Category: On the Road

On the Road

A is for Apple

We awoke on Saturday, refreshed after good sleep and even better company, as we were hosted by old friends (and 2 new ones) in Colchester, CT. Happily the day started with home-made muffins and not with hundreds of miles of driving.

This morning, in fact, I didn’t even have to drive. Our host hitched up the wagons and steered us to scenic South Glastonbury, to the site of Dondero Orchards — your neighborhood hot-spot for apples, pumpkins, mums, and apple fritters!


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A Farmer Chic Lunch

We left the DC area in a bit of a fog this morning, literally…

Doesn’t it look like we are about to drive out into an unknown void?  Crazy! But, thankfully, it was not a “void.”  We had a very specific destination today. Well, two actually.  Ultimately we were headed for Colchester, CT to spend some time with dear friends.  But from the moment I awoke this morning my mind was focused on one thing and one thing only – LUNCH!

How is that different from any other day, you may ask?  Truthfully, not much.  The difference today was that I was fixated on WHERE I was going to eat lunch, not WHAT I was going to eat.  We routed our trip through Westport, CT specifically so we could have lunch here

I saw the chef, Bill Taibe, on The Martha Stewart Show months ago and have been plotting this lunch ever since.  This is me being SUPER EXCITED about our lunch plans…

Le Farm is what I like to call “Farmer Chic”… and this is one of my FAVORITE vibes!  BG asked me to define exactly what I mean when I say “Farmer Chic” and I had a hard time doing so.  I may not be able to articulate it, but I know it when I see it.  This was it and I LOVED it!

The first thing that I loved about Le Farm, a point that was discussed in depth on The Martha Stewart Show and one of the main reasons I wanted visit, is the philosophy behind it.  As listed on it’s website the restaurant’s goal is

“to support our local farmers here in Connecticut as much as possible, but sometimes we may have to cross state lines to find what we need.  One thing we can promise is that your dinner with us will be meticulously sourced and simply prepared.”

It is a farm-to-table restaurant, which www.wisegeek.com defines as

“a restaurant where the ingredients are sourced as locally as possible, which means that they tend to be very fresh, and they have been through a minimal series of middlemen, if any, literally going directly from the farm to the table. The farm-to-table restaurant trend is part of a larger movement to eat as locally as possible, taking advantage of seasonally available fruits and vegetables and focusing on the environmental and cultural impacts of farming.”

The restaurant is tiny. It only had 12 tables in the whole place.  Upon stepping inside my first thought was “This is perfect!”  No detail was over looked.  The interior and provisions were all a distinct farmhouse style, but elegant.  So very, very elegant.  You know… “Farmer Chic.”

The gorgeous neutral grays color palate (neutral, but not boring), the rustic tables and chairs, the cheesecloth table runners, the dishtowel napkins, the utensils situated in a jar of dried beans, the table water in old fashioned milk bottles… Perfect!  Just take a look.

Sorry for the weird angles on the pics. We were trying not to be complete tourist dorks.  I mean, this lunch was “Martha Approved.”  I needed to be cool about it.  Plus, in such a tiny place, we were bound to draw some attention whipping out the D90.

Dorkiness or not, it all made me so very happy.  See…

But more important than the ambience was the menu!

It was hard to choose.  Ultimately I went with the Pork Shoulder Braised in Milk

and BG had the Stommington Scallops

We shared, of course, and washed them down with these…

also shared.  I love that they served the beer in stemless wine glasses.  Lunch was SUPERB on both sides of the table, but it didn’t hold a candle to dessert…at least for me.

The dessert menu.

Any guesses as to which one I chose?

If you guessed the Warm Cornbread, you were right.  I ordered it because, as I told the waitress, how often do you get to have BACON in your DESSERT?  It sounds so weird, but it was so good. I’m really not a “sweets” eater, but I will almost never turn down cornbread… or bacon for that matter.  This had just enough sweetness to call it dessert, but just enough saltiness that it totally hit the spot.  It was such an interesting combination of flavors.

BG had the Vanilla-Lavender Pannacotta

You’ll have to ask him about that.

I have to say that lunch at Le Farm was, hands down, the best lunch experience I have ever had. What else would I expect from a lunch that is “Martha Approved?”  Nothing less than “Farmer Chic,” of course!

Cheers y’all!
Wine Girl

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All’s Well That Ends Well

I apparently can’t blog and travel at the same time.  That will definitely go on my list of skills to improve upon as part of this blog is supposed to be about investigating the world around us a little more. We took plenty of pictures and made plenty of notes, but some how never got around to putting them in coherent posts on our travel.  So what we’ll do is post on our travel over the next several days in order, as if they were currently happening.  You dig?

Good. Here goes…

So we headed north of Charlotte in search of fall. We went as far as Alexandria, VA today and I can definitively say that fall has NOT made it’s way here. It’s stinking 91 degrees! ARE-YOU-KIDDING-ME? Needless to say, I am not happy about this and here’s the pic to prove it.

Actually, at that point in the afternoon I was not happy about much of anything.  The day started off well.  We left Charlotte on time (which is a rarity in any of our travels), had no significant traffic problems, and got to Alexandria around 2:30p.  Here’s where things start to break down…

I’m trying to be a little more adventurous which meant not planning out every minute detail of the trip and being a little more open to the “go with the flow” and “see where we end up” mentality.  (Have I mentioned that such a mentality is in direct opposition to my OCD/Type A sensibilities?) As such, I didn’t make hotel reservations or even decide that we would stop over in Alexandria en route to Connecticut until two days before we were scheduled to leave.  I did a little (emphasis on the word LITTLE) research and found out that Old Town Alexandria was supposed to be pretty cool and a haven for foodies. Since I was basically making last minute reservations, all the hotels in the Old Town part of Alexandria were charging about $100-$150 more per night than we had budgeted to pay. So we made the decision to stay a little outside the Old Town area and save some money.  I have since come to regret that decision.

Wine Girl’s Travel Tip #1 – Always pay the extra cash to stay in the “cool” area of your destination city.  The ease and convenience of having attractions in walking distance are priceless.

With the money we spent on cabs and Metro tickets, plus the frustration factor, we would have come out even just ponying up the extra cash and staying in Old Town proper.

Don’t worry.  I don’t intend to bore you with the minutia of all the situations and happenings that conspired to irritate me today.  But here’s a general list for your amusement:

  1. Let’s just say I was nonplussed with our Alexandria accommodations from the minute we entered our room.
  2. I wanted to go on one of these food tours but failed to notice that we needed to be there by 1 pm…it was now 3:30 pm.
  3. Decided to walk to the Metro from our hotel under the pretense that it was “less than 1/3 of a mile” away.  This was a colossal miscommunication particularly in 90+ degree heat when all I brought with me to wear was an early fall wardrobe.
  4. The aforementioned attempt to “go with the flow” and “see where we end up” resulted in basically not being sure about where to go or what to do once being spat out of the Metro station a few blocks outside of Old Town.
  5. More extensive walking in 90+ degree heat.

Wine Girl’s Travel Tip #2- Do not resist all your natural tendencies simply because you are on vacation.  If you are a planner but wanting to be a little spontaneous, don’t neglect planning altogether.  At least have some general idea about directions, attractions, or activities you’d like to see or do.  This will cut way back on wasted time.

We finally made it to a major Old Town thoroughfare.  At this point, all I want is an ice cold beer in a well air conditioned facility…preferrably a quaint establishment with character, but I’ll take what I can get. We wander up King Street looking for such an establishment, but the first 3 bars/restaurants we came to closed for lunch at 3 pm not to open again until 5pm.  So…we kept walking and finally landed in Red Rocks.

Apparently, I was too irritated and thirsty to bother getting a shot of my beverage (or focusing the camera), but here’s what the BG had

(I’ll let him tell you about that later) and we snacked on this appetizer of asparagus and prosciutto salad upon the recommendation of our delightful bartender.

Our friendly bartender also informed us that there was a free King Street Trolley that ran every 20 min and would take us back to the Metro station when we were ready to head back.  Satiated, cooler, and generally appeased I was up for a little more wandering around before going back to the hotel to shower before dinner, especially in light of this new information.

Well we wandered and took a few pics but the only trolley we saw was “off duty.”  So guess what…

more walking in the heat + feet hurting, shoes rubbing +  sweaty/sticky/smelly = I’m irritated all over again.

We found a cab but it wouldn’t take us to our hotel because it’s “a DC cab, not a VA cab.” Then why on earth are you driving around VA and stopping to pick people up in Alexandria?!?!  More walking…all the way back to the Metro station!  Yep, still irritated!  Thankfully, BG had the wherewithal to call the hotel and have them send a shuttle to pick us up at the Metro station and take us back to the hotel.

I’m feeling about 200% better after a shower and am ready for a dinner date with my fella at The Majestic…also upon recommendation of our Red Rocks bartender.

The food was great, but the service was a little meh.  Our waiter was a tad slow getting these to us

and just wasn’t generally forthcoming with information about the restaurant or the menu.  He wasn’t unfriendly, per se.  It was more like he was overbooked, preoccupied, or just not too worried about us.  The hostess was really nice, though.

BG and I shared the best crab cake I’ve ever had for an appetizer

then these entrees, respectively.

The waiter messed up my order and did not substitute the whipped potatoes for the fries as I requested.  I brought it to his attention and promptly received a bowl of these

Too full to consider dessert, we decided to pass, and head back to the hotel. We were presented with this “parting gift from the chef” before leaving.

It’s a Chocolate and Ricotta Truffle with Coconut Shavings.  All’s well that ends well, huh?

Off to bed now. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover tomorrow…including SUPER EXCITING lunch plans!

Cheers, y’all!
Wine Girl

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Little Less Kitchen, Little More Travel

So when we started this blog we promised it would be about new adventures, near and far – food, beer, wine, travel, photography and the like.  As you may have noticed, it’s been a little food and beverage heavy around here.  Well, never fear.  We are about to get a little more adventurous around here…meaning we are going to be venturing in restaurants and kitchens outside Charlotte.

BG and I are off on a little road trip this morning to Connecticut to visit one of my dearest friends. (Since we met as college freshmen at Ole Miss – 16 years ago O.M.G. – I can officially call her one of my OLDEST and dearest friends.) We are going to break the trip up on the way up and back down and try to take in as much New England fall goodness as possible.  I know it’s probably a little early, but I am praying with every ounce of my strength to catch some New England fall temps. I am so OVER the 80 and 90-degree Southern weather.  I want to wear jeans, a light sweater, and maybe a lovely scarf – DAMN IT! (so much so that I went and purchased some of these items today even though it’s not yet nearly cool enough to don them in the Queen City).  Is that too much to ask?  It will be October in less than 10 days.  I just don’t think that having a little chill in the air is asking too much.

Anyway, we’ve grabbed our standard breakfast-to-go

and are on our way.

Don’t worry, the D90, the MacBook Pro and the Think Pad are all in tow.  We’ll keep you posted on the food, fun, adventure and hopefully a little New England fall leaf peeping along the way.  (By “adventure” I mean we are undecided as to the route we will take back home.  It’s very unlike OCD me, not to have the whole thing planned out to a T three weeks in advance.)

Cheers, y’all!
Wine Girl

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Now THESE are Shrimp & Grits…

Y’all remember how I lamented the  Shrimp & Grits I had last week from Charlotte’s Bite Your Tongue, right?  I can’t help it, though.  You see, I’m spoiled…but let me back up.

I told y’all I went to Ole Miss, didn’t I?  Ole Miss is located in a town I love like no other – Oxford, Mississippi.  For a small Mississippi town, Oxford has a lot of culture and virtually nothing embodies local culture like food!  So it almost goes without saying that Oxford, the quintessential Southern town, is bursting with restaurants full of great Southern food.  During my tenure at Ole Miss and in the years I’ve returned to visit, I’ve seen many Oxford restaurants come and go, but there are a few that were there long before I got there and will probably still be there long after I’m gone.  One of these Oxford staples is City Grocery…and she makes some mean Shrimp & Grits!

Loving City Grocery’s Shrimp & Grits is actually how I learned to like grits period.  (Forgive me for I am about to speak, um write, Southern blasphemy!) I actually didn’t like grits until I got to college, fell in love with Shrimp & Grits, then decided I’d try them one day minus the shrimp.  Since I had never heard of or had Shrimp & Grits anywhere before City Grocery, I just assumed that this was a creation unique to this Oxford eatery.  It wasn’t until I moved to North Carolina that I discovered that Shrimp & Grits is actually cuisine straight from the South Carolina Low Country.

Nevertheless, I first came to love this dish at City Grocery and never eat it without thinking of my beloved Oxford.   So like any self-respecting Ole Miss girl, there will always be a soft spot in my heart (more like tummy) for City Grocery’s Shrimp & Grits.  It shouldn’t surprise me, then, that my Ole Miss friend and fellow blogger, Carmen from Keeping Up Klapper, left this comment on my Supper from N’Awlins post.

“It’s nearly impossible to find shrimp and grits as good as they make them at City Grocery in Oxford, right?! “

Little did she know…

I HAVE CITY GROCERY’S RECIPE FOR SHRIMP & GRITS!!!!  And here’s the proof:

The recipe is included in this cookbook put out by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council.

As you can see from the cover, it is “A Collection of Recipes from Oxford, Mississippi.”  For my fellow Rebels, not only does it have the recipe for City Grocery’s Shrimp & Grits, it includes several recipes from Yocona River Inn, Downtown Grill, Ajax Diner, and Bottletree Bakery, just to name a few.  It’s also peppered with Grovin’ Tips, recipes for Grove food, Mississippi art, and essays from famous Mississippians.  If you went to Ole Miss, you need this cookbook!

To get one for yourself, just stop by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council website and get one for yourself here.

But enough about books…let’s cook!

First you cook up some of these…

then mix in butter, sharp white Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses, cayenne pepper, paprika, and Tabasco sauce until they look like this:

Then you take  1 1/2 lbs of these…

and cook them up in some olive oil with some bacon, mushrooms, garlic, lemon juice, and white wine like so:

I should tell you (as if you haven’t inferred it already) this is not a low-calorie dish.  Anything that has this much bacon in it should be eaten sparingly.

But when you do eat it…man, oh man, is it good!  (Side note- The recipe says to cook all that bacon in with the shrimp and mushrooms, but I find that makes the bacon get a little wilty again after it’s already been cooked.  So I reserve a couple crispy tablespoons to spinkle on the top of the finished product.)

I should also warn you that it’s got a kick!  I actually only put in half the Tabasco sauce the recipe calls for when I make it and I still need plenty of this to wash it down

along with plenty of water, of course. 🙂

Now THESE are Shrimp & Grits!

Cheers, y’all!
Wine Girl

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Lobsterfest 2010

“Kitchen doesn’t travel.  You must eat it where it’s born.”  I’m taking that seriously these days.  The Beer Guy and I have been at the coast.  Guess what’s born at the coast?

SEAFOOD!

And what is the Mac Daddy of all seafood?

LOBSTER!

So, when in Rome (or Hilton Head, but you get the point)… eat LOBSTER as part of a Surf ‘n Turf special at Topside at the Quarterdeck

(can you tell part of the lobster is stuffed with crab…and that’s a 4oz filet mignon on the side)

and you eat it in a better round of paella than you made the first time

and you eat it steamed served with sides of grilled corn and a three potato medley as the evening special at the Surfside Grill.

(I’m in heaven!)

Of course you will need the proper tools for cracking into and devouring said lobster…

and you’ll need to wash it down with something equally yummy…

Then, just to make sure your beach eatings don’t get too homogenized, you round out your week by eating your weight in a Shrimp Boil (that’s a Low Country Boil to all my Carolina friends) that your baby sister made.

(Check out Kath’s  recipe – from Kath Eats Real Food – for a Low Country Boil here if you want to make one yourself.

I told y’all I had a healthy appetite!

Cheers!

Wine Girl

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Palmetto Lager

We’re hot and sweaty at the Quarterdeck in Harbortown, Hilton Head. WineGirl and I have been riding bikes around the resort for the last 3 hours.
HarborTown, Hilton Head

We rolled up to the cafe, racked the cycles, and the first bottle was gone before I had a chance to review.
So, round 2!

The lager is pale in the bottle (no glass for pouring). No distinct flavor … Not smooth, not bitter, and a little nutty, says the WineGirl. A little bite at the end, says I.

I’ll give it 3 kegs.
3 of 5 Kegs

Beer Guy

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Get Me, I’m Sporty

I’ve told you that the Beer Guy is outdoorsy and adventurous and I’m not, right.  One of the things he loves to do is go biking.  Here at Sea Pines there are miles and miles and miles of bike trails.  It didn’t take BG long to discover that we could rent bikes from The Bike Doctor for a $25 for the week.  That offer was too good to pass up.  So, since I’m trying new things, I acquiesced and allowed him to rent one for me too.  In fact, the whole family rented bikes so that we could have some family excursions as well.

The sand here in Hilton Head is not as fine and sugary as the beach sand I’m used to on the Gulf.  It’s more grainy and firm.  Monday afternoon I discovered that it’s really fun to ride bikes on the beach.  I also discovered it’s a lot easier when the wind is behind you!

Since the BG is always begging me to go ride bikes with him in CLT, I decided to grant his request and go for a little biking outing with just the two of us.  We intended to just be out for ~45 min-1 hr.  For efficiency’s sake, we decided to combine our outing with running an errand to pick up the tickets for the boys pending golf day.  Well, we rode for 8 miles, and when we were about 5 min from our destination, realized that I had left the necessary paperwork to procure said golf tickets in the trunk of my car…which was parked at our villa…where we started…8 miles back.   Long story short, our 45 min outing turned into a 4.5 hr excursion, during which time we biked more than 25 miles.  (Mind you, until Monday, I had not been on a bike since I was about 10 yrs old.)  For you serious cyclists and sporty types that may not seem like a lot.  But for someone who hasn’t been on a bike in 20+ years, that was A LOT of biking, definitely adventurous, and exhausting.  Get me, I’m sporty!

Of course, no adventure is complete without lunch and the appropriate refreshments to cool you off and rejuvenate you.

But I’ll let the Beer Guy tell you about that later.  Suffice it to say, I was pretty proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and opting to something adventurous (for me at least).  I forgot how much fun it was to ride a bike, and I had a great time just being out and about with my hubby, taking in the beautiful scenery, not having a particular schedule.  Don’t tell BG, but I may be willing to do that again before we go.  4.5 hours and 25 miles on a bike – not bad for a city girl who spends most of her time in stilettos!  Get me, I’m sporty!

Cheers!
Wine Girl

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What A Difference a Year Makes…

Today is our 11th anniversary. We had a fun day, but it was nothing compared to last year!

Since our last anniversary was the big 10-year milestone (am I old enough to have been married for more than a decade…no!) we decided to commemorate the occasion by taking a fabulous vacation to San Francisco and the Northern California wine country. (For the friends and family who read my personal blog, yes, much of this post is recycled.  Call it Eco-Friendly Blogging.) 🙂

That trip was, without a doubt, the most incredible and perfect vacation we ever had! Everything was PERFECT – the WINE, the accommodations, the food, the WINE, the weather, the ambience…did I mention the WINE! All perfection. All lovely. All bliss.

In SF we stayed at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel – a historic SF hotel in the heart of Union Square. The decor, the location, and the service were all fabulous…and VERY reasonably priced!

We were total tourists all day and grabbed dinner at a quaint, off-the-beaten-path little Italian restaurant that came highly recommended by the concierge. We finished the evening by perusing the infamous City Lights Bookstore. (Besides eating, our other shared hobby is reading…we are big fat book nerds!) The next morning we finished up the “touristy” stuff, then hit the road towards Napa.

Though our ultimate destination was Forestville, in the Russian River Valley, in Sonoma County, we decided to make the most of our time in the Wine Country and take the long way around – SF, through Napa Valley to Sonoma, then Forestville, then take the coastal route back to SF on the return. While in the Napa Valley, we of course made arrangements to tour and TASTE at Cakebread Cellars.  Can I just say… YUM!!

We arrived at The Farmhouse Inn that afternoon and it was EVERYTHING that I had imagined and more!! We had a private cottage, with a Happy Anniversary treat and the next morning’s breakfast menu/weather report waiting for us in our room. The cottage was equipped with a lovely living room, a fireplace, enormous bed (that I called a “marshmellow bed” because it was so white and cushy), whirlpool tub, and private sauna.

The Inn co-owner who arrived us invited me to help myself to any of the homemade body scrubs or bath salts available in the Farmhouse to use while bathing. I grabbed the Brown Sugar-Honey scrub (made with honey harvested from bee hives on their farm!!). I used it all week. My skin felt like silk and I smelled like cookies!! Who needs perfume!! She also informed us that smores ingredients were also available in the Farmhouse, in case we’d like to make smores by the fire pit one evening. She then arranged dinner reservations for us at a local restaurant, Mosaic, known for it’s atmosphere and use of fresh, local, seasonal ingredients, with a wine list to match. I ordered the coffee encrusted filet mignon in a cocoa-Cabernet sauce with asparagus and potato strings – SHUT UP!

We awoke at the crack of dawn the next morning as our internal clocks were still on Charlotte time. The Beer Guy made coffee for us and we sipped it in bed while planning our day until time to get ready and go to the sunroom for breakfast. The first course of breakfast (yes you read that correctly) was a freshly homemade vanilla currant scone with a bowl of fresh citrus fruit.  That yumminess was followed by a main course of homemade oat griddle cakes with strawberries, toasted walnuts, and homemade whipped cream (eliminating the need for the homemade maple syrup on the table) and the best bacon I’ve ever had – COME ON!

(Your mouth is watering now just thinking about it, isn’t it? Mine is). It was during that meal that I started to wonder…How I can I get someone to pay me to do this? Travel around, stay in LOVELY inns, eat this magnificent food, and drink these luscious wines. This has got be someone’s job, yes? How else do places get Zagat rated or listed in Conde Nast? How do I get to be the person who rates and writes about these things?

Our first full day in the Wine Country was spent touring vineyards and wineries, tasting, and purchasing “souvenirs” (translation – a case of wine comprised of our favorite vintages from varies vintners.) Our absolute favorite winery of the trip was Frog’s Leap Winery.  Yes, the wine was wonderful and the Vineyard House was tres “farmer chic.” But what we LOVED about it was it’s eco-consciousness. It has a Silver Rating for Sustainability, is 100% solar powered, organically and dry farmed, not to mention simply quaint and fun. The corks for their wine say “Ribbit” on them! In a world where pretension can run rampant, the Frog’s Leap tour was light-hearted and irreverent, which made it all the more enjoyable. We rewarded it with our patronage and made our largest single purchase of wine there.

Hungry from our tours, we returned to the inn, made some gourmet smores by the fire pit, and dressed for our official anniversary dinner at the Farmhouse Inn Restaurant. (Did I mention the Inn restaurant has a One-Star Michelin Rating?) the Beer Guy and I agreed that our dinner that evening was the BEST MEAL either of us had EVER eaten. It began with an amuse-bouche of shrimp bisque topped with Calmondin lime foam. AI-YAI-YAI! When the Master Sommelier assisted us in selecting a wine to complement both the Rabbit Three Ways Beer Guy ordered and the Guinea Hen with Ricotta Stuffed Gnocchi I ordered, he warned that the peas garnishing our Wild Mushroom Cantelloni appetizer might give the wine a slight “green” taste. It took all the strength I could muster not look at him with a straight face and say “Ah, yes, I can see how that would be disappointing.” Come on! He’s a Master Sommelier. Of course he’d notice that. But what are the chances WE would. “Green” taste because of 4 peas in the appetizer or not, that meal was BEYOND description. If you had to put a word to it, my best guess would be …ORGASMIC! We each agreed we were on the verge of a Meg Ryan moment from When Harry Met Sally. I mean, who needs sex when the food is that good! Dinner was, of course, completed with desert wines, Ricotta Cheesecake for the Beer Guy, and Creme Brulee for moi. Aahhh…Bliss.

Day 2 “in country” we headed into Healdsburg, a charming little town in the heart of the Russian River Valley, where we hit three tasting rooms, bought more “souvenirs,” and had a delicious seafood tapas lunch. Then it was off to a couple more wineries before heading back to the inn.

If you haven’t noticed, I was a little preoccupied with the food situation in Sonoma County. Every single meal was exquisite. I think I gained 10 lbs on that trip. Who cares, though. It’s worth being fat to eat food that good. It was SO good, in fact, that I ate it at a snail’s pace, not wanting it to end, which made me feel as if I had eaten three times the amount of food. By the time we got to dinner at Zazu that last night in Forestville I, for the first time in my life, was not hungry!! Me! Not hungry!! How unfamiliar! I sat down, perused that creative menu, and thought… “I got nothing. I literally have no internal motivation to eat anything.” In the end I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup…the swanky gourmet versions made from Guyere cheese, artisan bread, and organic tomatoes… fresh from the garden.

We, unfortunately, had to check out of the darling inn the next morning…after a third divine breakfast. We headed to Armstrong Woods near Guerneville to check out some redwoods. Man, those are big trees!! We then took our time making our way down the Pacific Coast Highway soaking in as much of the majestic scenery as possible. I think we stopped to play on four different beaches. Our pictures are great, but they don’t do the real things justice!

We landed back at The Drake around 6:30pm that night. It had taken us a little over 7 hrs to make the 90 min trek from the Wine Country back to San Francisco. Since we were exhausted and had one bottle of wine that wouldn’t fit in the box we shipped back home we decided to have a little wine and cheese picnic in our hotel room. Like everything else we did and saw on our trip, that too was LOVELY. We just weren’t ready to give up the Wine Country. I kept thinking that if we’d have lived here, I may never have left California…

…but I might also be living in a Betty Ford Clinic…

Last year we were living it up in a food and wine gold mine.  (Seriously, that’s got to be what heaven is like!)  This year, we spent our anniversary guzzling beer and cracking open these…

at the Ole Miss Alumni Crawfish Boil, of course.

What a difference a year makes!

Cheers!
Wine Girl

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