Wine Country Weekend

This past weekend I flew up to meet my sisters for a Northern California wine tasting trip. If you frequent this blog, then you know how much I love wine. And delicious food. Lucky for me, this weekend was chock full of both! A trip of wining and dining of this magnitude, although it does not come around often, is like a mini trip to heaven for me.

We started the trip in Healdsburg, CA where we had dinner at the Bear Republic Brewery (a woman cannot survive on wine alone). We did the full 22 beer sampler. The food was nothing special, but the beer sure was delicious. My personal favorites were the Red Rocket and the Wangdoodle (and yes, I do realize how that sounds).

Mmmm, delicious beer samples.

After dinner, we went to a speakeasy called Prohibition.

The bar is hidden behind an old phone booth, which made for some entertaining photo ops:

My sister Renee in the "phone booth".

Because you never know when Al Capone might show up.

The next morning, we made our way south east to St. Helena. Our first stop was Terra Valentine winery. This place was amazing. It sits high up on a hill overlooking the Napa Valley and the original owner built the entire place himself by hand over the span of about 30 years. Everything from the doors to the stained glass was made by him and has been preserved by the new owners.

All set up for our tasting on the balcony (we were fortunate enough to be the only people there).

The view from our tasting table overlooking the Napa Valley some 2000 feet below.

Just one of the many beautiful handmade stained glass windows found throughout the winery.


Me, Renee, our gracious driver and wine country tour guide Andrew, and Anne in front of the hand carved wood doors.

Our next stop was for lunch at Taylor's Refresher in downtown St. Helena. (You may have seen this place on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri.)


If you are lucky enough to see this place in person, run (don't walk) towards it and grab your place in line (because there is always a line). No matter how long the line looks, don't let it deter you - it is well worth the wait.

I had the Ahi Burger - ridiculously good!

The nest stop on our journey through wine country was at Pine Ridge winery. Renee's friend Jason was recently hired on as the Assistant Wine Maker at this winery, so we got the VIP treatment, complete with cave tour and barrel tasting.

The vineyards at Pine Ridge all dolled up for their evening lobster boil.

Their wine cave had a Chihuly sculpture.

This time our tasting was held in the wine cave.

Posing amongst the barrels.

Our last stop for the day was at Mumm Napa. They have a great patio overlooking the vineyards and give you the option to taste multiple wines or just sip a glass of your favorite.

They also give you coasters with famous champagne related quotes on the back. My personal favorite came from Napoleon: "Champagne! In victory, one deserves it; In defeat, one needs it."

The twins soaking up the sun on Mumm's patio.

That evening, we returned to Healdsburg and had dinner at Scopa. This adorable Italian restaurant had great food.

Be sure to make a reservation - this place gets packed.

Renee was nice enough to share one of her bottles from Pine Ridge over dinner.

After dinner we were exhausted so we headed back to our bed and breakfast for the night: The Grape Leaf Inn.

This adorable little B&B was named one of Conde Nast's top five romantic hideaways in North America.

It's surrounded by enough lavender to make you feel as though you're in Provence.

After our first course of banana walnut crepes, chicken apple sausage, and gorgonzola creme brulee (I am not even exaggerating), they brought out this cute little rabbit tureen, which was filled with this delicious mixed berry panna cotta:

Did I just die and go to heaven? How awesome is this breakfast?

After breakfast, they let us check out the speakeasy downstairs:

Which was hidden behind a bookcase!

By the time we had finished gorging ourselves on our delicious breakfast and goofing around in the bookshelf speakeasy, it was only a few hours until Anne and I had to catch out flight home to San Diego. Luckily, we had enough time to make one more stop at Cakebread Cellars, where we learned all kinds of interesting facts. For instance, did you know that Napa produces only 4% of North America's wine but accounts for 30% of it's wine sales?

Just a fraction of the barrels tucked away in their enormous cellar.

They also had an entire ceiling covered in corks - how's that for recycling?

I hope this post gave you some inspiration for a trip up to wine country. I know I am already dreaming about my next trip . . . . .

Date Night Delicacy

When I think of romantic date-worthy food, my mind automatically turns to France. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was proposed to in one of the most romantic cities on the planet - Paris - right beneath on of the most romantic icons in the world - the Eiffel Tower - (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have got nothin' on me), but I like to think it's something more. After all, what's more romantic than a candlelit dinner at a sidewalk cafe with a nice bottle of wine? And while this type of dinner can be romantic anywhere in the world, the French have truly perfected it.

For those of us who can't afford to jet over to France for an evening meal, I provide the following recipe for French-style scallops in white wine and butter sauce with capellini. This is such a great date night meal. It literally takes less than 10 minutes to make, but it tastes so decadent and rich that your date will think you spent hours slaving away on it. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

Scallop Capellini with White Wine Butter Sauce

1/2 lb (1/2 box) capellini pasta
1 lb fresh scallops (avoid frozen or previously frozen scallops)
salt and pepper (for seasoning)
all purpose flour (for dredging)
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, divided in half
3 large shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
1/3 cup white wine
fresh lemon juice

De Cecco = Delicious. Plus, capellini only takes 2 minutes to cook (no joke).

Chop scallops in half and season with salt and pepper.

Dredge in flour.

Turn to coat both sides with flour.

Place scallops in hot pan with 1/4 stick (1/2 of total amount required for recipe) melted butter over medium-high heat. No matter how tempted you may be, DO NOT under any circumstances touch or turn the scallops for at least 2 minutes.

After two minutes, flip the scallops over. They will have this lovely golden brown crust. Cook for another two minutes on the previously uncooked side, then remove the scallops from the pan.

Melt the remaining 1/4 stick of butter and add parsley, shallots, and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes.

Add white wine and return scallops to pan so that all of the flavors can meld together. Cook for two minutes, then add several squirts of fresh lemon juice just before serving.

Plate the pasta. Top with scallops.

Pour sauce over pasta, then toss to coat evenly.

Serve al fresco with the wine you used in the recipe (and, of course, candlelight).

Dog Beach

One of my favorite things about San Diego (and the thing I missed the most while living in the mountains) is the beach. If I could, I would go to the beach each and every day. I love the beach when it's stormy, when it's sunny, when it's cloudy, when it's hot, when it's cold - you get the idea. There is just something so soothing about the sound of the waves and the smell of the salty breeze.

There are so many things that I love to do that I don't get to share with my dogs, but luckily the beach is not one of them since there are at least 4 different dog beaches around San Diego that I know of. Taking the dogs to the beach is quite the undertaking though, so I have only made it to one of the dog beaches so far - the one in Del Mar near the fairgrounds (which also conveniently happens to be the one closest to my house).

When I first took the dogs to the beach, I was worried that they would be afraid of the ocean. Tenaya is a total water dog and has always loved swimming in lakes and rivers and streams any chance that she gets, even when she was just a tiny puppy. Charlie, on the other hand, is a total weirdo around water. (I was actually convinced for almost a year that he just wasn't able to swim at all because he never went in to water any higher than his knees. Then one day, he was chasing a dog at the Sunnyside dog park in SLC like a bat out of hell. The dog went leaping into the lake and Charlie followed full steam ahead. I thought that was the end of Charlie and he would surely drown, but he shocked me by swimming across the entire lake like he had been swimming his whole life. That dog never ceases to surprise me.)

Even though I knew the dogs could swim, I thought for sure that when they saw and heard the crashing waves they would be scared and not want to get anywhere near the water. Let's just say, I couldn't have been more wrong! They BOTH dove right in and now dog beach is probably their favorite place to go. Watching them play there is one of the cutest and funniest things that I have witnessed. Here are some photos I managed to snap on our most recent visit this weekend:

When Tenaya sees water, she has only one priority - fetch.

Super dog!

Charlie, on the other hand, is more interested in exploring and finding other dogs (or sea creatures) to play with.

This time he met another husky who wanted to be his girlfriend.

They were basically inseparable the entire time. It almost made me wish I had another husky for a second (until I imagined all of his craziness multiplied by two).

Happy 4th of July!

This year, the 4th of July marked one month at my new job. I was totally digging my new job and getting into a groove, when, of course, like clock work, things started to go wrong. Not just one thing. Oh no. That would be far too simple. One thing after another stopped working and I was (and still am) getting frustrated.

So as you may imagine, a 3-day weekend was just what this doctor ordered. I wish I could tell you that the weather was gorgeous and I went to the beach and partied and drowned my work sorrows in a weekend o' fun, but I would be lying. It is in the 60s here in La Jolla, it is windy, and rainy, and I haven't seen the sun in 4 days. And although the weather is not causing my work funk, it is definitely not helping it either.

Due to this weather rut, I spent most of my weekend indoors. Although this doesn't rank high on the excitement meter, it was very relaxing and I got to catch up on my Netflix queue, as well as some much needed rest. I also got to get back in the kitchen and try some new recipes. And really, what better excuse for mid-summer cooking is there than the 4th of July? I made my first attempt at homemade bbq sauce, as well as some patriotic desserts, and more than a few tasty beverages. If you live somewhere chilly like me, bake this salmon and warm up your kitchen. If you live somewhere warm, fire up your grill and try your hand at grilling this salmon. I promise that you won't regret it!

You can find this bbq sauce recipe here. As you can see from the number of ingredients required, it's kind of a kitchen sink approach, but it sure is tasty!

Here's what it looks like once you start boiling it in the pan. The brown sugar makes a nice glaze. It was great on salmon, but would go really well with red meat too.

I made this couscous to accompany the salmon. Pearled (or Israeli as it is also known) couscous is delicious and tastes heartier than regular couscous. Give it a try if you haven't already.

The finished product (not the most gorgeous plating, but you get the idea).

Paul enjoyed some boiler makers while I worked on the meal.

We tried to get Charlie in on the festivities.

To finish the meal, I made mini cheesecakes. The recipe is as follows:

Mini Cheesecakes

Crust:

6 honey graham crackers
1/8 stick of butter (1/4 cup)

Filling:

2 8-ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks

Topping:

fresh berries (I used blackberries and raspberries, but blueberries would be nice too)

Preheat oven to 325 F. Coat 4 small pyrex custard cups with non-stick spray. Grind graham crackers (I used a mortar and pestle, but you could also crush them in a ziploc bag). Melt butter and toss with graham crackers in a small bowl. Place 3 Tbsp of the graham cracker and butter mixture in pyrex dishes. Press down with fingers to form loosely packed crust.

Graham crackers before . . . .

And after.

Mini crusts.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl for about two minutes. Add eggs and yolks one at a time, blending well after each addition. Divide filling evenly between pyrex cups. Place cups in casserole dish and pour enough hot water in the casserole dish to reach halfway up the sides of the cups. (I know it's not easy to make out the water with the blue dish, but hopefully you can see it below.)

Bake for 45 minutes at 325 F. Remove cheesecakes from water bath immediately after baking and place on baking rack to cool completely.

After cooling, wrap each cheesecake in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours (up to overnight). Top with berries and serve.

My lame attempt at making a star.