July 2008 Archives

There is something magic about big city nightlife. Last night E and I ventured down to Sacramento's Grid, along with our good friends Candy and Howie. We began at the free concert at Cesar Chavez park.

No one under the age of 12 is allowed to enter the fenced-in beer garden where the beer and wine booths are bustling with lines 10 or 15 people deep. The age limit didn't keep families with young children from attending and sitting outside the beer garden. The band was a fun blend of hip-hop with some bluesy rock influences. Young and old were dancing together near the stage, while hundreds of others looked on over the heads of the dancers.

Our next stop was a bit more subdued and conducive to conversation. We walked down to Crepeville and drank a bottle of wine in the cool summer breeze on the outdoor patio. A man with a couple of gorgeous Irish wolfhounds sat behind us, his gigantic companions laying blissfully at his feet. I fell in love with the huge canines, thinking what fun they would have in the way back of our yard.

One bottle doesn't last long between four people, and we called it quits because of our early departure toward home the next morning. Goodbyes said, hugs and kisses exchanged, Candy and Howie left for their suburban home, while E and I returned to our beautiful room at the Amber House B&B only blocks away.

Milk and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies were waiting in our room at Amber House, along with turn down service on the grand bed. Short statured that I am--I am not exaggerating here--I had to hurdle myself onto the bed. E and I got some laughs reading the in-room guestbook, where former guests left comments about their stay in the room. Some of the comments were PG-13 rated, with many of them raving about the room and the celebrations that were enjoyed on the bed.

We toured the captial building later that morning, stopping by the main hall to shoot photos of statuary, the interior of the dome, and the Governator's office. The capital building is open for free tours of the public areas, but on this Saturday the place was zipped up tighter than the lips of an honest politician.

So passed our awesome mother/daughter road trip, campus visits, wining and dining experience, and Northern California press tour. We arrived home still talking and laughing; both of us commented on how blessed we are to have the kind of relationship that doesn't turn into a mom/dauty cat fight after a week together on the road and sharing hotel roomss.

Watch for more about all of these NorCal destinations in upcoming Sunday features in the Press-Enterprise.

If you're coming to Napa Valley to explore the wine route and stop for tastings at all of the wineries, you'll need several days. After a day of dining and tasting, a day of spa and shopping, E and I headed up the Highway 29, also known as the St. Helena Highway and referred to as the wine route.

We passed the enormous operations of Beringer, Sutter Home, Mondavi, household names found in wine shelves and cellars of homes and restaurants around the world. Side by side with the mega-producers are smaller wineries such as Domain Chandon, Flora Springs, Merryvale, and other names not as commonly known, but equally fine.

Even if you don't stop for tastings, the drive along the St. Helena Highway is lovely. Vineyards stretch across the valley flats, creep up the hillsides, their leafy green arms reaching toward the summer sun. Grape clusters dangle from the vines, green and firm, still a couple of months from harvest.

We said goodbye to Napa Valley and headed out the back roads toward Sacramento. My longtime friends Candy and Howie live here and we stopped at their home for refreshments before checking into our hotel. We have a beautiful burgandy-themed suite at the Marriott Residence Inn, a downtown hotel situated right across the street from the Capital Park. The roominess of the suite with its kitchen, separate bedroom and sleeper sofa makes it perfect for traveling with children.

Candy and her daughter met us back at the hotel, then led us on a walking tour through the park, down the mall, into the plaza, under I-5, through old town and to the river. We watched the sun set behind the Sacramento River, while we dined on salads and ravioli at Rio City Café.

Today we're taking a walking tour through historic Sacramento and possibly visiting a couple of the many museums in this capital city. A tour through the capital itself just might be on the junket as well.

Have you ever visited the capital city and toured our state's center of government?

I am so in love with Napa Valley, I just might propose.

Yesterday we began with the champagne breakfast that is complimentary to all guests at the Vintage Inn. This isn't just a tray of dried out sausage, limp bacon and reconstituted powdered eggs, but a fully realized breakfast buffet as fine as any I've enjoyed for $$$ at other hotels. In fact, I'm sitting here in the dining room writing while I'm enjoying my quiche, nibbling my croissant and sipping my mimosa. Wish you were here.

After my Napa style huevos rancheros and fresh fruit yesterday, I checked in to the Villagio Spa at the Vintage Inn's sister property. Here is a place that understands serenity and elegance. I began with a wellness massage in one of the private spa suites, then moved on to the salon for a facial and paraffin wax hand treatment. My face was glowing when the therapist was finished scrubbing, rubbing, smoothing and soothing my skin.

E and I took lunch in the private patio just outside the spa suite, then basked in the warmth until it was time to go on our wine tasting.

Dinner at 25° Brix found us treated to a tasting menu with wine pairings by sommelier Bruce Conklin. We began dining during magic hour on the patio, where the sun slanting on the gardens and vinyards touched everything with a golden patina.

By the time we finished dining, we'd gone through ten tasting courses (small, individual portions) of the restaurant's top signature dishes and ten small flights of wines selected to compliment each dish. E and I fell madly in crush with the tuna tartare on tempura fried nori, while I swooned over the tomato salad with pecan pesto. Just when we thought we couldn't take anything else, they brought us full portions of grilled Alaskan halibut and rack of lamb. We didn't get back to the hotel until 11 pm. Great memories, excellent food, superb wine. The good life.

I left my heart in San Francisco, but found it had flown ahead and met me in Napa Valley.

E and I left San Francisco wishing we had more days to explore the city. E wanted to check out Berkeley's English department on the way to Napa, so we plotted our course to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, then back across the bay on the Richmond Bridge, then down to Berkeley.

Berkeley's a quaint little town with a lot of eclectic shops, bookstores, and coffeehouses. One could spend days exploring, but we didn't. As soon as E was done with her campus visit, we pushed onward to Napa.

I'd checked out The Vintage Inn on its website before booking here, but the website doesn't do justice to this charming place. The property sits on the main street through Yountville, a lovely little town north of Napa. We have a bungalow with a wood-burning fireplace (with logs), spa tub, stocked refrigerator, coffee machine and an expresso machine and a complimentary bottle of Beringer Chardonnay.

Last night we were invited to the special friends and family opening of celebrity chef Michael Chiarello's flagship in his line of NapaStyle stores. Michael greeted his guests, standing on the chopping block in the cafe's kitchen. He made points with me when he said there is a difference between "taste" and "flavor," saying that most people can make things taste good, but flavor is more. Flavor is all about the food experience, not just how it tastes.

Later, E and I dined at Ad Hoc, the new restaurant opened by French Laundry's chef and owner, Thomas Keller. Ad Hoc serves family style, four courses from a single menu that changes daily. E and I enjoyed a lovely salad, main dish of roasted beef shank and vegetables, a cheese plate, and my newest favorite dessert, Buttermilk Panna Cotta.

Today I'm going to hideaway at the new Villagio Spa located just down the street from the Vintage Inn. Afterwards, E and I will put on our walking shoes and hit the trail to the tasting rooms that are scattered throughout Yountville.

Watch the Sunday travel section of the Press-Enterprise for more about The Vintage Inn and Yountville.

While E drove down to Stanford for her meeting with the English graduate program advisor yesterday, I poked around the embarcadero in San Francisco. (I had to head back to the Hyatt to get a jacket, though, it's downright chilly here.)

I rode the trolley car out to Pier 39 and enjoyed an afternoon watching the crepe-maker, the fudge maker, and the sourdough bread makers. I bought J a trinked at Lefty's, a shop with all kinds of fun stuff for left-handed people. Stopping for lunch at Hook & Cook, I enjoyed a spicy, red-style shrimp and clam chowder in a sourdough bowl, while chatting with three young ladies here from Ireland for the summer.

Last night E and I dined and reveled in the tent of delicious hilarity at San Francisco's Teatro ZinZanni. Housed in an authentic, turn-of-the-20th-century spiegeltent (tent of mirrors) on San Francisco's Pier 29, Teatro ZinZanni is like no other dinner show that I've seen in California.

Currently running is the Egyptian-themed "Love, Dinner and Chaos," an interactive course of comedy, cabaret, cirque and cuisine. "Chef Caesar" (Frank Ferrante) leads guests through this five-course gourmet meal with snappy set sketches played with remarkable improv against ordinary folks pulled from the room.

The comedy intertwines with the world-class circque performers who dance, twist, climb, caress and clown through the three-hour performance. Visit the cast page here to see an example of the talent that plays under the Teatro ZinZanni spiegeltent.

If you're planning a trip to San Francisco, you can take advantage of this amazing offer of accommodations at the Handlery Union Square Hotel and two seats at Teatro ZinZanni, plus a few other perks in the package.

I'll write more about Teatro ZinZanni in an upcoming edition of the Press-Enterprise. Watch for it.

This morning my daughter and I embarked on a road trip from our Inland Valley home to San Francisco. While I do some touristy stuff around town, E is going to check out the English departments at Stanford and Berkeley.

After seven hours on the road we checked into the Hyatt Regency at Embarcadero Center. This hotel has special memories for me. Way back in the days when gasoline was about 35-cents a gallon, my ROP class in travel careers took a field trip to San Francisco. We flew from ONT to SFO on complimentary flights given by PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines--now defunct). The first thing we did when we arrived in the city was have breakfast at the Hyatt Regency at Embarcadero Center.

We walked into the hotel's atrium lobby and my eyes swept high and low, across and through the grandeur of the place. I had only seen such places on TV. In fact, the crisp table linens, crystal and real silverware made me feel as if I'd crawled inside one of my mom's soap operas.

E and I are staying for a couple of days here. Our room is on the 14th floor, overlooking Pier 1 and the great blue San Francisco Bay. Pinch me.

In the weeks ahead I'll be writing more about San Francisco, Napa Valley and Sacramento in the Press-Enterprise. Watch for it.

Could this grand old city be the Mexican version of Seattle? After my first genuine red eye from California to Mexico, I woke up to find my plane descending into clouds. These weren't fluffy cotton candy clouds, but thick marshmallow clouds that looked like they were held over the campfire too long.

I never saw outside the airport until my driver pulled out of the parking garage and headed onto the highway choked with morning traffic. A light drizzle fell over Mexico City, laying a slick shine that filmmakers like when they shoot roads.

Checking into the lovely Hotel Nikko, I headed up to my 18th floor room and swept open the curtains to survey the view. The city was enshrouded with mist, clouds hovered over the hills in the distance, while huge skyscrapers jutted up from above the cloud's horizon. A zig-zag of lightning zipped across the sky at eye-level. A moment later thunder roared across the sky and rattled the plate glass window in front of me.

I spoke with a friend who lives here and she assured me this is typical weather for July and the city is known for its stormy weather. This was not the Mexico City I was expecting and I'm looking forward to seeing more of Mexico's capital city.