los gatos wine walk

long overdue, a post about the los gatos wine walk. i was very excited for the opportunity to try so many south bay wines all in one place. local wineries teamed up with los gatos retailers to offer wine tastings while you shop. we ventured off the beaten path to find sarah's vineyard, which was stationed in a lingerie boutique of all places. the representatives from the winery couldn't understand why they weren't getting more customers.

downhill winery lived up to its expectations with its earthy reds. downhill winery was stationed in los gatos gourmet, a lovely little shop with fresh cheeses, sandwiches, and a great wine selection. i'll definitely be back.

fleming jenkins was a new find. their tasting room is in a great building on west main street. their rose was my favorite, although everything i tried was yummy.

left bank

where: 377 santana row
date: sunday, september 5
time: 9:50 pm

san jose flea market

this one deserves a lot more photos than usual. mike and i biked to the san jose flea market a few weeks ago. it is the largest open air market in the country, with eight miles of aisles. i was very excited. i was about to participate in a 50-year tradition, and shop in a treasure trove that is visited by over four million people a year!

the san jose flea market does not live up to its reputation. i'd say about 90 percent of the merchandise is the same -- stand after stand of identical merchandise. the same padded underwear (what?), american flag paraphernalia (of course), and oddly-styled furniture (is that three types of fake suede? why yes, it is). that said, it was still an awesome experience. just in a different way than i expected...

sorry mom

my mom told me that she didn't want me riding a bike because she didn't want me to get hurt. i believe her exact words were that no mother wants their daughter riding a bike, and that for every person on a bike there's a worried mother. well, sorry mom. i've been riding a bike recently. but don't you worry one bit. mike says i'm an overly cautious biker. if yielding to a pregnant lady crossing the street is being overly cautious, then i guess i'm guilty.

thanks, becca, for the good deal on the bike. i apologize in advance if you get angry messages from my mom for enabling the cycling.

before:

after:

ZER01 art festival, downtown san jose

where: e. santa clara street & 4th street
date: thursday, september 16
time: 7:53 pm

summertime in connecticut, part two

PART 2
one of my favorite times of year to visit my parents is the summer (my other favorite times are spring, fall, and winter). the trees are green, the farmers market is open, the lake is sparkling, and dinner is enjoyed at the beach. visiting them in the summer really makes me appreciate the landscape in which i grew up. this summer, mom and dad borrowed kayaks from a family friend so i got to go on my first kayak ride. kayak ride? do you go on a kayak ride? maybe it was a kayak trip? we didn't really go far enough for it to constitute a trip, i don't think. anyway, it was delightful. i hadn't been on the lake since my days on the high school crew team and it was great to be back out on the water.

summertime in connecticut, part one

PART 1
last weekend i was home in connecticut and made a trip down to fairfield county to visit abby. we had drinks at barcelona sono and dinner at barcelona stamford -- it's good to know people in barcelona corporate! we were wined and dined and everything we ate and drank was delicious. my favorite wine was the el coto rose. our seven-course dinner wasn't too shabby either. maybe i'll roast myself a garlic bulb tonight in homage to our feast.

the next morning we had breakfast at le pain quotidien in new canaan. over breakfast we wikipedia'ed new canaan and discovered that it's one of - if not the - richest towns in the country. this explains the sparkling clean gas station and assortment of preppy clothing stores (ralph lauren is the first store you see when you get into the downtown). but our breakfast was wonderful -- it was my first le pain quotidien experience apart from the west hollywood location. just wish i'd taken some more pictures!

venice

omg has it really been a month since my last post? either i've been very busy or very lazy. in reality, i suppose it's been a combination of both. the past month featured a trip to venice to visit amy. it was a weekend of eating yummy food, drinking good wine, looking at real estate, and discussing decorating. in other words, it was just my kind of weekend. amy had the brilliant idea to explore the area on rented cruisers, which is like riding on a cloud.

a real highlight was our excursion to malibu wines. in all of my trips to wineries, i've never found a place that captures the desire to sit outside and enjoy a bottle of wine so well. it's like one big picnic, nestled in the malibu hills. and the people watching is amazing.

another highlight was the discovery of bountiful, an antique store on abbot kinney. with cake stands stacked to the ceiling, it was a bit stressful to navigate the store, but their furniture gave us some good ideas for amy's new apartment.

old friends and new food

i took a friday off from work and was graced by the presence of my dear friend rachel, in town to catch up and see the new city i call home. as her mother said upon hearing that i'd moved to san jose, "i guess everyone's gotta live somewhere." but i think rachel's visit left her with a more positive impression of my new life in the south bay. apart from splitting a bottle of morgon that afternoon, a highlight was lunch at cyprus cafe in campbell. the mohammara, a spread of red peppers, walnuts, and pomegranate molasses, was new for both of us and very tasty. i also loved the wine list -- every wine on the list is available by either the bottle or the glass, giving a much larger selection by the glass than most restaurants. both of us loved our wines -- rachel had a california torrentes and i had a french rosé that we both agreed had a truly fantastic color. alas, neither of us can remember the name of the vineyards, and the photo i took of the wine list is too blurry to read. i'll be back for more rosé and mohammara, and this time i'll make sure to remember the names of the wines.

let the container gardening begin

after our trip to the farmers market, we went by summer winds nursery, also in campbell. i had dreams of a huge container herb garden, but given the shadiness of our patio i've scaled back a bit. instead, we got just one herb -- lemon balm -- as well as a fern, coleus, and new guinea inpatiens. picking out the pots and garden gloves was probably my favorite part of the shopping experience. getting dirty with the potting soil was also fun, and the plants really brighten up the patio. we even let howie out on the patio for a bit to enjoy the new "garden." if these plants do well, i hope to expand the garden, but all in all this is making me really excited for the day when we have a house with a real yard.

campbell farmers market

today we went to the campbell farmers market for the first time. i gotta say, it puts my little japantown farmers market to shame. it's about two city blocks of tents, with jewelry, artwork, produce, meat, prepared foods, and a couple live performers. it was a bustling market and had a huge selection of organic produce. i've been missing my oakland farmers markets, so discovering the campbell market was a very good thing. no shave ice or hydrangea the size of a small child, but i did get two bunches of dahlias and one bunch of zinnias for just $10. needless to say, our farmers market basket was very heavy by the end of the visit. and we've got a huge bowl of gazpacho in the fridge right now for dinner.

oh, and an update on my last post: that creepy looking zucchini -- in the middle in the first veggie picture -- is a "bitter melon." i found that out from a farmer at today's market. it can be used in soups and stir-frys. i wasn't brave enough to buy it this week, but still hope to experiment with it in the future.

walk to japantown

this sunday, i walked to the japantown farmers market for the first time since moving to san jose. the heart of japantown is just six blocks away -- about a ten-minute walk. i was happy to get to use my new basket for the first time. san jose's japantown is pretty sleepy, but it's very pleasant. the farmer's market is small and i have to admit i couldn't even name some of the vegetables there (see photos below). but i got a HUGE bunch of hydrangea for just five dollars, and given that we only own fairly small vases we have hydrangea scattered around the house in lots of little bunches. on the walk back i spotted a place that sells hawaiian shave ice -- a treat for which i recently discovered my passion, while on the big island. if i hadn't just bought a lemonade the size of my head i definitely would have bought one. i didn't see lilikoi on the menu but i'll be sure to go back and give their shave ice a try at some point. next weekend: campbell farmer's market. i've heard good things... let's see how much they charge for giant hydrangea.