Posts filed under ‘California’
Down on the Farm
Two weeks ago BK & I decided to take a quick trip down to the farm in California the following weekend. We had some vouchers expiring on Alaska and the weather report showed nothing but sun, so off we went last Saturday. We landed early afternoon, made our obligatory trip to the new Costco in Lodi, then had a short break at the house before we needed to head over to the Vaccarezza’s.
Catching up with Sil & Nadine is always a treat and tonight we had the added bonus of being their guests for a fundraiser at the Lions Club in Linden. Each year the Athletic Boosters for the HS host a big Italian feed and we timed our trip just perfectly. We bought some raffle tickets and hoped for a big win, then settled into our seats to see what was to come.
First up was bread from the Genova Bakery and salad with homemade vinaigrette - both delicious but all our dining companions warned us not to fill up to quickly. It was hard to heed that warning when the giant platter of pesto pasta came out though – I had a couple servings of that. Up next was brined spare ribs which surprised me as an Italian delicacy but were really good. The main dish of the evening though, the one everyone comes for and the reason this event is held at the end of January is the Biroldo (aka Italian Blood Sausage). Apparently pigs need to be slaughtered when it’s cold out, so most of the sausage and salami making happens in January and February. I of course was pretty hesitant about this dish ( I had tried blood sausage once before in New Orleans – not my favorite) but I knew I had to give it a try. When the bowl came around I looked for a small bumpy one – bumpy because that means it has lots of pine nuts which I learned is an important trait. I slit it open, found several pine nuts and meat that essentially looked like pulled pork (though a really ugly color). They also use allspice which I wasn’t expecting. The pine nuts are a great compliment and if you didn’t know what this meat was, you could easily put it in a taco and no one would be the wiser. I finished with pesto pasta though 
Sunday morning we walked around the property, then drove out to Napa for the day (only 90 minutes away!). It was a great drive through the delta. Our first destination was Yountville, where we had made a lunch reservation at Bouchon (you can read about that here soon). After the lunch we visited a winery nearby called Hope & Grace, then drove to another called Cliff Lede – we bought a bottle at each to supplement the bottle I had already picked up at Costco (my bag was heavy flying home). Next stop was in Napa itself, the Oxbow Public Market which was great – I definitely want to plan more time there on a future visit.
Then we hit the road to head back, making one final stop at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield – we arrived too late for a tour but the gift shop itself was plenty amusing – the folks at work loved the bag of “Belly Flops” I brought back. There was a beautiful sunset as we got closer to home:
Dinner that night was another Italian feast thanks to the Manassero’s - salad, polenta, dessert, hmmm. We both collapsed into food coma when we got home.
Monday morning was lazy and fabulous – we took another walk around the property and saw the pruners out. Then I moved a chair around back, grabbed my book and soaked up some sunshine. For lunch we went back to Sil & Nadines and caught up with their kids over another Italian feast. Eventually we had to break off the conversation so we could head home and pack, made our way to Sacramento’s fancy new airport, and flew home. A great quick break!
SD to LA – Day 6
Slightly lazy morning as we ate breakfast at the penthouse and bid adieu to everyone before hitting the road back to LA. It wasn’t raining in San Diego but as we headed north the showers began and grew harder. This impacted our plans a bit of walking around Santa Monica but oh well. First stop was at Father’s Office for a late lunch/early dinner. BK had seen this spot touted as runner-up for best burger behind DB Bistro so of course he had to try it – apparently it was pretty good (I had shrimp).
Next stop was unexpected but very interesting – as we were parking for lunch we noticed a spot across the street from Father’s Office called Nothing Bundt Cakes. what? Definitely needed to check it out – apparently bundt cakes are the new cupcake We got Lemon Raspberry – it was pretty good…
With the rain pouring down, we drove around a bit instead of walking before finally making our way over to LAX. Uneventful flight home, and a day to rest before work on Tuesday. To get a true summary version of the trip, check out the video recap!
San Diego – Day 5
Happy New Year! Another sunny morning in San Diego, woo hoo! BK cooked everyone up some delicious eggs and JJ toasted bagels as the football bowl watching bonanza continued. It was such a glorious day out though I was happy BK was willing to ditch some TV time to head outdoors. We decided to hit up the always popular San Diego Zoo and it was a perfect day for it.
It really is a nice zoo – they’ve added in some new trails that intertwine each other but ensure you won’t miss anything. Most of the bears were sleeping while we were there, but we saw the hippos, polar bears, pandas, elephants, giraffes, zebras, tons of monkeys, crocs, rhinos, birds, cats of al sizes. BK loves taking animal pictures so it will be interesting to see what he got…
Heading home the sun was starting to set so we stopped briefly by the amusement park at Mission Beach to snap a few more photos. Then we caught up with everyone back at the penthouse where I was greeted by a delicious looking six-pack of goodies from the Coronado Cupcakery thanks to JJ. (Final verdict through several samplings: overall very good. The Red Velvet, aka BK’s litmus test, was solid and he liked the PB&J a lot. I liked their “cookie one” and the black bottom, though I wish they hadn’t put frosting on that one…)
Elana made us a big taco feast as we finished watching the Rose Bowl (no Pac-10 team and not on ABC – what???) and then we all started crashing pretty quickly. An early night to bed for all….
New Years Eve – Day 4
Everyone awoke slowly to another sunny day in San Diego. BK, Kevin, JJ, Mark & I wandered down the street near Belmont Park in search of breakfast, settling upon a bar with outdoor seating to soak up some rays. the food was good, the service sloooowww. Then we walked home along the beach surveying all the other fancy houses – I think 90% of the places on Mission Beach are rentals.
JJ, Kevin, BK and I made another TJ’s run for final provisions and then we all just settled into penthouse living for New Years Eve – watching football, watching the sunset, cooking up a feast, enjoying JJ’s newest signature cocktail (a whiskey punch), watching fireworks at Sea World from our deck, finishing one of my Christmas books, commenting on how sad it is to see Dick Clark these days. A perfect way to ring in the New year….
Game Day! (Day 3)
Woke up and packed up from the Sheraton to go meet everyone downtown for breakfast. It was a tough commute for BK & I as we had to get across the Big Bay Balloon Parade route which was starting at 10:00am. But we made it over to the Broken Yolk Cafe which some of you may have seen on Man v.s Food (they have a big omelette challenge.) I had French toast.
Mark had rented us a beach house but we couldn’t get into it until 3:00pm so we decided to go do all of our shopping first. We began at Trader Joe’s of course, one up north a bit where Mark’s friend Keith works. Then we ht Costco down the street and Ralphs grocery. With no more room in the cars, we headed towards the house in Mission Beach hoping we could get in a little early. Denied. So we hung on the beach a bit and cracked open the beers in the cars to get the party going. We finally got it right at 3:00pm and loved the house immediately. It is literally at the end of Mission Beach with a 180-degree view of the ocean and beach from our penthouse decks.
For the next hour we gazed out the windows, grilled some brats, drank some beers and changed into our purple & gold gear. Our taxi arrived at 4:30pm and then we were off to the stadium! We wandered the stadium, met up with folks we knew and cheered our hearts out. It started cooling down and I was happy to have my new pom pom gloves from Bette. Best of all, the Dawgs won! In a weird coincidence, they scored 19 points, which is the same amount of points the Sun Devils scored the last time I watched a team play Nebraska (that game was also an upset). After the game we walked to a nearby bar where our van driver, Don picked us up, and then we all collapsed blissfully into our warm beds…
