An Action Packed Weekend

This past weekend was so action packed that I am just now recovered enough to blog about it. An old friend of mine, Anne, that I have known basically since birth was in town visiting friends and stayed with me. So we got to explore the city and parts of Northern California over the course of two days. Here was the activity breakdown:

Saturday

9:30 am - Ferry Building Farmers Market - Anne and I explored the Farmers Market and shopped for a picnic on Sunday. We bought some fresh produce (arugula, apricots, cherries, rhubarb, etc), three fancy cheese, and some rosemary meyer lemon bread.

11 am - Cafe Trieste, North Beach - we grabbed a quick latte at one of the most famous cafes in North Beach.

11:30 am - Molinari Delicatessen, North Beach - we picked up some pesto pasta, fresh proscuitto, and salami for the picnic. 

2 pm - Muir Woods - we picked up another friend of Anne's and headed up to Marin County to check out the Muir Woods, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. We went on about a 2 hour hike and the redwoods were amazing. We also checked out Muir Beach, which was equally beautiful. We really wanted to grab a late afternoon beer at the Pelican Inn, but it was closed for a wedding that was happening right as we drove by.

5:30 pm - We still wanted that beer, so we headed into Sausalito and grabbed a drink at Horizons Restaurant, right on the water with a beautiful view of the city.

8 pm - B Star Bar - Sister restaurant of the SF icon Burma Superstar, B Star is a shorter wait than it's sibling and real good Burmese/Asian Fusion food. They had this special drink with beer, ginger and lemon juice mixed together that was very refreshing after a packed day.

10:30 pm - We returned home and since I'm getting too old to go out clubbing, Anne and her friend Gillian went out to Ruby Skye where a friend of theirs is a bartender. 

Sunday

10:30 am - Sonoma Wine Country - we left San Francisco for a day of wine tasting in Sonoma. We had plans to check out three different vineyards.

12 pm - Ridge Lytton Springs - by far the best wine of the day - Ridge makes mostly Zinfandel, but we tried a Cab/Merlot blend and two Syrahs, both of which are only available at the vineyard. I've had Ridge wines before and love them, so I lobbied for this stop. We were the only ones there, so we got to slowly try the wines and chat with the woman (we never got her name, so we just called her "Kristen" afterwards) who was serving us. She told us all about Ridge and Sonoma in general and suggested a few other vineyards to check out. Best stop of the day, hands down.

1:30 pm - Ferrari- Carano Vineyards - Kristen told us that this winery was fancy and beautiful, which was true, but that the wine was less than stellar. So, we checked out the gardens, illegally ate our picnic lunch in a gazebo amongst roses, and then bolted for better wine.

2:30 pm - Preston Vineyards - Preston is an organic vineyard and farm that sells wine, olive oil, and curiously enough, underwear. The wines were ok - they had a decent Sauvignon Blanc and surprisingly a jug red table wine that was the best of all the reds (it was only $32!). 

3:30 pm - Rochioli Vineyards - Our last stop was at a small winery that served only three wines. They were decent, but it became clear that we had been spoiled at Ridge and nothing for the rest of the day would compare. So, we chatted with the lady serving us about restaurants in SF and then sat on the veranda for a while gazing out at the Sonoma Valley before we faced reality and headed back to the city.

5:30 pm - Anne and Gillian napped and recovered from their night out on Saturday while I read the NY Times (see yesterday's post).

8 pm - Pagolac - We ventured to the always risky Tenderloin for some quality Vietnamese food at Pagolac where we met Jeremy, another friend of Anne and Gillian. There was definitely an Asian theme to the food for the weekend and while I am not a huge Asian food fan, Pagolac and B Star both were great and reasonably priced. 

9:30 pm - 800 Larkin - another great spot in the Tenderloin. We grabbed some cocktails to close out the night and a great weekend.

Monday

6:30 am - alarm goes off - back to work and back to reality :(