Napa, San Francisco & Los Gatos

I had been itching to go up north for a while.  Everyone kept saying "Oh, you would love it there!" Just so happened, Matt and Amy had a wedding to attend in Los Gatos (hour south of San Fran) so I finally had an excuse to go/ tag along. We roped Rob into going too.  Roadtrip!!


On Friday, we set out on our journey on Interstate 5, which would usually be a drab scenery of brown grassy knolls but since we have been blessed with rain this year, it was actually quite green, lush and beautiful.  Late in the night we made a stop in Pleasanton just to rest.


The next morning (Friday) we got up bright and early and made our way to Napa!! Amy and I have become quite the wine connoisseurs the last couple of years, so we were excited to try out something outside of our Trader Joe's cellar.


Napa is overwhelming...overwhelmingly awesome.  All you have to do is drive down the road and you have a ridiculous amount of fine wineries to choose from less than a mile from each other.  It reminds me of walking down Rodeo drive and seeing one high end store after the other but with wineries! (And the fact most of it, I can't afford).


We started off at Castello Di Amorosa, we did not do a tasting but wanted to check out the mid-evil castle that sits on the winery.  Pretty cool.  Then we sat down and ate some lunch at Farmstead Restaurant.  It was so yummy and fresh.  I had one of the best burgers ever garnished with chopped pickled cauliflower and homemade ketchup.


After lunch we visited 3 different wineries to do tastings: Caymus, Frog's Leap, and Inglenook.  We loved the feeling of Frog's Leap because of the covered back porch looking out into their aged vines. I must admit I had my doubts of the winery because of the name, frogs doesn't make me think "fine wine".  I stand corrected though, it was wonderful.  But our favorite wine came at the end of the day at Inglenook, a Francis Ford Coppola winery. We shared a bottle of Edizione Pennino, a Zinfandel, the perfect end to a beautiful day.

On Saturday, we hopped in the car and headed down south towards San Francisco, a city I have always wanted to visit.  Since our final destination was south of San Fran we breezed through town first stopping at Pluto's for lunch and then walked down to a park to take in views and snap pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. I hopefully plan on spending more time in San Francisco in the fall because I won a 2-night hotel stay at a Marriott from work a few months ago!! I can't wait to go back again.


We then cruised further south to Los Gatos, the town where the wedding was held.  We settled in to the Toll House Hotel complete with fresh cookies and then Rob and I dropped Matt and Amy off at the wedding site and went downtown.  Downtown Los Gatos is one of the cutest towns I have ever seen.  It embodies a small down feel yet it is centered in the middle of the Silicon Valley.  Rob and I walked around the shops and then treated ourselves to a massage.  We ate dinner at The Pastaria & Market where they make their own pasta.  It was delicious and had a warm Italian family feel.  I could pack up my bags and live in this town...only if I had a million dollars.


What a fabulous trip! I can't wait to go back and explore more of this area of California.  I am so blessed to live in a state that has such diversity not only in people but landscape.  Cheers!

Rolling Hills along the 5

Caymus Winery

Frog's Leap Tasting

Matt & Amy by the Frog's Leap Vines

Besties!

Best Wine of the day!

Golden Gate Bridge!

The Pastaria & Market

Lemonade

Last weekend, Amy and I went went down to Abbot Kinney in Venice to sweat it out spinning at YAS (yoga and spinning, clever huh?). Afterwards our stomachs were craving some munchies so we decided to try a restaurant called Lemonade. Little did we know, our lives would be changed! That sounds dramatic, I know, so let me try to set this scene up for you.

Abbot Kinney is a trendy street in Venice known for it's high end restaurants and boutiques, in other words expensive. Amy and I went prepared to split a meal or even turn around and walk out in case the price didn't please our Dave Ramsey plan (google him and get on the plan which is also life changing).

We walked into a cafeteria style restaurant with a modern feel. It reminded me of an IKEA cafeteria but with zero screaming children. Simple menu: a selection of cold portions, a la carte sandwiches, meat or salads and a selection of hot portions. There was also a tasty looking dessert section that I couldn't look at for fear of having to return to spin class. And of course they had lots of different types of lemonade, which I'm sorry I can't report on but I plan to try the name sake soon.

When we approached the counter we felt intimidated by the many interesting combinations of cold portions we could choose from. We told the girl helping us that it was our first visit and she was happy to give us many samples like sweet potatoes with pistachios along with chicken, jicama with green goddess dressing, just to name a few. Everything we sampled was amazing and the combinations were incredible, things I could never think of. I decided on getting one portion split between kale, mushrooms with tangerine vinaigrette and watermelon radish, ahi tuna, snap peas, black sesame with ginger. Keep in mind, I have never eaten or had the desire to eat kale in my life. Even though I split one portion with two items the helpings were generous, enough to feed my growling belly. When I reached the cash register my bill came to $4.62! Amazing (Dave would be proud)! Amy added a braised meat to her meal which bumped her total to a little over $6.00 (not bad at all). We sat down to eat our unique meal and our taste buds were overwhelmed with satisfaction. Powerful flavors, the crazy but somehow perfect combinations and I felt healthier with each bite. Amy and I were, well let's say, just a little excited. Our praises may have been a little loud. We couldn't believe people were not as excited as us, why were they not jumping up and down in celebration of this culinary artistry?

Then Amy remembered they had truffled mac and cheese and wanted to try it because we are suckers for anything truffled. When she went to the counter she asked a different person,"can we try the truffled mac and cheese? Its our first time here." He said, "we know, we heard." Oops. Confirmed. We are too loud. She brought back the little sample dish sat it on the table and I took a bite. "Amy, you need to try this right now!" She took a bite, closed her eyes and exclaimed, "Amazing!!!"

We immediately decided to take all our friends here ASAP. In fact, we felt like we didn't have a meal to lose, we were coming back for dinner.

So later that night, we brought back Amy's husband Matt for dinner (our other peeps couldn't make it but they are excited to try soon). I had another split portion, well roasted heirloom carrots, mixed herbs with basil along with avocado, cherry tomato, pine nuts with lime. I also added some meat, chicken basque, artichoke and olives. Unfortunately they ran out of the truffled mac and cheese for the day, not surprising because is is incredible. There's always next time!

If I could write Lemonade a letter is would read like this:

Dear Lemonade,

I eat kale now. Enough said.

Love, Emma C.

*for more information about Lemonade please visit http://lemonadela.com.