I woke up at 8:30am and call K to make plans and meet for brunch this morning.
From my hotel in lower Queen Anne, I cut across Seattle Center to reach K's place in Belltown. From her place, we went to Macrina Bakery and Cafe. This bakery was mentioned in Hemisphere's Magazine 3 Perfect Days in Seattle and was extremely popular. Unfortunately, my late start to the day meant we had to wait for table. Since the cafe was rather small, I had to stand next to display cases full of decadent baked good while waiting. I got hungry in a hurry :)
After a 20 minute wait, we were seated. K and I both ordered the salmon scramble, which was a smoked salmon with scramble eggs and chive creme fraiche over bread. For drinks, both of us opted for Mimosa. I had the pomegranate and she had the grapefruit.
After a satisfying brunch, we walked to the waterfront by Pike's Place Market. The sun was shining brightly on this winter morning and the sky was especially blue. Over the azul colored Puget Sound water on the horizon were the snow peaked mountains of Olympic National Park. It was amazingly beautiful. My point and shoot camera could not do the scenery justice.
Pike's Place Market is basically an open air market full of tourist traps, the most famous being the fish toss at Pike's Place Fish Market. We found out that if a customer bought a fish, they would toss it, even to the customer! K and I had not intention of doing any cooking, so we passed on this opportunity.
Around the corner from Pike's Place Market is the first Starbucks. In Seattle, Starbucks are located a few steps from each other, but this one was extremely crowded. There was no clear sign to indicate this was store number one, but the Starbucks logo on the window was different.
From Pike's Place Market, we walked to Pioneer Square to take the Seattle Underground tour. Seattle was originally built on the flood plains. After a big fire, the city rebuilt, by raising roads to second floor height. The original first floor became "underground". Since this plan was communicated to building owners, underground doors and windows were not decorated. Hence, there wasn't much eye candy to see. But the tour itself was interesting and full of historic facts.
After the tour, we walked around Pioneer Square area a little more. This area is located near the stadiums and there are several sports bar. It also felt like a tourist trap and there wasn't much to see.
After browsing for a while, we walked along 4th Ave to Westlake Center, downtown Seattle's retail core. At this time, both K and I were a little tired. We decided to take the monorail back to Seattle Center and rest before evening activities.
At 7:30pm, K and I met up and walked to Pintxo. K and a bunch of her friends: S, J, Vik and Jessica were meeting for drinks and tapas. I ordered a hot toddy and a bunch of finger food. The goat cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon was delicious! I also enjoy the sweet Tequila Lime shrimp and seared Catalan sausage with red pepper sauce.
After dinner, we went to Twist for more drinks. I had a Millionaire Mojito and enjoyed it very much. Rana joined us at Twist and we chatted a little more.
By the time we were done with drinks, it was almost midnight. Rana wanted to go dancing, so K and I went with her to Frontier. K's friend Colin joined us at the club. In the beginning, we really like the music and but as the night move on, the DJ started spinning slower music. We were increasingly bored and decided to call it a night.
My flight touched down at SeaTac airport at about 9:45pm. I called K from the light rail station to annouce my arrival.
"We are out having a drink!" She said, "Care to join us?"
I had a good rest on the flight over and was feeling pretty fresh. "Why not?" I figured.
When the light rail reaches West Lake Center, K directed me to White Horse Trading Company: a small bar located a block away from Pike's Place market.
When I entered the bar, I immediately like the space. The bar was a older building, but was very well maintained. The space itself were small but felt intimate and warm. There were bookshelves along one wall and along the other. The whole room felt like the library of an old English gentlemen.
I had a mead and met a few of K's friends.
It was almost 11pm when I arrived at the bar, so after my drink we decided to call it a night. K's friend Colin drove and happened to live near my hotel, so he was able to drop me off.
After checking in, I took a quick nap, then it was off to my first tourists destination: Ginza. Ginza is the high end shopping district of Tokyo and while I am not a shopper, I wanted to experience the glamorous Japan for myself.
My first stop was Matsuya. According to my guide book, besides the usual fashion products, this department store also had art galleries on it top floor.
I quickly browsed through the men's fashion here, but quickly found prices to be outside my budget. Making my way to the top, my attention was immediately drawn to a calligraphy exhibition. Guessing from the name, a few calligraphy schools were showing its students' art work.
I was amazed by the works. Near the entrance were seal script and standard script pieces. The words were written well, with lots of balance and proper spacing. I was impressed! There were also several pieces with more modern format, where seal scripts words were artfully clustered to form a graphic. My favorite piece was a standard script piece called "虎啸风起 龙腾云起". I inquired about the price and found it to be 10 times more than what I was willing to pay for...
There were also really creative housewares, beautiful watercolors and ceramics on display. There was an exhibit for chopsticks and bowls, which were very refined, but to this untrained eyes, not very exciting.
After browsing through the art exhibits, I was feeling a little hungry. I went to the basement food court for a quick bite. However, I quickly realized the basement was for selling food products for home consumption rather than a place to eat. There were no chairs or places to sit down.
Being a foodie, I enjoyed browsing through the different miso and pickled vegetables. There was a high end butchery place with beautiful cured meats and a cheese stall which I went back repeatedly for free samples. Finally, my hunger got the better of me and I bought several items from the bakery. The bakery had taken food presentation to a very high level! The bread were beautifully glazed and looked really appetizing. Unfortunately, the taste was somewhat of a let down. It wasn't bad, but not as tasty as it looked.
My next stop was Ito-Ya, a 100 year old stationery store. The store occupied 9 levels, selling everything from different types of paper, pens, pencils, note books, calendar and greeting cards. Some products were common, but there were also really unique items like beautiful artisan wrapping papers and designer Frank Lloyld Wright pens which I had never seen before. Given it was New Year's Eve, I bought several New Year Day card, for use during the next Chinese New Year.
The Japanese used to follow the Lunar calendar and celebrate their New Year the same time as the Chinese. Following the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese celebrate New Year on January 1st. I knew of this, but forgot about it when booking air tickets for this trip. The implication for the trip was, while the bigger stores like Matsuya were opened, many of the smaller stores were closed. Luckily, I am not into shopping:)
After the break, I walked to Mitsukoshi. Again, another department store. Slightly larger in terms of foot print to Matsuya, but with very similar merchandise and prices. I was, however, intrigued by the Shinto shrine located on the top floor.
As I went to the top floor, I noticed there were no signage pointing to the shrine. I was able to find a flight of stairs leading to the roof, but when I walked up those stairs, I saw the roof being used as a storage area with a security guard standing outside the door.
Confused, I went down to the top floor and ask one of the cute sales lady where the shrine was. With a lot of pointing to my guide book, she finally understood where I was tring to go. She took me up the same stairs, said a few word in Japanese to the security and led me to a corner on the roof. There was a stone statue, a small store and a hand wash area... everything a proper shrine needed were there!
My guide book suggested visiting several art galleries and the Nissan show room, but unfortunately these locations were closed for New Year's Eve. I also realized finding a location using its address was crazy difficult in Tokyo! An address would read 6-10-10 Ginza, Chuo-ku. The first number referred to the chrome or side street, the second number referred to the block, which may not be in continuous order and the third number referred to the actual number on the block. Even Japanese had difficulty finding their way around, and I saw them crowding, along with me, at the police post asking for directions.
As I was just walking along, I saw an Abercrombie & Fitch store. Given this was a familiar brand, I had no intention of shopping there at all. But my interest was piqued by the bouncers outside the store, waving people along and the long line of people waiting to enter the store. What made this A&F so special?
The wait to enter the store was about 10mins. Upon entering, I understood why entering the store was like going to a club. The store was dark, with loud music playing in the background. On the ground floor, a hunky, half naked male model with low riding, brief showing jeans was posting for photos with eager female shoppers! As I went up the stairs, I noticed the attendants were dressed in casual Abercrombie & Fitch clothing, instead of the more formal uniforms favored by Japanese department stores. These attendants were very young. Most of them were very cute and some were dancing to the music while working! The whole place felt like a club more than a retail store and it showed.
After walking up and down all 12 floors of A&F, I went along the back street to Sony Building. This building housed a Sony show room, where one could try the latest and greatest Sony products.
One product heavily promoted was 3D television. I was led into a room and handed a pair of 3D glasses. The TV was showing a documentary on polar bears. The clarity and experience was amazing. When an under water camera shot of the polar bear plunging into the water was shown, I swear one could reach out and touch each bubble floating to the water's surface. The glasses made the pictures look darker, which was the only drawback.
I also saw various music player, basically Sony's answer to iPod, noise cancelling head phones, computers with touch screen functionality and various types of cell phones. Since I don't usually paid much attention to electronics, I was unsure what was new and innovative.
My final stop at Ginza was Kabukiza Theater. I had hoped to catch a few acts of a show, but the theater was closed for New Year's Eve. There was some preparation of a float for New Year and TV crews were there, setting up for the evening's broadcast. With more and more shops closing around me, I decided it was a good time to go back to my hotel.
About.com recommended visiting Zojoji Temple's New Year's Eve count down party. Since the temple was a stone's throw from my hotel, I had planned to check it out.
I reached the temple at about 7:30pm. Hungry after much walking, I immediately started checking out the food stalls. The takoyaki looked especially appetizing. Here batter was poured in a semi spherical mold. When slightly cooked, boiled octopus, pickled ginger and green onions were added to the center of the batter. Then the batter was turned using 2 long needles and more batter were added to form a ball shape dough. The takoyaki was served in a small box, topped with dried bonito flakes and drizzled with Japanese mayo. Delicious!
After dinner, I walked around the temple ground a little. I visited the main chamber, took pictures of the temple with Tokyo tower in the background and looked at the various charms on sale. I was basically killing time, waiting for 8:30pm.
Before the trip, YC found out from his friend the evening's events. The temple staff start handing out wishing cards at 8:30pm. People would write their New Year wishes on the card. With this wishing card, I could get a balloon at 10:30pm. The wishing cards were to be attached to the balloons, which would be released at midnight.
After collecting my wishing card, I decided there was still a lot of time to wait. I was feeling cold and sleepy, so I went back to the hotel for a quick snooze.
I woke up at 10pm. As I was putting on my glasses, I accidentally broke the frame! Looking at the damage, I decided there was no way for me to fix it, and I did not bring my back up glasses with me. I had worn glasses since I was 10 and have never gone extended period of time without any vision correction, so the next few days would be interesting...to say the least. I had complained 2009 was a bad year, and indeed I had a terrible farewell gift:(
I took a quick shower, added an additional layer before heading back to Zojoji temple. There was a long line to collect balloons, but people were moving orderly and quickly.
Everyone then gathered in the yard, waiting for midnight. Apparently, this tradition is quite famous and many people come to the temple just to partake in this event. I could hear several different languages been spoken amongst the crowd.
As 2009 draws to a close, the crowd got more antsy. An electronic billboard started ticking when there was less than 60 seconds left in 2009. Everyone stood up, and I noticed lights on Tokyo Tower were turned off. As the seconds started ticking off, there was an excitement in the air.
Then the countdown: 10, 9, 8,... I didn't understand a word of Japanese, but it did not matter...3, 2, 1, Happy New Year! Everyone let go of their balloons and what a sight! The sky was suddenly covered with balloons and in less than a minute, it was clear again!
I found this video clip on Youtube of this event.
Lights on Tokyo Tower were turned on once more, with the letters 2010 showing. As I stood in the crowd, wondering what to do next, I felt a surge of people pushing me from behind. Of course! New Year prayers in the main chamber!
I was pushed up the stairs into the main chamber. The police's crowd control was amazing. A taped was used to stop people from advancing when the people in front of us were not cleared. Despite the anxiety to reach the main chamber, people were moving in an orderly fashion.
I got into the main chamber, saw people throwing money into a alter in front of the Buddha statue and decided to do the same. Then it's out of the side chamber door and into the temple ground once more.
I read it was good luck eating soba in the New Year and given I was slightly hungry, decided to participate in that tradition:) Then I went to take pictures of the bell ring ceremony. I did not realize this earlier, but ordinary people were joined by the priests in ringing the bell. The bell was to be rung 108 times. I timed the period between each ringing (yes, I am an Engineer). The bells were ring about 5mins apart. So, there was no way I could stay for the entire 108 ringings and still get some sleep.
It was about 1am when I got back to the hotel. I had missed the hotel's New Year reception, so this would be an alcohol-free New Year celebration for me.
On most trips to Singapore, I usually par take in local cuisine. After all, that's the type of food I missed the most.
On this trip, being Christmas and all, I decided to do some fine dining (Singaporean tends to not celebrate Christmas as a family holiday). My dear sister did some research and sent me menu to White Rabbit, Prive, Il Lido and Flutes. From the menu, Prive's Christmas eve menu was most interesting and that's where we went...Joining me for dinner were my parents, my sister and niece.
Amuse Bouche
Prive offered a 7 course dinner menu. The dinner started with an amuse bouche: a cherry tomato stuffed with cream cheese, sprinkled with chopped pistachios, over a pesto base and some cracked red pepper. I guessed this was the chef's play on caprese salad. Given it was not summer, the tomato did not have the bright flavor to carry the dish. Still, it was a good concept and well executed dish.
Citrus-cured Tasmanian Ocean Trout, served chilled with Soy Dressing, Marinated Cucumver and Ikura
Compressed Watermelon Salad with Cherry Vine Tomatoes, Strawberries and Sangria Granite
For the second course, we had a choice of trout with soy or watermelon salad sangria granite. I opted for the trout. The menu describe the trout to be citrus cured, but I was unable to detect citrus flavor. The trout was served sashimi style, cubed and uncooked, with soy dressing. I liked sashimi and really enjoyed the texture and the sweetness of the fish. I had a little taste of the watermelon salad. The greens were tossed with kaffir lime leaves based oil, giving the greens a lot citrus feel without the acid.
Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Ikura, Custard, Asparagus Ribbon and Beurre Blanc
The third course was scallop, pan seared and served topped with salmon roe. The kitchen showed its execution with a delicious beurre blanc sauce. The scallop was well cooked, with a hint of crust outside and tender inside. It was accompanied by a tempura tofu, wrapped with asparagus ribbon, showing a hint of Japanese influence in the chef's preparation.
Pan Seared Foie Gras with Caramelized Figs, Puff Pastry and Baby Spinach
The fourth course was pan seared foie gras. For health reasons, I seldom ordered foie gras, let alone pan seared foie gras. This dish was also well executed. The foie gras had great texture, with a touch of crispiness on the surface and a soft, melt in your mouth center. The foie gras was lightly salted and not greasy. It was served atop a puff pastery and fig jam. The puff pastery provided a good base to set off the flavor of the foie gras. I only wished the fig jam was a little more sweet to help cut through the fattiness of the foie gras.
The fifth course was the main course. We were given a choice of bracuida(fish), turkey or pigeon. I opted for the fish, while others chose the turkey and the pigeon.
Crispy Skin Barramundi with Caramelized Eschalot, Shimeji Mushroom, Broccolini and Sauce Bordelaise
The barramundi was a firm white fish. The skin side was seared until really crispy. It was served over a small soy sauce, broccolini and shimeji mushroom. The dish had an Asian flair to it. The flavor was well balance. It was a good but not great dish.
Slow-cooked Turkey Breast with Brown Butter, Pickled Vegetables and Glazed Cranberries
I also tried a little turkey. Here turkey breast was brined and probably roasted, then sliced into triangle. The turkey was not dry and had pretty good flavor. I did not try the accompanied vegetables.
French Young Pigeon: Roasted Breast and Leg of Pigeon with Sauteed Baby Carrots, Pocini Mushrooms and Taylor's Port Sauce
I had a tasted of the pigeon too. The meat was quite gamey, but very soft. The skin side was crispy and made for an interesting texture contrast.
Calvados Gelee with Granny Smith Foam
After the main course, we were served a gelee. It was an apple puree piped over pear gelatin. The dish was not too sweet and worked well as a palate cleanser.
White Chocolate Log with Griottine Cherries with White Chocolate Mousse and Cranberry Compote
The final course was dessert. The dessert was a log cake with graham cracker base and white chocolate mousse molded to looked like a traditional log cake. The log cake was garnished with a clear sugar disc, sprinkled with chocolate. The log cake was accompanied with cherry, tart cranberries and garnished with a chocolate straw. It was a good mix of sweet and sour on the plate.
After dessert, we were served tea and coffee with petit four. It was a sweet end to dinner.
The food was of high quality, but I though service level was poor, especially when the restaurant was promoted as a fine dining destination.
The servers were not knowledgeable about the dishes being served. When we were served the gelee, we asked what was in the dish. The wait staff was only able to repeat the name of the dish on the menu.
While we brought our own wine, my sister studied the wine menu just to see what they carried. The server show a hint of impatient while waiting on us.
Finally, and more seriously, I found a hair in my gelee and alerted the server. The dish was not replace, nor were any apology given.
Bridge
The restaurant is located in the marina in Keppel Bay. While the dinning room itself was curtained off, we took a stroll outside the dining room after dinner. The restaurant was located on a small island and we had to drive on a small bridge to get to the restaurant. The marina was being used as a dock and there were many boats in the harbor, which added to the atmosphere.
The food itself was very good. The chef show much creativity in the menu planning. There was good use of Chinese/Asian technique/ingredients to highlight seafood dishes. Overall there was interesting play of texture and good balance of flavor in the dishes.
The menu for the night can be found here. Given my preference for local food while in Singapore, I will probably not come again, but thought the food was prepare well enough, I am willing to give this place a chance to improve their service.
Somehow, I ended up not watching many movies. On this trans-pacific flight to Tokyo, I ended up catching up on several movies I had wanted to watch in 2009, instead of catching up on sleep:(
I saw the trailer for Funny People and had wanted to like the movie. But, at the end of the movie, I had mixed feelings. Putting a human face on a celebrity and showing how lonely he felt is not a new concept. But the Adam Sandler character was self-centered and not likable. There was no one I could root for in the movie.
I had seen many positive review for Up and I loved the movie. The story was well told, with plot twist and turns to keep things interesting. Some exaggeration and plots were unreal, but acceptable for an animation movie. Another Pixar classic!
As a foodie, the story of Julie and Julia appeals to me. I thought Meryl Streep's Julia was full of energy, but not to the point of being annoying as Julia Child sometimes was on TV. Amy Adam's Julie was insecure and vulnerable. While I like Julia more, Julie felt more real. The story itself was interestingly told.
After 3 movies, Public enemy felt like a blur. It used documentary style filming, which always made me a little confused. I thought the acting was great, but the story itself and the narrative was a little weak.
The last movie was Hancock. The concept of profiling a fallen hero was much discussed in the critic's review and I looked forward to see how it was being handled. But I was a little disappointed in the ending. Introducing a second super hero was an interesting plot twist, but, IMHO, spoiled the movie. The ending was predictable and not convincing.
I read his comics blog every work day for almost 3 years now.
Three years ago, Boey posted a link on Craigslist to his comic blog. Each blog entry is a simple line drawing comic about his work, friends and love life. Since he post a blog entry everyday, on some days the comic might be funny, on other days, thought invoking and, still on some days, boring.
It was from one of the blog posting I read about his styrofoam cups. Boey is an artist and draws on styrofoam cups when bored. Then he started showing the cups at Art Festivals and scored an interview on Orange County Register. That was when he hit big time!
From the article, I learned his work could be found at Marion Meyer Contemporary Art gallery in Laguna Beach. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I was in Orange County to spend time with my brother and his family. Not a shopping person, I talked my brother and his family into seeing this unique art work on Black Friday.
There were about 10 cups on display. The details on each one was amazing! This was like graphic art, souped up to fine art. Most of the cups had whimsical design, but a few were darker and more serious. Quite a treat for me, especially having seen some off the cups on Flickr.
There was a painting by Robert Mah in the Marion Meyer Gallery which we enjoyed very much as well. It was a landscape painting that had a hint of Chinese landscape painting. Using only black coloring, the brush stroke were more obvious compared to most chinese painting, but it did had the same mystic feel.
After the show, we went to Thai Nakorn in Stanton for dinner. The best thai food I had ever had. Read my review on Yelp about it here.
-- Update 11-30-09
I emailed Boey and told him I made a trip to Laguna Beach to see his styrofoam cups. He repiled asking if I made the trip for that purpose only. When I answered yes, he said he felt sorry for me, because he did not leave his best work with Marion Meyer. He also told me to email him in advance on my next trip south to Orange County and he would show me his best work over coffee. Sigh...I think I have low standards. I thought the cups in Marion Meyer were quite good already.
On a previous trip through central coast, H and I saw many trucks hauling ATV. H commented she wanted to try riding an ATV at some time.
Turned out, Pismo beach in Central Coast was a mecca for ATV enthusiasts, which was a short drive from SLO. We got off the Pier St from 101 and went into the first ATV store we saw: Steve ATV.
It turned out to be a great decision. Steve was the only store carrying 2 seaters. We rented a 2 seater for 1 hour. We were then directed to the beach area. A shuttle bus would drive us to the dunes, where we would get a quick video introduction and pick up our rental ATV.
The most important rule in ATV riding was we need to wear out helmets at all time. The ATV could not get wet, so we were to stay away from the water at all time. Controlling the ATV was easy. On the right handle, there was knob. By pushing the knob up or down with the right thumb, we would control the speed of the ATV. Turing the handle bar controls the direction of where the ATV went, much like a bicycle.
Both H and I were not the dare devil type, so we took it slow. It was a really powerful ATV and responded to our control immediately. We rode up and down the sand dunes, taking our time approaching the dunes to stay in control and made turns slowly. This was a new experience and we were being careful. H and I took turns doing the riding, shifting our bodies forward and backwards as we go downhill and uphill respectively.
We rented the ATV for one hour and it was more than enough time to experience this sport. We took the shuttle back to our car and drove to Pismo beach down town. Here, we enjoyed fried fish, scallops, shrimp, clams and oysters at Pismo Fish and Chip. The fried seafood was not too heavily battered and tasted very fresh.
After lunch, we walked around the beach area. Since this was Labor Day weekend, the beach area was very crowded. As we walked around the beach town tourist shops, our attention was drawn to a chocolate shoppe, selling chocolate covered worms and crickets. H and I tried a chocolate covered worm. Luckily, we could only taste the chocolate and the texture of something crispy in the center of the chocolate:)
Near the end of our walk in the downtown area, we noticed a long line of people buying chowder at Splash cafe. We were definitely in culinary exploration mode and H decided to wait in line to buy the chowder, while I went to pick up our car. The chowder was thick and creamy, with lots of clams. However, we did not find it special enough to warrant the half an hour wait for takeout.
From Pismo beach, we drove to Morro Bay. We drove by a park and there was an Art Festival going on. We took a walk around the festival, but we not impressed.
From the park, it was a short drive to Morro Rock. We drove around the rock, and enjoyed the bay view. The rock itself was quite big, and the view from afar, with the rock set in the ocean was quite good.
We then walked along the water front, looking at the various shops. There was an interesting store called the Shell Shop, selling various types of sea shells. H bought a large shell to use as soap dish, then added a sea turtle made from shells glued together to give the soap some company.
We were walking along when H saw the arching windows of Morro Bay Wine Seller. It was starting to get dark and she wanted to enjoy the sunset through the window. We stopped by for some wine tasting and had a good chat with the store owner. Turned out, he used to work in restaurant in San Jose. We talked a little bit about how life's different in Silicon valley and central coast and had a great time. Before we left, we asked for restaurant recommendations.
"The Park", he said without any hesitation. "Maegen is a talented chef, you will enjoyed your meal."
With a recommendation like that, we could not resist. We drove back to San Luis Obispo and seek out the restaurant. My review of the restaurant is on Yelp. Overall, it was one of the best meal we ever had.
H and I spent our Labor Day weekend in California's central coast. Both of us had just returned from oversea trip and wanted to take it easy.
On this Saturday, we decided to do some wine tasting. Sunset Magazine called Paso Robles "The next great wine country", so we were looking forward to our visit.
Our first stop was Wild horse winery. A family friend swore by wines from this winery and I wanted to taste them for myself.
We arrived at about 10:45am, but the tasting room was not yet opened! We went into the tasting room anyway and were greeted by a friendly wine staff, who agree to let us start tasting. We started with the $5 tasting, and added the Unbridled tasting for $10.
After Wild Horse, we stopped by downtown Paso Robles for lunch. As we were walking around, we found Vivant cheese shop. H had always wanted to do a little cheese tasting, so helped ourselves to the free samples. The indoor seating area for Vivant was quite small, but they did have a nice court yard, which in early fall, was nice out. We decided to stay for lunch and ordered a cheese platter. 4 cheese was served, with soft, medium and hard texture and a blue cheese. Fruits, jams and nuts completed the plate.
Our next stop was Eberle Winery. H started feeling sick when we arrived, so we rested in the tasting room and outside in the patio until she felt better.
Eberle Winery's cave tour had gotten very good reviews online and I was somewhat looking forward to visiting the cave. Frankly, the cave was a bit of a let down for me. First of all, it was a man made cave. This cave was used mainly to store wine and felt cold and industrial. Elberle was milking it "cave" for all it's worth. Special wine tasting events, wine dinner could be held in the cave. In an effort to make the space more soft, romantic, lots of design elements were added, including a lovely copper wine wine holder tree which I really like. But personally, I would not hold my event inside this space.
We stopped by Eos winery for a little more tasting before calling it a day. H was feeling hungry and craving Chinese food, so we had a quick/light dinner at Golden Gong.
Why a light dinner? Well, our next stop was Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort. Soaking with a full stomach could be uncomfortable.
Sycamore Mineral Spring Resort is a upscale hotel-spa that also rents their tubs by the hour to drop in visitors. We opted for a private tub, located on a small hillside. There were many private tubs on this hill side, all open aired, but surrounded with a sheet metal fence for privacy.
The tub water was very clear and had a little sulphur smell. When I first entered the tub, the temperature felt great! But at the end of an hour's soak, it felt too hot for comfort.
Rejuvenated, we drove back to SLO and checked out a louge: Native lounge. H and I were not big into night life, so it was a nice change of pace. The lounge is located next to a park. We enjoyed a ginger honey cocktail and champange with hibiscus syrup, while listening to the soft jazz played in a garden like setting. We were lucky enough to score a couch with pillow and throw. It was very relaxing.
One night, while looking out of the window in my parent's house, I saw the reflection of a pond. I asked Dad what's located there. He replied, "Cable ski park!"
The location used to be a man made lagoon for swimming. But the lagoon gradually lose its popularity and had been closed. Recently, it had been converted to this cable ski facility.
What is cable ski? Well, it is water skiing, where the people are tow by a cable instead of boat. I had a first hand look at the facility on an after dinner stroll. The pond was about 40m long and 10m wide. An overhead cable system was been held up by four beams. The riders would pull on a pulley dragged along by this overhead cable. There were wake boarders, knee boarders and even a guy on water skis. Some were beginners, just happy with making turns, while others were doing acrobatic stunts.
I decided I wanted to try cable ski before I leave. So this morning, I went to Ski 360 Degree. An hour's session cost $36 and included life vest/knee board rental and some "basic" instruction.
Basic instruction was an understatement! The guy in charge of rental equipment was impatient and unfriendly:( After handing me a knee board, he had me kneeled on the board and showed me how to strap myself in. Then he told me the most important thing was to get out of the water and protect myself from others if I sank. I was to tug my elbow in during the start, straighten my hands once on water and placed the pulley on my left when turning left. There's no right turn in this cable ski park.
I asked about how to signal myself coming in. He impatiently told me to go between the white floats if I had finished my time on the water, or go between the pink floats if I wanted to continue.
On this morning, the pulley machines were being maintained, so I had to wait an hour before my first run. I kneeled down in my board, saw the ready signal turned green and was feeling pretty nervous. I got into position, felt a good jerk on the pulley, hung on tight and was immediately pulled onto the water!
On the water, I could really feel myself float. I relaxed a little and straighten my hand. At 58km/h, the board felt faster than what I saw on land. I held on tightly.
I was able to make it pass 3 turns. On the fourth turn, I felt the pulley slowed down significantly, then quickly sped up. This jerking motion of the pulley caught me off guard. The pulley slipped out of my hands and I sank.
As I was getting out, a young Indian lady behind me had also sank. She told me this was the furthest she had gotten, so I was feeling pretty good about myself. I figured if I hung on tight enough, I would be able to make a full round.
On my second run, I was not as lucky. On the first turn, I sank. I tried holding on hard, but was unsuccessful.
On the third pass, I had gotten over the initial adrenaline rush. I was more aware of my form and controlled myself made it through the first turn. I pulled my arms in a little during the turn and that seemed to really help.
However, on the second turn, I felt the board slowed down significantly. As a result, I felt the board leaning forward. Then the pulley sped up. Since the top of the board was in water, the water resistance pulled on the body too much and despite my best effort, I was unable to hang on.
Due to prior arrangement and the fact that the start was delayed my almost an hour, I decided to call it a day. Also the mid-day sun was also shining brightly and I was a little tired.
However, water skiing was a lot of fun! I told my parents if I lived nearby, I would do it more. Cable skiing, however, may be boring after a while, since there's only turning in one direction.
Scuba diving was more tiring than what we had expected. H and I slept till noon before we headed back to the Bay Area. Despite the late start, we felt we could drive at a leisure pace and get back to Bay Area at a reasonable time.
Our first stop was unscheduled. Hunger struck and we detoured to downtown Santa Barbara, looking for a place for lunch. I spotted a Left At Albuquerque and we sat down for a meal of Gulf Coast seafood enchiladas and chicken mango quesadilla with soup.
Our planned detour was Solvang. Located about an hour northwest of Santa Barbara off Hwy 154, Solvang is a Danish town. The downtown area are filled with European architecture building. We stopped by a candle shop, then walked over to the Hans Christian Anderson Museum, which also housed a coffee shop and a bookstore. I had wanted to tried some Danish pastries, and the lady at the coffee shop directed me to Solvang bakery. We tried some pastries, but were not impressed.
We walked around the downtown area more. There was an interesting doll house store, a Christmas store and a Thomas Kinkade gallery. We stopped by Kinkade's gallery so I could explain to H about "The painter of lights".
After a fairly pleasant stay in Solvang, we continued on our way until we reach San Luis Obispo where we stopped by Madonna Inn. We had seen this building on our way to Ventura and had wanted to visit on our way back.
Madonna inn is located by Hwy 101. We drove around the compound a little and the hotel to have less rooms than we had thought. We also found the building a little run down. Then we went to the lobby to check out the rates.
That's when we realized what Madonna Inn was all about. Each room was individually decorated around a different theme. The most unique room had to be the Caveman room. This room had an all rock interior, including the ceiling and the floor. The bathroom had rock walls and a rock covered shower area. The lobby sold post cards of each room, and there was a book describing the story behind Madonna Inn.
H and I also visited the restaurant. The dining hall was decorated with hot pink table cloth, booth seats and roses. It was too tacky for the both of us.
We continued on a uneventful drive back to the bay area. Normally, when we made out trip south, we took Hwy 5. This was our first trip on 101 and we found the drive pleasant and interesting.
H and I went to Channel Islands National Park, near Santa Barbara, CA for a scuba diving trip. In fact, this trip was the reason I got certified. Since this is my first dive after certification, I was quite excited, but also a little nervous at the same time.
We booked our dive boat and rented scuba gear through http://www.calboatdiving.com/. This saved us a little work, as the rental gears were delivered directly onto the dive boat:)
We woke up at about 6am and boarded the Spectre dive boat at 6:30am. While the Spectre had beds below the deck for sleeping but we did not sleep there. H tried on her last trip but found the bunks smelly. I toured the lower deck and noticed the same thing. In spite of the crews effort in forcing air below the deck, the sleeping quarter still reek like musty damped cloth.
After checking in with the dive master, we were each assigned a dive station. We inspected our rental gears, then sat down for a leisurely, cooked to order, breakfast in the galley. Channel islands are about 12 miles from the mainland and it took the dive about an hour to reach there, so there's plenty of time to relax before the first dive.
On this day, we were diving on the mainland side of east Anacapa Island. Our first dive site was Landing Cove Point. The captain informed everyone to get ready about 20mins before reaching the site, so we were all ready to go when we arrived. After a quick site briefing from the dive master, we were on our way!
The dive began with a giant stride entry off the side of the boat. During our lessons, we had done giant stride entry in the swimming pool only. Here the drop was about 1m. It was a little terrifying thinking about this drop... The actual entry went fine though.
From the side of the boat, we swam to the back of the boat and descended following the anchor line. Since this was my first "real" dive, we decided to take it easy.
There was a kelp forest under the water. We swam around the kelp forest. There were many marine life, including Garibaldi, star fish and sea urchins. The visibility was about 40 feet, and there was not much wave. It was a great day to dive!
As we slowly used up air in our tanks, we found ourselves floating to the surface slowly. Both H and I dumped all the air in our BCD, but was unable to stay submerged. We had to swim back to the anchor line and pull ourselves down. We dive for another 20mins, until I ran out of air.
We boarded the dive boat was via a platform on the back of the boat. We knelled on the platform while Mike, the dive master, remove our fins. We then climb up a ladder to get back on deck. Mike saw how I was struggled with buoyancy and suggested a buoyancy check. I crossed my leg and dumped all my air, then sank to a eye level. I was carrying the correct amount of weights.
After the first dive, both H and I felt our throat were dry from breathing air from the tank. I had similar problem during my lessons, so both of us drank lots of water before our next dive.
The second dive site of the day was at Cathedral Cove. This dive site is partially over a kelp forest and a sandy beach. We dive along the edge of the sandy beach and kelp forest. There was a group of playful sea lion in the sandy beach area that were swimming to check us out! It was less than a meter from me.
There were also lots of sea cucumber, Sheephead fish and a school of small shiny fish. We were also able to stay dived the whole time and a great time. Again, I ran out of air before H and we had to surface. H continued diving near the platform, while I got out of my scuba gear and snorkeled with her.
After this dive, it was time for lunch! We were served barbecue tri-tip, with bread, beans and orzo. It was delicious!
After lunch, the captain announced we would be diving in the same spot. H and I were a little disappointed. We wanted to see some other sites. We decided to skip this dive and relax instead.
We took off our wet suit and dipped in the hot tub. But the hot noon sun and the hot tub was too much for me. I ended up sleeping in the galley.
Our final dive site of the day was the Canyon. This dive site had features of underwater valley, deep canyons with sidewall. It was still mostly kelp forest. I saw a beautiful blue snail like creature with bright orange "fur". I found out later it was a nudibranch: Spanish shawl.
There were more star fish, sea cucumber, sea urchins and shell fish with different colors. It was amazing.
Again, I ran out of air before H and we surfaced. H swam on the surface with the rest of her air and I joined her with my snorkel. The ocean life on the surface was not as exciting as the bottom of the sea, but still it was quite interesting.
After the last dive of the day, we took off our wet suit and soaked in the hot tub again. It was about 3pm and the sun had started to set. It was nice relaxing in the hot tub after a fairly tiring day. I always thought I was a strong swimmer, but I was tired with the underwater kicking, as well as carrying the weight belt and tank.
The trip back to the mainland was fairly uneventful. We saw oil rigs in the distance. The only thing missing were dolphins. H saw them swimming along the boat on her last trip.
After we docked, we were able to leave all our rental gear on board and drove to Oxnard, where we spent the night. We showered and then grab a quick dinner at "Hook, Line and Sinker". We ordered a grilled Mahi Mahi and Kamikazi salad with Yellowtail. Dinner was decent, but we were so tired that we did not do anything after dinner. Just hit the sack and slept.
It was a wonderful but tiring first dive trip for me. Conditions were perfect, not too hot, water was relatively warm, no wind or waves. I saw some interesting marine life and beautiful colors. The variety of the dive site was somewhat limited, but that just means I have more to explore on future trips:)
Our first stop was Beach Chalet. Located at the edge of Golden Gate Park, right next to the Pacific ocean, Beach Chalet is housed in a beautiful historic building, upstairs from the Golden Gate Park visitor's center. The restaurant had large windows facing Ocean Beach, looking out into the Pacific. Even though it was a foggy day, we enjoyed the view.
Beach Chalet offered 6 beers on their circle of ale selection: Hefeweizen, IPA, ESB, Red, Porter and 2 other beers I don't remember. Our favorite was the ESB, with the IPA a close second. The banana flavored Hefeweizen was actually decent, but I am not a fan of fruit beer in general.
The second stop of our beer tour was Rouge. Based out of Oregon, this brew pub had a San Francisco outlet located in North Beach. We ordered a 4 beer tasting set consisting of 200m IPA, Dead guy Ale, American Amber and a dark beer. We found the beer at Rouge too "hoppy" and not quite our taste. Their IPA, in particular, was too bitter. This was unusual, given I generally like a little hop in my beer.
Next stop was San Francisco Brewing Company. They did not have a taster set, so we ordered a small glass of all their beers: a lemony Hefeweizen, Albatross Lager, Emperor Norton Lager, IPA, Esteam, Brock, Ale, Stout and Porter. The Heferweizen here was too tart, in a bad way, so we quickly gave up on that. Both lagers was good. We especially like Emperor Norton. More malty than hop, it was a good change of pace. Their dark beers were all very strong. The stout was almost undrinkable. We liken the taste to Chinese medicinal stew. The porter was also bitter, but had a mild sweet after taste to make it more palatable.
Both Rouge and San Francisco Brewing Company are located a "touristy" North Beach. On most tables, we saw people with guide books enjoying their brews. Both venue were located in older buildings, but these buildings were not very well maintained. Instead of charming, both locale felt a little run down.
18 beers later, we came to the third stop of our tour: Thirsty Bear. Located next to the now defunct Hawthorne Lane restaurant, Thirsty Bear is located in the more modern/hip part of town. As we were tasting beer and having dinner, a steady flow of young professionals were coming in for food and drinks as well.
Thirsty Bear brew 8 beers: larger, wheat, brown ale, golden vanilla, ESB, IPA, Stout and the season brew Belgium white. Golden vanilla was quite special. It had a strong vanilla flavor on the nose and went down smooth. The Belgium white was golden in color, but had double the alcohol of most beer. It was quite good too.
We also ordered food off the Spanish inspired menu: grilled asparagus and spring onion with romesco sauce, ceviche and Valencia paella. The grilled vegetables with romesco sauce was great. The ceviche liquid was too tart, and overcame the sweetness of the seafood. The paella was tasty, but a little watery. We would prefer if it had a socarrat(the crusty bottom).
Our last stop of the night was 21st Amendment. Located near the base ball park, the brew pub looked modern. 21st Amendment offered the 8 beers: Blonde, Watermelon wheat, motor oil, darkness, cherry cider and 3 more which I could not remember.
I was looking forward to this stop because 21st Amendment offered a watermelon flavored beer. H's favorite fruit is the watermelon and I was wondering if she would enjoy the beer.
Unfortunately, at this time, both of us were feeling quite full from all the beers. We had paced ourselves and not drank on empty stomach, so we were not drunk or even high. But empty calories are still calories. Between the 2 of us, we could not finish the taster set! The watermelon beer came with a wedge of watermelon which gave the drink a strong watermelon smell. Upon removal of the garnish, we could still detect a hint of watermelon on the nose. I would have enjoy it more in a different occasion.
The cherry cider was not something I enjoy. It tasted like NyQuil.
We walked around the ball park area after our drinks before heading home.
Thus end our San Francisco beer tour! 34 types of beer in a day. This is definitely a personal record, one I don't want to break anytime soon:)
H and I went to Brentwood to pick fresh fruits. Brentwood is located about an hour from South Bay and is known for its u-pick orchard.
At this time of the year, cherries are in season. We left south bay at about 11:30am. Our first stop was at Pomeroy Farm, since it was located closest to the freeway.
From Marsh Creek Road, the trees in the orchard looked bare. There was a 5lb min for u-pick and we were concerned if we could meet that requirement. As we entered the farm, we were told there were still fruits on trees in the back, which was where we headed.
Both Bing cherries and white Rainier cherries were grown at Pomeroy. This year, the Bing cherries tasted sweeter than the Rainier, probably due to the unusual weather pattern of wet winter/dry spring/cold spell that we had lately. We filled our bucket with a mixture of Rainier and Bing, while tasting fruits from the trees.
After picking a 5lb load, and feeling full from all the snacking, we headed out of Pomeroy farm to pick other fruits.
As we drove around, we saw Bacchini's Fruit Tree. They offered blackberry, loquarts, pluots and peaches. We stopped.
The farm had a row of loguarts trees, which were totally bare. We were done with cherries, so tried the pluots, which was in season. We also tried some peaches, but they were not quite ready. We also tried our hand at blackberry picking. Blackberry was very difficult to pick. We had to search for riped berries and the trees were full of thorns.
We went to a few more farms, but did not pick anymore fruits.
After hanging out in Brentwood a little longer, we decided to head back.
Dinner was at Little Sheep Hot Pot. After a whole day of eating fruits, the warm broth of the hotpot felt very soothing.
After dinner, we walked around Lake Elizabeth at Fremont Central Park to ease our overly stuffed stomach.
On my previous 2 nights in the tent, I slept fairly lightly: I woke up at first light. But on this morning, I did not wake up until 9am.
We broke camp and drove down Route 395 to Bishop. As we parked at Erick Schat's Bakkery, H spotted an open air art fair in the park across the street. The art fair had some beautiful photos of the Sierras and we enjoyed browsing through the booths.
After a simple sandwich lunch at Erik Schat's bakkery, we went to visit Mountain Light Gallery. I was not familiar with the work of Galen Rowell, but H told me he was a famous outdoor photographer, who had tragically died in a plane crashed. There were several amazing photos of the Sierras and Patagonia in the gallery which I really liked.
Our next stop was Winnedumah Hotel in Independence. H stayed here on her her previous trip to Eastern Sierras and had wanted to show me the eccentric collection of stones/lamps/stuff in the lobby.
Further south on 395, we visited Alabama hills. The unusual rock formation was prefect for rock climbing! We hiked to a foot of a small cave in a stone and tried to climb to the opening. We made it up a crack, but without ropes/harness, did not feel safe continuing. At this point, we were near the southern end of the Sierra range. Weather had been great and we decide to check on Tioga pass. Highway 120 was indeed open! We decided to drive through Yosemite to get back to Bay area.
H took the wheels on this stretch of the drive and I was very grateful. My last trip to Yosemite was almost 4 years ago, and I really enjoyed the early spring/snow tipped scenery. Highway 120 inside Yosemite was narrow and windy. There was also heavy fog, so if I was driving, I would not be able to enjoy the view.
By the time we left the eastern gate of Yosemite, it was getting dark. We stopped in Old Iron Door Saloon in Groveland for dinner. Old Iron Door Saloon was supposed to be the oldest continuous operating saloon in California. Unfortunately, it looked that way too:(
The menu, however, was quite modern. I had a buffalo burger and garlic soup which I enjoyed. H ordered a southwest style shrimp salad. Watercress was used exclusively in the salad, which made the greens too peppery. She did not enjoy her dinner as much.
We had an uneventful drive from Groveland back to the Bay area.
We woke at day break. Venturing out of the tent, I was startled by the amount of snow that had fell over night. Where the grounds were bare when we went to sleep, there were about 3 inches of snow.
We debated a little about spending another night in the wilderness or start hiking out. H was concerned because weather forecast for Sunday evening calls for as much snow as Saturday evening. If the same amount of snow fell, the trails may be covered by so much snow that we would be unable to find out way out.
Given the safety concern, it was thus decided hiking out was the better option. We had a leisure breakfast, then started tearing down the tent.
When going into the wilderness, it was prudent to reach one's campsite before dark and setup tent/boil water. Coming out, the pace was more relax. As long as we could reach trailhead before dark, we would be fine.
The 3 inches of virgin snow overnight had partially covered the trail, so footing on the hike was not very good, but since we were mostly going down, it was not too tiring. Also, H brought along gaiters, so snow did not get into our boots.
We stopped for pictures several times on our hike out. Here one of me in front of some bristlecrone pine.Here's another at the foot of the rail tracks. Going down the tracks was quite an adventure. With less sure footing due to the new snow, I walked sideways down the tracks. Since we had planned to spend two nights in the wilderness, we did not make hotel reservations. Given it is Memorial Day weekend, we decided to spend the night at a camp site opposite the trailhead. There was still some daylight left, so we travelled around the Eastern Sierras. First stop was Mono Lake South Tufa. I was always fascinated by the tufa since reading about them in a few years ago, so this was quite a treat for me. Snow began to fell again when we left Mono Lake. Our next stop was Mammoth Lake. Whiskey Creek restaurant offered a 5-6pm happy hour where food and drinks were half off, and we were there to take advantage of the deal.
The restaurant brewed its own beer as well. We had salmon and crab cake, buffalo wings and fish taco. Food was decent, and at half off prices, could not be beat!
Since it had continued snowing somewhat heavily, we were concerned how our tent would hold up. We left before dark back to the campsite to setup for the night.
An online newsgroup posted a gathering for Mai Festival at Tourists Club of San Francisco. While I unfamiliar with the event and location, Germany beer and sausage in beautiful Muir Woods sounded like something I would love doing on a weekend:)
H and I left southbay at about 9:30am. Unfortunately, our trip through San Francisco was greatly delayed by Bay to Breakers. We did not arrive at Muir Woods until almost 1:30pm.
The private parking lot off Ridge drive was full when we arrived and we were forced to park off Panoramic Highway. A steep paved trail led from the Ridge drive lot to a Bavarian style lodge. The area is not as secluded as I had imagine, with several residential lots next to the Tourists Club's lodge.
A Bavarian band was playing traditional German music as we arrived. We found a seat on patio and watch visitors danced. Some visitors were in outdoor clothes/hiking boots, others in street clothes and a few in traditional German costume.
A small dance troupe performed an interesting Austrian dance called the "May Pole Dance" that I had never seen before. The dancers danced around a pole which had red and white strips attached to the top. Each dancer held on to the free end of the strip. Male and female dancers were paired into couples facing each other. The guys danced clockwise and the women danced anticlockwise. As they meet each other, the gentleman and ladies alternately go inside each other. With this motion, the dancers formed a quilt with the strips at the top of the pole.
I found this video on YouTube which showed this dance.
There were more dancing performance, and audience participation. Even I got into the action! The band played the Chicken dance music, and I had remembered the dance from college. I taught H the simple dance routine and did a few rounds. For those of you that did not go to school in Wisconsin, here's how what I was talking about!
After the dancing, we quickly refueled with some German beer and cabbage. Since we were already in Muir Wood, H took me to the top of Mountain Tam. From the parking lot, it was a short hike to the top. We sat there looking at the fog came in from the ocean, through the small opening of the Bay. The weather was perfect and it was beautiful.
Soon the sun began to set and we headed back towards south bay. Since we had to drive past San Francisco, we decided to stop for dinner in the city.
We ended up in Kan Zaman Cafe for a little middle eastern food and belly dancing performance. H had never seen belly dancing and was interested.
We had a simple dinner of pita bread, hummus, dolmas(grape leaves), tabouli, falafel and kibbeh. Then the belly dancer started performing. In addition to the usual belly dancing routine with the hand bell, she did a special routine where she balance a plate with several candles on top of her head while dancing.
Both the food and the dancing was better than my previous Kan Zaman experience, so we left satisfied!
Woke up late again after a relaxing evening. H was kind enough to get waffles for me, which I wolfed down after a somewhat light dinner.
This morning, we drove down south. Along the way, we stopped by Sequoia Grove. I had wanted to stop by this winery to taste their Gewurztraminer. It was my sister's favorite wine and was once served on Singapore Airline first class cabin. When we arrived though, we were in formed Jim Allen, the founder of the winery had sold the winery. Since Allen Family was his label, they had stopped the label and had not made Gewurztraminer since!
We were disappointed, but decided to try the new Sequoia Grove wine. We were the only part in the tasting room and had a generous pourer. We enjoyed a flight of red wine and another flight of white wine in the outside garden and got a little tipsy.
We decided we had enough wine for the morning and stopped by Oakville Grocery for a simple picnic lunch of grilled polenta cake, cheese, and salad. Weather was great as usual in Napa valley and we enjoyed out time in the sun.
After lunch, we decided to stop by a winery with a beautiful building. Turned out, it was the famous Opus One label. At this time, both of us did not want to drink anymore wine, so just toured the winery. The building had a update-classical look and was quite handsome.
My original plan was to go to downtown Napa and purchase a wine tasting card. This card cost $20 and at 10 different downtown tasting room, initial tasting cost only 10 cents. But, we were all "wined-out" for the weekend. Instead, we browsed the shops a little. The downtown area was fairly quiet on Sunday afternoon, with many stores closed, so we decided to call it a weekend and head home.
H returned safely from her trip through the Sierras, and we decided to have a relaxing weekend off in Napa Valley. Since her trip was physically demanding, I had made arrangement for spa treatment as well.
We drove to Calistoga on Friday evening and spent the night at the Lodge at Calistoga. The hotel offered free breakfast, which included freshly made waffles. It was a good start to the morning.
Unfortunately, our day was interrupted by a flat tire, which we discovered when we left the hotel to start travelling. We had to wait for AAA to come change into our spare tire and drove the car down to Napa for replacement tires.
Since we were already in Napa, we decided to have lunch in downtown. We happened upon on Caffe Cicero and enjoyed a steak sandwich and pesto chicken sandwich.
After lunch, we drove back up towards Calistoga as I had made spa appointment in the afternoon. We stopped by Franciscan and Heitz for wine tasting. Heitz was a great stop because they made a finest wine in the Napa area and tasting was free!
We arrived at Lavender Hill Spa right on time for our appointment. Located just off Highway 29, Lavender Hill looked like a old Victorian house at the side of the road. But it was charming and the garden was beautiful.
Both H and I chose Volcanic Mud bath for our bath. The mud is one time used only and it was not very thick. Lavender Hill had couples facing each other during spa treatment, though we did not try to talk over the flowing water and our eyes were covered by cold cucumber slices. Classical music played softly in the background while we soaked and the atmosphere was serene.
After the bath treatment, we were wrapped in towel and given a foot massage. Then we were ushered to separate massage rooms for our massage treatment. The massage rooms were closer to the road, so there was some vehicle noise, affecting the atmosphere. But the massage itself was relaxing and I came out of the treatment refreshed.
Dinner was at Ubuntu, a chic restaurant and yoga studio in downtown Napa, which had been getting rave reviews for its vegetarian cuisine. We ordered the asparagus salad, baby beets and avocado and cauliflower in a cast iron pot. The asparagus were lightly boiled and all the woody portion shaved off. It was served with a lemon dressing. The baby beets and avocado salad included diced red and yellow beets served with bitter greens. The best dish of the night was the cauliflower in cast iron pot. The cauliflower was soft and sweet and surrounded by a fluffy, creamy sauce. I liked this dish a lot.
Dessert was a bowl of frosted feuilletine, served with vanilla ice cream and warm coconut milk. The dessert was made to look like a bowl of breakfast cereal, and the warm milk and ice cream made for a interesting contrast in temperature. I enjoy this dessert very much too.
Overall, the dishes were carefully prepared and the taste delicate. The cold salad rely too much on the ingredients. Also, portion sizes were small.
After dinner, we drove around downtown Napa a little and headed back to Calistoga for the night.
H and I drove all night from the Bay area to Gorman, CA where we spent the night. Our destination is Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.
Even with a record dry March and April, 2008 had a fair amount of rain. About a week ago, I peeked at the current photos section on the reserve's website, and the California poppies were fully bloomed! We decided to make this trip.
From Gorman, it was a short 20 minutes drive to the poppy reserve. The reserve is located amongst flat farm land, so we started seeing the large patches of golden poppies as we approached the entrance.
Unfortunately, the wind was unusually strong. The poppies did not open fully. The wind also kicked up a lot of dust and the flowers did not have their usual silk like shine.
We walked around the reserve a little and came to a patch of poppies which was behind a small hill. The hill blocked the wind, so the flowers open a little more here and it was not as dusty. We sat down inside the patches. The flowers were all around us as far as the eye can see. As the wind blew, the sea of golden poppies sway in the wind, like waves in the ocean. H and I tried very had to think of ways to describe the scenery, but both gave up after a while.
The weather made it very uncomfortable to stay in the reserve, and we figured we will get some comfort food.
H suggested Din Tai Fung in Arcadia. I had heard my Taiwanese friends talked about this restaurant and eagerly agreed. We arrive at about 1:30pm and we seated almost immediate. We shared a chicken soup, 2 orders of the famous xiao long bao, vegetable dumplings and fish dumplings. The food was comforting and homey. After a cold and windy morning, the food really hit the spot. I will be yelping about this place soon!
After lunch, we started our drive back to the Bay area, stopping at Casa de Fruta for nuts and dried corn. H will be going on a back country ski trip and needed ration.
It was a full moon weekend, and being a cold spring day, there was no a cloud in the sky. The moon looked especially bright as we drove along 152, crossing Pacheco Pass back onto 101.
Around the corner from Pike's Place Market is the 
I was able to make it pass 3 turns. On the fourth turn, I felt the pulley slowed down significantly, then quickly sped up. This jerking motion of the pulley caught me off guard. The pulley slipped out of my hands and I sank.
Here's another at the foot of the rail tracks. Going down the tracks was quite an adventure. With less sure footing due to the new snow, I walked sideways down the tracks.
