Family Vacation- Napa Wine Country

Our next day in the Napa Valley was spent exploring the wineries. AudioDad's sister had been telling us about a castle winery that the family might enjoy so that was to be our main destination. Wanting to also to do a little tasting, I had searched online ahead of time to see which wineries were "family-friendly" as we'd have Munch and possibly her older cousins with us. Just in case, I made sure Munch had her own diversion, in the form of her digital camera.
Our first mid-morning stop was Domaine Chandon, where my sister-in-law and I tasted sparkling wine.The grounds are beautiful and Munch found plenty to explore, from the bridge to the gardens, and especially the mushroom rock garden!
We met up with my other sister-in-law at Peju,and after a brief tasting, everyone was getting hungry so we headed to Gott's (formerly Taylor's Refresher) for lunch where the kids fanned out to their own picnic tables
Once everyone's bellies were full of Gott's awesome shakes, we head to Castello di Amorosa.
It was a fun picture-taking location, although I wasn't particularly impressed with the hard-sell tasting room experience.

Family Vacation- Dinner at Cole's Chop House, Napa

Finally getting to the backlog of posts I've been meaning to write! Being a teacher, the fall is such a busy time for me and then comes the craziness of the holidays. It's not unusual that January and February are when I can catch my breath! After Munch and I successfully traveled to Texas last spring without AudioDad, I decided that she and I would spend most of summer 2010 on an extended "field trip".
June is usually when AudioDad's family gets together. In the past, we've visited them in Colorado, but this year AudioDad's sister and her husband came to us in California. It was fun playing tourist at home, as there is so much to see and do in the San Francisco Bay Area. We spent a couple of days exploring the Napa Valley, starting off with dinner at Cole's Chop House. We were seated at a large table on their outdoor patio, a perfect location for AudioDad's four siblings and their families to meet up at the beginning of the week.
AudioDad's three sisters-
Munch and her cousin D. chat up their uncle-
Munch with her cousins-
My niece and nephew-
A rare family picture (because I'm usually taking them!)-

Fathers Day

I've said before how much I enjoy holidays and special occasions now that Munch is old enough to participate and understand the event. Fathers Day this year was no exception. I knew exactly what Munch would be making for Daddy this year- a painted self-portrait because he's threatened numerous times to steal the one she made her grandparents last Christmas-So as soon as he left for work, Munch and I got busy. We started with sketching out the picture on the canvas-
Once we got to painting, Munch began with the background, then the main body. Unlike the last time we made a self-portrait six months ago, Munch had a very specific idea of how she wanted this painting to turn out and the colors and designs she wanted to use.The finished portrait is very her- the only problem was keeping it a secret for the next week!
The morning of Fathers Day, Munch also wanted to make her dad breakfast in bed. I'm not that huge a fan of finding crumbs in my bed though (and it doesn't work that well when you have dogs!) Instead, we made his very favorite chocolate chip scones. I've been letting Munch have more responsibility in the kitchen lately and she did really well! First, she sifted the dry ingredients-Next, she mixed in the chocolate chips...and yes, she immediately asked to taste everything!After the cream was mixed in, we worked on kneading the dough and I cut it into squares. Munch brushed melted butter over the scones and sprinkled on the coarse sugar-The scones turned out beautifully- and both dad and daughter were full of smiles-
Later, we headed out to meet my family at Brix for lunch. I LOVE their Sunday buffet brunch and we were incredibly lucky to get a small patio all to ourselves!Munch made herself a lovely plate of shrimp, fruit, and assorted charcuterie and cheeses. It was a gorgeous day in the Napa Valley and we took our time enjoying the restaurant's gardens after lunch-before heading over to Oxbow to pick up some cupcakes to send home with my dad. Munch perused the assortment and ultimately chose a gluten-free chocolate cupcake, in a show of support for her favorite cousin and BFF who was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. It was yummier than I expected!

Weekend Wanderings in the Valley (With Lots of Good Food!)

I love summer- especially when it comes to putting meals on the table. It's been so easy now that I have time to shop for delicious food at the Farmer's Markets and everything is just so wonderful! Those stuffed squash blossoms are making weekly appearances on our dinner plates-I made this batch after picking up a few from the Culinary Institute's gardens at the St. Helena Farmers Market.
Munch and her cousin picking out honey sticks,enjoying the iced tea,and playing in the park next to the marketWhile there, I also got some treats for dessert-the cookies are my new favorite find- peanut butter with peanut butter cups and toffee milk chocolate chunk- both from Annie the Baker. I'm going to be hunting these down again really soon! The chocolate chunk bar cookie is made by Sweetie Pies. The flavor was really good- a graham cracker base, fudgy chocolate with macadamia nuts, marshmallows, and cereal mixed in. Unfortunately the texture wasn't quite right- the cereal, rather than staying crisp, got chewy- but not in a pleasant way and the graham cracker base was so dry it just crumbled- it really didn't have enough butter to hold together. It might be interesting to recreate this one at home and play with the mix-ins a bit.
On the way home, I swung by Sunshine Market after my sister told me about their amazing fresh pasta. I picked up a package of tagliatelle, made in-house, found a great lemon cream sauce recipe, and served this for dinner-
I thought the beef broth was a strange addition, but it really gave the sauce a nice meaty/mushroomy flavor that complemented the lemon well.
The next morning was another treat- spa treatments at the Bardessono Resort in Yountville.I especially loved the elevated pool area with its cool cabanas-Afterwards, it was off to Redd for a late lunch. I thoroughly enjoyed my duck confit entree as I settled into my corner banquette seat (I was feeling like a noodle after my wonderful massage), but it was the peanut butter-milk chocolate gianduja dessert that made me sit up and pay attention- this was definitely one of my favorite desserts I've EVER had (I've been on a peanut butter kick lately). The sweet frothiness of the peanut honeycomb parfait that accompanied it was entirely unexpected. I need to make a return trip to dine there again soon!