Four days in the Napa area
For our birthdays we decided to take a trip to the Napa valley area for a few days with some friends and family. The first question was how many wines do you believe we will consume over the course of the weekend. My guess is more than we think. This is the view from the place we are staying at.
This is the first bottle we hit up.
Someone brought these wonderful cookies from the teacake bake shop.
Here is a picture of me and Fred ready to roll. Great shirts, right?
I made sure we had a bus everynight to take us back and forth from the restaurants. No reason to drink and drive. The first night we ate at Ad Hoc. I love Ad Hoc. The idea that everybody is having the same meal that night is so cool. Very communal and conversational. We began ths meal with a bruchsetta. Grilled bread doused with olive oil, sliced tomatoes, roasted cauliflowers, anchovies, fennel and arugula. Wow. The combination of all these fresh flavors were pretty outstanding.
For the main course we had a deconstructed paella. I call it deconstructed because each part of the dish is made separately and then pulled together in the end. You can taste the individual flavors. Chicken thighs and breasts, mussels, shrimp and rice. My brother has made this before from the Ad Hoc cookbook. A cookbook definitely worth buying.
Some wine.
Some beer.
The cheese was amazing. Marcona almonds, greens and sliced cheese. Can't remember what cheese it was but I just loved it.
Dessert was a chocolate bar with crunchy peanut butter inside. Beyond decadent.
Got a little ice cream with a candle. I believe it was a banana rum flavor but honestly I can't recall even eating that… hence the bus.
Comments (Archived):
Yum….Love Napa. My old stomping grounds.And finally a pic of a bottle of wine!Happy Bday to the both of you.
omg. food looks fabulous and so fresh.
You know that bottle of beer is made in Brooklyn, right? :)Hope you had a great time – I love Napa, spent my 25th and 30th birthdays there.
stellar shirts! how fun! happy birthday!
You should keep all of your itineraries and self-publish them with hotels, restaurants, food, shopping, etc. I would buy a copy ! Enjoy.
my brother/sister and sister-in-law made me a gothamgal cookbook for my bday. more coming on that!
Can’t wait to see that, as I am sure all of your readers would too!
If you come into SF we could meet for a coffee at a cafe J
next time. i came in for less than 12 hours.
Napa Trip Posts – Wow !What a great set of photos, I feel like I was there.And now you have made me so hungry for something delicious, I need to collect up my wife and head out to a good restaurant.You have just stimulated the restaurant business all the way up here in Vancouver Canada!
Vancouver….nice!
Happy birthday. We just moved to Palo alto from nyc and will take some tips from your blog next time we visit Napa. BTW, just made one pot chicken and my kids loved it.
love the chicken in the pot! big move. hope you are settling in.
I love how you talk about food…it reminds me of my upbringing in Louisiana. My family always calls and shares pics of their yummy food. If you haven’t already you must make a road trip through Louisiana and sample some of the wonderful food especially south Louisiana…if your luck you could go to a cochon de lait. Also go visit Creole Country Sausage Company in person.512 David St.New Orleans, LA 70119(504) 488-1263
Love that area. My sister went to Tulane and my dad lived in slidell (sp?) For awhile