the park will be an attractive amenity that enlivens the Train Depot and brings new people to town who will spend time and patronize our businesses.

The construction of a dog park is the culmination of investments made by the City Council in park improvements including new Pickleball Courts at Furber Park, new basketball courts and bag toss (cornhole) at Second Street City Park, a new restroom and park benches at Plaza Park as well as new open space. The addition of new parks and facilities represents the Council commitment to support the health and wellness of our community.

Benefits of Dog Ownership

According to a recent article from The Trust for Public Land, “…the hottest new city park issue to hit America (is) the skyrocketing support for creating places to let dogs run free…”. Cloverdale has witnessed an increase in demand for park and exercise areas including off-leash dog parks. Increased dog ownership is a societal phenomenon that has further spurred Cloverdale’s Parks & Recreation Team to work with our many constituents to satisfy dog owners and non-dog owners in their desires and needs for parks and open space.