napa trip post #2

:: Friday, August 3 -- finishing up! We headed to Mustards Grill for our 9:00 dinner reservation. It was a little place, very loud inside and full of energy. We enjoyed our experience there! We were sat a bit early even, and got right to it. We enjoyed an interesting appetizer that I didn't think I would like -- but it was quite delicious!! It was calamari, which I love...but on top was a big pile of "slaw" that had a curried dressing on it. It was out of this world!!! From there, we moved on to our main courses -- Chris had the duck with mashed potatoes and greenbeans, and I had the ribs with slaw and cornbread. Both were pretty good; not the best food we had all week, but certainly tasty. We also shared a bowl of three cheese mac and cheese with breadcrumbs on top, and it was soooooo yummy! We decided to skip out on dessert -- the lemon pie with the five inch merange (sp?) is what they were known for, but neither of us desired that :) So we went back to our bed and breakfast and had a few of the chocolate chip cookies!

:: Saturday, August 4 -- for our last full day in Napa, we had no plans. We had originally thought to go horseback riding and then hit up a 40th anniversary celebration at one of the big wineries...the horseback riding ended up being more expensive than we wanted, and the celebration was going to be packed. So we decided to enjoy a day with no planned schedule, and just meander wherever we wanted for the day. This was our anniversary day and we had such a nice time!! Five years together!!! :) We started the day at the Yountville Market Place, where there are a ton of restaurants and some shops. We bought a cute coat rack from one of the shops -- made from a wine barrell, and it will look very good in our entry way. From there, we went to the Mondavi Winery, which was very impressive. We took pictures here, didn't do a tasting. Then we moved on to the Del Dotto Winery -- it was impressive and very hoity toity; they didn't let us take any photos there because it was so upscale. We didn't stay there long. Then we went to V. Sattui, which was PACKED! We did a tasting there, bought lots of goodies, and enjoyed lunch from their vendors. Sat and ate and watched all the people. It seems it is always that busy there on the weekends, and it was just a hub bub of activity! Then we moved on down Highway 29 to Hall Vineyards. Chris did a tasting there, and we took some photos. We also met a couple there that was very nice and they recommended we go to downtown Napa to a tasting room there. So, after Hall we headed that way. We went to Vinter's Collection, which hand selects wines from very small operations to sell in their shop. Chris was very excited because his favorite wine from the week was sold there and he was able to purchase a few bottles and have them shipped home. From there, we decided to head back to our room for a bit and get ready for dinner.

:: We decided to have our anniversary dinner at Eiko's, which was a sushi bar! Neither one of us had ever expereinced sushi or sashami, so it was the perfect way to spend our anniversary together. We felt a bit silly at first because we didn't know what the heck to do! But, luckily we had an amazing waiter who was very patient with us and did well in directing us. We basically let him pick out our food for us, as we were really willing to try anything. He did a great job!!!! We ordered four dishes altogether, and shared each one of them. We started with steamed potstickers with shrimp -- oh my those were sooooo yummy!!! Then we moved on to second dish, which was very very bizarre but so good! It had pieces of raw sashimi fish, heritage tomatoes, and a sauce...and on top, in the middle, was a soft boiled egg that was coated in a crispy breadcrumb-like shell. We were instructed to cut the egg into quarters, and then eat a bit of everything together. The sushi chef was a bit hesitant with the server's choice of recommending this to sushi newbies, but it was soooo good! Then we enjoyed the Rainbow Roll...this allowed us to experiment with the different kinds of raw fish. They came with 8 pieces per plate, and there were 2 per type of fish. We loved them all! I have no idea what kind of fish they were, but all were good. We finished up with a Heritage Tomato Roll. I am in a huge heritage tomato fixation right now so there were so delicious! Four of out of four for us, we loved the entire experience!! The best part was that we were able to sit at the sushi bar and watch the sushi chefs create all of these wonderful dishes. It is truly an art form!! They are meticulous and take their art very seriously. We enjoyed it immensely! We finished off the entire meal with a flourless chocolate cake with vanilla bean gelato, which came in a little cup. Perfect serving sizes, and we didn't feel like pigs when we left :) I really enjoyed experiencing this new thing with Chris...what a perfect way to celebrate!!! From there, we walked around the downtown area for a bit, and then headed back to the room.

:: Sunday, August 5 -- time to pack up and head home :( We were sad to leave Napa, it really was an incredible location!!! I think we will probably go back one day. We had an early, quick breakfast, and chatted with the inn keeper a bit. They were sweet and packed us a to-go breakfast for the morning -- egg quesadillas and delicious scones. We drove to the Sacramento airport, turned in our rental car, and then found our gate. The plane was on time, no problems. We are currently in the air, between Sacramento and Dallas...isn't technology amazing :) We should be landing shortly, and then we had a layover. Should be home to Abilene around 7:20 pm or so.

:: This has been such a blessed trip and I can not believe we were so fortunate to experience it all!! There is no one I would rather experience life with than Chris...he is such an amazing husband to me, and not only that -- he is my best friend. He is my better half and my everything. I will always remember this amazing 5th anniversary trip.

:: We took about 800 photos :) I am excited to get them transferred to our home computer and start going through them. I will try to post as many as I can in the upcoming week, so you can see the beauty! I am sure there will be more details that I think of too, as I post the pics.