David Cook Wins Idol!
I was rooting for him to go ALL THE WAY!
Weekend with the Girls.
A few weekends ago, Mum and Caroline flew into San Francisco from Hong Kong, and I flew up from LA. We stayed with Elizabeth for a beautiful long weekend in the city. One of the four days together, we drove to Napa for a day of wine tasting. Caroline had never experienced this, so it was a real treat for us to show her what it’s all about. Elizabeth and I planned the entire day, which included both wine and food.
We decided that starting the day with Champagne is a lot easier than a full bodied red wine. So, first stop – Schramsberg. Brad and I have been wine club members since 2006 and really love their sparkling wines. At Schramsberg they offer a tour of the wine cellar in conjunction with the tasting (reservations necessary). We sat in their newly renovated tasting room and tried 4 of their sparkling wines: Blanc de Blancs, J. Schram, Brut Rosé, and Reserve.
Next stop – Frank Family Vineyards. They’re currently under construction, but we were still able to have a few tastes and brought home a bottle of their 2004 Cabernet Sauvigon (no reservations needed here). We enjoyed this yummy wine with the roast dinner Elizabeth made on Saturday night.
We were now ready for lunch. We stopped at Dean & Deluca and picked up some picnic stuff and brought our lunch to V. Sattui. We sat under trees and sipped on their Muscat. Elizabeth doesn’t drink white wine, so Mum, Carol, and I had to do our part and drink up!
After lunch we had a longer ride in the car down to Étude (reservations necessary). We tried 6 of their delicious wines including a Pinot Gris, a Pinot Noirs, and a Cabernet Sauvignon. They were super informative and Caroline learned a lot – and brought home a lot! Between Mum and Caroline, they had 2 cases of wine and were able to safely check the boxes on their flight back home. I too ended up buying a mix and match case of these wines for Brad’s birthday. We had a bit of time between the last tasting and dinner, so we headed to downtown Napa and window shopped. We stopped at a bookstore that was going out of business and scored some great deals.
Elizabeth and I thought long and hard during the planning stages about where to have dinner. We decided on Julia’s Kitchen. Julia’s kitchen is named after the great Julia Child. The restaurant is located at COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and The Arts. Although we didn’t get to explore COPIA, its mission is really amazing. It’s a great place to learn and discover about food, wine and the arts.
Dinner was delicious. Elizabeth and I shared oysters on the half shell, Caroline had a seared Ahi salad, and Mum started with the mushroom soup. Elizabeth had the Don Watson Napa Valley Milk Fed Lamb for her entrée, I had the All Natural Berkshire Pork Chop, Caroline asked them to turn their lamb ravioli from an appetizer to an entrée, and Mum had the Liberty Duck a la Orange Duo. We finished the meal with a delicious chocolate tart with sage caramel; a malted milk “shot” accompanied the dessert.
The day in Napa was absolutely amazing as was the rest of the weekend, and it was a great time for the four of us to catch up. I miss them all already.
Red Bull Air Race
Jason and Ann took me to the Red Bull Air Race in San Diego this weekend, and it was a ton of fun. We had a perfect view, good weather, and the racing was even better than I expected. I rented a big lens to capture the action, and for my first attempt at sports photography I thought it went pretty well.
There is a gallery of my favorites here and a couple highlights below.
