San Francisco: Part 1

We left Sonoma Valley and began our drive to San Francisco (about one hour). As we arrived at the Hotel California , I was instantly amazed at how large and diverse the neighborhoods of San Francisco were and how different they all were from Sonoma. I felt like we entered another state (or country as I kept referring to it as to my mom).

We checked in, returned our car and went in search of FOOD!!! We had planned on going to the Tipsy Pig, but the drive, car drop off, and check in took a little longer than we had anticipated and we were STARVING (and a little aggravated). So, a 3 minute walk down the street seemed a lot more appealing than taking a bus ride to an unknown neighborhood.

We dined, per recommendation from our hotel, at Colibri Mexican Bistro.

We started with a round of house margaritas

Then, the best part of the meal, table side guacamole

Mmmmm SO fresh!!! For our entree, Evan and I split the grilled fish tacos and vegetarian chili relleno

This meal was good and a nice change from the gourmet meals we had been indulging in. Afterwards we met up with some of my classmates for a beer!

Wednesday morning I woke up bright and early and decided to check out the hotel gym and get some cardio in. Unfortunately, because of my knees, I don't like to run two days in a row, so I mixed things up with other cardio options (elliptical, spinning, stair climber, etc) or weights. OK, so the gym wasn't exactly a gym, they had one elliptical, one bike (which was broken) and a multiple weight machine, but only had leg machines. What was I to do?? Not go back to bed, but make the best out of the situation. I ellipticalled for 40 minutes, did a few leg machines and did push ups and sit ups. Not too shabby of a work out if you ask me, given the situation.

I quickly showered, ate breakfast and ran over to the Hilton hotel to attend the keynote speaker and poster presentations at my conference. The keynote speaker was not very good and was a little disappointing given that last year's was SO good, but the posters were great.

I met up with Evan around 2 for lunch and a "walking" tour of Fisherman's Wharf

After walking around a little, we ate lunch on the wharf at a cute little restaurant named Alioto's that had great views. Here was our view from our seat.

We started with the infamous clam chowder (I think they did a good job rivaling Boston's).

We then split the dungeness crab with prawns and steamers

and veggies

and of course some sourdough bread!

Yum!

We decided to walk back to our hotel to make room for dinner and see some of the infamous hills of San Francisco. Not sure if we really knew what we were getting ourselves into.....

To be continued......

Girl in the Pink Hat meets Girl and the Fig (Wine Country: Part 2)

So where did I leave off......

Oh yea, after our hike Evan and I brought our picnic lunch over to Arista, in the Russian River valley, and enjoyed this beautiful view

while we dined on pasta salads, black truffle cheese, grape leaves, a French baguette and carrots. After lunch, we did some tasting. Arista was another favorite winery and the staff was accommodating and helpful. In addition, the winery had gorgeous gardens that we toured.

Next up, Hop Kiln winery, which actually was our least favorite wine of the trip.

While the wine pourer was very nice and accommodating, the wine itself was very alcoholic tasting. So much in fact that I wanted to spit some of the pours. However, they did have some GREAT chocolate sauces (we bought a bottle).

Our final stop of the day was Kunde Winery. We had not planned to make this stop, but our hotel gave us a bunch of free wine tickets.

**Note** If you are staying in wine country make sure to ask your hotel for wine passes. Ours' had both free passes and two for one passes.

Kunde was probably the most extensive winery we had attended.

The wines were OK, probably second least favorite. However, there were a few bottles that were nice table wines that would be good to go with most foods (and they were probably the least expensive).

After we arrived back at our hotel for cocktail hour, we decided to take our drinks up to the rooftop hot tub. We relaxed for a little while and enjoyed a glass of wine.

Afterwards, we got ready and walked to dinner:

Finally, this girl met the infamous Girl and the Fig! I was SO excited!!!!

We started with the arugula and fig salad.

and split a French wine flight.

For my entree, I enjoyed the flounder with lemon-caper brown butter sauce with sauted spinach and potatoes.

Ok, so I know the blog world is going to get a little mad, but I have to say I was not a huge fan of this meal. It was a little too buttery and while it tasted good while eating it, the fact that it was drowned in butter and lost all other flavors made this meal not one of my favorites.

Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early and went for my first run of the trip! I planned on just running until I got tired. The terrain, while beautiful, was somewhat flat. Here are my stats:

Distance: 5 miles
Duration: 42:35
Mile 1: 9:06
Mile 2: 8:12
Mile 3: 8:42
Mile 4: 7:53
Mile 5: 8:40

I felt great!!! I loved every second of this run. It felt so nice to sweat out all the wines and heavy cuisines I had been enjoying the last few days. It was amazing!! I had a lot of enjoy and the weather was perfect (cool but sunny) and just a wonderful run. I been having some tough runs in the snow and cold lately, so this run was just amazing. It was also great scenery and I even forgot my iPod, but that didn't bother me because I had lots of scenes to keep me from getting bored.

After a quick shower and breakfast, it was off to do our final few wineries of our trip. None of the wineries were memorable, except for the Deerfield Ranch winery. Great wines and an awesome space!!! The tasting was done in their tasting cave, so cool!!

After picking up a few more of our favorite bottles, we headed out on our way to San Francisco.

To be continued......

Wine Country: Part 1

I started my trip in the amazing countryside of Sonoma Valley.

Our first stop was the St. Francis Winery

St. Francis offered spicy red wines (my favorite type), beautiful mountainside views and amazing gardens.

Next stop was our FAVORITE winery on the whole trip: Ledson Winery

Ledson was incredible, probably the best wine of my life! I am a huge red wine fan and these were delicious; both Evan and I agreed that they were bold, spicy and smooth. Needless to say we bought a few bottles from this winery. Oh and the "castle" where the winery was held was pretty cool too!

After our tastings we headed over to our hotel in Sonoma called: The Inn at Sonoma

This hotel felt like a mix between a bed and breakfast and a hotel. Once we arrived we were greeted by snacks and wine! We enjoyed the cocktail hour and then settled in to our quaint room equipped with a lovely patio. Thanks Kath for the recommendation!

For dinner, we went to Zazu, a farm to table restaurant, in which the head chef was featured on Top Chef!

To start, Evan and I split the brussels sprouts salad.

Best salad of my LIFE, the fresh hazelnuts made the salad! For my entree I enjoyed (for the first time) Tikka Masala Quail with cauliflower simosas

and a glass of red French wine.

The quail was so good, kinda like a more flavorful little chicken and it was SO fresh. In addition, the Indian spices were a nice complement to the bird. YUM! And the wine was good and a nice change from the California wines of the day. Zazu was my second favorite meal of the week!

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Monday, Evan and I woke up and decided to go on a hike in lieu of running (or other exercising) that day. We had heard that the Armstrong Woods state park offered nice trails and large redwoods. And that it did!

We chose a strenuous 3.3 mile hike around the forest. We are not much of hikers, so this hike was a bit steep for us. Luckily, we are in pretty good shape so it was not horrible, but it was definitely a work out!! However, the scenery was wonderful and the trails were wide and well marked. I highly, highly recommend this state park if you are in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County. 

To be continued.......

Be Back Soon......

Hello, it's been a while! I hope everyone is having a great week! I have had an unbelievable time eating, drinking and running up this guy:

Be back with all the details soon!!