Cardinals vs the Braves

We got tickets from a friend who works for the Cardinals to go to one of the games while the Atlanta Braves were in town last week.

This was the same game that the Cardinals honored Tony La Russa on his retirement.  They officially retired his number and put up a permanent sign of him in the outfield.  Throughout the entire game, they had video snippets of players, coaches, staff, and friends wishing Tony well in his future.  It was a very nice tribute to be a part of in the crowd.  

The game went into overtime up to 12 innings.  We left during the 11th inning to try and beat traffic, and because it was getting so late.  The Cardinals ended up losing, so I feel bad that they may have lost because we as good luck charms left so it was good that we left early. ;-)

Dinner at Harvest

Mom wanted to celebrate our engagement with a nice dinner in St Louis.  She has quickly recognized that the main path to our heart is through our bellies ;-)

We at a restaurant that is new to us; Harvest. All of their food is from local farmers in the St Louis Region.

Mom and I both wore outfits that we bought during our shopping adventure for the photo shoot.

 Boyfriend (yah yah, fiance, same thing) looked so handsome.

We took a bottle of wine with us that Mom got us for a Christmas present 3 years ago.  She's been hounding us to open it, but we've always told her that it needs to lay down for longer and that we wanted to open it on a special occasion.  We thought this was a good a time as ever to open it.  Then we read the tasting note for the vintage....and it is stated to be in its best years through 2024.  Opened 12 years too soon.  Needless to say though, it was delicious. (It was a 2004 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cab Sauv for those curious)

Terry and Mom bonded over Oysters.  Who would have thought.  They ordered 2 of each different type of Oyster they had on the menu and they both said they could have sat and ate those all night for their entire dinner.  Silly!

I didn't take any other photos during the evening, but we all enjoyed our main dishes.  Mom and I each had Angus Hanger Steak, and Terry ordered the Fish of the Day. No one had any room for dessert.
It was a wonderful and thoughtful gift from Mom.  Much more than either of us every would have anticipated, and certainly nothing we expected.  Good memories. 

Christmas 2011

We had a relaxing Christmas day.  Not a lot of hub-bub, just the two of us.  We actually didn't open presents until almost midnight if that's any gauge for how little we ended up doing in the day.  

Our beautiful tree and stockings to hide the still not framed french doors

 

 This year, rather than one traditional Christmas puzzle, we had two.  This was not intentional, but when we got back from Kansas City, there was a package on our front doorstep from Terry's mom.  Since she knows how I do a Christmas puzzle every year (she got to be part of the tradition the Christmas they were with us in Texas), she picked one out and shipped it for us. 

I was really excited for her puzzle, but I already had a Christmas themed puzzle purchased, so we started with that it.  Also, I got the feeling that Mom's puzzle was going to be a bit more challenging, and I needed an easy puzzle to start the day.

 Turns out I was right about Moms Christmas puzzle.  We just finished it last night (Wednesday)!!  What a great gift!!

After all the phone calls and puzzling and napping, we got ourselves together to make dinner.  Terry wanted to try his hand at making the Steak Au Poivre sauce from the night before, so we got our first "purposeful fire" in the kitchen action with lighting a little Brandy in the saucepan. 

 Standing Rib Roast

Christmas Dinner was amazing.  Steamed Brussel Sprouts with Pearl Onions, Shredded Potato Hash (his with Maytag Bleu cheese that smelled like sweaty feet but tasted amazing....you know it's good bleu cheese when it smells putrid, and mine with Parmesan Cheese) made in Ramekins, and Rib Roast with mushrooms and Au Poivre sauce. 

The aftermath of Christmas.  We went light with gifting, but we stuffed this year full of wonderful memories.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Wine Country: The Food Part II

Picking up where I left off from Part I's post:


Thursday, October 13th, 2011
(forewarning, boring day of no pictures)
Lunch: We had a very hearty breakfast from our hotel stay, so we didn't even have a true sit-down lunch.
Afternoon Snack: We had a cheese and crackers plate with a wine tasting in the afternoon
Dinner:  After Emily's flight landed, but before Sarahs (there was about a 2 hour gap), the three of us went closeby in Oakland to watch some sports and finally eat for the day.  I already don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it felt like we were sitting in with the Italian mobs families.  Thick accents, A-Ti-Tude, and hearty Italian cooking.  We weren't sure half the time if we were having fun or if we were just smiling so they wouldn't add us to their hit lists.

Friday, October 14th, 2011
Breakfast:  Bouchon Bakery in Yountville.  I'd been super excited to swing in to Bouchon Bakery for breakfast because it is a Thomas Keller Restaurant.  Yes, I know, food nerd in high gear here, I'll totally own it.  Little did I know that Bouchon caught on fire semi-recently, so their production was very limited.  Boo.  We got coffee cakes and banana nut muffins, and of course coffee to get us all moving.  We also swung in to Napa's Oakville Grocery (seeing a trend at all with how much we love that place??) and Terry got a goat cheese and pepper quiche.  YUM!

Lunch: Calistoga Inn Restaurant & Brewery.  We got the recommendation during our Wine Sensory Experience at W.H.Smith Wines.  It was a gorgeous day so we opted to sit outside in the sunshine.  Emily and I may have friend a little bit, but it was worth how lovely sitting outdoors was for us. 

 We all ended up ordering 4 different things and doing a quad-split.  It was the best of all worlds.  We all got a go at the risotto, bruschetta, crab cakes, and the Calistoga Club. Delicious Meal.  We had a great experience, would definitely recommend going back. 

 Afternoon snack:
We got back to our Barn and put together a delicious cheese and meat spread from our accumulations over the last few days.  The cheese to the left closest to the fork was gouda that they cut open and stuffed with herb and garlic goat chevre and they called it a Truffle cheese. Could have eaten the whole thing in one sitting.... along with the pepper crusted salami.  I'm never going to be skinny ever again in my life.

Dinner: El Dorado Kitchen in Sonoma
We all got pretty for a night on the Sonoma Downtown.  We made a reservation for El Dorada Kitchen

I had the Roasted Petaluma chicken with potato purée, corn, mushrooms, summer squash, and torpedo onions.  And other than the bone, I licked my platter clean.

Terry had the Alaskan halibut with a corn pudding, spinach, chanterelle mushrooms and spring onions in a lobster emulsion.  We had never had a main course in a foamy sauce before, so we were both very eager to dig in.  My chicken was juicy and perfect, but his dish won by a landslide.  (and yes for the record, I took that photo.  It was over-exposed...still is kinda, so I dropped the exposure a bit, but it ended up making it so crisp.  Love this photo)

As far as EDK goes, maybe we were just there on an off-night, or maybe it was our waiter, or maybe it was that they were about to host a rehearsal dinner, but for the esteem and clout the restaurant holds, it did not live up for us on the service and setting rank.  The food  lived up in spades though, so ultimately I'd still never give a bad review.

Saturday, October 15th, 2011
It may or may not have been someone's birthday today, so my breakfast was a mimosa with Champagne from one of the wineries we thought we'd be going to in the day....turns out we packed too many things in and didn't get there. Next trip. 
Lunch: Mustards Grill in Napa
We had a very late lunch, and even with it being 2pm, there was still a "45 minute wait" (they ended up seating us quickly because someone with a reservation didn't show.......and I may have told them it was my birthday.  We ate at Mustards last year and have been drooling to get back, so we thought we'd show it off with the girls in tow.

Terry with a James Beard Award.  He'll have one someday.  He already has several Lindsey Gibbons Awards. ;-)

Sharing some Calamari and Dungeness Crab Cake Starters.  After this point, I went into my "I'm in food heaven/bliss/coma" and stupidly didn't take any other photographs.  We had the Grilled Ahi Tuna with basil aioli and picked ginger and then the Chicken Breast with Bellwether Farms Ricotta, green onion-herb mayonnaise and housemade chips, and we attempted to split it.  The Ahi was a little too rare for me, absolutely perfect  for Terry.  The girls split the Mongolian Porkchop and I tell you, that is nothing short of perfection.  No wonder it's Cindy Pawlcyns signature dish. 

Dinner: The best meal of the trip.  Homemade in the Barn by Terry.  On our wine stop at Simi a few days earlier, Terry got hooked and bought a Risotto cookbook, so he wanted his first attempt to be in Sonoma.  Talk about self-stress.  He's a pro though, so while it took forever to make, it was so delicious! 

The girls helping in the kitchen

ideal birthday dinner!

I still luckily got to be sous-chef, so I prepped out the plates once they were all ready to go.

Salad and tomatoes from the garden, saffron risotto, grilled/sauteed squash and zucchini, and tri-trip steak with a cilantro-pepper aioli.  Drooling all over again!

Nothing completes a birthday or an amazing meal quite like a chocolate truffle molten deliciousness of bakery goodness!  Terry looks so entertained.

that's a lot of candles....whomp whomp

yup, and that's the best picture of the cake.  After that, it was food delirium again and pictures weren't even thought about.  Oops.  Trust me, it was divine.  Even the next morning for dessert!   :-)

Wine Country: The Food Part I

I'm kinda sad to write up these last posts because it's been so nice reflecting back on all our fun and this is the end to re-living it.  In our world, food ranks up there in the "top priorities" file, so we made our way through the valley primarily focused on the wineries, but then a close second this round was also on the food and restaurants.
For those non-food lovers out there, you're not going to hurt my feelings one bit if you skip these posts.  I'll ramble, I'll post too many pictures, and I'll probably drool a lot (luckily you won't see that part).  Thing is...I'm not apologizing for it.  And if you are my food-lovin' friends, well Just You Wait!!! Although don't get angry for the few places I didn't snap photos.  I was distracted.  Clearly. 
Spoiler Alert: The best meal of the trip was my birthday dinner that Terry made at The Barn.  But that's for the next post.  And don't worry, I've got the pictures covered. 

Starting things off:

Sunday Night
Thai Noodles in Berkeley
Yes, that was actually the name of the restaurant.  We busted our bums to try and get to Spengers Fish Market or Trader Vics, but we got caught up with our luggage and rental car and with it being Sunday, places closed early. Boo. We drove around Berkeley, and this was one of the only restaurants we could find that was still open.  Both our meals were great. We certainly weren't anticipating the start of the trip would be Thai, but it was an unexpected enjoyment. 

Monday
Lunch: Taco Truck at a Gas Station. Ohmigod it was so good!  We ate in the car on the way to Etude and I'm sure we smelled like fresh onion and cilantro when we walked it, but sweet mercy it was so worth it!
Afternoon Snack: The Plaza Bistro on Sonoma Square.  We had Dungeness Crab Cakes over fennel & baby arugula salad and red bell pepper remoulade, and Sweet Pea & Goat Cheese Risotto Cakes that were pan seared and topped with sweet pepper compote and smoked bacon.  The crab cakes were unfortunately too oily and therefore mushy, but the sauce was awesome (we may or may not have sopped it all up with the bread).  The Risotto Cakes were all right, not anything that was over the top, just right for the afternoon.

Dinner: Meritage Martini Oyster Bar and Grille  We went here on a recommendation from The Plaza Bistro because I told them I really had a craving for Seafood for dinner.  What an unfortunate mistake.  We passed a few places that we'd heard rave reviews about, and afterwards we were kicking ourselves hard.
The irony of it all though was that none of the seafood options were appealling to me, so I opted to try something new: I ordered Wild Boar Baby Back Ribs that were braised in a Porcini cabernet shallot sauce and served over grilled polenta. (I'm a sucker for something new....and anything with Polenta).  Terry had the Bouillabaise, which is a seafood stew with tiger prawns, manila clams, mussels, and mixed fresh fish in a spicy tomato saffron broth.  Both were average.  Nothing wow'ed us.  And I think we were more perplexed by the horrid ambience in the place than anything else.  Quite possibly the first time that we've directly paid attention to how the setting of a restaurant can effect the overall experience.  Lets just say, Jeff Lewis from Flipping Out would have had a heart attack in this place. 

Tuesday
We began with a food and wine pairing at Kendall Jackson Estate that was out of this world. Rather than explain each picture out individually, here was the menu that we tried with the wine pairing.

  The buckwheat crepe had me wanting to try and learn how to make Crepes when we got back home.

Never thought I would love a fried green tomato.  Turns out, they're delicious, and it paired beautifully with the Chardonnay.

We both individually stated that we could have each eaten a gallon (Terry said a vat, but it's basically the same thing) of the White Bean Soup.  It was so balanced, the bacon had the perfect  fact, the puree was creamy but still had a fine grit in it; put simply it was Divine.

Our first time with Pork Belly.  We hear about it and have the opportunity on occasion, but it just always ends up seeming so "risky".  I still had a bit of a mental block with it ("I'm eating fat...and it's ok"), but Terry helped me stay on track with the Clean Plate Club.  I will say though that the Syrah was perfectly palattely (my made up word) paired with it. 

YUM!!  I couldn't stop myself from gnawing this down, so I was bad and didn't really taste the "pairing" very well in this course.  But the Cab was yummy too!

The Executive Chef, Justin Wangler, served us our final pairing.  He was so kind, gave us so many wonderful recommendations (which we used to our benefit later in the day) for food on the rest of our trip, and was just really enjoyable to be around.  Its very easy to respect someone with a solid passion for food.  (You can quote me on that. :-D)
Desserts were just as spectacular as the previous courses. Again, we both said we'd happily purchase a vat of the Buttermilk Panna Cotta if it was available for sale.  Also, they provide full recipes for all of their courses.  This was a slight variation, but just in the event anyone else is interested: Panna Cotta Link

Our popcorn lasted for snacking through the next day, but we were trying to savor every last kernel.

While we were talking to Justin, he had asked why we were vacationing, and it may have been blurted out mentioned that my birthday was the upcoming weekend.  As we were finishing up, Justin ran back out after us and brought us Vanilla Flan with Caramel Sauce along with a birthday candle. 

Tuesday
Lunch: Healdsburg Bar and Grille
After Justin's recommendation, we swung in for a little bite here.  We ordered crab bites, and a hamburger to split (topped with goat cheese and bacon...NOM NOM NOM).  Sitting outside in the gorgeous weather with a drink, some crab, and a burger...I was in heaven.
Afternoon Snacking: Oakville Grocery Co. AND Willi's Seafood and Raw Bar
We are in love with Oakville Grocery from over in Napa, and so we went nuts when we remembered there was also one in Healdsburg.  We spent way too much time wandering their cheeses, wines, and meats, but we got a hearty amount for snacking the rest of the week.  Then we had a mini picnic on a park bench in the Square.

 our view during the picnic

After a little more wandering, we swung in to Willi's Seafood and Raw Bar and tried their Hamachi Ceviche with Rocoto Chili, Lime Juice, Pepitas.  It was yummy, but at that point I was still so stuffed from the picnic. 

Dinner: Zuzu's in Downtown Napa
We had a hefty drive to get to our hotel for the night which was down in Napa, so we had a very late night dinner.  The entire menu is Tapas style, and we ordered 4 things (again, Tapas so small portions; we did not order 4 meals worth of food!) that every one of them was amazing. I didn't take any pictures (Boo), but I think I was just absolutely exhausted by this point, and I took little niblets of each thing, but I bet in total I had 5 bites of food.  We ordered the Tortilla Espanola which was a Potato & Sweet Onion Spanish Omelette, Harissa Spiked Lamb Burger (SO good!), Flat Iron Steak with Jalapeno Chimichurri, and the Paella, which is one of their Signature meals.  I ate most of the Spanish Bomba Rice from it.  If you're ever in Napa, do yourself a favor, make a reservation, and Enjoy!  There were only 15 or so tables in the whole restaurant, so factor in a bit of wait time though. 

Wednesday
Lunch: Picnic lunch again from Oakville Grocery.  Like I told you, we bought enough for snacking and lunching. SO good!
Afternoon Snack: The Farmstead
We got the recommendation to stop here from our time at Hall Wine.  Their mantra is that everything they serve is directly from farm to table.  The outside of the restaurant is completely surrounded by gardens, and all of the meats are locally sourced.  The outside was beautiful, but the inside was even more breath-taking.

Our Bounty!  The item to the left was Point Reyes blue cheese coleslaw...

Cured ham sandwiches on cheddar biscuits with fresno chile jam.  I had a VERY hard time sharing, and

Meatballs with caramelized root vegetables and tomato marmalade

As we were in the middle of our day, we just grabbed a few small plates to split, but I can only imagine how amazing their main dishes are.  This is a MUST STOP AND EAT restaurant.

Dinner: Barolos in Calistoga
We had a late dinner again (actually, after contemplating just skipping dinner for a quick minute, then realized how silly that would be).  I ordered Shrimp Pappardelle with Broccolini and chili flakes and Terry had Chicken Picatta with a Roasted Fingerling Potato Ragu.  My sauce was slamming and Terry's Chicken was juicy, so I think we tied with who's plate was better.
We may have also somehow found room to split an amazing cheesecake dessert.  No clue how we did it, but it was DELICIOUS!  It was so velvetty,  I swear it had to have been made with Marscapone!

 

Here's the first half.  Actually, this may not be split quite in half, but it's the perfect split point for then when the girls joined us.  Until the next post....