My good friend Dinah had a fabulous idea how to celebrate our friend Karen's birthday brunch. We will all go sailing around the San Francisco Bay with a glass of mimosa.
I was worried that the day will start out foggy, or worse, windy making our first sailing experience a rather rough one. You know what I am taking about if you are familiar with the San Francisco summer.
The day turned out to be sunny and almost no wind at all. We only had one problem. The celebrant won't be able to join us because of prior work commitments. Dinah and I decided to go ahead with the sailing and do the brunch with the celebrant at a later date.
The bottles of wines we paired with our home meals in the past eight weeks were so-so except for these two -
Angeline Pinot Noir 2010 Russian River Valley
and Avant Garde Pinot Noir 2008 by Domaine Carneros.
Mijo thinks that the other wines were okay wines and not bad at all and that I am just biased toward Pinot Noirs. Maybe that shows that I am such a Pinot-phile?
I made the reservation but with another restaurant in mind, for Incanto and not for Contigo. No wonder Mijo kept saying going to Contigo was a great idea because it is close by from Toad Hall, our happy hour venue, and Contigo this and Contigo that. Incanto is on Church St and so it would take at least five to 10 minutes to get there from Toad Hall. The names are too similar - Contigo and Incanto. So can you now see how I made the mistake?
We've been to both restaurants before and it was only our second time to Contigo. It is still the same good tapas and wine bar we remember minus the multitude of people and long lines. If we had enjoyed it the first time, we enjoyed it all the more on Friday.
This week, we have started sampling a new bag of coffee called San Francisco Bay Certified Organic Rainforest blend. You probably haven't heard of this brand unless you live in San Francisco and shop at Costco.
Having bought bags of coffee beans from local coffee houses and roasting companies, I was debating whether to get this coffee for use at home. Is there anything to romanticize about this coffee brand that people buy in bulk? The company is local and we needed coffee immediately so we bought it. Guess what? This coffee maybe unassumming and comes in bulk but it packs with great flavor! I am glad we decided to get it.
Mijo and I saw The Scottsboro Boys at the American Conservatory Theatre three weeks ago and I thought I should post this blog before the show closes on July 22nd.
We totally loved this half live theatre half musical considering how serious the theme of this production really is. The cast was able to entertain wildly while sharing a sad chapter in American history.
I know, I know. Some of you may be thinking that you can get a bottle of Kendall-Jackson from your local supermarket. So why bother going at all to their tasting room, right? Right. That is true. Though you can say the same thing about the other more popular brands such as Beringer, Mondavi and BV and people still go to their wineries not only as a destination but also to taste their reserve wines.
Kendall-Jackson does have intriguing and delicious wines and we rediscovered that by visiting their wine center in Sonoma. Good selection of reserve white and red wines!
I didn't grow up in the States but this didn't deter me from getting acquainted with the works of Charles M. Schulz. In fact, I am more familiar with Peanuts, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, Linus and Woodstock than their creator Charles M. Schulz. I remember reading articles in the San Francisco Chronicle about his passing away and saw specials on tv right after his death. Unfortunately, that was when I learned more about this great artist.
While we were in Sonoma County, Mijo and I made time to dropby the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. Let me take you on a photo tour of the museum.
We saw this winery while driving on River Road on our way to Kendall-Jackson Wine Center from Harvest Moon Estate and Winery. Martinelli Winery is the big red wooden house by the road with a big sign so one couldn't miss it. Our wine map also shows it on River Rd. but we kindof ignored it at first because we incorrectly assumed this is the apple cider company. Though this vineyard also grows apples, they are not related to Martinelli's and Company. Once again, the wine gods were with us because we discovered that this winery has good selections of Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays and Syrah.
We took Friday off last week and what better way to start the weekend than spend it in the beautiful wine country. We've been wanting to spend more time in Sonoma Valley and to check out the smaller wineries. We've heard great things about them.
We wanted to concentrate on a small area in the Russian River Valley bounded by River Road and Guerneville Road and west of Santa Rosa. Harvest Moon Estate & Winery is tucked in the middle of this viticultural area. All I can say about this winery is this - I wish I could bring home a bottle each of all the wines we tasted that day because they were all excellent! Randy, the grower/wine maker, is such a great host too.
I missed the World Premiere of the musical American Idiot at Berkeley Rep in 2009. I remember another musical, The Wicked, was back in town and was playing at the same time as American Idiot. I had missed The Wicked when it had its World Premiere in San Francisco years ago and I was not going to miss it again. So in 2009, I had to make a choice between the two musicals. Why did they both have to be playing at the same season?
After over two years, American Idiot is back in the Bay Area and I was not going to miss it again even if there was another equally good musical playing at the same time. I went, I saw and I liked it!