California County Seats

I was watching the 49ers play the Seahawks the other night, and since the game was so lousy, my mind was wandering onto other topics.

The game was played in the 49ers home stadium, Levis Stadium, which is located in Santa Clara, California. The city of Santa Clara happens to be located in Santa Clara County, and so, you might think that Santa Clara is the seat of Santa Clara County.

Interestingly (interesting to me, anyway), Santa Clara is not the county seat; San Jose is the seat of Santa Clara County. It occurred to me that there are a bunch of counties in California with a city of the same name located within that county but for whatever reason that city was not chosen to be the seat of the county which shares its name.

Of course, there's no requirement that a county seat have the same as the county itself; in fact, California may be unusual in that so many county seats do have the same name as the county. This includes many of the largest and most well-known counties such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Fresno. In all, 18 of California's 58 counties have the same name for the seat and county.*

Thus, I think that it is unusual for a county to contain a city with the same name as the county but that city not be the seat.  Here's the list I compiled instead of paying attention to the 49ers game:


AMADOR - The seat of Amador County is Jackson. Amador City is about six miles north of Jackson on old highway 49.

ALAMEDA - The seat of Alameda County is Oakland. The city of Alameda is adjacent to Oakland, lying to the west on Alameda Island.

IMPERIAL - The seat of Imperial County is El Centro. The city of Imperial is about a dozen miles to the north.

MENDOCINO - The seat of Mendocino County is Ukiah. While Ukiah lies inland along US 101, the city of Mendocino is on the coast.

MONTEREY - The seat of Monterey County is Salinas. Like Ukiah (see above), Salinas lies along US 101 while Monterey is on the coast.

ORANGE - The seat of Orange County is Santa Ana. The city of Orange is adjacent to Santa Ana.

SAN BENITO - The seat of San Benito County is at Hollister. The tiny hamlet of San Benito is in a very remote part of the county, 35 miles south of Hollister and east of Pinnacles National Park.

SAN MATEO - The seat of San Mateo County is Redwood City. San Mateo is about a seven miles north.

SANTA CLARA - The seat of Santa Clara County is San Jose. The city of Santa Clara is just north of San Jose.

SONOMA - The seat of Sonoma County is Santa Rosa. The city of Sonoma can be found about 20 miles to the southeast of Santa Rosa, closer to the Napa Valley.

TULARE - The seat of Tulare County is Visalia. The city of Tulare is fifteen miles southwest of Visalia.




Here are two more which don't quite meet the criteria, but I threw them in because they fit the theme.  These two are cities in California which have the same name as a county, but these two are not located within the county which shares their name.  Of course, these two are not the county seat.


ALPINE - Alpine County is located south of Lake Tahoe, a sparsely-populated county, high in the Sierras and far off the beaten path for most Californians. The seat of Alpine County is Markleeville. On the other hand, the city of Alpine is a suburb of San Diego, several hundred miles from Alpine County.


SAN JOAQUIN - San Joaquin County is south of Sacramento, around Stockton.  The city of San Joaquin is found on the dusty westside of Fresno County, about 100 miles south of Stockton.


* I counted Nevada City as a match with Nevada County but did not count Lakeport, which is the seat of Lake County.

Recipe: Hearty Italian Sausage Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe will make a whole pot of sauce. I like to divvy it up into smaller packages to freeze them so I can come home after draining day at work and have a delicious spaghetti dinner in only about fifteen minutes. I have a separate recipe for decadent Italian Parmesano meatballs that ooze Parmesan cheese, and I freeze those in individual meal size packages, too.

You can make this recipe with less than thirty minutes of actual kitchen activity and then a couple hours of simmering. I usually make it while watching a game -- in other words, it's time I would have completely wasted sitting on the couch. Now I spend a little time watching the game from the kitchen, and then I sit on the couch and watch the game while the sauce simmers, with the knowledge that I'm being productive! By the way, it makes the house spell delicious, too.

When you come home too tired to do anything, you'll be happy that you have a great meal in your freezer.

2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 28 oz cans tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 can chopped olives (optional)

1 tbsp chopped garlic
1/3 yellow onion  sliced
1/2 lb (8 oz) fresh mushrooms
3 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground Italian sausage

1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
chopped fresh basil

2 cups water


To get started, cut up the fresh veggies: cut up the onion and chop up the basil.

The size of onions varies widely, but you should be looking for about a 1/2 cup of onions after cutting.

For the basil, I usually buy the 0.66 oz package (18g) at the supermarket, and I use half of it for this recipe, which will yield about 1/4 cup of chopped basil when packed pretty well.

Start the sauce;
In a stewpot or crock pot, pour in:

• diced tomotoes
• tomato sauce
• tomato paste
• olives
• chopped fresh basil
• oregano
• red pepper flakes

Turn on low heat. Stir. Continue simmering

Saute other veggies:

In a medium frying pan, add olive oil and warm on medium heat.  Add in:

• mushrooms
• sliced onions
• garlic

Cook for 5-7 minutes, until the mushrooms and onions are soft. Add to sauce.

Cook sausage:

Using the same frying pan that you used for saute (fewer dishes to wash, right?), cook the sausage until brown. Break it up into crumbles as you cook it. It will take about five minutes for the sausage to brown and there won't be much grease to pour off. Add the meat to your pot of sauce.

Stir well.

Now, add the water and let it simmer for a couple hours.  Just stir it occasionally...maybe every half hour or so.

Recipe: Texas Tumbleweeds Sweet Chili

Mary Poppins sang about a spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down, This recipe doubles down on that strategy and includes two spoonfuls of sugar, which makes this chili a delight as it goes down!

You'll need a saucepan to brown the hamburger, and a slow cooker (like a Crock-Pot) to simmer your chili. If you don't have a slow cooker, you may use a big pan, and, if you're using a pan for the simmering, it's perfectly acceptable to use the same pan to brown the hamburger! (Fewer dishes to wash) I like to use my Crock Pot because it's easier to regulate the low heat for simmering, and I can just put the whole pan right into the refrigerator.


2 lbs hamburger
Garlic salt
Pepper
4 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 oz cans)
1 can tomato sauce (28oz)
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can red beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can corn (15 oz)
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup water

Substitutions:
Many grocery stores sell ground beef labelled as chili meat. The only real difference that I see is that they use a cap on the grinder with larger holes in it..and then charge more for it.
You can mix and match on the varieties of beans: don't like black beans? Omit them and use two cans of kidney beans instead of one. It's up to you! Basically, any combination of four cans of beans will do the trick.

If you want a wee bit of a kick, you can chop up a little cilantro and add it to the simmering chili. Don't be afraid to experiment.

1. Brown the hamburger.

Put the hamburger into a saucepan and cook on medium-high heat. Season the meat with garlic salt and pepper. As the burger begins to cook, add the chopped garlic and the chopped onions. Crumble the meat as it cooks. When the meat is browned, this step is complete, even if it looks like the onions need more cooking -- they'll finish when the chili stews.

2. Add the canned ingredients

While the meat is browning, open up all those cans! Diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, the corn, and all of those beans. Pour each into the slow-cooker. (If you're cooking the meat in the same pan that you'll be using to simmer the chili, obviously, you'll have to wait for the meat to finish before you can add these canned ingredients.)

3. Add the remaining ingredients

Stir in the chili powder, cumin, and sugar, add the water, and stir the while mixture. Add the meat/garlic/onion mixture and stir again.

4. Simmer on low for four hours.

5. Enjoy your meal!

Garnish with more chopped onions, shredded cheese, and/or sour cream.