What's So Special About Napa Cabs?

It's been over 30 years since the Judgment of Paris wine tasting put Californian Cabernet Sauvignons front and center on the world's stage. If you haven't read the history (or seen the romanticized film Bottle Shock), European winemakers and afficionados used to look down their noses at American wine. Were they surprised when the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon beat out classified Bordeaux Estates like Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Montrose, Château Haut-Brion and Château Léoville-Las Cases in a blind tasting conducted by French wine experts!

Since then, Napa winemaking has grown (in stature and in physical dimensions) to become an internationally recognized wine powerhouse. Year after year, stellar wines have cemented Napa's reputation. The quintessential Napa Cab is layered, complex, but with texture and structure to allow the aromas and flavors reveal themselves.

Interestingly, only 9% of Napa Valley is planted in vineyards. Despite its huge reputation, Napa wines represent just 4% of California's wine production--a reason, besides the taste, that Napa wines sell at a premium.

Spiced Oven Beef Stew Wine Pairing Recipe

SPICED OVEN BEEF STEW:
1/2 cup water
2 tsp. allspice
1 bay leaf
3 lb. chuck roast cut into 2" chunks
1/2 cup red wine
3 tbsp. olive oil
3 medium onions, cut in chunks
1 cup beef broth
2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. marjoram
1 tbsp. thyme
1 tbsp. dry parsley or 4 tbsp. chopped fresh
1/2 tsp. sage, crumbled
6 medium potatoes, quartered
2 ribs celery, thickly sliced
6 carrots, thickly sliced
In a saucepan, boil water, bay leaf and allspice. Cool a bit, then put in a glass bowl with the meat and wine, mix well, cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove meat and reserve liquid. Brown meat with onions in the oil over medium heat. Add the liquid, beef broth, salt, and the rest of the seasonings. Cover and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours stirring occasionally. Add potatoes and carrots and celery; cover and cook 30 minutes longer, or until meat and vegetables are tender, stirring every 10 minutes. Serves 4.
Enjoy with the 2005 Frank Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cheese 101

People thought WE were nutty for cheese--going two hours out of our way on a trip up north to take in a day of the California Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma. But, in the first seminar, we met two (unrelated) parties who had driven all day Friday from Orange County and would drive back Sunday night. Now those are true CHEESEHEADS!

I stumbled across this festival online and will be seriously considering making travel plans next year. For those of us who adore cheese, what could be better than an event all about tasting and learning about one of our favorite foods. All I can say is that I'm glad we didn't get tickets to the elaborate dinner Saturday night as it was all we could do to roll ourselves up to the room and beach ourselves on our beds like great whales washed ashore!

But...what we missed was an exquisite Gala Dinner of six courses, all with local artisanal cheese, paired with boutique wines and prepared by a stellar roster of chefs, including one of our favorites: Duskie Estes of Zazu in Napa (see my Thursday, January 22, 2009 blog). Sigh.

With many seminars to choose from, we ended up with "Preserving & Advancing the Artisan Food Movement" , "Blues Around The World", "Cheese Appreciation 101" and "Artisan Cheese In Everyday Cooking".

Here are my notes from the Cheese 101, led by Judy Creighton from the Cheese School of San Francisco, everything you need to know about how to taste cheese and get the most out of the cheese tasting experience:
How To Taste Cheese:

1. Take a good look at your cheese. Just like when you taste fine wine, you swirl it in the glass to view the color and body--look at the color and texture of the cheese. Poke it with your finger! Is it soft, crumbly, curdy, firm?
2. Smell it. As you would judge the aroma of wine, assess the cheese aroma. Is it weedy, moldy, fruity, fresh smelling?
3.  Take a small bite and move it all around the mouth. Just like wine, again, you want it to hit every part of the palate so you can savor all the five flavors: bitterness, saltiness, sourness, sweetness and umami (a savory sensation caused by compounds such as glutamate) and the seven ancillary sensations: dryness (as in tannins), metallicness, hotness (of chilis), coolness (as in menthol), numbness, kokumi (heartiness from amino acid extracts--called mouthfeel in wine tasting), and temperature. All of the various combinations of these taste sensations result in myriad experiences in tasting cheese!
4.  Along with the above, note the texture of the cheese which can be a factor in whether or not you care for that particular sample.
5.  Note the aftertaste, which may be different than the sensations you have while the cheese is still in the mouth.

The American Cheese Society uses the following terms:
BODY: buttery, chalky, close (like a wine that is closed), corky, cracked, creamy, crumbly, curdy, defective rind, firm
TEXTURE: gassy (like Swiss Emmenthaler), greasy, hard, mealy, oily, open, pasty, rough, rubbery
APPEARANCE: runny, separation, smooth, supple, soft, soiled, spreadable, translucent, waxy, weak
BOTH AROMA AND FLAVOR: acidic, animal taste, barny, bitter, buttery, chemical, clean, complex, condensed milk, cooked, creamy, delicate, earthy, feedy-weedy, flat, fragrant, fresh, fruity, pleasant/unpleasant, malty, metallic, mild, milky, moldy, nutty, piquant, pungent, rancid, salty, satisfying, sharp, sour, strong, stale, tangy, tart, sweet, lacking in flavor, yeasted

Intrigued? Buy this week's wine special and try some cheese with it. See how the cheese changes when the wine accompanying it changes. Take some notes and compare with friends and if you have any super cheese pairings to suggest with one of this week's wines, please email and I'll post the suggestions next week.

Here are my general suggestions for cheese pairings with this week's wine special:
'04 Collier Falls Zinfandel--Muenster or Point Reyes Blue
'02 Collier Falls Cabernet Sauvignon--cheddar or Parmesan
'06 Collier Falls Primitivo--Gouda or Pecorino

Arugula Salad With Toasted Hazelnuts and Shaved Midnight Moon

6 small handfuls arugula
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive il
2 ounces Midnight Moon or Parmesano Reggiano shaved
Kelsie Kerr, a chef at Alice Water's famed Chez Panisse Restaurant, used Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon but you can substitute a good Parmesano Reggiano. Preheat the oven to 350. Toast the hazelnuts about 15 minutes until deep brown. Place the hot nuts in a towel and roll them to remove their skins. Chop them coarsely. Mix the vinegars with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Let sit a few minutes to infuse. Whisk in the olive oil and adjust dressing to taste. Toss the arugula with the vinaigrette and half the hazelnuts. She suggests using your hands to toss the salad so you can feel the right amount of dressing--enough to coat the arugula. Arrange on a plate and "fluff" so the salad looks beautiful. Garnish with cheese and the rest of the nuts.

Gougeres--Gruyere Cheese Puffs

This week's wine pairing recipe click comes from Kelsie Kerr at the 3rd Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma last weekend. Kelsie is a chef at the famed Chez Panisse Restaurant and co-author of Alice Water's latest book. We had the chance to sample her delicious cooking at one of Saturday's seminars.

If you haven't had gougeres before, they are a treat and delectable on their own or stuffed as appetizers. Our recipe this week uses classic Gruyere for a good match with our white wine selection, but Kelsie's recipe was made with Gravenstein Gold--an artisanal cider washed raw goat milk cheese from Redwood Farms in Sebastapol, CA. Her gouyeres were pungent and a bit sharp and would have been perfect with a nice Napa Cab!
The dough for gougeres is basically a choux paste--like one used for the cream puff shell, but with no sugar, a bit more salt and grated cheese. A few tips to add the to recipe (see link above) to insure your cheese puffs are crisp all the way through:

• Have all your ingredients and utensils ready, including having your eggs at room temperature. A good way to do this is to put the eggs (in their shells) in warm water in your mixing bowl for a several minutes. That way both the eggs and bowl will be the correct temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 400--this is important because the oven needs to be hot to cook the puffs fast so the liquid will turn to steam and puff up the dough.
• Make sure you cook the dough a full minute after it starts coming together--meaning a minute after the flour starts to thicken the dough. The will be fairly stiff before the egg goes in.
• As mentioned in the recipe, use the egg, not water to adjust the thickness of the final dough.
• You can make the gougeres bigger--say 4 inches across to use as a shell for a tuna salad, for example, but make sure the dough rounds are flat and not mounded, so the insides will cook and crisp.
• To make a choux paste, reduce the salt amount to 1/4 tsp, do not add cheese and add 2 tsp sugar.

Click here to read "Cheese 101".

RECIPE FOR GRUYERE GOUGERES:
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour (unbleached is best)
2 eggs
3 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated
Preheat oven so it is at 400 degrees when the gougéres are ready to bake.
Heat the water, butter and salt in a small heavy bottomed pan until the butter is melted. Do not let boil. Stir in, at once, the flour and whisk until the dough comes together. Continue whisking over the heat for a minute. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly (this helps cool the batter--otherwise the egg will cook when added).
Crack in one egg and beat in. Whisk the second egg in a small bowl and add 1/2 and beat in. Assess the batter--it should cling to the whisk but also drip off, in other words, runny enough to drip off the whisk but thick enough that some of it is still clumped on the whisk. Add the rest of the egg and beat well if the dough was too thick.
Stir in cheese. Scoop up dough with tablespoon and drop onto baking pan (a parchment paper liner will make clean up easier). The puffs should be about 2 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes at 400, then turn the oven down to 375 and bake for 15 minutes or until dark golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven and make a small slit in them with a sharp knife to let out steam and keep them crisp. Serve warm or warm later in 375 oven for 3 minutes.
Recipe makes about 40 tiny, or 20 small puffs.

Saving Money In Hard Times

We're all looking for ways to cut costs and stretch our dollars! Here are some ideas for saving money without depriving yourself. Here are some tips on saving money:

Shop in the bakery early in the day for mark downs on day-old items.
Shop in the meat department late in the day when items about to go past the "sell by" date go on sale. This meat is perfectly safe and can be frozen to be used later.
Buy store brands. The quality is often the same as brand names but they're less expensive since they don't pay big bucks for TV and print advertising.
Avoid processed foods. They may be convenient, but they're more expensive and less nutritious. Look at websites like Epicurious.com for quick meal recipes--and past recipes on this blog.
Clip coupons. Look for free items, that you will actually use, and stores that double or triple coupons. There are also websites with downloadable coupons, but beware of getting on a mailing list that generates a lot of unwanted mail.
Compare prices: look closely at the tag on the shelf which has the price per unit. Sometimes a package that looks cheaper is actually more expensive per item.
Buy in Bulk. Things cost less if you buy larger quantities. But, don't buy things just because they're cheap. Unused food is wasted money.
Make a list and stick to it--avoid grabbing miscellaneous items on a whim. Grocery stores know consumers do this so they load up the check out stand with profitable items.
Eat your leftovers. Surprisingly, some people toss their leftovers which wastes money. Freeze servings of your cooking for easy meals later. This also saves you from having to buy pricey packaged frozen meals.
But don't deprive yourself. Like choosing a diet to lose weight, you need to have food that you enjoy. If your diet is so harsh that you feel deprived, you'll end up overeating. So, keep a few things you like, like wine, in your budget. A nice bottle of wine makes a meal special. Dress up your table with candles and toast to a "meal out" at home! Another wine savings idea: our Recession-busting Grand Tour Wine Club.
Eat lower on the food chain. Meat and seafood are expensive and some include unwanted saturated fats. Grains, beans, soy and nuts are protein-rich without artery-clogging saturated fat. Check out past blog entries for meatless recipes!
If you eat meat, eat less. The average American eats 50% more protein than recommended. The USDA defines a serving of ground beef as 3 ounces (less than 1/5 of a pound). An example of a good dollar-stretching strategy is to make a meat dish and eat half your normal portion, then keep the rest for leftovers another day--two meals for the price of one!
Save your red wine leftovers. If you have a bit of wine leftover after a few days that is getting vinegary--save it and use if for salad dressings. I keep refilling a bottle with leftover red wine and sprinkle my salads with it, fines herbes, salt, freshly ground pepper and good olive oil. Delicious and less expensive than store bought.

Touring & Tasting Onboard in Napa Valley

If cruising in a ship filled with thousands of other people sounds overwhelming, Cruise West has the solution: medium-sized boats of 78 to 138 passengers. They offer ocean cruises to Asia, Mexico, Central America, the South Pacific, and freshwater cruises in the US and Canada. On our Vintner's Choice cruise from San Francisco to Napa Valley, Sausalito, and Sonoma, I found that most of our fellow passengers had taken Cruise West before. One couple raved about the Cruise West ship in Alaska that took them up the fjords for an up-close look at wildlife—an impossible fit for a large ocean liner. Another couple from Texas was on their 10th Vintner's Choice tour. They reported Cruise West varied the itinerary each time, they loved the food and found the ship size big enough to meet a variety of people, but small enough to feel cozy. We were part of a special group of wine and travel writers on this trip, with a special table and wines provided by Cruise West.

Our adventure started with a greeting from Cruise West personnel at the airport. We were shuttled to a hospitality center at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf. Unfortunately, the boat had a mechanical problem that prevented us from boarding the first night, but the Cruise West personnel made up for it with a nice hotel and an elegant dinner at Ca Bianca in Santa Rosa. Inside the beautifully restored Victorian building, the wine flowed courtesy of Cruise West: a Scarbolo from northern Italy for the first course of salad with avocado and caramelized red onion. Domaine Laurier Merlot and Zabaco Sonoma were served with the entrée; I chose the grilled salmon on potato gratin.

The next morning we were off to Napa Valley to a wine blending demonstration at the Culinary Institute of America with Master Sommelier Catherine Farris. Our mission was to blend the five grape varietals in a Bordeaux-style wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Each grape contributes its own aroma, flavors, mouth feel, acidity or tannin. Using a pipette (like a long glass straw with milliliter markings on the side) we could blend our own wine and have it tasted by Catherine. This gave me an appreciation of the winemakers' skill--it's not easy to blend great wine!
Afterwards, we were treated to a cooking demonstration by one of the ACI chefs. Their facility is a state-of-the-art showcase for all things food and wine. In a gleaming amphitheater with multiple monitors demonstrating an overhead camera view of the stovetop, our chef prepared Roasted Tomato Risotto with Basil Oil. Risotto is difficult to prepare properly. We were able to watch, and then taste his skillful preparation. In addition, we were given a complimentary bottle of Guenoc Cabernet Sauvignon.


Lunch was at the renowned Michelin-starred Auberge du Soleil, overlooking the verdant Napa Valley. After a flute of champagne and hors d'oeuvres on the terrace, we feasted on field greens salad with walnut oil and pears, baked chicken with Brussels sprouts. The pairing of Gregory Graham Sauvignon Blanc was a perfect complement. At the end, we each received a free gift and a personally signed recipe from the chef.

The Wine Enthusiast Magazine calls Mumm Napa "one of the best tasting experiences in America." Mumm Napa sparkling wines are made by the same method used in France, known as the Méthode Champenoise, in which the wine undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle to create the bubbles. The yeast must be extracted from the bottle after fermentation. We marveled at the mechanical riddling machine, which consolidates sediments in the neck of the bottle where they can be flash-frozen and extracted. After a taste of their Mumm Napa Brut Prestige, we enjoyed their art gallery exhibit including original Ansel Adams photographs.

We were all excited to board the Spirit of Yorktown, which was docked on an arm of San Pablo Bay. The San Francisco waterway includes three bays and is 75 miles across, covering more than 1,600 square miles. As it was my first time on a cruise ship, I was thinking we'd be cramped, but our stateroom had ample floor space, comfortable beds, a nice bathroom with plenty of hot water and a first-class view from the expansive window. I was happy to discover our meals were made-to-order from the restaurant menu with many wonderful choices like Dungeness crab appetizer, fennel and wild mushroom soup, roast lamb, and fresh halibut.
During the night the ship moved to Sausalito. We woke to a glorious view of the bay at sunrise. Some of my new friends were eating a Continental breakfast in the lounge area, but I had a hankering for pancakes and eggs. I was impressed by the helpfulness of the staff--a waitress in the restaurant gladly offered to bring my meal up so I could stay with my group. Small niceties like this on the part of the crew made our voyage memorable.

After breakfast, we took a short walk into town to Caffe Trieste to check our emails and have a latte. On the way back, we visited the free San Francisco Bay-Delta Model housed in a three-acre facility once run by the Army Corps of Engineers. The model is the size of two football fields and replicates the tide and water flows of the entire Bay/Delta. We returned to the ship and that night an enormous harvest moon spilled its light across the Bay. After dinner, we sampled Franciscan wines in a “Winetasting 101” class.

Thursday was a day for choices. A tour of Sonoma was included with the cruise. Optional tours at an additional charge were to Round Pond to see and taste fresh-pressed olive oil, a limo tour to visit Cabernet Sauvignon producers, or one could float in a hot air balloon over Napa Valley. Touring and Tasting was given a spot on a press tour of three premium Cab producers: Piña, Conn Creek and Spring Mountain.
The four winemaking brothers of Piña are continuing a Napa family tradition that stretches back more than 140 years. We were privileged to barrel taste their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon from their D'Adamo Vineyard and the 2005 Cab from their Yountville Wolff Vineyard. Their limited-production, single-vineyard Cabs are so esteemed that most of their wine has sold through future contracts two years in advance--before it's even bottled!
At Conn Creek we had the rare chance to taste the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc right out of the tank, still cloudy with yeast. More educated palates than mine could discern the character of the fully matured wine from the just-fermented juice, but to me the flavor was like refreshing, but chalky, floral grapefruit. It was easier to appreciate the lusciousness of their red wines. Conn Creek will surely become even more of a destination in Napa when they open their blending room to the public in 2008. Here, barrels of Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon from each of the 15 Napa appellations are paired with a display of each vineyard’s soil and a description of its microclimate. This gives one a tremendous understanding of the effect of terroir. Equally impressive is the comparison of an identical Cab aged in either French , American or Hungarian oak. Added to this are barrels of the four other varietals for a Bordeaux blend, giving us innumerable possible combinations. We spent an enjoyable afternoon searching for our perfect wine blend, which was bottled for us with the label of our own design, to take home.

After a stop at the legendary Oakville Grocery in Yountville for sandwiches and salads, the limo carried us to classy Spring Mountain Winery for a picnic on their beautifully landscaped grounds. The Estate covers 845 acres rising from an elevation of 400 feet above sea level to 1450 feet. An ancient Roman method of head pruning called “gobelet” can be seen in some of the meticulously tended, steep, hillside vineyards. Spring Mountain reds regularly receive 90+ ratings. These are powerful, complex wines best cellared for 5 or more years. We sampled the 2002 and 2005 Elivette Reserve to see how the years developed the soft, supple tannins and concentrated the flavors. They also poured us one of their Library Wines, the 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon. 2000 was not considered a banner year in Napa, but the higher elevation Spring Mountain yielded a full-bodied, rich Cab.
Winemaker Jac Cole praised Vineyard Manager Ron Rosenbrand saying, “great wine begins with great grapes”. He calls grape growing “science in slow motion” because of the time it takes: three or four years for usable juice, five or six years before the grape produces the flavors desired. I asked how he blends when there are so many permutations possible; he stressed the importance of his years as an apprentice and his work experience that gives him a baseline from which to start. His eyes lit up as he explained that blending is an art. Having so many vineyards to blend is like “being a kid and getting the big Crayola box with 128 colors and knowing you can create anything you want on the paper".
After full and informative day, I skipped the onboard dessert wine tasting and went to bed early. This proved to be fortuitous as I woke before dawn to see the dark arc of a bridge passing overhead. The bridge was topped with a line of glowing streetlights that flooded the Sacramento River with a golden sheen. As I lay in bed watching the lights of the shore pass silently by and the sky fill with a pale morning blue, I understood why one would return again and again to see sights that one could never see from a car. I tasted great wine, learned a lot about winemaking--toured and tasted in style--sign me up for the next cruise!

Itineraries for the Vintner's Choice and Culture of the Vine cruises vary, for more touring and tasting ideas, click here.

Tofu: The Wonder Food

Some call tofu the "perfect food". It is high in protein, but low in calories--just 94 calories for 1/3 cake of tofu (1/2 cup), low in saturated fats and cholesterol free. The same serving of tofu gives you 227 mg of calcium, or 22% of your recommended daily amount, plus it is rich in iron and isoflavones, which studies suggest help prevent prostate cancer in men and osteoporosis in both sexes.

When one is raised eating Japanese food with tofu in most meals, the brands and varieties of tofu have distinctive flavors and textures. To those new to tofu, it can seem bland and requires marinating or cooking with flavorful sauces.
Below are some additional tofu recipes from MyRecipes:

Curried Tofu
Nutritional Information
Calories: 292 (24% from fat)
Fat: 7.7g (sat 1.4g,mono 3.6g,poly 2.4g)
Protein: 10.7g
Carbohydrate: 46.2g
Fiber: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 0.0mg
Iron: 3.7mg
Sodium: 559mg
Calcium: 107mg



Deep Fried Tofu

This tofu dish is simplicity at its tastiest. With every bite, the crispy, golden brown exterior gives way to the soft silkiness of the tofu within. With a sprinkle of salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon and dip in some black vinegar, my taste buds are good-to-go. --from Table For Three





Tofu Mango Pudding
Fast food! Made healthy in an instant.

One or two things about Zin...

Thought by some to be the quintessential American grape, DNA "fingerprinting" has show that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kaštelanski, also Primitivo from the heel of Italy. That discovery has not eroded American's love of Zinfandel, instead, like Pinot Noir, the varietal is gaining in popularity every year. We think of Zinfandel with barbeques, Fourth of July picnics and hotwings, perhaps because Zinfandel used to be made into high-alcohol fruit bombs. But, Zinfandel is growing up and revealing its potential for subtlety and expression.

A few interesting things about Zinfandel:
There are two types of grape--White Zinfandel--higher in acid and picked early for less color and sugar, grown in the Central Valley of California; and Red Zinfandel--the best terroir being the California coast and Sierra Foothills, as well, of course, as the Napa/Sonoma area. Old vine vineyards are particularly coveted. A recent study found there is no overlap between red and white zin drinkers!

Over 10,000 people attended this year's ZAP festival in San Francisco (ZAP=Zinfandel Advocates & Producers, see http://www.zinfandel.org). They sampled 550 Zinfandels, ate 8,000 baguettes and 2,200 pounds of cheese.

Wine and Cheese

Are you a "cheesehead"? We are here at Touring & Tasting!

There's nothing better than a great cheese to pair with a great wine and the pairing is an art in itself. We hope to bring back many ideas from Sonoma County's California's Artisan Cheese Festival in March to compliment our fine wines. It used to be that great cheese was found only in Europe--I have returned more than once with my clothes smelling like Parmesan or Camembert de Normandie from the many pounds weighing down my luggage! But, in recent years, superb cheese is being made here, particularly in Northern California. So what better way to learn more about cheese and wine pairing from the artists themselves.

What is "artisanal cheese"? The American Cheese Society defines it as a cheese is produced primarily by hand, in small batches, with particular attention paid to the tradition of the cheesemaker’s art, and thus using as little mechanization as possible in the production of the cheese. The difference is kin to the difference between estate grown and bottled wine from hand-picked grapes and wine made by the millions of gallons. One can taste the care and attention to detail in an artisanal cheese or an estate bottle.

Russian River to Sonoma

California sparkling wine grapes (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) love cool climates which produce grapes with low sugars and high acids. The picturesque Russian River appellation runs from the ocean to Healdsburg in Sonoma--a beautiful drive along the river with fog shrouded hills and towering redwoods. We stopped for a hike at the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve among the dappled light of the forest. The Parson Jones redwood is here--at 310 feet tall, the tallest redwood in the state.

Korbel has been making champagne in the French tradition for more than 120 years. We enjoyed a nice lunch al fresco, but didn't take the tour as we we anxious to check into Hotel Healdsburg, one of our favorite boutique hotels. A comfortable mod hotel with Tibetan carpets, dreamy beds and an elegant hot breakfast buffet, Hotel Healdsburg is classy and friendly. Charlie Palmer presides over their Dry Creek Kitchen restaurant, with fresh, local ingredients. We had the carmelized goat cheese salad, pan roasted bass and roasted pork tenderloin with our own bottle of 2005 Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon--yum!

Another wonderful Healdsburg restaurant is Bistro Ralph, right on the town square. The local wine list is extensive and the menu upscale casual with items like lamb burgers and seared albacore with ponzu sauce. They serve lovely hot herbed rolls right out of the oven. Of course, famed Cyrus is in Healdsburg--chef Douglas Keane was voted Best Chef of 2006 by Food and Wine Magazine and the restaurant was given two stars by Michelin. Last year we had two drinks and a shared appetizer there and the tab was over $100--alas, we felt a dinner would be out of our price range.

There's no need to pay a lot of money for great food in our next stop: San Francisco, city of fabulous food! The Great Eastern Restaurant in Chinatown (649 Jackson Street) is one of our mainstays for dim sum. The place is always packed; try the steamed shrimp dumpling and stir fry greens.

If you're going to San Francisco...

Every year we drive up to the Napa/Sonoma area after Christmas to enjoy the quiet season. The gourmet food is still as delicious, the wine as interesting, but it's easier to get reservations without the crowds of tourists.

Here are the highlights of this year's visit:
If you are ever driving north on the 101 through the Paso Robles area, you must stop at McPhee's Grill in Templeton! It's the best restaurant in the Paso Robles appellation with reasonably priced California cuisine. We shared a glass of cava: the Segura Viudas Aria Brut with the gratis local olive plate. Then matched the roasted beet salad with blue cheese, oak grilled artichoke and a brioche pastry with spaghetti squash with the Urban Tempranillo (and Argentinina red from Mendoza) and Juan Gil Jumilla (100% Monastrell from 45 year old vines). Just the lunch for the drive up to Napa where we checked into the Napa Valley Lodge.

One doesn't read much about Zazu in downtown Napa which is fortunate for us. Because this little neighborhood find is always busy, but not so crowded that one can't get a table in 5-10 minutes. The two stories of Zuzu humm with happy diners enjoying tapas plates. I love this way of eating because one can sample so many plates without overeating. One of my favorites is the bacalao: salt cod drizzled with truffle oil.

After a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, on to Bodega Bay, a tiny village perched on grassy hills above an unspoiled bay teeming with birds. We played 9 holes of golf with views of the ocean from each, and ate a lovely meal of Ceasar salad with fried oysters, cheddar grits and a pulled pork sandwich washed down with a glass of the Handley Brut Rose from Anderson Valley at Rocker Oysterfeller's down the road. Wander across the street to the little market to buy local artisan cheeses and wine. They carry all the "famous" ones like Humboldt Fog and Laura Chenel, but also smaller producers like Rouge et Noir and Harley. We stocked up and headed for the Sonoma Coast Villa & Spa. It was chilly and foggy out, so we stay in our comfortable room for dinner. What could be nicer than heated floors, local cheese, olives, fruit and a bottle of the World Class 2004 Summerwood Diosa by the fireplace? Well, maybe just as good was a soak in the big tub with bubble bath and the best sleep in months on fine linen.

more to later, please check back...