Even bigger birthday fun: Napa!

oooh boy! It's been a long time since I updated this blog and I didn't even yet share my wonderful, lovely, fantastic birthday trip! I summed it up to some co-workers when I got back as: it was a boozy, sunshine-filled kid-free weekend with so good food and friends!

First, big shout out thank you to Grammie and Grandpa for watching the girls so that Scott and I can do a little jaunt down to CA. The girls l-o-v-e spending time with them so it was a special treat they were looking forward to having their undivided attention for several days!

For Scott and me, we flew down to SF late Friday afternoon and since we were in the Oakland area, decided to try Nyum bai, a Cambodian restaurant that Way had recommended. OMG, it was the perfect way to start the weekend. The food was delicious - I'm still thinking about it! I've never had Cambodian food before so wasn't sure what to expect and relied on some of the recommendations our waiter gave us. We started with a Ngoum Salad, which was a light, sour/spicy chicken salad with lots of herbs. Then we got the Cha Troup, a super smokey soy-based grilled eggplant and pork dish, and a Chien Troy, which was a lightly fried catfish with mango salad. We finished with the Sesame ball, which was very much like the chinese ones and this was a good version of it. 

Goofing around while we wait for our food at Nyum bai.

After dinner, we drove the hour up to Napa and checked into R Inn, a boutique hotel about a block away from the main drag in downtown Napa. I didn't take any pics of the hotel but I should have because it was such an interesting, neat place. It was a "historic" building that they remodeled and Scott found out later that it was an old mortuary!!! In any case, they remodeled it nicely - it was like a very hip european hotel. The front desk was only manned during normal business hours so if you needed help, you had to call/text someone. The rooms themselves were modern and efficient with cool techy stuff like motorized window shades, our bed could be lowered/raised like a hospital bed so you could watch TV comfortably, and the bathroom had a double shower head and heated toilet seats with a bidet. We didn't have a kitchen in our room, but they did give us a complimentary bottle of wine, plus you had access to a cute communal kitchen that they stocked with water and snacks and yummy continental breakfast (organic yogurt, fresh fruit, a local-made quiche, etc). 

After breakfast the next morning, Scott and I drove to Del Dotto winery for our first tasting. I had made reservations at this place because I really wanted to do a barrel tasting and had heard this one had a nice ambience because they give you a tour and tasting in historic caves that were dug out in the 1800s.

The tour didn't disappoint - in total, I think we got about 8 generous pours and some cheese/salami/chocolates to go with it, and got to taste wines straight from the barrel. We even did a side by side tasting of the same exact grape but in an American Oak or a French Oak barrel. Scott and I both thought the wine from the french oak barrel smelled and tasted better.

Historic caves!

Afterwards, we stopped by Cliff Winery (of Cliff bar fame) for another glass of wine and lunch from their food truck. Sitting out on their patio, drinking a nice crisp white wine and eating fancy flatbreads was really relaxing! After that, we walked around the cute town of Calistoga and then met up with Becca at Trefethen Winery. This wine stop was not planned well (I randomly picked it) and there's not much to talk about here. We were disappointed we couldn't enjoy the sunshine because the tasting room was in a ginormous barn, and the front desk staff was snooty snooty, but it was still fun because it was great catching up with an old friend.

Lunch at Clif Winery

Cool mural in Calistoga

Walking around downtown Calistoga

Drinkies at Trefethen

Pretty grounds at Trefethen. Why couldn't we drink out here?

For dinner, we headed to Oxbow Market, this fancy food hall across the Napa River. For Dinner, we went to The Kitchen and I had their duck banh-mi sandwich, which was ok. Afterwards, we walked around town and had more time chatting it up over some drinks around a fire at some restaurant on the water.

That's a big bottle of wine, Scott!

Feeling like a dwarf!

Aaah, so lovely to sit outside, at night, in shorts!

More drinkies

On Sunday, we did an early morning tasting at Grigh Hills, which was also nothing to write home about. We stopped here because it was relatively affordable ($25/tasting), didn't require reservations, was on our way to lunch, and I remember way's friend Jason raving about this label many years ago.

For lunch, we went to Charter Oak, this huge southern-style mansion of a restaurant that served a fantastic posole. The restaurant is from the same owner as the Restaurant at Meadowwood, so the expectations were high and it delivered!

Afterwards, we had originally planned to go biking but instead opted to check out Castel di Amorosa, a winery that was in a replica of a 13th century castle. If that sounds weird to you, it's because it is! It was surreal to see this gigantic castle loom out of nowhere, towering over rows and rows of grape vines. It was beautiful (and super packed) but surreal. We opted to do the self guided tour and tasting but left empty handed. Instead, we rushed back to the hotel to get ready for the big event - French Laundry!

These bikes were for ambience at The Charter Oak.

Would have been a nice place in the evening.

Are we in Tuscany??!

Game of thrones?

The chapel inside the castle

To be honest, I haven't really considered French Laundry on my bucket list but when we were contemplating things to do to celebrate my birthday without the kids, I wanted to go somewhere that wouldn't require a ton of traveling, was not something the kids would enjoy, and would be memorable. Doing Napa on it's own sounded okay, but once we added FL to the itinerary, that's when it got to be way more interesting!

First, other than it being a fancy french tasting menu, I wasn't sure what to expect. We got there early hoping to grab a drink nearby, but as we were snapping pics outside the restaurant, the maitre d' came out and offered to take pictures for us and bring us to our seats early.

Once seated, they immediately came over and offered us a bottle of champers to celebrate our birthday. What a special treat and a fun way to start what ended up being a fantastic dinner. Every course was good, but I think I liked the
My least favorite was easily the abalone - it was just covered in a creamy, buttery, cheesy sauce that overpowered the abalone. I assume it was a pretty classical french style for shellfish but it wasn't to my liking.

The desert course was also pretty special - there was a nice variety and while not anything inventive, they were all well done and not overly sweet. I think my favorite was the smoked mcakeral. Plus, I liked that we all got to pick out a truffle from their beautiful truffle box!

Outside the French Laundry

The apparently famous blue front door

Restaurant at dusk.

Faaaancy! 

so much food!

Even more foooood

kitchen tour

  

Group shot in the kitchen.

You could have paid more to reserve the garden table.

That's the kitchen from the outside.

Their garden across the street

Neat that they grow so much of their own produce

The next day we planned to grab a quick drink at Gloria Ferrer since Way is a member there and then do lunch and a hike, but sitting out on the patio at Gloria Ferrer drinking some bubbly under the sun and hanging out with good friends was just SO relaxing and chill that we ended up spending all morning and a good portion of the afternoon there too. In fact, we left with just enough time to drive back to Oakland, have a quick bite at Dosa (a yummers Indian restaurant) and then to the airport. We had such a fun time it was sad to leave but the 6 bottles of champers we brought back with us will ease that pain! :)

Bubbly flight

the day started foggy and then got very sunny

Hello, Seattle!