California was great...

...but something in my DNA prevents me from enjoying it too much, now that it's over.  I'm all about Looking Ahead.  For better or for worse and, occasionally, to my detriment...

We are planning a European Vacation this August ("Holiday Road" playing in your head yet?  If so, we could be best friends), and I am in full-blown Planning Mode.  It'll be Dublin...then Zurich...then Hamburg.  Why those cities?  Well, they all have Goog offices there so Adam's going to put in a day of work in each city so that he can 1) check out their cool offices, 2) network, and 3) take a little less vacation time.  Meanwhile, Bug and I will get to goof around these cities like loons on loon tablets (again, if you get the reference, I love you).  My basic French ain't going to do me a damn bit of good so I'm learning some German (I can count to ten!  God, I have a long way to go...) and I'm talking more often to our doorman, Tommy, whose Irish accent is so thick that we spent the first six months in our building privately referring to him as "Mumbler."  Guys, this is going to be a good time.  And if you have any recs for any of these cities, pass 'em my way!

In the meantime, California...

As you'll recall, I wanted this trip BAD.  And minus the three days of rain, it didn't disappoint.  There was awesome food:

I felt nostalgic about Bug playing with the toys I owned as a kid:

Wine tasting at Boeger Winery (I bought a case of their 2009 Tempranillo):

Brilliant photos taken by Bug...but I'm biased... (all of which were taken on the gorgeous grounds of Boeger Winery):

Picnics:

Quality time spent with my mom (no disrespect to your moms, but this woman is the coolest):

And because I love this series so much, here's a Convertible Photo of my darling niece (here's the one of Bug):

There was even baking...which naturally wasn't done by me...this was all my sister's doing:

Add a shopping spree at a quiet, neat-as-a-pin Target and 11 a.m. Vinho Verde drinking in the hot tub with my mom...and you have an amazing trip!

The best part, though?  Coming home to New York City.  For the last couple months I've just been feeling a bit beat-up by the city, and living here was feeling increasingly claustrophobic.  This trip reminded me why I love California so much...and it also reminded me that NYC is my home.  I came back refreshed and renewed.  It's always hard to be away from family and friends on the other side of the country: always, always.  But I love it here in New York.  It did me a world of good to be reminded that it's not a choice of one over the other; I exist in both worlds, and I am from the West Coast as much as I am from the East Coast.  I love them both equally for different reasons, and I feel so lucky that I've had the opportunity to experience them both.

Eat, drink, and embrace where you are and where you've been.

California Love

After my botched trip to California back in February, Bug and I finally made it to my native West Coast last week.  And it was fabulous...

There was wine tasting at Boeger Winery...

...and kids riding in the back of convertibles...

...and Lillet in plastic cups because I like to keep it classy.

We had such a wonderful time - even the three days of rain couldn't dampen our spirits!

I can't wait to tell you more about it - stay tuned!

XO,
Laura

Homeward Bound

Recently we went on our annual summer vacation where we spend a few days in California and a few days in Oregon. My family lives in a tiny little town called Rescue, which is situated in the larger El Dorado County, which is about 45 minutes east of downtown Sacramento. I always tell people that it was a great place to grow up because, as a kid and teenager, I could always get somewhere better: 2 hours to San Francisco, 2 hours to Napa, 2 hours to Lake Tahoe. As an adult, though, I've come to appreciate this area for what it is and we usually stay put when we visit.

I don't have photos, but here is the post I did last year about our trip (or the San Francisco portion of the trip). I may not have photos of this year's trip, but I do have lots of links. Check them out:

• My mom and my sister introduced me to Heyday Café, a haven of simple yet fabulous food. I had their Portobello "Philly" with Caramelized Onions, Bell Peppers, Provolone Cheese, and Smokey Aioli. It was one of the better sandwiches I've ever had, especially considering the café's careful attention to the bread: a ciabatta that was light, airy, and in perfect proportion to the amount of filling. I also had their roasted red pepper bisque with smoked Gouda. I do a roasted red pepper soup, but I have never considered putting cheese on it. The Gouda added a layer of richness and decadence and really made the bisque a meal unto itself. My mom's favorite dish is the Roasted Butternut Squash atop a Bed of Spinach Greens with Bacon Crumbles, Red Onions, Toasted Almonds, Goat Cheese, and a Brown Sugar Cider Vinaigrette. Every flavor was balanced and the ingredients were incredibly fresh. Our server, who I believe is one of the owners, told us it was his mom's recipe. Last but not least, they have a stellar wine list, including lots of El Dorado County wines (I drank the Boeger Barbera).
  
  
• Speaking of Boeger wines, my mom also took me to the Boeger Winery as my birthday present (July 19th) and had me pick out wines to ship home. I chose two bottles of their Merlot, which was surprisingly smooth - generally speaking, Merlot tends to have too much bite for my tastes. I also chose two bottles of their rosé, which lacked the tartness I usually shy away from, and I also chose two bottles of their port, which was uncharacteristically light for a port. Isn't it lovely that I'm going to get home to local California wines waiting for me?
  
  
• Also speaking of wine, my parents have some friends who have only three acres of grapes and they make what little they have into wine...and I love it. It really strikes you how doctored up and pretty-fied all those bigger vineyard wines are when you taste the simplicity and freshness of a tiny wine. Of course, they sell it as grapes...in liquid form in a bottle...so it's not entirely legal. They also get lots of help producing the wine from friends so their wine label has the name of their vineyard (which I'm obviously not sharing) and then, underneath it, "Hand Crafted Wine of Friends." Don't you love that? So my mom bought a case of their wines and she'll ship some of those bottles to me, telling the UPS store that she's shipping olive oil.
  
  
• We also had a great dining experience at Kobe Sushi, an unexpected gem of a restaurant in a small town (Cameron Park). Stay away from the rolls, in my opinion - they're drenched in sauce. That said, my family goes nuts for the rolls so to each their own. I can highly recommend the sashimi, though - the freshness rivals any of the sushi I've eaten in NYC so far. Lastly, the service is friendly and attentive. The prices are also incredibly reasonable.

Overall, a lovely trip to California and, as usual, I'm having a crisis of confidence about our move to New York. But that always fades once I return home and rediscover New York's distinct personality.

Eat, drink, and discover you can go home again.

California Adventures: Part I

Now it’s time to tell you all about my California adventures* and hope that I convey some sense of how gorgeous and wonderful it was.

My parents built this enormous retreat on top of a hill overlooking the Sierra Nevada mountains – my siblings and I jokingly refer to it as the “post-kids house”. They have planted fresh herbs everywhere and submerged Adirondack chairs right in the middle of all the action. There is a pool table, a hot tub, and enough wine and beer to last through a nuclear winter. While my parents do love all things Costco, they always have good cheese, good bread, and fresh produce on hand. And did I mention the wine?

Adam was determined to barbecue “every single meal: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” He only did breakfast on the grill the first two days, both of which I was still in Anaheim; nevertheless, I do believe we grilled lunch twice and dinner three times. And I hardly got my fix – in fact, it only made me miss grilling that much more.

My family also took us to their favorite sushi place and, I have to admit, I was skeptical. I mean, sushi in Cameron Park? In Burke Junction? I should have known better… It’s often the most unassuming places that have the best food. It was the freshest, most tender, most flavorful sushi I have had to date. My family ordered several platters of rolls, which were all intensely rich, but I definitely needed to try their sashimi. I love sashimi. It’s deceptively simple and easy to underestimate, but I also trust it because a chef can’t hide behind anything – it has to be the absolute best and freshest or it fails. Well, Kobe’s sushi succeeded on all counts. In addition, my family claimed to never have had sashimi…and they proceeded to gobble it up, and I hope my family has become converts. To top it all off, it ends up the chef was raised in Brooklyn (Bensonhurst) and has lived in California for 20-some years. So he came out to the table to say hi to Adam and me, being fellow New Yorkers. Overall, it was this gorgeous oasis of food and culture in an unexpected place. I loved it.

We also went to two different farmers’ markets on two different days in El Dorado Hills. The first one was small but lovely. I bought some cheese from a local cheese store that sets up at the market, though they didn’t have any local cheese (apparently, according to the purveyor, there are no creameries local to El Dorado County). I also picked up some locally baked bread and stone fruits galore. There was more of the same at the larger, weekend market, though the cheese purveyor wasn’t there. The bonus was that a woman was there with her daughter, selling their homemade Indian food**: herb naan, chicken tikki masala, yogurt dressing, curries, samosas… And she gave us endless samples of everything, and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to snatch up all of it. We got back to my parents’ house where my father, who had never heard of naan and didn’t care to, tried to put his pseudo peanut butter (Better Than Peanut Butter) on the garlic naan. We all screeched and refused to let him…but were forced to compromise when he insisted on putting black bean salsa on the naan instead. Siiiiigh.

We also did a considerable amount of wine tasting, as El Dorado County is certainly an up-and-coming wine country. We started off at Sogno Winery, which is about a half-mile from my high school…weird! To quote my friend Amy: “If you had told me that there would, someday, be a winery that close to my high school, I never would have believed you.” I visited Sogno years ago and, at that time, they weren’t ready to use their own grapes so they were still buying them from elsewhere in California. But for the most part, they’re using their own grapes now. I bought a case of Tempranillo for a ridiculously low price. We also went to Boeger Winery, which was just divine and beautiful with lovely grounds. Which is code for There Were Plenty of Things for the Kiddo to do While My Mom and I Drank Wine (we bought 6 bottles of their Cabernet Franc, 6 bottles of their Tempranillo, and 6 bottles of their exceptional Rubies dessert wine). Lastly, my mom introduced me to Acorn Hill Vineyards***, which is a 2-acre tiny teeny little winery in El Dorado County. I baaarely scored a bottle of their 2004 Sangiovese and 2004 Rhone Blend. The only thing that bummed me out was that I desperately wanted to talk to the winemaker! Having read Battle for Wine and Love, I wanted to find out his techniques for such a small winery. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen. Overall, I really loved the El Dorado County wines. Are they the best? Heavens, no. But they’re still so different from anything I’m used to tasting: they’re young, fresh, herbal, floral, unadulterated…dare I say virginal? Which doesn’t make for the best wines but they were certainly interesting.

Eat, drink, and maybe wish you still lived in Cali…

* Wondering why this vacay was such a big deal? Well, after 14 months at QL, I have only now been granted three weeks of vacation. For the first 14 months? FIVE DAYS TOTAL. FOR 14 MONTHS. When told that this was standard and asked why I was surprised by this, I told them that I had worked in 4 other library systems country-wide before coming to QL...and this was the first time I had to wait a year+ to get my full-vacation package. Is this an East Coast thing? Clearly, I'm still annoyed and unable to let this go (lordy, just ask The Husband). Nevertheless, the full three weeks are FINALLY mine to burn through...quickly...given that my fam and my in-laws both live on the West Coast...in different states.

** Mike & Kellee - you're the only ones in the fam who read my blog - find out who makes that AWESOME Indian food in The County and let me know - I'm dying to promote her here to a wider audience!!!!!

*** Ummmm...I'm actually not sure he's entirely legal...Shit. Should I even mention it here?

NOTE: As for the family picture up top, I'm the one with the 55-pound weight on my back. Notice that the guy in glasses in the back has a big ol' smile on his face and his arms amiably around everyone's shoulders. Yeah, that's the Husband. I don't see any weight on his back. Whatev.