Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Greetings From California 4/20 Spring Edition

Greetings Friends,

It's been another busy week at our house. My dad arrived from Michigan on Thursday--his mission? To watch four kids overnight for the weekend. It seemed liked asking for Mission Impossible, why would he ever agree to do this, one of the kids not even being his own grandchild? But he did, and he was fantastic.

The kids had the best time, and so did George and I. Our mission was to head to Lambert Bridge Winery with our friends, Pam and Scott. We had bid on this auction item and year ago, and finally the stars and the schedules aligned and we were headed to Healdsburg.

Lambert Bridge Winery is a small, family owened winery in Northern California. They generously donated two nights in the cutest wine country cottage, a tour, tasting and a gourmet private, candle lit dinner in their barrel room.

We arrived late on Friday and had dinner at Cyrus. It was basically a four hour dinner--we were all in a food and wine coma after they rolled us out the front door well after midnight. The food and service there is outstanding, it is always a treat, and an experience.

Saturday we went back to a favorite spa spot called Akoia Day Spa for two hour stone massages. We then lunched on the square and returned to our cottage to rest up for dinner.

Our evening began with a tour of the beautiful gardens at Lambert Bridge with appetizers and pourings of their Sauvignon Blanc and Viogner. What a gorgeous setting! All of the flowers were blooming for spring and the sun was lowering into the hills in a golden lit sunset.

Dinner was a feast with candles and delicious food from our private chef for the evening, Renaud. He described hand picking the mushrooms, blending the spices from exotic locals, and incorporating the fantastic wines into his recipes. Tony, our host, entertained us with stories and a bevy of wine knowledge.

Two wines were poured with every course and expertly matched. We once again found ourselves in that very same wine coma that had been massaged out of us earlier in the day. We ended the evening by the fire. We were all completely relaxed and slept like cats.

The next day we headed for Sonoma County and Graton, for a little brunch and a visit to our very favorite winery, Merry Edwards. She is the queen of Pinot Noir, if you have yet to be introducted to her. We chatted with Ken, tasted some delicious new releases, and then were on our way back home.

We arrived home to happy kids. Now we are hanging with my dad. George travelled to Toronto and Ottawa and is due back on Friday. We are all digging into the week.

Hope all is well with you all,
Cheers, Deb


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