Wine Tasting Part 2

Saturday morning we got up and decided to drive across the hill to the Napa Valley since I'd never been wine tasting in Napa and Carina loves the Dutch Henry chardonnay (which they are no longer producing).  They did, however, have a really cool bocci ball court that we hung out at and admired the view of the vineyard and the rest of the valley beyond it.  

 We also really liked their wino-crossing sign.  Carina even took a cute picture with it and the bottle of wine Mom bought her.  

After Dutch Henry, everyone agreed that we had to go up to Sterling, which is on top of this little hill in the middle of the valley.  You take an old gondola up from the parking lot on the valley floor and ohmigosh it's really something.  

When we got into the winery, they had a self-guided tour of the facilities and as you walk through and learn about the wine-making process they have tasting stations where you sample the wines.  It was definitely an operation that is geared toward the tourists- which was kind of neat even if their wines weren't remarkable.  I did like their Riesling, which I've purchased at the store before, and their 2009 Cellar Club Malvasia Bianca. Mmmm it was good!

 

Gianna, Carina, & Mom on the terrace

After Sterling, Carina wanted to check out the sparkling wines.  She's been to a couple different wineries with Mom and Dad, but they decided to take me to Mumm which they agreed has the superior wine.  

Dad was our DD again, and we girls enjoyed some of the bubbly!  It was interesting for me, because I'm not a huge fan of carbonated beverages.  I did enjoy the Santana Sparkling Wine, which was very sweet and fruity and not at all dry.  

From there, it was back home- with a quick stop and In-n-Out so Carina could get her fix while she's in California.

A Girl's Lesser-Known Best-Friend

Wine Tasting Part 1

I have an embarrassing confession.  I am a graduate of UC Davis, home of the Robert Mondavi Wine Institute, and yet I have never been wine tasting in Northern California.  To my credit, I was underage during three of the four years I lived in Davis, and I wasn't really interested in wine during my senior year- that was my liquor phase.

Carina has been wine tasting with my parents a few times, mostly to Napa I believe, and when she decided to come out for the weekend she requested another visit.  To my joy, I got to piggy back along!  Friday morning (after trips to the dentist) we piled into the MDX and headed up to the Russian River wine country.

Our first winery was Rodney Strong.  Their tasting room was really pretty and we got to try some really nice wines while we were there... even a special one that wasn't on our tasting menu!  It was the 2002 Reserve Cabernet- very yummy!

From Rodney Strong, we walked across the parking lot to J.  J is owned by Judy Jordan of the Jordan Winery family.  Her senior employees are all women from what we learned during our tasting- which is pretty cool.

She's also got a great pond with turtles and great landscaping.  There were benches outside to accommodate guests' picnicking which is always good when you're wine tasting.

Mom likes their sparkling wines and she had just been up to the wine country with my dad and another couple two weeks ago.  We got to try some of the wines she purchased and started thinking about the menu during the holidays when we'll all be together again.

After we finished at J, my dad drove us to Ferrari Carano.  Wow. Talk about beautiful landscaping- that winery is definitely built to entertain!

There are gorgeous gardens (pictured to the left) which we walked through before we went up into the tasting room.  The tasting room overlooks the fountain/pool and behind it, the vineyard.  It was a really stunning view to pair with some delicious wines.

I really like white wines, and they had a really lovely selection on

tasting menu.  My mom bought me a bottle of their 2010 Bella Luce to take home and share with Sam.  It's a blend of Chardonnay, Muscat Canelli, Semillon, Muscat Giallo, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Blanc.  Absolutely perfect!  It's not quite as sweet as the Gewurztraminers I usually like to sip on, so it's much easier to pair with foods, but it's not bitter which I really hate about white wine.

After we were done at Ferrari Carano, our lovely Designated Driver took us to the main attraction: Francis Ford Coppola!

My beautiful Sister

We hung out at the pool and enjoyed a chilled beverage before our dinner reservations.  Carina had a mojito, Mom had a margarita (she said it was really good), I had a lemon chiller with some of their sparkling wines in it, Sophia Blanc de Blancs.  It was very refreshing!

Dinner was amazing.  Not only were the views of the vineyard spectacular from the terrace where we were sitting, but the food was just unbelievably good.  It was definitely some place I would go back to in a second!  Mom and Dad split the Marrakesh Lamb which is served in a clay pitcher it's been cooking in for 10 hours.  The subtle spices were perfect and didn't overpower the flavor of the meat.  I think I might be a lamb fan after all!

Carina ordered what was my favorite dish of the night,

she ordered the Chicken Mattone.  It was possibly the best chicken I have eating in my life.  The next time I go there- that is 100% what I want to eat.  No question.

I had Mrs. Scorsese's Lemon Chicken.  To say the dish was very lemony would be a gross UNDERSTATEMENT.  It was so lemony that I had a bit of a tough time eating it- now, I did have fair warning from the menu that the chicken came "swimming in lemon" but I thought perhaps that that was a little bit blown out of proportion.  My mistake.  And it was still very good!  The meat fell off the bone and was remarkably tender.  I just felt that the lemon was too overpowering for me to enjoy the chicken.

After dinner, we went through the museum... this was the highlight for me:

The desk from The Godfather trillogy.  This is my I'm-gonna-make-you-an-offer-you-can't-refuse face.  They also had a display of his many awards, and the cards read by the presenters when he won two of the oscars.  It was quite a moment to stand there amidst all of that memorabilia and think back to the nights we've spent as a family sitting together watching The Godfather movies.  For Heaven's sake, we just watched the first 2 with Brock for the first time when we were in Hawaii for Christmas!  

 

All in all, it was a smashingly successful Friday.  One I am so glad I was able to be a part of.

Happy (early) Birthday Papa Santi

Carina and I flew into Oakland this morning to surprise our grandpa for his 78th birthday tomorrow.  My mom and Carina had been planning this for months, and last week I decided I ought to join the fun.  I also haven't seen Carina since January, nor will I see her before Thanksgiving or Christmas (depending how the holidays pan out).  Being a pretty family-oriented person, I figured I should continue my trend of taking advantage of the opportunities life throws at me and spend a little quality time with my nearest and dearest.

Papa, not knowing that Carina and I are coming to town, already has plans tomorrow night.  We're celebrating a little early Tonight we're going to our favorite Italian restaurant in San Francisco- Firenzi by Night.  Papa thinks he and Nonna, who is in on the secret, are picking Mom up and heading into the city to get Dad on their way to the restaurant.  Little does he know that he has 2 unexpected passengers!

I posted to our cousin's facebook last night to let her know our plans- Ali is a freshman at Georgia Tech where she has already started classes and is training with the volleyball team.  She was so excited for Papa, and we both lamented the fact that she and her brother, Brock, can't be here tonight.  Someday it would be really neat to coordinate all 4 of us surprising our grandparents!  Ali mentioned that she has started to notice how much our mutual grandparents and her mom's parents have aged, and I had to agree with her.  It's hard because I still think of Nonna and Papa as they were when I was in high school- he still skis, they both drive, she cooks as well as ever, they love traveling, etc.  But when I stop and think about it, they are starting to slow down a little bit.  After losing my mom's parents in January '10 & '11, I appreciate the time I have been able to spend with my dad's parents.  They have known me as a child, and an adult; they have been there for all the big milestones in my life; and they continue to be a big part of my life- I check in with them on the phone once a week or so.  I am so damn lucky to have them!

So here's to you, Papa!  I really hope you're over the moon tonight when you see Carina and I.

Carpe Diem

I was a pretty bad-ass water polo player in high school, not that I'm bragging, I really was very good.  I had some good coaching and some not so good coaching but I 100% embraced the sport and the lifestyle and I ran with it. 

Looking back, it's easy to remember the goals scored, the victories, the accolades and honors, and the bittersweet defeat in the championship game.  Those things readily come to mind.  What I tend to forget is all the hours that went into making those memories possible.  

I remember in the fall of my junior year of high school my Dad brought his old bench press from his football days into our living room so that I could lift weights while I was watching TV.  I can't even tell you how many afternoons I spent lifting.  It seemed like every day.  As soon as I got home from swim practice I would have something to eat and go in and flip on the tube and lift weights until lunch.

I remember sacrificing so many summer afternoons with my friends because I had practice. Not to say my teammates weren't my friends, but I missed out on the afternoons with the people I hung out with at lunch during the school-year because none of them were water polo players.

I guess what I'm trying to illustrate is the price I paid was well worth it in the end, and also hardly a blip on the radar when I look back.  I'm trying to remind myself of that lesson now, as I'm trying to pull together a plan for my professional future.  I may be struggling, and I may be feeling the strain, but if I keep my shoulder down and work at it this too shall pass.  And hopefully I'll have some more great accomplishments to be proud of.

I need to find something I love as much as I loved water polo in high school.  Something I can throw myself into 100%.  I reached a point where I felt I had lost too much of myself in the sport, and I told myself (and everyone around me) that I wanted to do what made me happy and live my life without the constraints of my rigorous schedule.  Now I admit, there's a part of me miss that all-consuming obsession with something that I was so successful at.  

I've spent too long resting on my laurels, going with the flow, and letting the path of least resistance dictate my future.  I want to carpe the shit out of this diem.

Girls Night + Sam

Sam is such a trooper.  My college girlfriend, Carrie, came down from Manhattan Beach to escape Carmageddon and redeem our massage/facial coupons at the Hyatt Newport Beach.  Amy was on call and couldn't join us at the spa, but we invited her to dinner on Saturday night.  So Sam had three beautiful women in the kitchen making him dinner while he studied some online book he's been reading from during most of his off-hours. 

Carrie's beautiful flowers

Carrie brought us some gorgeous flowers, which will hopefully brighten my long days job searching this week.  She always gets us the most beautiful flowers, I even still have the orchid she gave us when we moved into graduate housing last year- it's on it's second bloom and looks just wonderful! 

We had tacos for dinner, with some white wine, and funfetti cupcakes for dessert.  Carrie and I make cupcakes pretty frequently, and I should have asked her to bring down her cupcake decorating book.  It's got all kinds of really neat ideas for decorating cupcakes, and we made lion cupcakes 2nd year of medical school for (I think) Tina's birthday.

After we were finished eating, Sam sat out in the living room and we three girls hung out in the guest room gossiping and chatting.  Every so often Sam would come in and join our conversation as we hit topics he is interested in, which I thought was really cute.  I love that he makes the effort to hang out with my girlfriends.

This morning, after our massages and facials, Carrie and I watched the Women's World Cup game where the US lost to Japan.  :-(  Sad day!  But we had a good time with Sam, Nick, and Mason.  Of course, just about five minutes after Sam and Ryan made plans to hang out and grab a drink later tonight, his pager went off and the ED (it's apparently called the Emergency Department not the Emergency Room) had a 50+ year old woman who took a ground-level fall and fractured her wrist.  He took off to splint it and make sure it doesn't need to be reduced (doctor talk for reset) so now I'm going to meet up with Ryan and Sam will have to join us on his way back from the hospital.  Poor guy.  He has been sitting around all weekend waiting for a page to no avail.

My mom and some of her closest girlfriends (some of whom may still be reading this blog) are up in Tahoe this weekend at Grammy and Papa's house.  Mom said they stayed up all night talking on Friday and saw the Saturday morning sunrise.  That reminds me of my Papa, who would get up and watch the sunrise every morning while playing solitaire- first he played with cards but later he got a Mac and would play on the computer.  This photo made me stop and think too, I guess that house will always be 'Grammy and Papa's House' even though they are gone.  We spilled a few of Papa's ashes in the front garden as we were getting ready to hike Mt. Rubicon to spread them, and I actually think that was fitting.  He put so much of his blood, sweat, and tears into that house.  I am glad he will eternally be there.

I miss them.

Housewifing Continued

So, fresh from my Chicago trip I found out yesterday that the job opportunity I was crossing my fingers for is not going to work out.  The company has decided to put their hiring process on hold until (possibly) the 4th quarter of this year. They think I am a good candidate for the position and said they will be in touch as they resume their search.  

That's great, but I can't put my career on hold for 3-6 months just because I might get a job.  Not going to happen.  I hopped on Monster.com and found several potential marketing positions that I could see myself enjoying and have been firing off cover letters and resumes.  I decided to post my resume as well so that I can cast a wider net and possibly interest some companies who might be searching for candidates in addition to those companies I choose to send my information to.  I have also reached out to former co-workers and asked them to pass my resume on to anyone they might know in the marketing field.  I am trying to take advantage of any possible way to get my foot in the door and get myself a marketing job.  

I hate the job searching process!  It is tough to be perpetually dejected and it's also tough to stay motivated.  After two days of this I am already feeling tired and lonely.  I know remember what drove me to temp when I came down here four years ago- boredom and loneliness!  It looks like Sam's worst fears are unfounded- I do want to have a job rather than be a housewife!  The only two awesome things about it are that I get to sleep in (which by the way I naturally wake up around 7:30 so I'm not even really talking about late) and work out whatever time I want to.  

Alright, break time is over.  I'm going to make some yummy Moo Shu Turkey stir-fry and some brown rice, and then get back at it and apply to one last job tonight.  

Deep Dish & Chicago Comedy

Jackie and I flew out to Chicago on Friday morning to visit Marlena and watch her sketch at The Second City.  We were both amazed by how poorly we handled the 4 hour flight since we're spoiled and used to 60-90 minute flights up and down the coast of California.  

Unfortunately, Marlena had to work Friday night.  She picked us up at Midway Airport and dropped us off at our hotel, Crowne Plaza Downtown Metro, where we checked into our lovely room and had dinner in the hotel restaurant.  After dinner, we proceeded to cuddle up in our beds and catch up on each other's lives.  Later in the night we indulged ourselves in some stuffed crust pizza, which I heard later is not the same as Chicago deep dish pizza.  Ah well, it was still DELICIOUS!

Saturday morning, Jackie wanted to check out the Field Museum.  One of her coworkers knows Dr. Jim Boone, one of the Entomologists at the museum, so we were able to arrange for him to give us a tour of the Field Museum's Entomology collection.  It was AMAZING!  They have rooms and rooms of specimen ranging from pinned beetles and butterflies to vials of bugs kept in alcohol solution.  

Jacke & I in front of the world's largest and best preserved T-Rex skeleton- Sue!

Evolving Planet Exhibit

THE LUCY!!!  From my science textbooks in middle school and high school, and my anthropology textbooks in college.  She was a part of the evolving planet exhibit!

After Marlena met us at the museum, she took us down to Millennium Park to see some of the famous Chicago landmarks:

Our reflections inside The Bean

Taking a break in the Millennium Park amphitheater 

Downtown in the Loop

Jackie & Marlena in front of the Chicago Riverwalk

After our downtown adventure, we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready to see Marlena's Sketch at The Second City.  Jackie and I were running a bit late, so we successfully navigated Chicago's public transit system to meet her at Piper's Alley.  We got to meet two of her friends who hung out with us before and during the show at the Chipotle downstairs from the theatre.

Before Marlena's Sketch at The Second City- Piper's Alley

After the show, which was AMAZING, Marlena and her friends took Jackie and I out in the downtown area.  We had a great time, and ended up at an after-party for the writers and actors of the sketches that we had seen.  We also stopped for some Chicago hot dogs, which were yum yum yum and made me hit the gym the following morning.

Late night Portillo's

After my morning workout on Sunday, Marlena took us up to her neighborhood- Roscoe Village, for lunch.  Her neighborhood is really cute, it has trees arching over the streets and meeting over the centers.  It was super muggy so we opted to eat inside rather that on the patio.

Lunch at Waterhouse in Roscoe Village

Post lunch, Jackie and I hustled back to the hotel and got dolled up for the main stage performance at The Second City.  

The performance was UNBELIEVABLE.  Seriously, it was one of the most hilarious things I have seen in my life.  It was more funny that SNL, which is where many of the graduates from The Second City become employed, because there are no limits on racist, sexist, profane, or political sketches.  There was even more skin than I was comfortable with in one of the sketches.  I would recommend that anyone visiting Chicago get tickets to a main stage performance in advance so they can check out the show!

All in all, it was a very fun vacation.  Jackie and I hope to head back out to the midwest again soon, however, not in the winter months.  

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

First of all, here's a big THANK YOU to all the men and women who have fought and continue to fight for America.  I can't say I always agree with your missions, but I 100% support and respect your contribution. 

Fourth of July 2011 was a great weekend.  I interviewed for a job on Friday morning that I think would be really beneficially to me- responsibilities I want to be accountable for, a team with really impressive resumes to work with, and the opportunity for a LOT of growth.  I am hoping to hear back from them today, which would be really great.

After my interview, Jenners (one of the general surgery interns at UCI) and I went down to the Balboa Peninsula to rent paddle boards.  I had the opportunity to try out stand up paddling over Christmas break in Hawaii.  My aunt and uncle own two boards, and Carina and I gave it a shot.  Between the rough surf in the open ocean and the secret service trying to clear the water in front of President Obama's beach house, it was more than challenging.  This time, in Balboa, we were inside the harbor and the water was f-l-a-t.  I loved it!  I am thinking about heading down there this afternoon and giving it another go.  

Saturday morning Sam rounded on his patients at the VA, and in the afternoon we went over to the Nageotte's house to have a 2nd of July BBQ.  Not only did I get to meet some of the anesthesia residents (the oldest Nageotte is a 3rd year resident at UCI) but I also got to meet one of the 3rd year orthopedic residents.  He promised me that 2nd year will be the hardest of all Sam's years, but that it will get significantly better after that.  Here's to hoping I survive next year!

Flip Cup during at the Nageotte's house

On Sunday, Sam and I met up with the Dwyers to go bowling.  During the course of the game, Seany-D tells us he just purchased a Maserati.  Say what?!?  He then tells us that he decided to leave his current company and is enjoying some unemployment time just as I am.  (We're going to hit the batting cages sometime this week.)  So we decide to take a cruise down to Laguna Beach in the Maz and check out what that puppy can do.  Let me tell you what, it's one smooth operator.  Over appetizers and margaritas at Las Brisas, Sean helped me figure out how to handle negotiating compensation during the interview process.  He is incredibly articulate and very good at his job- sales.  By the end of the evening, Sam and I were trying to get him to be my broker.  :-)

Silly names aside, please notice that we are some pretty decent bowlers!

Cruisin' PCH in the Maz

Yesterday I had the opportunity to make my very first potato salad for the Engelstad/Grant 4th of July BBQ that Sam and I attended.  Having never made one before, I hopped on the weight watchers website and found an "American Potato Salad" recipe that substituted non-fat greek yogurt for a large portion of mayonnaise.  Two things went in my favor- there was SO much food that if my salad sucked we would still be plenty set for dinner, and also, turns out my salad wasn't half bad!  We had a wonderful time with Matt & Emily's family and it was great to catch up with Matt's sister and brother-in-law, and Emily's sister.  

Here's to hoping everyone had a fun & safe Independence Day!