Napa Eats!

I'm one of those people who is usually just one (or 5 steps) step behind any trend. I'm usually pretty suspicious of anything new and need to scope, study, research, hold, smell, shake, and kick it until I'm absolutely sure. Well, that's pretty much what happened with the Girl and Fig in Sonoma. I've heard about this place for years but just didn't feel it. Inspiration struck this time around and with no other plans in place, this was the first real meal of the trip!

We started with a cheese plate. I have this love-hate relationship with Cheese. I love it, it hates me. (hmmm....i'm not waxing philosophical on that so back off, friends.) Darn Lactose. What good has it ever done me?? Moving along, I really can't explain why I chose the Mussels in a Pastis butter sauce. I hate Pastis due to its heavy licorice flavor. Oh...and I actually hate mussels - they creep me out. I used to see them clinging on to dear life beneath the Venice Pier...and all the locals know how polluted THOSE waters are. Overall, we found that our meal was really heavy handed with the salt (as evidenced by the pitcher of water I drank) but that wasn't the fun part of the evening. It was the people surrounding us.

On one side, we had the romantic couple, a young lady with the little girl voice who (loudly) professed her love and adoration to the relatively bland and uninteresting fellow she was with. No joke, people...i had to stop the gagging noise coming from deep within my throat from coming out into the big wide world. On the other side, we had a hysterical...i mean hysterical, travel writer from the New York Times who insisted on sharing her dessert with us. She saved the night for us. Thanks, Laura...you rock!

Whenever you hear the words, "The BEST" in relation to food, you know that many times it's totally subjective. Case in point: Boon Fly Cafe's donuts. I dragged Erin to go to this place because I heard the donuts were the "Best". They were ok. JUST ok. I can make better donuts than this. I had the chilaquiles which I devoured. Now THAT was great!

Personally, I thought that the best meal of the trip came from Ad Hoc. Ad Hoc is a Thomas Keller restaurant that started off as an experiment! Due to popular demand they kept it the way they had it - why mess with a good thing??!! I'm really into family style dining, and "pre-fixe" menus, especially since I really have few food restrictions and I have a hard time making up my mind. They do ask if you have any allergies and I know that they have alternative meals available for those with allergies or those who wish a vegetarian option (they like to be notified in advance).

We started with a salad...and the biggest hunks of applewood bacon I've ever consumed by myself. We moved along to the Kansas City Steak - this meat just MELTED in my mouth. How can meat be so rare but still taste perfectly done?? I must know this secret...for those in the know...please share!!!

I don't normally like au gratin but the way they prepared it was perfect (not pictured)!! We finished off the evening with a chocolate mousse and a cheese plate. I had to stop myself from licking the bowl clean. Such restraint, I know...

We were tipped off by our bartender at the Wine Merchant about this place, Bistro Jeanty, after he had to pry the finished bowl of tomato soup from my hands. I swear Wine Merchant at the Oxbow Public Marketplace has the BEST european style (rustic, not thin....and not thickened by cream) Tomato Soup outside of Europe. Chef Miguel Sanchez ROCKED THAT TOMATO SOUP. Sorry. ok, back on track. Bartender...Bistro Jeanty. The only thing more intriguing than the BEST TOMATO SOUP outside of europe was PUFF PASTRY over creamy tomato soup (even if it was the thin runny kind). That's all we had with a salad. And i promptly gained about 15 pounds right onto my @$$. *SIGH*.

One would think I stopped there. Oh no...

With Bouchon Bakery just a few blocks away, how could I ignore this destination? This lemon tart made me cry...and wish I had the foresight to buy TWO!! Oh well...something to look forward to!!! Clearly, I couldn't even be bothered to wait to take a picture before devouring half of it. It was worth the wait to find a parking space AND to get into Bouchon Bakery (no joke, the line was out the door).

Ok, seriously...let's not act all shocked if I die of diabetic shock. I actually downed 6 of these bad boys all by myself. They were delicious. And also available at the Oxbow Public Market.

The Girl and the Fig

110 Spain St

Sonoma, CA

707-938-3634

The Boon Fly Cafe

4048 Sonoma Hwy

Napa, CA

707-299-4870

Ad Hoc

6476 Washington Street

Yountville, CA

707-944-2487

Bistro Jeanty

6510 Washington Street

Yountville, CA

707-944-0103

Bouchon Bakery

6528 Washington Street

Yountville, CA

707-944-2253

Oxbow Wine Merchant

610 1st Street

Napa, CA

707-257-5200

Northern California Food Markets...

Ferry Building Marketplace, San Francisco

In an attempt to find Andante Artisan Cheeses, I stumbled across the Ferry Building Marketplace. Miette, Ciao Bella, Frog Hollow, Boccalone Salumeria, McEvoy Ranch Olive Oil amongst many other vendors. This is the first (and only) place we hit in San Francisco on our way up. While I probably would never shop here on a regular basis with these prices, it was perfect for a vacationer like myself.

I managed to get out of the Ferry Building with just a couple of packages of salami from Boccalone Salumeria (YUUUUMM!!), peaches from Frog Hollow (sweeeet!), Cocoa Nibs/Chocolate powder from Scharfenberger and macarons from Miette (crispy outside, chewy inside).

Oxbow Public Market, Napa

Another place I wanted to visit if there was time was the Hog Island Oyster Company in Tomales Bay. You could tour the area and visit the oyster farms. They also have a picnic area where you can actually enjoy the gooey bites of deliciousness (reserve ahead). Unfortunately, going out to Tomales Bay would have really interferred our plans of doing as little as possible. The next best thing was going out to the Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa. Turns out that the Founder/CEO was the Project Manager for the Ferry Building Marketplace.

I ended up with only 6 pcs...it was pretty pricey for what it was at $18 for an assortment, otherwise I would've done a dozen. Go on Tuesday or Wednesday from 5 - 7pm and you can them for a buck each!

After strolling around downtown Napa we decided to come back to the Oxbow (well, for one, our car was here) to have dinner at the Wine Merchant. They've got the best Tomato Soup outside of Europe - thick, chunky and NON creamy! Our barkeep referred us to Bistro Jeanty for a creamy tomato soup that's covered in puff pastry...anything in puff pastry can't be bad, right???

Sadly, I never did find Andante Artisan Cheese but that's just one more thing to anticipate for future trips!

Wine Tasting...

This was vastly different from my other trips up to Napa/Sonoma Wine Country in that it wasn't a back to back race from winery to winery. Instead, E and I visited only 3 wineries: Peju, Frogs Leap, and Ravenswood.

I wanted to restock some wines from Peju so we headed down there and were lucky enough to see Alan, the rapping, yodeling, representative of Peju. Luckily, I had called them ahead to let them know I'd be showing up so they were expecting me. I don't know how we did it but we walked out of there with a CASE of various wines. Personally, I think it was the rapping that sold me.

E brought up Frogs Leap so I called to see if we could come in for a tasting. $15 got us a flight of 5 wines and a cheese plate. Frogs Leap is one of the original pioneers of organically grown grapes and ecologically sustainable farming techniques in Napa. Please note that there is a difference between organic wines (which do not have a long shelf life) and organically grown products used in wines - the wines can't call themselves "organic" probably have sulfites that have been added. The staff there were extremely friendly, knowledge and helpful - we had a great time learning about the valley, relaxing on the wrap around porch and enjoying the tasty nibbles!

One experience that I had planned in advance was a wine blending class at Ravenswood with Peter Griffith. Peter got back to my email right away and noted that I was a dying breed (an employed CMP). He normally only did the class for groups with a minimum of 6 but he kindly offered it out to me - I only hope that I can get a group back out there soon!! It was a fantastic experience!

Peter managed to dumb this down enough so that even I could understand it. The Zin provided the fruits, the Carignan provided the acid, and the Petite Syrah the body. Not so surprisingly, I really liked it heavy on the Petite Syrah. We started out to with the knowledge that whatever we "mixed" together, it needed to add up to 20ml. Problem number 1: i can't add. It took me a few tries but with the help of my fingers and toes, I somehow managed to get it done!

We used the pipettes to measure out each of the 3 types of wines to blend the perfect wine for each of our palates. It was a lot like perfume making in that the sense of taste (like the sense of smell) got tired after 3 - 4 tastings. Problem 2: After a while, I just got tired of trying to figure out which i liked so I went with my best last tasting.


One thing I was excited about was doing a barrel tasting - never got to do that until that day. We sampled a barrancia 2008 (YUM!). Problem 3: We were strongly encouraged to spit. I never spit because I just find it a waste of good wine. We did enough tasting where this was actually a good (and valid suggestions, after I was informed that if I were intoxicated while riding a bike, I would still get a DUI. *SIGH*) We also had the opportunity to taste other wines, including some of the wines from the library collection. It was a great experience, one I highly recommend to give you a broader understanding of wine structure!

Peju Province Winery
8466 St Helena Hwy
Rutherford, CA 94573
707-963-3600

Frog's Leap
8815 Conn Creek Road
Rutherford, CA 4573
707.963.4704

Ravenswood Wine
18701 Gehricke Road
Sonoma, California 95476
707-933-2332
peter.griffith@ravenswood-wine.com (to sign up for the blending class!)

Experiments in Photography...

My first attempt with movement...wind through the reeds...

I took some photo classes about 10 years ago. It gave me all the basics I needed to know about aperture, depth of field, f stops, etc. All it ended up doing was confusing the heck out of me. I was so wrapped up in the technical knowledge, I lost any desire to do anything creatively.

Last year, I went out and bought a preeeetty new Canon 40D to bring with me on vacation hoping I'd be re-inspired. Not so much - Secretly, I actually hated it from the moment I brought it home. I was frustrated by it and was convinced it was broken. (I was convinced that my film SLR camera was broken after my class, as well). Last week I decided, "what the hey...i'm bringing this bad boy with me on vacation and I'm just going to play with it." Screw the aperture, depth of field, f-stops, ISO, etc and just concentrate on the shot.

Funny thing happened. I re-discovered the soft fuzzy backgrounds (above)...and movement (below)...

Oh yeah. Water movement. Wait...what was the rule for photographing water?? ummm...vague recollections of something...ummm...well, whatever...just keep playing...i'll get it eventually.

Wait...seriously??? BIRDS??? i never get that lucky!!! Of course, I was totally focused on the bushes in FRONT of the fountain. GAAAAR! Oh well...the point is that I acknowledge that I need to be faster but at least I have re-discovered my love of photography!!! Who knew? I know myself well enough to know that I won't just take photos around my neighborhood but hopefully, I can take a day here and there to shoot around! Otherwise, it'll have to happen during my vacations...and who knows when my next one will be!!

Naming a Charity

When selecting a name for a charity, it is very important to sound it out. For instance, let's say you are a Hot Rod/Motorcycle organization trying to raise scholarship money for children. You should probably avoid calling it, "Kruisin' for Kidz". Just saying.

Taking a bite out of the Big Apple....

Let's face it. It's no big secret that I love to eat. Every city I visit, I've got a list at least 12 deep of places to eat based on type, price, location, and cuisine. I spend weeks and months (if i've got it) searching, researching, calling concierges/friends/family/random persons on the street, stalking food bloggers, anything that I think will help me on my quest to find the perfect meal. As a matter of fact, I spend so much time on the food, I have no idea what landmarks, museums or historical monuments are when I see it. ("ummm...yeah...it's some statue that was erected to honor some person who is no longer living...")

Proudly, I can say that I visited not ONE, but TWO sights of interest while in New York that had NOTHING to do with food! My friend, Carrie, and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge after a particularly heavy breakfast:

As much as I hate waiting in line for the Empire State Building, I have to say, there's something to be said about the views from the top. It's breathtaking at night!!!

Of course to get to the top, I made Carrie walk up the final 6 flights of stairs because I was not about to wait another 35 minutes in line to take the elevators.

Oh wait...did I mention the gross amount of food we had while in New York?? Sadly, I really had no idea how great Jean Georges truly was because I never had the opportunity to dine at any of his restaurants. In an effort to remedy that situation, I made reservations for Jean Georges for lunch ($24 pre-fixe menu):

We started with an amuse bouche of pineapple & mozzarella; pea soup in chicken broth; and a fried dumpling. My favorite was the pineapple & mozzarella!

I had the foie gras with a mango or pineapple chutney. I'm really going to miss foie gras when they ban it in California.

The highlight of my day HAD to be my halibut with snow peas, mushrooms, in chili oil sauce. I'm buying his cookbook in hopes that this recipe will be in there. This place was a definite must visit!!

me, jean georges, carrie

We had meals at other places such like Shopsin's, Katz's deli, Kitchen Club in Soho but none of those other places came close to touching the greatness of Jean Georges.

I have to admit that the Mac & Cheese pancakes from Shopsins (above) is really intriguing. I never would've thought of that combination but just hearing mac & cheese made everything else sound so good!

Katz's deli pastrami is ridiculously yummy. The omelette shown above probably contains enough calories to fuel my body through 5 triathlons...

My friend, Henry, was kind enough to take carrie & i to Kitchen Club. I had the bento.

After every meal, it is important to finish things off with dessert. We tracked down the Dessert Truck at St. Mark's. I had the goat cheese cake. One word: "yum".

Jean Georges: http://www.jean-georges.com/

Kitchen Club: http://www.thekitchenclub.com/

Shopsin's: http://www.shopsins.com/

Dessert Truck: http://www.desserttruck.com/

New York Welcome!

I flew into New York before 6:00am on a very rainy Friday. My heart sunk with the prospect of navigating my way through the city in pouring rain. Luckily, I had booked William, (718.775.2611) to pick me up. He was awesome - prompt and communicated with me from the time my plane landed until he found me in front of the terminal. He was a bit difficult to understand due to his thick Columbian accent but was extremely polite and professional. (Case in point: Jelp. He had picked up a client who was an owner/investor in Jelp...you know...the company in California. Oh, right...Yelp.)

Sheraton Manhattan Times Square. I really hate that hotel. It is such a dump. Added to that was some ridiculous claim that they didn't have a single room available for me until that afternoon. It's one thing if I wasn't in the industry but the fact that I understood hotel speak and knew he was blowing smoke up my butt, added to the fact that i didn't sleep on the red-eye really nearly made me lose my mind....then again, I wasn't VIP or have any status with this hotel chain so what could I expect? He asked for a business card with cellphone number to call me when a room was ready. I gave him one...and got a call a couple of hours later to check in. That was better than I was expecting but it didn't change the fact that i was still tired. :(

I killed some time while i waited for Carrie to fly in by participating in my favorite past time - shopping. I decided to join a "garment district tour" (http://www.shopgotham.com/) at 10:00am. They handed out the list of stores we'd be hitting and I have to admit, I poo-poo'ed the list with a hint of snobbery. I know some of you are thinking, "wow?? jenny struck out??" Please...needless to say that in a group of 10 women - all complete strangers, I "won". Again. Added to that i kept spurring other women on with why they should buy what they had on (if it looked good). I did well for the shopkeeps. You can always count on me to upsell...well, when I'm not busy upselling myself.

My best buy was the Japanese crushed wool sweater above. Regularly, $540. I got it for a cool $40. I was going to get a basic cardigan that retails for $780 but I still couldn't stomach the idea of paying out $150 for it. No way.

These pair of shoes were on sale for about $110. I didn't pay that much...because why would i pay $110 for SATIN shoes?? Right. I wouldn't. What happened was that I bought a pair of shoes that were high heels, black leather that was almost biker chic. I tried on the right shoe and it was like I was cinderella. a perfect fit. I get back to the hotel to show Carrie my score only to discover that they were TWO right side shoes. I mean...at least if they were left feet shoes, I'd understand...and could probably work with it. As it was...not so much. *SIGH*...loved those shoes but these are infinitely more practical.

I'm sure I'd have PETA crawling up my butt over this but I bought this scarf. Somehow, midway through the freaking shopping trip, the other women realized that I was trying to upsell them or they thought it was funny that I was so mad that I was the only one "winning" that they told me how fantastic this looked on me. Unfortunately, it really was warm and comfy. I loved this thing. it looks ridiculous on the hanger but it really does look fabulous on.

Here's another sweater that I bought. Wool angora...it fit me like a glove. Other people tried it on but it just made them look short. *SIGH*. There was no way I was leaving without it.

I highly recommend going on this trip, if for no other reason than to just get into the showrooms of some famous designers. A good time to go is in the spring or fall when a lot of people are trying to get rid of inventory.