regional specialty

I had an incredibly lazy day. I woke up this morning around eight a.m. in John and Jess's guest room in Berkeley, where I had virtually no hangover (a hangover which I would have totally deserved and had been expecting/dreading since about three p.m. yesterday). John and Jess dropped me off at the garage where I had parked my car, and I came back to the city of sin, where I proceeded to waste the day away. I played around on the internet, ate an omelette made for me by Adit, then took a two hour nap. I attempted to go write in a cafe, but I failed; the first cafe I went to was closed, and the second and third cafes were absolutely packed. So, I came home, talked to my parents, ate my leftover steak and mashed potatoes from last night, and spent the rest of the evening half-working while watching TV with Adit and Priyanka. My favorite show by far was "The Next Iron Chef", which makes sense since I spent some of the afternoon reading cookbooks and dreaming about making delicious things that I then didn't even attempt to make. However, "Mad Men" is a close second (and perhaps is first from a quality standpoint); but, as soon as it's over, it will be time for me to go to bed.

I will say briefly, however, that yesterday was excellent. The weather in Napa was absolutely perfect, and it was a lovely day for some winetasting. Jenni (the birthday girl) was so surprised that she cried when she arrived at Lauren's apartment, which was sweet. We proceeded to four wineries in a tricked-out party bus -- Mumm, V. Sattui, Charles Krug, and Ballantine. We tasted three champagnes at Mumm (and I bought a bottle, sticking to my mantra of 'only buy at the first winery', since the drunker you get the better everything tastes). V. Sattui was a total scene, so Lauren's brother Scott, his fiancee and I bought sandwiches from the onsite deli (v. excellent sandwich - chicken pesto on focaccia) and whole bottles of wine to split at a picnic table in the yard. We shared a white riesling and a rose called gamay rouge -- both were excellent, particularly since they were nicely chilled and the sun was out. Jenni's boyfriend James and I shared a tasting at Charles Krug; the port was good and I liked the pinot noir, but I don't recall particularly liking the rest of it. I sat out the tasting at Ballantine, realizing that I was in a happy place that didn't require more wine to sustain or improve. You might wonder how two small tastings and some wine with lunch got me to that point; it will help if you know that we had mimosas before getting on the bus, several bottles of chardonnay to get us up to Napa, and then people bought bottles at every winery so that we wouldn't go dry on the short drives between wineries or the longer drive back to Berkeley.

So, I was well and truly sauced when we arrived for dinner at Wood Tavern. I've never explored the restaurants of the East Bay (although Berkeley apparently has some lovely ones) -- but, I would go back to this place. We had a set menu, and I chose this incredible linguica and lentil soup, followed by a flank steak and mashed potatoes (the steak was perfect; the potatoes were just a bit too lemony). All in all, it was a great cap to a perfect day. After dinner, I parted ways with the party and called John and Jess so that we could have ice cream together; we drove several blocks away to try for ice cream at Ici, but the line was ridiculously long and so we ended up driving back and going someplace across the street from Wood Tavern, where I had their spiced pumpkin ice cream. After that, I'm definitely in the mood for Thanksgiving -- fall is in the air, even in California, and pumpkin just confirms it.

John, Jess and I hung out in their dining room for quite some time, but I failed to sober up to the point that I was perfectly safe driving (I reached that point where I felt like I was okay, but knew that I probably wasn't the best person to make that call). So, I imposed myself on their hospitality and slept in their guest room. So, it was a wonderful day for me (even if John and Jess's day took a weird turn since I showed up drunk on their doorstep), and while I shouldn't go winetasting again anytime soon, I'm looking forward to the next time. Now, though, I need to go to bed; this week may or may not be rough, but sleep would be good regardless. Goodnight!