Two fun days!

This weekend I got to do a couple things I've had planned for months, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park and a trip to the Napa Valley for a fall release party at a winery one of my besties is a member at in Yountville. And we finally got to eat at Ad Hoc!

Having never been to the festival before I didn't know what to expect but I really enjoyed myself! It was a beautiful day in the city and I had such a nice time. The two acts I wanted to see were M. Ward and Robert Plant and the Band of Joy. The rest of the day we just checked out some of the other acts.

I thought this little guy was so cute. He made friends with us and stole our sunblock out of my bag and tried to eat some of my banana.

That is Robert Plant...

When we go to Napa we tend to taste at the same places because we've found good ones that we like. My friends took me to one they've been to that is excellent that I had never visited. I love when they take you out into the vineyard and you can taste the grapes right off of the vines. This place is called Paradigm, you need to go there.



One of our favorites... Grgich

At the fall release party. We ate super yummy food here... brick oven pizzas, fruit, cheese and some rocking cupcakes!

Ok, so this might have been the most awesome part of the day. We at at Ad Hoc. You have to make reservations at this place way in advance, like months. It is one of Thomas Keller's restaurants in Yountville. I've now eaten at two of his restaurants there, the other being Bouchon. Both excellent and so different from each other. The last one I'll need to eat at is French Laundry. Not likely to happen any time soon...

See those big fat pieces of bacon?!?

We did the wine pairing as well, this was a wonderful rose from Germany.

Fig stuffed pork loin...

Yummers... the polenta cake with a sliver of that garlic clove and a slice of that tomato... so good...

My mouth was in heaven... goat cheese spiked with just a little truffle and then drizzled with honey

Carrot cake cupcakes...

Um, that's a lot of wine. See that little tiny yellow box in the middle, yah, that one is mine.

Napa valley trip

Well, I set out to have my vacation be all about food and wine, and it was! I have had so much to eat in the last three days I am surprised I haven't burst! This weekend was my second spring trip to the Napa Valley with my girlfriends. We plan and look forward to it for months in advance. It was a bit touch and go with the weather last week, we weren't sure if we were going to get a nasty rainy weekend but man did we get the opposite! It was gorgeous! The buds are just barely breaking on the vines so it's not all that green as far as grapevines go, but the hills and all the meadows were lushly green.

We started out at Bouchon Bakery first thing Friday morning. It's sort of famous as far as the foodie world is concerned. Thomas Keller is the owner and he also owns Ad Hoc, Bouchon Bistro (where we had dinner) and French Laundry. French Laundry is I believe, the only three michelin star restaurant on the west coast. That is a big deal.

I saved up for this mini vacation for a while so that I could spend my money on food. And wine. I was very successful! I wasn't shy at Bouchon Bakery, I got a coffee cake, a passion fruit macaron and a mini baguette for later that day.

The coffee cake was so-so but the macaron was awesome!

Our first tasting was at Tamber Bey. Actually, it was at the house/estate of the owner of the winery, who also happens to be one of, it not the founder of AOL. It was a great experience! We tasted at the tasting room in November but this time we were lucky enough to go to the estate. Very cool, and he was really nice.

Lunch at Sullivan winery. I swear I can eat nutella on just about anything!

Ok, so Grgich Hills is my favorite winery of all. I went knowing that they were having a huge deal on half bottle cases, so I bought all of these! Just kidding, I did buy a portion of the five cases you see here. It was almost embarrassing to walk out with this much wine.

Beignets de Brandade de Morue cod brandade with tomato confit & fried sage



We ate at Bouchon Bistro for dinner on Friday evening. It was so good. These are little yummy pockets of cod with sun dried tomatoes underneath, the sweetness from the tomatoes was a perfect compliment and nice surprise. I tried pork belly for the first time, one of my girlfriends had it as part of an appetizer.

I ordered trout amondine, it was really yummy.

This was my friends dinner, it was croque madame. So yummy.

Ok, so we bought a lot of wine. Like, a lot. I ended up coming home with eight half bottles and one full bottle. I'm excited to have a small collection started!

On Saturday we started out at Alexis Baking Company for breakfast and afterwards our group split up for a few different activities. I was with the group that went to taste at Tulocay winery. It was a neat experience because it wasn't a fancy winery or tasting room. We were literally at the wine makers house, sitting out on his patio. It was a normal ol' house, nothing fancy. We sat at a picnic table and drank a few wines with him. He was an old dude that has been in the wine business since before Napa Valley became what it is today.  His wines were good, but nothing super great or fancy. I would recommend visiting him though because if you are into wine in the what goes into it sense, and you enjoy the history of it he is full of information. I learned some things from him that I had never heard before!

From there we went all the way up to Calistoga to Chateau Montelena. I really wanted to visit that winery because of the history of it, and the movie Bottleshock. The film is based on the story of the Paris wine tasting of 1976. It's what put the Napa Valley on the map as far as wine making goes. Chateau Montelena won for the best chardonnay.

We went to St. Helena Olive Oil Co. I really wanted to buy an oil, a vinegar and a honey there but I couldn't decide so I didn't get anything. I was happy sitting outside soaking up the fabulous sun and watching the world go by.

Our last tasting of Saturday was at Domain Chandon. It was a lot more commercial and crazy then I typically like but it was so nice to get to sit down with my girls and gossip and drink champagne.

We went back to Bouchon Bakery on Sunday morning, we got to sit outside and enjoy our tasty treats for almost two hours. It was sinfully relaxing.

I got some things to go, on the left is a TKO (Thomas Keller Oreo) and on the right are french macarons.

This little thing is called a fugetaboutit. I had to ask what it was because of the name, it all went downhill from there, I had to get one. It's a rice crispy treat, with a layer of salted caramel, dipped in chocolate with sea salt on the top. Can you say holymolythatsoundsdelicious! I haven't eaten it yet, I'm thinking tonight might be the night!

Our last tasting experience of the weekend was back at Grgich Hills. We did the tour this time. The chardonnay vines are the first ones to have bud break and the vines shown above don't really have any yet.

Last but not least, the big fat burger I ate at Gott's Roadside (formerly Taylor's Refresher)

This trip was truly a gastronomic one.

My we-won't-say-which birthday!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to go to the Napa Valley with a group of my girlfriends. It was just a day trip but it was so much fun! We got started out early and arrived in Rutherford around 10:30. We got started with our tasting around that time too. We started out at my favorite winery (thus far). It's called Grgich Hills and everything I've tasted from there has been delicious! I don't often buy wine but I now have two bottles from there. One from a previous trip and one from yesterday. They are a biodynamic winery and I find it fascinating. I got to chat with our pourer about it for a while and took some literature which I'll be reading up on later and hopefully sharing here.

I tried an old vine Zinfandel that is so so good. The vines are 120 years old! I also tried my first dessert wine. It's called Violetta. I have never had anything like it before, it was delicious.

After Grgich we went to Tamber Bay, another very good winery. From there we got a late lunch at Gott's Roadside (formerly Taylor's Refresher) where we tried fried green tomatoes, and had more wine.

We picked up a few friends on the way and headed to Sullivan. The experience at Sullivan was great. It was very casual and we got a special treat. The pictures below are from Sullivan. 

This is Renee getting to taste the juice after the first or second pressing, I can't remember which. It was unctuous and still had pulpy chunks in it.

We got to taste what you see above. It was grapey and warm. Awesome. It's so neat to think of the processes that happen that turn delicious warm grape juice into delicious wine.

Eating grapes right off the vines

I have known this wonderful friend for more than 25 years, I love her.

So completely beautiful

cheers!

Hm, we didn't buy much wine...

Yummy, it smelled like rain and fermenty grapes

I'm so bummed that this picture turned out fuzzy. It would have been super cute! I had to share it anyways.

We had dinner at Farmstead in St. Helena. I was really excited to eat there and it didn't dissapoint!

This was a gnocchi dish. It was yummy.

I had chicken and dumplings, and surprise surprise more wine.

All in all, it was a great day! I love that I'm learning more and more about wine and I'm able now to discern what I like and what I don't. I'm not a big fan of merlot or of cabernet sauvignon, they are too peppery. I like most wines that end with a "blanc." Sauvignon blanc and fume blanc are some of my faves. I also find that I like some chardonnay's but it really depends on their flavor profile. I think if I had to pick a favorite red I'd say zin would be at the top of my list right now. I plan to go back soon I hope. I'll be adding to my repertoire.