Napa and Sonoma: One Last Trip for Two (For Awhile)!

We spent a glorious day in Napa and Sonoma this weekend. It was one last trip we wanted to take with just the two of us, since I am officially due this month! We already did the olive oil tasting and vineyard thing back here, so this time we went with a more historical focus, included Sonoma and Glen Ellen this time, and plenty of good food too.

We started at Napa Valley Biscuits, which opened last year and was featured in this month's Sunset magazine.

The place was hopping on a Saturday morning, and for good reason. Everything we had was delicious, and what we saw that we didn't get, we wanted to return and order next time. We split the Yardbird (biscuit, fried chicken, bacon, and gravy):

and the Pappy (crispy waffles, fried chicken, bacon, red pepper jelly, and maple syrup for dipping):

When we come back, we would love to try some of the other menu items like homemade cinnamon rolls and a from-scratch twist on a ding dong. On to Oxbow market, which was looking lovely and had a Farmer's Market in the parking lot (where we bought the sweetest Sugartime peaches and apriums to take home).

Also, we wanted to try the famous English muffins at Model Bakery. They are supposed to be the world's best, and we plan to see how they taste tomorrow at breakfast.

The Fatted Calf, because my husband can't resist artisan cured meats:

From there, we took off for Sonoma through the vineyards:

Once we arrived, we started by visiting the Sonoma Mission, the most northern of all the missions in California:

In the garden, they had this prickly pear bush. The fruits didn't look very prickly but I discovered that they in fact are covered in little tiny, microscopic thorns. Look, don't touch, people!

Then we walked to what had sounded like a nearby historical site, the Vallejo House, but which turned into a 2-mile trek in blistering heat. I recommend driving there, especially if you happen to be 8 months pregnant. No pictures because I was too focused on not getting heat stroke, but after my husband rescued me by fetching the car to retrieve me, and reviving me with ice water and AC, we moved on to our next destination: Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen.

I remember reading "To Build a Fire" in school, and of course I'd heard of "Call of the Wild" and "White Fang", but I didn't know much about Jack London before today. Turns out, Jack London was quite an interesting and ambitious character, his life colorful and thrilling, though brief. After reaching commercial success through his writing of adventure books and short stories, he bought over 100 acres of land in Glen Ellen, including this old winery building:

Besides using the cottage next door as a country escape from city life in his hometown of Oakland, London sought to create a self-sustaining agricultural model here, including terraced vineyards, pigs, horses, cattle, winery, blacksmith shop, you name it! Here are some of the grounds of his old property today:

We also got to tour the cottage where he died of kidney failure at the age of 40. He had picked up a tropical disease while sailing the South Pacific islands (cause that's how he rolled) and used mercury to treat it, which destroyed his kidneys. His heavy drinking and smoking didn't help either. But he certainly had an impressive life, and it was fascinating to learn more about him at this park.

Hungry after hiking around all of these sites, we returned to Sonoma for an early dinner at the famous restaurant in Sonoma Plaza called The Girl and the Fig, where we ordered this amazing cheese and fruit platter:

I felt justified in ordering this wonderful sirloin burger with housemade pickles and aioli for the French fries. All that hiking, you know.

And for dessert, we split the vanilla bean profiteroles with bittersweet chocolate sauce.

Conclusion: Flawless food and great ambiance at the Girl and the Fig. It's acclaimed for a reason and I would love to return again.

With that, we returned home to take delightfully cold showers and ponder how trips will be different when there are three of us, and look forward to the day that we can share all of the wonderful culture and beauty of Northern California with our daughter.

Napa, Sans Wine

What do you do in Napa when you don't drink? A lot! We took a trip with some friends recently and began at Round Pond in Rutherford with an olive oil tasting. It was actually a lot more than that - arrayed before us was an impressive spread of cheese, fruit, baby tomatoes, organic mixed greens, and lots of freshly baked bread.

These goods were sampled in a variety of pairings along with the estate-made extra virgin olive oils (Italian, Meyer Lemon and Blood Orange varieties); vinegars (two different red wine versions); and syrups (again, lemon and orange).

The sugar cubes are used to test the vinegars, which you suck out from the cube and thereby taste the fruitiness without as much of the sourness. The three blue glasses contain the olive oil (they don't want you to see the color because the color does not affect the taste one way or the other).

Here is how to properly taste an olive oil: Take a small sip and let the oil coat your mouth. Next, aerate by sucking in a few breaths of air. Finally, swallow. You will taste a wide range of flavor qualities depending on the type of olives, the age of the olives, etc., from fruity to herbal or grassy to peppery.

Here is our tour guide Linda explaining about the method of tasting the oils, which are to be used in finishing dishes, not in high-heat cooking, as heat destroys the flavor and nutrients of the oil.

My husband and I in front of the estate.
Beautiful vineyards surrounding the estate.

After Round Pond, we drove to Yountville where we had lunch at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery. I bought a loaf of Herb Palladin to take home. For lunch, we had a ham/cheese baguette and a sandwich Provencal, along with a tarte au citron (lemon tart) and two of Keller's trademark bouchons (a moist chocolate "bite", somewhere in between a cake and a brownie).

We spent the afternoon exploring the shops at Yountville, mingling with the rich visitors and me jealously eying their small lap dogs. Closer to Napa, we found antique shops, an excellent kitchen store named Shackford's, and an impressive garden nursery that may help explain why most of the yards in this area are so well-kept and manicured.

For dinner, we ate at a casual local favorite called Pearl, where meatloaf and steak sandwiches are popular dinner entrees. Paul got the steak sandwich, and I got a special, the soft-shell crab sandwich.



Here's what we ended up buying: a balsamic and a red wine (Cabernet) vinegar, along with a fruit, smooth extra virgin olive oil. I can't wait to make my first salad!

Also note-worthy: The Oxbow Market, where we found Kara's Cupcakes, along with Three Twins Ice Cream which sells the most expensive ice cream sundae in the world! (One is $3,300, served with syrup made from 3 vintage dessert wines. Call a day a head of time and they'll arrange for a cello player to serenade you while you dig in.)

Would You Eat at French Laundry?

The French Laundry

Lately I have been planning a trip to Napa Valley which we are taking this weekend (olive oil tasting, here we come!), as well as reading The United States of Arugula (a history of how our country became gourmet-ified). Between both activities, I have become aware that Thomas Keller’s French Laundry restaurant, located in Yountville, CA, is one of the best establishments in our country.

Keller states his philosophy towards the French Laundry dining experience: "I serve five to ten courses, each meant to satisfy your appetite and pique your curiosity. I want you to say, ‘God, I wish I had just one more bite of that.'" His tasting menu changes daily, and the prix fixe for dinner is $250. Per person.

There are hundred of reviews of the French Laundry on yelp.com, some of which claim that eating there was a "once in a lifetime experience" and even "life changing", "humbling", one reviewer even claimed, "I wept" (upon tasting one exquisite dish). I understand feelings like this as I reflect on the first time I tasted an extremely expensive French truffle in Paris. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted before, and until then, I did not know that chocolate could taste like that. However, said truffle was given to me by a generous friend and did not entail personal impoverishment to acquire.

I find the cost requested by Keller to be extraordinary - dinner for two, $500. My question is: Would you spend that kind of money on one meal? If so, under what circumstances?