Napa

Napa was lovely this year, as always. After a 6am wake-up call, we immediately headed from SFO to Bottega, per our traditional meal (the seafood brodetto, of course). We had dinner on Friday night at Archetype, which was delicious despite our absolute tiredness. Bacon encrusted halibut, yum.

Saturday we went to the Oxbow Market, a first for me. Seafood tacos from C Casa were pricey but delicious. Crab tacos? Yes, please. Then we had a wine tasting at Franciscan, which was elaborate but very nice. Dinner at Bouchon? Chicken, a simple greens salad with goat cheese, and that chocolate dessert complete with Cline wines made for another nice meal. Sunday? We had a lovely wine and cheese pairing at St. Supery with Lou. And then lunch at Gott's Roadside with a stop to hang out at Mondavi. But frankly, I was tired of wine by then. The horror! Afterwards, we made our way to the scenic Marriott at SFO and were ready to call it.

A good weekend with good friends and their little guy. Some teasing, sure. And too much indulgence. Napa is always a little taste of heaven and sunshine and the work stuff is just stuff. Until next time...

Napa '13

The annual Napa trip always goes by much too quickly, and I don't realize it until the whirlwind is over and then we return, all jet-lagged and ready for another week. We had much good food, of course. Bottega was fantastic, and the wine we drank (Biale Black Chicken Zinfindel) was also on Saturday's long and lush menu. That may have been one of my favorite ever Napa menus, though it was much too much. That peach salad with goat cheese, the gnocchi I'm still dreaming of, the sausage and clams and the spice, and dessert, which was the weakest link, though those donuts were quite tasty. Conversation was also delightful, and it made me nostalgic and reflective about my time working here. Though that long flight home, despite the very interesting The Interestings, took even longer. With the husband gone, I've got a long week ahead and much to do. And a disaster of a house to clean up.

Napa Reviews

By far, the best place I've eaten in a long while is Bottega. We shared a yummy tuna appetizer, and I had this: Potato dough Raviolo filled with spinach & ricotta, black truffles, farm fresh egg yolk, sage browned butter. OMG was that wonderful. Wow.  Steve had this: Adriatic Seafood Brodetto monkfish, mussels, rock cod & fresh Monterey calamari, forno-confit tomato broth, olive oil-crouton, paprika-saffron rouille.  Then we had the tiramisu: Tiramisu & sponge cake gelato “Cocoa puff”, chocolate sauce. With the tasty parmesan olive oil dip, it was by far the best meal I've had in a while.

Angele was a disappointment. We had some Ken Wright wines which were just okay. The arugula salad with homemade cheese and plums was decent, as was the starter course of a chilled pea soup with cilantro. The risotto entree was okay, though maybe I should have gotten the pork just because of the potato.  The desserts of rice pudding and the berry one were much better. A B, maybe even a B-minus. Just good, not great.

We stopped at Trefethen, St. Supery, and Darioush..

Phoenix was good too, though I'm tired for the travel...Virgin was once again great going back. On a lame Delta flight, I did see Just Go With It.  A trashy movie but entertaining with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler.

Napa

Tired, so just a quick recap.

We started at a Taco shack in Sausalito.
Then we went to Cosentino. And St. Supery.
Then Luna. Sipping their pinto grigio now.

Yesterday pizza at Tra Vigne's pizzeria.
Then Beaulieu.
And dinner at Hurley's. Had a creamy butternut squash and pear soup with prosciutto. And the sea bass followed by a cheese course and an ice cream sandwich. I do have a list of wines served, but maybe later. I am tired.

The flight on Virgin was a breeze, especially in the coach select coming back. I watched Couple's Retreat which was pretty entertaining. I got home, squeezed in a lazy three mile run, and am sitting and watching TV. Made a pretty darn good orange roughy with lemon pepper.

Back to the grind.