The heat, the bridge and a little wine tasting.

In short, a little update.

Last week was all hot and humid, and by the end of the week it was still hot and no longer humid. Thank heavens for little mercies.

It was too hot to do anything on Saturday, so after driving mom to her errands I watched some movies on tv. There was a weekend marathon of Harry Potter, which ABC Family channel has periodically throughout the year. Each time, I find myself rewatching the movies over and over.

On Saturday afternoon they were showing the Sorcerer's Stone, the first one, my fave of all. When ABC does a marathon, they usually skip the first movie, for reasons I don't understand. As a fan of the movies, it gives me a kick to see the characters again when they were very young and cute.

Even the hubby who dislikes staying home on the weekends sat and read newspapers and whatnot. I didn't realize that he had plans later in the day.

We drove off at quarter to 5. Unbeknownst to me we were meeting up with his carpool buddy and his wife and we'd have a walk to the new bridge date.

When we got there, the hubby called him and he was already walking on the trail about 10 minutes ahead of us. We encountered heavy traffic, that's why it was 5:30 by the time we were starting our walk.

The path/trail starts just outside of Ikea in Emeryville and winds under freeway and beside freeway lanes. The path was well paved and very popular. We had many companions walking that afternoon; many more pedalling ahead.

Then we reached a point where we could see where the path would curve and apparently that's where the beginning of the bridge path is, but it was already closed. The sign that says dusk to dawn at the beginning of the trail meant something. At 6:00 pm for now the trail is closed for pedestrian. Bikers have no restrictions. We heard that later on they would make the trail accessible 24/7.

Sigh! From Ikea to the bridge is 2 miles, very doable. Not difficult at all. We'll try again someday.

When we got back to the parking lot, we both decided to browse at Ikea, while the other couple decided to grab a yogurt and go. We stayed and I was most tempted to buy something, but since hubby was with me (and the thought of long lines for paying) it was easier to resist the urge to spend.

Spend we did however for food as we were quite hungry. We split a meal of chicken tenders and fries. All I want is fries anyway, been craving for them lately.

By the time we finished eating, we were hoping the traffic to the city would ease up a bit so we could do our mandatory first drive over the new span thing. Thankfully despite all the traffic, we were able to cross the beautiful span in less time than what I feared. After all, it's past 7 PM.

Since we crossed the bridge anyway, we might as well go to Embarcadero and take photos. We found parking easily and snapped a few shots. Afterwards we took a short detour to Treasure Island for more shooting. Hubby did the shooting. I was using my smart phone, he brought his camera.

We got home nearly 10 pm, and the house was still hot.

Sunday was going to be in the 90s here; but we weren't going to be home all day. Our friends invited us to a wine tasting in Napa; and we told them we're taking them for early dinner once the wine tasting was over.

Napa was hot, but it was beautiful, as always.

Our first order of business was light lunch so that we won't be tasting in empty stomach. Our friend found this Mexican grocery store with a little taqueria at the back. Their specialty is carne asada so the hubs and I split a super carne asada quesadilla, while our friends split a carne asada burito. It was a good spot for these dishes. Affordable too. We ate at a picnic table behind the store with views of the vineyard. So very Napa valley!

We went to 2 different wineries for wine tasting. On the first one, where we have reservations, we took our time and sampled about 6 wines. I like only 2 of them. We sat in the garden underneath the umbrella and have fans on us; it was a hot day, but the garden seating was inviting. I didn't melt, although I was sweating like a pig.

The second winery was all spur of the moment. We finished tasting at the first winery and found that we had so much time to kill before the restaurant would open. Our friends like this second winery and they have been tasting here for years. The good thing about it also is that the tastings are free. So few of the wineries nowadays offer free tastings. I begged off this time, but when it was time to taste the port, hubby just had to make me sip. Glad he did, because it was a good port. It's the best wine I've tasted that day (not including the wine we brought for dinner).

Another stop we made was at Dean and Deluca, a gourmet food store. I really like browsing here and tasting. We left empty handed.

We arrive at the downtown area with plenty of time to go before the restaurant opens for dinner service, so we walked around the riverfront, giving tour to our friends who often visit Napa but don't come to this side of the city. We browsed at stores, enjoyed the gardens, photographed the tile mural and then it was time to eat.

Zuzu was our choice. We wanted to have them taste and see what they think. Overall we had about 11 or 12 small plates including the desserts. Rioja was the bottle that hubby brought with our dinner, and it's one of my favorites. The meal was satisfying. You know what they say, good food good friends good life. It was a good day to spend in Napa Valley with friends.

Oh, I think the temperature is going south starting Tuesday. Hey Autumn, aren't you coming in yet?

Dear Blog

Long time no hear dear blog, I was kinda busy with life. I know you feel neglected, but there are duties that need to be attended to first. It sucks I know. If I could, I'd devote all my free time to you.

I'm sure you are pissed that I took a little overnight trip to the wine country, but dear blog, I really needed that time off with the hubby. What a lovely time off it got to be.

Who would have thought that I'd take an overnight trip to a place that is only an hour's drive away? But well, the package deal was too good to be ignored. What a good idea that turned out to be.

Vintner's Inn is a little relaxation haven. Set in a vineyard with spacious rooms and a lovely courtyard, it was just what a the doctor ordered for a little time off.

Sta. Rosa is a charming old town, larger than I thought it was, and hipper than I ever imagined. We walked around the historic Railroad Square , poking our heads into the many stores, particularly the thrift stores, except that the prices in the thrift store were not for the thrifty at all.

Since I was there dear blog I got another item from the bucket list ticked off. We ate at Guy Fieri's restaurant, JOHNNY GARLIC'S. And this was right after a wine tasting at Ferrari-Carano and a sandwich at a little deli/market near Healdsburg. We were very full, but we needed to taste what Guy Fieri's is all about. Too full for a full meal, and we were having dinner that evening, so we just sat in the bar had some drinks and ordered an appetizer, which was really good. We ordered fried artichoke, that came with fresh potato chips. Not bad.

The dinner at ASH AND CO was a nice touch. The hubby said, it's a belated Valentine's celebration. And this after I posted something about us not doing anything for Valentine's. I'm eating my words. If you want to know from the menu I ordered these: I had the Asian style tuna tartare for appetizer, which was to die for. I enjoyed the seaweed which I think they called wakame salad. It was excellent and a large portion for the price. For entree I had the pan seared cobia and diver scallops. It's good, but not a real wow experience. However, the cobia was an excellent fish, it's meaty and creamy. Soooo good. For the hubby, his meal included: wilted baby spinach salad and one of the special of the day, which was a lamb chop and veal sausage with fingerling potatoes and beans. I also had a little cocktail called MOSCOW MULE

Anyway, blog, now that I'm back from photographing and tasting the beautiful Sonoma County, I'm read to give you some more time.