Tuesday, June 16, 2015

California Wine & Cheese

Earlier this month, my roommate and I had a wine and cheese night at our apartment. Most of the rehab staff came (about 10 people) and we told everyone to bring either a bottle of wine or cheese or a side dish. Cat and I made a cheese board with fruit, chocolate, cheese, almonds, and salami.
The crackers in the middle were topped with goat cheese, a drizzle of honey, and a blackberry. They were probably my favorite treat. Cat also made delicious baked brie topped with a maple pecan glaze. We had many other plates full of cheese, crackers, grapes, and more of the crackers with the goat cheese and berries. It was such a fun night! Others brought nachos and cheese, spinach dip, Brie dip, apples with bleu cheese, and different kinds of wine.

We had a blast trying all the different snacks and wine, and hanging out together outside of work.

On Saturday my roommate Cat and I went to Murphys, which is a cute little town about 45 minutes from Sonora. Murphys is known for its many small wineries. We went to a bunch of them over the course of the day and got lunch and dinner in town. It was a fun relaxing day of eating and drinking. My favorite winery was Vina Moda. We had one white wine, one rose, and three reds there, and liked every single one!

Cheers to the Freakin Weekend

I spent last weekend in San Francisco with Emily and Ross. It's great to have friends that love to travel, and it's great to see some faces from home. We had planned to hike in Yosemite, but due to flight delays, we decided it would be more time efficient to spend the whole weekend in SF.

Day 1: We walked around Union Square and Chinatown. I got some free skin care samples at some shops in Union Square, and we got lunch in Chinatown. Then we rented bikes and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a cute little town called Sausalito. Biking around Sausalito was my favorite part of the weekend. There are cute little shops and it's right on the bay. We took the ferry back to SF and had dinner that night at Gott's Roadside, a burger place in the Ferry Building Marketplace. We relaxed at the hotel pool Friday night.

Day 2: We had delicious made-to-order omelets at the Embassy Suites. I highly recommend them for the rooms and the breakfast. We drove into town and wandered around Fisherman's Wharf for awhile. We got to see the sea lions at Pier 39. Then we got in line for the main event of the day: Alcatraz. I'd been once before, but Emily and Ross had never been. It was fun to see it again. We took the ferry across and did the Cellhouse audio tour. The audiotour at Alcatraz is great because it's narrated by former guards and prisoners. It was super cold outside at The Rock and we got hungry since we hadn't eaten lunch.

We made it back on the ferry and ate at WipeOut on Pier 39. Ross and I got the Chicken Teriyaki bowl and it was amazing- lots of fresh vegetables, chicken, and grilled pineapple! After lunch, we went back to the hotel for a bit and got changed for dinner. When we headed back downtown, we stopped at a cafe/bar to meet up with Ross's cousin. Buena Vista is famous for their Irish coffees. While we were waiting there, we saw the bartender making dozens of them. We got dinner at McCormick and Kuleto's seafood restaurant, which was our nice dinner of the weekend. After that, we wandered around Ghiradelli Square, got some free chocolate samples, and got some delicious ice cream. 

Day 3: We just had the morning on Sunday to do some sightseeing before Emily and Ross had to fly out. We ended up going to see the famous Painted Ladies houses and Golden Gate Park. We walked around the lake at Golden Gate Park and saw baby ducks and a waterfall. It was a nice peaceful end to our trip. We squeezed a lot into 2.5 days!

Our song for the weekend: Cheers -Rihanna