I live in paradise. The weather is temperate most of the year. The landscape is lush, filled with miles of meandering roads and beautiful scenery. Every time I walk outside, I can smell the freshness in the air, and the potential for exploring new and glorious locales within a 100 mile radius. The food–delectable. The wine–incredible. This life–a fantasy.
Then POOF! I woke up. Boooooo.
I just got back from vacation. When it’s a good trip, this is how I feel when I get home. A bit of a letdown after a week of dreaming what it would be like to actually live in my vacation destination. Sigh… It was great while it lasted.
This year, we headed to the West coast, and were fortunate to have the chance to split our time between a couple days in San Francisco, and then a few days relaxing and exploring wine country north of the City by the Bay (chime in with the Journey song here, if you like). And like in my dream, the food and wine were phenomenal.
And since I like to torture people the way they torture me with pictures and stories from THEIR fabulous vacations, I’m going to do that to you. ‘Cause I’m just mean. And because you need to know about some of this great stuff if (when?) you get to head out that way yourself. Consider it a modern day slide show with great tips buried in there for you.
(However, note that the pictures were all taken on my phone, so forgive the resolution. But I think you’ll get the gist pretty easily.)
First up, the food. Oh man, the fresh, delicious, and creative stuff we sampled was the stuff of dreams. Hence, my fantasizing about a life where I get to eat like this every darned day. On our first full day in San Francisco, we were lucky enough to have brunch with some friends of mine from my previous life in the nonprofit world. We met up at a recently opened place called BDK, which is connected to the Marker Hotel. On the menu was listed a brunch item that caught all of our attention immediately–Ham & Cheese Pop Tarts. Yes, you read correctly.
They were so simple we all did a collective head slap. Why hadn’t we thought to make these? 3 ingredients, and flavor galore. These little goodies were served with a dijon sauce, but honestly they didn’t even need it. Smoky, cheesy, flaky. Done, done, and DONE. I will DEFINITELY be trying to make these back here on the home front.
The weather was incredible, so we took a long stroll around Chinatown and the surrounding neighborhoods. I mean, when in Rome, er, I mean San Francisco, right? After the requisite pictures of the paper lanterns, ducks hanging in restaurant windows, and odd knick knacks that can be found in this classic neighborhood, we were ready for a nap. We were on vacation, so why not?
That same evening, we were fortunate to call on some other friends/locals for a superb dinner at The Progress. Holy crap, this was an amazing meal. A multi-course family style menu, we dined on incredibly creative items such as roasted figs with fondue sauce, lamb tartare, pork charcuterie salad, squid and octopus with beans, and a luxurious “treasure chest” of flavors in a pork broth. <shudder> I needed to be alone for a moment.
The mixture of the food, the setting, the wine, and the fabulous friends made for one hell of an evening. It was one of those nights when you wish you lived closer so that you could do this more often–with these same friends. Alas… Thank goodness there was wine to comfort me. (yes, the wine even left its mark on the menu)
Sick of me yet? Well, if not stay tuned tomorrow when I make you even more jealous by showing you the amazing views in wine country, as well as bragging about some of the incredible hidden gems of wineries up there.
To entice you further, I’ve added even more pictures here for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to lick the computer screen. I won’t tell anyone.
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What a glorious trip you took. All that food looks amazing.
Wow, that looks like a wonderful vacation! I could dive right into that Pork Charcuterie Salad with Fish Sauce!