Vines in a Row

Last weekend a bunch of us took a day trip to Healdsburg, California to check out a little bit of the Sonoma wine country and get some summer. Luckily we live in a place where that’s just about an hour and a half car ride away.  Per usual the day was full of laughs.

I snapped this shot on our way home just as our day up in the north country was coming to a close. It’s what I imagine Italy looks like.

Sigh. Just another day in California. 🙂

 

Cotogna (Italian for AMAZING)

One of my dear friends in SF I actually met working at Petite Jacqueline back in Maine.  She’s a true food and wine connoisseur and now works as the sommelier at Cotogna, an awesome Italian restaurant on Pacific Avenue in North Beach.

Cotogna’s atmosphere is a warm and cozy environment with furnishings and lamps that almost look straight out of the 70s.  The woodwork and dim lighting makes this a seemingly hidden haven that envelopes you in comfort as you enter. Perfect for a dinner with friends or a romantic date.

On Sunday, I had dinner at this fine little restaurant. Since leaving the restaurant world I find I eat out less and miss the constant connection to sampling new dishes and wines.

So, naturally,  we went all out starting off the dinner with a refreshing glass of Santhomas Rosato Spumante sparkling. We also enjoyed some Sassotondo Ciliegiolo, a lovely, complex red with bright fruit tones, with dinner. It’s been a minute since I’ve had such a good experience with new wine. While the beverages would have been enough to leave me satisfied, the food was REALLY over the top.

On this particular evening the menu was already selected and went as follows:

Asparagus Salad
Wild mushroom, mint & fava leaf pesto

Artichoke Pansotti
Walnut, artichoke & pecorino

Olive oil poached Lingcod
Spring vegetable ragu

La Tur
Cow, Goat & Sheep’s milk cheese from Piemonte

Limoncello & Rum Baba
Creme fraiche & almonds

Everything was the perfect combination of unique flavors.  The pasta is AMAZING. Seriously the most amazing pasta I’ve ever had! Go just for the pasta. Or the wine. But I recommend you do it all! It’ll be an experience you and your taste buds won’t regret! 🙂

For my fellow wine lovers…

7×7 is the go to publication here in SF for what’s hot and what’s not…

Today they tweeted an article reviewing 4 hot wine apps. I’m kindly reposting that content as I think it’s well worth sharing and encouraging all you fellow wine lovers out there to check out!  I know I most certainly will be exploring some of these:

Vivino: Vivino promises that you will never forget another wine, which, after a few glasses can be a real problem. All you have to remember to do is take a picture with your phone through the app, rate it if you like it, and Vivino will store it in your wine library. If the wine is in their database (which is growing all the time, thanks to users’ contributions) it will also give you some info on the region, the grape and producer.

Delectable: Founded in SF, this app does all of the above and allows you to find and purchase the wine you previously enjoyed so much. But what users appreciate most about Delectable is that it also allows you to connect to family and friends and follow other wine drinkers you admire to see what they recommend. It also allows you to comment on the wines those in your community are drinking–because what is wine without conversation?

Drync: This app tracks wines that are top-rated (including ratings from professional critics) and popular, and also makes recommendations a la Netflix (people who liked the 2005 Rutherford Hill Cabernet Franc also apparently liked a 2000 Barberesco, for example). This too seems like a feature that will become more accurate the more people use it. Drync also allows you to view and manage your virtual cellar from their website.

Cor.kz: Boasting the most robust database by far — thanks to its connection with Cellar Tracker and Wine Searcher — Cor.kz is most useful for finding info about wine when you are trying to make a purchasing decision rather than having a conversation about it afterwards. It has also been recommended for serious collectors, especially those who already use Cellar Tracker.

Point Reyes/Marshall, CA

This weekend, for a certain someone’s birthday, we took a trip out of the city and up the coast to a little town called Marshall on Tomales Bay, just past Point Reyes.

Weekend conclusion: I REALLY like California. And champagne. 🙂

We spent the weekend exploring the coast, taking a nice little bike ride/hike around Point Reyes National Park, enjoying the famous local oysters, reading in the sun and by the fire, cooking and enjoying good food.

It’s tough when you have weekends like this past one because it’s hard to find a balance. Okay tough and this weekend shouldn’t be in the same sentence, but it brought up a very good life lesson to try and remember.

I found myself asking is this as good as it gets? Because I mean, it’s pretty damn good. But if you settle for that being as good as it gets you don’t get any better.  So the lesson? Find the balance: enjoying the really good moments as they pass but remain confident that more are to come.  It’s much easier said then done.

Reality was sure tough getting back to today.  Luckily, I got to go on an outdoor photo shoot back over the Golden Gate bridge this morning for one of my clients. It was a nice way to ease back into real life.

Enjoy the photos!

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And for my next 25 years…

I did not want a big party or anything extravagant for my 25th birthday even though I absolutely ADORE presents and attention.  I greatly dislike birthdays because there is always a tremendous amount of pressure for them to be wonderful and when one little thing goes wrong that would normally be a hiccup any other day, becomes a travesty.

I am in a transition phase of life.  Where I’m leaving a huge part of my life behind and moving on to be more “adult-like” UGH.  Seemingly terrible at times, I’m actually enjoying this move towards adulthood, most of the time.

While I do not like the idea of getting older, I’m actually fully embracing this new journey of “growing up” that I’ve been on.  “Growing up” is such an ugly phrase, I prefer to think of it as taking more responsibility for my own happiness and my life.  Every day I become more conscious of me.

I’m currently working towards having more deep rooted moments of happiness, fun and feelings of success.  Before I used to think that by living for the moment you constantly had to be having fun.  But I’ve recently realized that living for the moment can mean that you’re living in the moment by preparing for the future.  Working hard and whole heartedly at moments of happiness, fun and success leave longer lasting good feelings then all the instant gratification fixes I’ve spent much of the first 25 years of my life craving.

So for my 25th, I decided to take a few moments pause to reflect.

25 things I have learned…

1. A LOT can change in a year.
2. While a lot can change, a lot stays the same.
3. Practice more self control, especially when eating candy and pizza.
4. I don’t want to own a restaurant.
5. Strawberries contain more vitamin C then any other fruit.
6. I can run a half marathon.
7. I learned to be more confident.
8. I’m no longer my parents priority.
9. Less is so. much. MORE.
10. I’m a pretty decent cook.
11. My grandfather is my biggest fan.
12. It’s best not to have attachments to things.
13. I like the taste of frogs legs.
14. It’s best to fully COMMIT to a day of laziness.
15. Movies like “Pretty Woman” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” will almost always make me feel better.
16. There is little an ice cream cone and/or pizza can’t make at least a little tiny bit better.
17. It’s better to have tirelessly tried then to never have tried and never know.
18. It is more rewarding to watch something you wholly believe in succeed in the smallest way then to watch something you don’t believe in succeed in the biggest way.
19. It’s important to take time for yourself, but being self-absorbed is not an attractive quality.
20. I too easily let the little things upset me.
21. Not every day will be perfect.
22. There’s a special feeling that comes with the first warm day that you can only feel after enduring a New England winter.
23. Having some one believe in you makes ALL the difference.
24. There’s no use in obsessing over the things one cannot control.
25. It’s best not to put too much pressure on any one person, moment or event.

25 things I want to work on…

1. Not making things more complicated then they really are.
2. Floss more.
3. Drink more tea.
4. Be more confident.
5. Make my bed and match my sox more often.
6. Try more wine.
7. Go out dancing more.
8. Eat more fish.
9. Communicating more clearly.
10. Dwell less speak more.
11. Not sweating the small stuff.
12. Watch all those classic movies I’ve been saying I would.
13. Be more genuine.
14. Practice more random acts of kindness, including paying someone else’s toll and over tipping.
15. Call and/or write to my grandmother more.
16. Take more time for myself.
17. Do the things I like to do.
18. Listen to what I really want.
19. Read more books.
20. Slow down.
21. Eat slower.
22. Take less pictures.  One good one is better then a hundred okay ones.
23. Start to learn Italian.
24. Hold less expectations.
25. Waiting to calm down before speaking.