SFO: What I Drank

Friday: Napa
Katrina's friend Tim served as our tour guide for Friday's Napa adventure. I am eternally grateful to Tim! Without him we could have had a very confusing and touristy day. Because of him we had a great itinerary, a safe way to travel, and excellent companionship.


Here is a little list of where we were Friday.

 At St. Clement (an unscheduled stop)

Etude

Opus One

Heitz
No photos. . . sorry. Wasn't terribly impressed but did like the Port.

St. Clement

Peju
This was our last stop of the day. Thus, the crazy picture featuring some random people we met at the tasting bar.

Future Stops:
Cakebread
Duckhorn
Nickel & Nickel
Stags' Leap

Saturday: Russian River Valley (Healdsburg)
Saturday (after having lots of bread and water with our breakfast), Katrina and I met up with Lauren (and our driver, Rod) for a day in the Russian River Valley. The atmosphere was more relaxed and less crowded than Napa. And, it seemed like the views were better; everything was just a little prettier.

Acorn
Acorn was definitely the most educational of all of our stops. We took a tour of the vineyard with Betsy (the owner) and learned all about planting, grafting, and harvesting grapes. I am glad it was one of our first stops of the day.

J Vineyard & Winery
Probably my least favorite stop of the tour. I didn't care for the sparkling wine or the atmosphere.

Copain
Mentioned in previous post as place we had lunch. Didn't care much for the wine here. . . sure did love the view, though.

Rochioli
Have no idea why we didn't take more pictures here. Some of my favorite wines of the trip. I could have / should have bought all three we tasted.

Twomey
Don't remember being crazy about the wine here. . . the view was beautiful (not sure why there aren't any pictures of it).  To be fair, though, this was one of our last stops of the day. I had tasted a lot by this point.

Longboard
Rod, our driver, suggested this as our last (unscheduled) stop. The wine was actually really good, and the branding was fun.

Future Stops:
Merry Edwards Winery
Freeman Winery
Anthill Farms
Silver Oak
DeLoach
Harvest Moon


I'm certainly still not a wine tasting expert, but I do have a few pieces of advice to offer from my two days of drinking and visiting.

1. Drink lots of water and bring food. It was handy to have some bread along on Day 2.
2. If you don't like it you don't have to drink it.
3. Make appointments.
4. Get a driver.
5. Bring along your favorite friend and her favorite friends!

SFO: Where (and What) I Ate

As previously mentioned, I am still hoarding the memories from my trip to CA. It isn't so much a "What happens in Napa stays in Napa" sort of thing; it's more of an "I don't want to make any of you jealous by telling you about how much fun I had" sort-of-thing. Or, maybe it's an "It was such a magical time that I can't quite explain it" sort-of-thing.

Either way, I don't want to really talk about it.

I do, however, have a mini-album (another failed attempt at a Scrapbook on the Road - to be shared in another post) to fill with the memories from the trip. I feel like I will forget where we went (specifically where we ate and drink) if I don't write at least a little of it down.

So, today I will share a little list of where Katrina and I (and sometimes Tim or Lauren or Bryan) ate - with plenty of food photography, of course.

Please know that many, many of the pictures came from Katrina. I must give credit where credit is due.

 Heirloom tomato pizza, Plant

 Latte (with honey), Plant

Raw Raspberry Cashew Cheesecake, Plant

Appetizers (Polenta fries, Asiago pastry olives, Cheese plate) at Ottimista Enoteca

Wednesday:
Caribou Coffee, Snack, MSP Airport
The Plant, Lunch-ish, Pier 3--San Francisco
Ottimista Enoteca, Dinner-ish--San Francisco

 Lunch - clam chowder in a bread bowl (I failed miserably at eating the entire bowl)

 the scene at Boudin

Kara's Cupcakes - I went with banana caramel (not pictured)

Appetizer, light dinner in Chinatown (pot stickers, I think)

Light dinner, Beef & Chinese broccoli in Chinatown

Thursday:
Bodin, Breakfast, San Francisco
Castagnola's, Lunch, San Francisco--Fisherman's Wharf
Ghirardelli, Snack, San Francisco--Ghirardelli Square
Kara's Cupcakes, Snack, San Francisco--Ghirardelli Square
Hong Kong Clay Pot, San Francisco--Chinatown

Cheese platter (ordered with mac & cheese and sweet potato tator tats), 7PM Friday

Friday:
KC's Downtown Grill, Breakfast, Windsor, CA
Brix, Lunch, Napa (Yountville, CA)
Kin, Dinner-ish, Windsor, CA

Vegetarian picnic lunch (with an amazing view!), Copain Winery

Saturday:
Omelet Express, Breakfast, Windsor, CA
Copain, Lunch, Healdsburg, CA
Rustic, Dinner, Geyserville, CA

Sunday:
Starbucks, Breakfast, Windsor, CA
Perry's, Lunch, SFO--Terminal 1
McDonald's, MSP--Concourse G

And, a few random anecdotes about food. . .

I failed miserably at eating the bread bowl that came with my clam chowder. Next time I need to go in with a better strategy, one that doesn't involve spilling chowder all over the bread bowl.

Notice the absence of food pictures from Friday. Now, realize that we were drinking wine all day. A cheese plate, mac and cheese, and tator tots at 7 PM (the first meal since a delicious lunch around 1PM) was not the best possible plan.

I didn't take a picture of breakfast on Saturday morning. If I had you would have seen delicious omelets accompanied by lots and lots of toast and water.  Infer what you will.

I didn't take a picture of dinner on Saturday night. It was actually a little embarrassing. We ate at the (hanging my head in shame) Coppola winery. It looked a lot like Disneyworld, so dramatically different from the unique and character-filled places we visited all day. Not a good choice.

SFO: Defying Words

There are very few times when I am at a loss for words. I can usually think of just what I need to describe something, make a joke, ask a question, or be snarky.

I can't seem to think of what to say about my trip to CA last week, though.

I met up with Katrina in San Francisco on Wednesday and enjoyed five days of laughter, wine, food, friendship, lip gloss, wine, CA sunshine, wine, relaxation, and fun. Did I mention the wine?

Part of me wants to over-whelm you with photos, links, anecdotes, and words about every detail of our fabulous trip. Part of me wants to hoard it all for myself, saving up the memories for times I'm craving some sunshine, missing my friend, and desperately in need of some relaxation.

Until I find the words, I will just share a few pictures.