We hit the road early on Sunday and had brunch at our favorite bakery in
Napa,
Alexis Baking Company & Cafe. We sat outside and enjoyed the peace that comes with eating a meal without cutting up someone
else's food first. After breakfast, we drove to
Yountville and checked in to the
Napa Valley Lodge. We hopped on bicycles and rode over to the
Robert Sinskey Vineyards, a winery that uses
biodynamic farming practices, for a tasting. Besides having great wine, it is one of my favorites places to taste because they give you a little snack that pairs with each of the the wines. After the big breakfast, we didn't really need more food, but had another nibble anyway.
The next stop on the tour was
Goosecross Cellars. They are a small family-owned winery and were really fun to visit. They probably got extra "fun" points because we had a little buzz going from the first winery! Apparently, the family surname,
Gorsuch, translates in Old English to "goose cross", which is how they arrived at the name. We tasted a few more wines, then rode
very carefully back to the hotel, which was only a couple of miles away. Back at the hotel, we went for a dip in the nice, quiet pool and lounged around until it was time to get ready for dinner. As always, on my birthday, I like to eat beautiful food, drink good wine, and relax.
We ate dinner at Thomas Keller's family-style restaurant,
Ad Hoc. Everything was delicious, of course, but they serve WAY too much food. I'm not a big fan of family-style service. If they would plate the food in the kitchen and tone down the portions, I would like this restaurant even more. One nice thing about the fact that there is only one menu for the evening, is that I can relax instead of changing my mind a hundred times in the space of ten minutes trying to decide what to order. On Monday, my actual birthday, we ended our food and wine tour with lunch at
Redd. I have been wanting to dine at Redd since they opened a couple of years ago and they did not disappoint! We had taken a bit of a hiatus from eating out around our neighborhood, so it was nice to be treated to such great food on our mini vacation.
I dragged my heels on Monday afternoon because I wasn't quite ready to return to reality, but when we did finally make it home, I was happy to see my girls' smiling faces. Nana and Grandma had taken good care of them but they were ready to have their Mama home. Just when I thought that the celebration was over, I learned that Michelle had phoned Michael earlier in the week in order to
surprise me with a scrumptious chocolate cake from her bakery where her
husband whips up all kinds of amazing goodies,
Cafe Madeleine. I am so lucky to have such amazing friends and family! Thank you to Michelle and Bernard for the cake, thank you to Mom and Linda for babysitting, and thank you to my darling husband for footing the bill for my expensive tastes.
xoxo. There goes our dining out budget for the year! Good thing I like to cook.
