Xmas at "The Vineyard" and New Years in San Francisco

Furlong Estates Vineyard

Ah "The Vineyard."  In case you live under a rock, Jenn's family owns a lovely vineyard in Sonoma County, CA.  That was the destination of choice for Xmas 2010.

Jenn and I arrived on Xmas eve in Sonoma to the open arms of her mom (Viviane), dad (Paul), her brother (Jeremy) and his girlfriend (Nadine); not to mention the 3 dogs (Ziggy, Charlie and Tybo) and cat (Ginger).  After a long day of travel (planes, buses and automobiles), Jenn and I spent the night wrapping presents for the following day festivities.

Xmas 

On Saturday, Xmas day, we all woke up and got to business; opening of presents.  It's safe to say we were all spoiled rotten with presents we all wanted.  Jenn blessed me with INSANITY (see separate blog page) and a video camcorder among many other great gifts from the whole family.  We spent the day in "family" mode; and just had to get our grove on to Michael Jackson Experience on Wii (yeah, I looked like a fool).

Wine Tasting Crew

On Sunday, my brother and his girlfriend came up to hang out for the day.  The 6 of us (Adrien, Car, Jeremy, Nadine, Jenn and I) hit the countryside for some wine tasting.  We hit the delightful Dry Creek General Store to fill our bellies before hitting 4 wineries (Mazzacco, Quivira, Unti and Dry Creek).  We enjoyed the consumption of wines and purchased some bottles before heading back to Furlong Estates Vineyard (Jenn's family vineyard).  That evening, Viviane and Paul had prepared a feast for us, which we shared with some local friends of theirs.

On Monday, everyone left Jenn with the dogs (she had to work) and headed into St Helena.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Pizzaria Tra Vigne (still amazed at the size of the pizza Paul and Jeremy split).  After eating we headed to the Culinary Institute of America in St Helena.  Man, the shop there had all sorts of great kitchen goodies that I was wishing to buy.  However, I had to restrain since my suitcase was already at capacity with the Xmas presents.  Oh well, for another day.  I did break down and buy some home-made chocolates from the Institute.  Yummy!!  Eventually, Jenn would let us know she was on the way to join us and that we would meet at Castello di Amorosa.  Castello di Amorosa is a beautiful winery in St Helena.  Not only a winery, but a castle.  We toured the castle and enjoyed some of their wonderful wine.  I must admit that their non-alcoholic grape juice was DELICIOUS.  That evening Viviane and Paul treated us to the restaurant Rustic, at the Francis Ford Coppola winery.  Paul and Jeremy hit the home run with the Veal Chop.. Wow!

Tuesday started with Jeremy and I getting massages (I got my first foot massage).  The girls did the whole girl mani/pedi thing.  The main event of our last night in Sonoma was celebrating Viviane's birthday.  So we took her out to Willi's Wine Bar in Santa Rosa.  Willi's is fantastic.  The food is served tapas style and we really ate well and drank plenty.  There were plenty of happy people that night.

SF from across the GG Bridge

Wednesday was the end of our time at "the vineyard" and it was off to San Francisco.  Paul generously drove the 4 of us (Jeremy, Nadine, Jenn and I) into San Francisco and dropped us off at the Nob Hill Suites (generously loaned to us by Paul and Viviane for a couple of nights).  The first order of business in SF was to appease Jeremy's hankering for In n Out Burger. So we headed to Fisherman's Wharf and took care of that.  The rest of the day was spent shopping in Union Square (great deals to be had).  That night we were joined by Adrien and Car at Mas Sake Sushi on Lombard St (recommended by Adrien and Car).  The sake flowed quickly and it was great eats.  After the warm-up at Mas Sushi, we walked over the MatrixFillmore to party the night away.  When we got to the bar it was quite mellow.  It soon packed up nicely and we weren't short of tipsy. :-)

Jeremy devouring his 3x3

Adrien getting his groove on

Thursday we got going pretty early since Jeremy and Nadine were flying back to England that afternoon.  We headed back into Union Square for some last minute shopping.  We had a delightful lunch at Cafe de la Presse (best croque monsieur and madame, bar none!) and then had to say good-bye to Jeremy and Nadine.  Jenn and I finished up some shopping and then headed out for some quality time to Palomino.

Happy New Year!

Friday was New Years Eve.  My best friend Matt and his wife Karen came into the city to celebrate with us.  We met at Cha Cha Cha's for lunch (a must when visiting SF) and enjoyed Sangria and the best tapas.  After lunch we shared some drinks at various watering holes around Union Square before getting ready for dinner that night.  Karen had scored a reservation for all of us a House of Prime Rib.  We (Matt, Karen, Adrien, Car, Jenn and I) met at our hotel (Holiday Inn Golden Gateway) and had a few drinks before walking down to HPR.  We brought 2 magnums and a bottle of Vivi's Vines (Jenn's parent's wine) with us to HPR.  We indulged in some amazing food and drinks while turning the new year over together as friends/family.  Wasn't easy for Matt/Karen to find a taxi after, but it happened eventually.

Vivi's Vines

Saturday and Sunday were spent shopping some more in SF (could I have spent more money?).  Alas, the holidays were over as I boarded my flight back to Dallas Sunday afternoon.  This was a fantastic family holiday that I will fondly remember.  Thank you all!