A Taste of North Berkeley

The neighborhood we are staying in is considered North Berkeley and just a couple blocks away is a collection of awesome restaurants and cool shops. This group of restaurants is known as the Gourmet Ghetto. They have an entire website that you can check out if you click here.  Almost every month they have some type of festival or special event. The latest event was called a Taste of North Berkeley. 

When we purchased our tickets we received a brochure with a listing of all the restaurants and a map of the locations that were participating. Each location would check off the circle next to their business' name as you received your food item. Jon and I are super competitive so it was important that all of our circles were checked off.  The only ones we missed were the locations that ran out of food and closed by the time we arrived. 

Each restaurant or shop served something different and several of them offered discounts if you return.  Jon's favorite was the black truffle mac and cheese from Le Petit Cochon and with my giant sweet tooth I enjoyed the ice cream samples and the carrot cake from Virginia Bakery. 

This has been one of my favorite experiences since we arrived. It was such a great way to experience the culture and all the proceeds benefited the local schools gardening program. 

Texas Girls in the City!

One of the best parts of this whole gig is people coming to see you. I was lucky enough to have one of my best friends and her mom come for a visit.  Stacy and Erica were here for a whirlwind weekend full of adventures. 

We spent the first morning exploring around Berkeley in my neighborhood and even went to the top of the tower at the University of Berkeley.  The views from the tower are incredible as well as the view of the bells at the top. 

The rest of the day was spent in San Francisco.  Our first stop was Lombard Street because all first time visitors have to see the world's crookedest street. From there we walked down to Ghirardelli Square and loaded up on some chocolate. 

After our chocolate binge we made our way to the Fisherman's Wharf via the street car.  At the wharf we enjoyed some seafood and entertainment from the locals. There is always a man that plays instruments and sings songs while all kinds of people dance. One of our favorites was the toothless man dressed as an "Alcatraz escapee" that would dance with just about anything that moves or with himself even.  We finished the day with some shopping in Chinatown and then back to Berkeley to meet Jon for dinner. 

On the second day of their visit we biked the Golden Gate Bridge. I know what you are thinking, and yes I did just bike the bridge 3 days earlier. I should get some kind of award for doing it twice in less than 5 days.  I do have to say that it is much easier to bike when you are NOT on a tandem bike. I told the people at the bike company they should have warned Jon and I about how hard it is on a tandem.  Regardless of the difficulty, when you bike the bridge, there are incredible views that you can't get without doing it. It really is worth it. 

Once our trek across the bridge was over we met Jon for dinner in Chinatown. Poor Jon could only meet us at night because had to work the entire time they were here. We ate at a restaurant called R&G Lounge.  We had a street car driver that had recommended the place to us a few weeks earlier. It was delicious! 

I had the best time with Erica and Stacy and was very sad to see them go! 

It was great to have a special part of Texas right here with me in California.  Love you both and am so glad you came to visit. 

Just Pictures

Over the last week we have gone to SF twice and visited the Muir Woods National Monument. We have seen some pretty beautiful things and I think they best way for you to see what we have done is to just post all the pictures. So here they are…

The following are from Saturday, Nov. 2nd in San Francisco. We ended up walking about 7 miles, but were able to see a lot of the city.

View from the street car  

The original sourdough bread bakery. Bread bowl with SF Clam Chowder..YUM! 

A little crab at the wharf

We were about to walk up Hyde St. to get to Lombard St. and it was very steep. This picture doesn't even show how steep it is

We survived, view from the top go Hyde St.

View from the top of Lombard Street

Lombard Street 

China Town 

We ate dinner here for $7 and it was delicious! 

The next morning, Sunday, November 3rd, we went to see the Muir Woods with my Aunt, Uncle and little cousins. The trees are huge and so beautiful. When you are standing underneath one of the trees, you can't even see the top it looks like it goes on and on forever. 

Thought this was funny! What is it with people trying to feed the animals? 

Yesterday, November 6th, was our latest adventure. We decided to bike the Golden Gate Bridge and of course we opted for the tandem bike. This is something everyone should do because you can see the GG Bridge like you have never seen it before, but beware: it is not easy! It is over 8 miles from start to finish and a lot of it is uphill, so that alone makes it feel like it is much longer than 8 miles. We biked across the bridge to a cute little town called Sausalito and then we caught the ferry back to SF. 

View of the GG Bridge from the ferry

Sausalito 

Alcatraz also from the ferry

Napa

So I am just about a week behind in posting our adventures from last weekend. We ventured north to the wine country. As we were planning our trip we realized just how many wineries there are. Its hard to choose a few because literally they are everywhere. We ended up picking 3 off a list of recommendations from friends and family. FYI: if you are planning a trip and have specific wineries you want to visit you need to make reservations especially if you visit when they are harvesting the grapes from August to October.

Our first stop was Cakebread Cellars. This was recommended by my family, who gave it rave reviews and Jon and I would have to agree.  Lynn, pictured below, was our tour guide and was filled with lots of knowledge about the wines and the area in general. In our group of 11 there were a total of 6 Texans so she had her hands full.

The second stop we made was dual purpose: lunch and wine! Several people told us the V. Sattui Winery has a BBQ on the weekends. It's not an actual BBQ, it's more of an up scale picnic with a grill going. We had grilled oysters, caprese salad with handmade mozzarella and truffle oil, and a grilled pizza. It was all delicious! 

The third and final stop of the day was Sterling recommended by some friends who had us at, "Sterling has the best views" and they were correct!! You ride in a gondola to get up the hill to the winery so you can see for miles at the top. During the tour we learned that they hand make each one of the barrels that is used to store the wine while it is aging. I had never thought about the man hours put into making just one oak barrel. 

We had such an incredible day! It was like nothing we have ever done before and we can't wait to go back in a couple weeks. Next time we will venture over to Sonoma and see what it has to offer.