california

I’m one lucky girl.  Last week I had the chance to jump on a plane and head out to San Francisco to visit Julie, one of my best friends & an old neighbor from around the block when we both used to live in Manhattan.  About a year and half ago, I made the same trip out to visit and we had an absolute blast exploring (aka eating and drinking our way through) wine country.  Ohhhh and how ah-mazing the food & wine were!!  We couldn’t wait to get back for our 2nd annual round of fun, and could not have asked for more perfect weather (again)!!  Oh California, you enchant me with your clear. blue. skies.

My view as soon as leaving SFO airport… seriously.  Just another day in paradise.

We don’t mess around.  As soon as I landed (9am PST), Julie picked me up and we were off to Sonoma for some delicious wine…

The lovely J…

Downtown Sonoma square, where we lunched and enjoyed more wine tasting…

Lunch at El Dorado Kitchen was ahhhhmazing.  Beautiful experience & the food had us at hello.

My truffle mushroom risotto went way too fast, and before it disappeared I had to take a quick snap…

Jimmy from Highway 12, pouring the good stuff…

Clearly not the best photo, but I love it.  Windblown (from the car windows rolled down! oh yes) and purple teeth stains and all 🙂

Ok, people… bear with me.  Our next stop might be a touch familiar (especially if you’re a Bachelor fan).  Yes… we went there!  Ben’s winery, that is.  🙂  Envolve was… fantastic!  J & I were pleasantly surprised as we expected little to nothing from this place, but quickly learned to shut off our prejudge-mental brains and open our mouths for more yummy wine.  Nicely played, Envolve!

Oh, Sonoma.  *sigh*

Two Words… Barn Diva.  They can call themselves ‘diva’ any day and time they’d like, because they are just the BEST in the kitchen.  We’ve been dreaming of this moment since our 1st trip out 2 Novembers ago and we discovered a little piece of heaven on their menu called chèvre croquettes (aka fried goat cheese balls drizzled with honey and lavender).  Sweet Jesus there is a God.  I ordered a Tomato Salad too, and It. Rocked. My. World.  Apparently I was too overwhelmed [impatient] with my dishes that I forgot to get the ‘good camera’ out and snap a few.  Thank goodness for the trusty iPhone for a few quick snaps of the food before I licked my plates clean.

My awesome partner in crime 🙂

Bella Winery!  I love this place.  They have quite possibly THE coolest tasting room, located yards into a cave that’s carved into one of their wine-producing mountains.  I’m a wine club member here too, and coming back felt like visiting an old friend again.

The drive from Sonoma to Napa… looking out the windshield…

Over the hill & through the woods…

Our first stop in Napa on the Silverado Trail was Chimney Rock.  Yummy big & bold reds and some of the best views for miles.  I stumbled upon them for the 1st time in 2006, and then they really hit the map when Top Chef featured their winery during a final round of season 6.  I was happy to see there was still space at the bar for us 🙂

I spy a green grape 🙂

Oh me oh my, there are so SO many more things we did & places we visited but left the big camera behind in lieu of the iPhone.  If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw I was blowing up my feed left & right!  (If you’re not following, I’m HLAMB if you’d like to peek.)

Links to our amazing experiences…

H2Hotel (Healdsburg)   |   The Spa @ Hotel Healdsburg (Sonoma)   |   Bouchon Bakery (Yountville)

Buttercream Bakery & Diner (Napa)   |    Sift Cupcakes (Napa)   |   Mustards Grill (Napa)   |   Va de Vie (Walnut Creek)

PS – I’ll skip naming off all the wineries we made it to…  😉  Cheers, Salute, Chin Chin, you name it to a FABULOUS time, and here’s to our 3rd annual trip where we’ll pick up where we left off… Ole!

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