A Quick Visit to Napa

Last week, I had to travel to Central Coast, CA for work for 2 days, and the day I was leaving I realized I was going to be 15 minutes from Napa.  And since there was nothing around where I was staying, I was determined to go to Napa for dinner both nights.  This post simply serves as a record of the yummy food I had while I was there.

Though I got in late the first night, I drove to Morimoto Napa.  I started off with two pieces of sushi.  While it was good, it was overpriced due to 1) location and 2) the name of the restaurant.  If you are visiting here for fun and on a budget, you can skip sushi.  I ordered the Duck Duck Goose.  It is duck confit fried rice and frozen foie gras.  I don't think I have had either before, and it was nice new flavors.  This also came with a duck leg and a duck meatball in a small soup.  I also ordered the salted fingerling potatoes as I was pretty hungry.  The serving of potatoes was larger than I was expecting, which was nice.  I finished the evening off with kabocha squash sticky toffee cake, which is  served with buttermilk ice cream and caramelized asian pear.  The cake was delicious.

The second night I drove to Yountville to dine at Michael Chiarello's restaurant, Bottega.  I started off with the Butternut Squash Caramelle, served with Bosc pear, Pecorino, crispy sage, brown butter emulsion & Amaretti - poppy seed gremolata.  This was delicious and I ate slowly and enjoyed it.  The crispy sage was nice and we need to try to recreate it at home.  My secondi was a Wood Grilled Loin of Grass-Fed Lamb with saffron braised potatoes, green onions, pistachio pesto & rosemary scented lamb jus.  I liked the unique pistachio pesto and the way all the flavors infused in to the pototoes.  It was very hard to pick my dessert, but I decided on Panna Cotta Vaniglia; Eggless vanilla custard parfait, Caramelized pineapple gelatini, Forno roasted strawberry.  It was ok, but I think I would try something else next time as I didn't quite like the pineapple flavor.  This is no problem, though, as there were many tempting options.

Deliciousness from Italia

I thought I would post a picture of *most* of the food items we brought back from Italy (some went out as gifts already).


Back row: Monini olive oil, Benza olive oil (3), Fagolosi breadsticks, Arteliquida Toscana IGT 2007, Galassi San Giovese di Romagna DOC, Poggiotondo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2008, Coli Chianti DOCG 2007, Arancia Rossa, San Carlo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2005, Piccini Chianti DOCG 2009, Camporsino Chianti DOCG 2009, Bosca Five Stars Prosecco DOC, Prosecco di Treviso DOC, Riunite Lambrusco IGT, Santa Croce Lambrusco DOC, Brumale Sangiovese di Romagna DOC 2009, Rosso di Anita Frappato Sicilia IGT 2009.
Front: Parmigiano reggiano (2), Uva (raisins), Pici la Cerchla, Trofie (2), Aceto Balsamico di Modena (Balsamic vinegar), Fontal cheese, Tonno all'Olio Olivia (tuna in olive oil), 4 green pestos, 4 red pestos, basilico (basil), Nero chocolate, Panforte (Sienese dessert), illy espresso, Pomodori secchi (sundried tomatoes).

Not pictured is Italian Nutella, which didn't make it home, and Barilla pasta (sold in 1 kg packages).

What will we miss the most? Well, the prices maybe! Most of this is picked up relatively cheap. Most of these things can also be bought in the US in some way or another.

So what will we miss the most that we can't buy here??? Arancia Rossa! Red orange juice made from special Italian red oranges. Maybe if we keep looking hard enough, we can find someone who imports it!

Food

So the title of this post is a little wide-open, but it is what I want to discuss. Nolan is getting to an age where I feel he needs more variety in his diet (I can tell when he is tired of eating something). For quite some time, he ate chick peas every day for lunch along with one or two veggies, some fruit, and a piece of multi-grain bread. Dinner is not too bad as Kacey usually whips up something consisting of either pasta or tortillas.

I have tried grilled cheese which he will eat if the cheese is melted enough but the bread not too crispy (fun for daddy as Nolan doesn't like unmelted cheese, crazy boy!). I haven't tried peanut butter and jelly for him yet as we only have crunchy peanut butter. I haven't given him lunch meat yet out of fear of foodborne illness. What other healthy ways do folks out there get protein and grains for their kids? Nolan also doesn't really like eggs and that is ok as we don't really cook with them or buy them frequently. I am considering buying fresh, organic chicken breast from the store down the street that sells it for Nolan and I to eat at lunch.

Biking and Pizza

Two unrelated topics, but both on my mind.

Today I biked about 13 miles. This is roughly what I did. I walked around Pleasure Bay aka Castle Island. There is a small beach here, the Fort, and lots of playground area and pick nick tables. I also rode by Cheers, which is an easy to miss tourist trap. I then headed to the Boston Esplanade. I rode around a bit and headed north up the Charles River to the Charlesbank Playground. There is a good size playground as well as a wading pool. I think I may take Nolan there this week. I then headed over the Charles River Dam and came back home. I have been wanting to bike more, but I don't get to do it much with Nolan as he is too small to come with.

There is a lot of good food in Cambridge. We don't go out to eat that often, especially now, but occasionally we like to get pizza. I am on a quest to find the best pizza around. That means trying many places (of the 189 places that deliver to our apartment, 42 have pizza)! We have already determined that we are ordering pizza tonight, but I am trying to figure out which place to try next. One of these days I may write about the pizza places we have tried, but we have not tried enough places yet. If you are reading and know of a good pie in Cambridge, drop a comment!

Tomatoes: Before and After

Making Sauce!

Tomatoes Before


Tomatoes After