Napa Valley and San Francisco

I am so lucky that I was able to spend 10 days in California, with 7 days in Napa Valley and 3 days in San Francisco. If you've never been to either city, I highly recommend planning a trip! 

Napa is well-known for its wine, but it's also really popular for its food! I wrote about some great food I had here.

Friday

Friday wasn't super exciting since it was the travel day. We did have a great dinner at Napkins Bar and Grill, though! 

We stayed at the RiverPointe, and how cute are these little cottages?

 I didn't take it apart all week, it was just too cute!

Saturday

Saturday brought around the local farmers market, where we stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies for the week. I always like to buy local art when I travel, and when I saw these beauties I knew I had to get them.

After the Farmers Market we wandered around Oxbow Market, and had another great dinner at Kitchen Door. 

Sunday

Sunday we explored Downtown Napa and ventured to their outlet mall. It was a good thing they had an outlet mall close by, since my Coach sunglasses I got 10 years ago broke. Oh, well. At least I was able to replace them within the hour!

After the outlet mall we headed to a restaurant called Tarla. The restaurants in Napa Valley can do no wrong!

Monday

Monday brought about our first wine tasting tour. Our tour guide, Hector, was awesome. We went to 3 wineries, two of which are small while the third was the famous Castello di Amorosa. You can't have a trip to Napa Valley without a trip to Castello di Amorosa!

Before we stopped at any wineries, we took a few pictures with this guy. No trip to Napa is complete without visiting the grape crusher!

We started at a small and inconspicuous winery in a warehouse called Spelletich. I ended up buying a bottle of wine here. 

Our second winery was right around the corner, and they had a little food pairing to go with the wines. Well, it wasn't exactly food.. It was various flavored oils to get the "essence" of food that best pairs with the wine. It wasn't what I expected, but it made the experience even better. This may have been my favorite of the day since they donate 7% to charities. It may not sound like a lot, but it's more than a lot of other places! 

I ended up buying a bottle of wine here, too. 






The third place we went was Castello di Amorosa, which is this gigantic Italian style castle. It was absolutely beautiful, but man was it busy here!

The wine was good, but I did not buy any bottles here. 


I have to say that this was a great first day of wine tasting!


Tuesday

On Tuesday we went on a biking wine tour to three wineries, and biked 18 miles. EIGHTEEN MILES PEOPLE! I hope that burned off some of the calories from all the delicious food I ate this week. 



I didn't take many pictures, but I did stop for a second to snap a quick picture of this grape cluster. Look how big it is! These are Zinfandel, in case you're wondering. 



At the second winery, we did a wine and chocolate tasting. Oh my goodness, if you have never done one of these you are missing out!

This was a tiring day, but well worth it.



Wednesday

Wednesday wasn't that exciting. We planned to go on a walking foodie tour, but it was cancelled because enough people didn't sign up. Boooo! 



Thursday

Thursday we went on another wine tour to 4 wineries in Sonoma. We ended at one of my favorite wineries, which I visited a few years ago. 





Friday



On Friday it was time to say adios to Napa Valley, and helloooo to San Francisco! 


Saturday


On Saturday we took the ferry over to Sausalito. How gorgeous is this view?

Sunday

Sunday marked the end of the trip. How is it that June dragged by so slowly, and then this trip was over in the blink of an eye? 


Well, while that fun is now over, you still have a chance to have some and enter the giveaway! 

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Five Amazing Dinners in Napa Valley

Today I'm linking up with Kacey at Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday. This past week I've been in Napa Valley, and I'm sharing five amazing dinners I've had here.

Our first night in Napa we went to a restaurant called Napkins Bar and Grill. Oh my goodness, this place was so good! We were able to sit outside on their patio to hear the free concert across the street in the park, which was an added bonus to the beautiful 75 or so degree weather. 

We started out with the lamb sliders. I normally don't do lamb, or sliders, but I decided to try new things while in Napa. I'm sure glad I did because they were delicious!

I tried one of their daily specials, which was Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli. It was probably the best ravioli I've ever had. 

My mom ordered the scallops, which were absolutely amazing. I was lucky, because I was able to try one and it was cooked to perfection.

All in all, this trip started out pretty good.. to say the least. 

On our second day in Napa we went to a restaurant called Kitchen Door. It's in this place called Oxbow Public Market, and it basically has a bunch of small restaurants and stores together in an open area. It was completely packed, so we chose this restaurant because it sounded good, and was also out of the hustle and bustle inside the main market. 

We started out with the Shrimp Tostada Salad, which did not look like a salad at all. That's okay, because it was delicious. 

I ordered the Korean Style Short Ribs, which I've never had before. I'm glad I tried it, because it was amazing! It came with bacon fried rice, and honestly, can you go wrong with bacon?

For dessert we split the lemon cheesecake. I usually don't go for lemon flavored desserts, but I may need to start now. What have I been missing out on?

We decided to try a new type of cuisine. With all the foodies in Napa, this is definitely the place to try something new! So we tried "Greek Turkish Fusion" and ended up at Tarla.

We ordered the Baba Ghanoush as an appetizer, which was good. I forgot to take a picture of it. My bad. 

I ordered the Turkish Beef Meatballs. I normally wouldn't order something like this, but in the spirit of trying new foods I ordered something I typically don't eat. This was really good! It even had baked kale, which I figured I would hate, but it tasted much better than I expected it to. 

My mom ordered Lamb Tenderloin, which she gave a good review. For dessert we split Coppa Crema Pistachio, which was gelato, and I forgot to take picture of this too. I was really slacking with the photos at this meal! I promised myself that I would be better about taking pictures of the delicious food at the next meal.

After a day of biking around to different wineries, we were craving Italian food! On our way to the bike tour shop, we passed Il Posto, so we figured we'd stop there on the way back to the hotel. 

We started with the sauteed calamari, which was different from calamari that I'm used to having - fried with sauce on the side. This one was sauteed in marinara sauce, and it even had Italian sausage mixed in, too. Something different, but definitely something good!

I have never had gnocchi. Well, gnocchi that I haven't made, and I don't make it the traditional way. It came with pork and veggies, and was amazing. I need to learn how to make it this way!

My mom ordered their special for the night, which was a vegetarian lasagna. She was between this and the Eggplant Parmesan, and this was so good so I think she was happy with her choice!

After biking 18 miles with Napa Valley Bike Tours, this was exactly what we needed. 

Have you ever heard of Fogo de Chao? Well Galpao Gaucho  is a similar restaurant. They've got a great salad bar, as well as people that walk around offering various pieces of cooked meats. 

You have to have some greens before eating a ton of steaks and other meats, right?

I couldn't tell you which was which, only that they were all amazing. That's all that really matters, right?

And of course we had to go for another dessert. I've got a lot of running ahead of me to burn off all these calories!

And now after a week of eating and drinking good wine, I will probably not need to eat again until I go back to school. 

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P.S. Help me celebrate 1 year of blogging and TpTing by entering my giveaway! 

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Summer(ish) Trip #1 - Catalina Island

I absolutely love Catalina Island. Ever since I first went there in 6th grade, I have absolutely loved this island. I can't put my finger on exactly why I love this place so much.. I just think the whole thing is amazing!

For my 25th birthday, Matt and I took a quick weekend trip there. Here are some of the highlights from our trip:

Casino Point

We started our trip off just walking around and exploring.

That's the Casino in the background

We went on a jeep tour, which took us way up into the mountains. The views were absolutely beautiful!

An early dinner right on the beach.

And then all too quickly, it was over.

Good-bye Catalina.. until next time.

Still on the to do list for Catalina:

Kayaking

Boat tour

Catalina Wine Mixer (just kidding)

Well... not really. That would actually be pretty awesome.

Where are your must go destinations this summer? Let me know in the comments!