A Lovely Bay Area Weekend

Back to the grind. Daylight savings made this Monday especially brutal. Or maybe it was all the fun I had this weekend? Either way, I wasn't quite ready to face the work week.

Our only plan heading into the weekend was wine tasting on Saturday, but it ended up being jammed packed with fun and friends.

Saturday we got up and made breakfast before meeting our friends to head to wine country. It was a beautiful day, clear blue skies and a forecast of over 70* for Napa Valley. We started at Buena Vista winery where our friends are wine club members. We love their white wine, and ended up buying a bottle of Chardonnay. I never used to care much for white wine, but in the past few years I've really started enjoying it, especially in the summertime.

Next we stopped at Oakville Grocery for lunch. We sat outside in the sun for some much needed vitamin D while we ate our salads and sandwiches. Once we finished our lunch, we headed to taste at three more wineries: Rutherford Ranch Winery, Odette Estate, and Black Stallion Winery. It was my second time at Black Stallion Winery, and I really enjoyed their reds. They also have a nice outdoor seating area that was really enjoyable. I didn't care much for Odette Estate. Since they just opened recently, the wine from their vineyards isn't ready yet, and they were tasting from another winery they are affiliated with. It was a beautiful venue, but $35 tasting fee seemed a bit high. We ended up doing a $10 tasting, but it was only for two wines. Ironically, they're goal when they opened was to offer a non-pretentious winery in Napa for the younger wine enthusiasts, I felt like they missed the mark on that one a little bit.

Overall, it was a great day. Buena Vista was definitely my favorite winery of the day. Both for the wine, and the tasting experience.

Once we were back in the city, went back to our place for a drink while we decided where we should go for dinner. Erica suggested Turkish food, and we all decided that sounded like a good idea. And was it ever!

I had never been to a Turkish restaurant before. Corrie and Erica found this particular restaurant through a Groupon deal and had really liked it. I didn't know what to expect but everything we ordered was amazing. And it was very well priced, especially for San Francisco. (My entree was only $12).

We started with a hummus platter that was served with pita bread. There was a traditional hummus, roasted red pepper, and a yogurt Tahini dip as well. I think the red pepper was my favorite, but it was hard to pick just one.

Please forgive the dark iphone photos

For my entre I ordered the Manti, the menu described it as a Turkish style beef ravioli with a yogurt Tahini sauce. It was delicious, the yogurt sauce was really tangy and it was unlike any dish I've had before. Andrew ordered the Beyti, which was lamb wrapped in lavish bread with a tomato and yogurt Tahini sauce. It was served in slices, like a sushi roll. I really liked his as well, and think I may order it next time. The best discovery of the night was the grilled halloumi cheese. It was amazing. Unlike most cheese, when it is grilled it doesn't really melt. It looked like a slab of grilled tofu when they served it, and it tasted like heaven. A friend we were with described it as "vegetarian bacon." Not because its anything like bacon, but because it's so good, that a vegetarian would feel the same way about this cheese that most people feel about bacon!  Andrew and I decided we live dangerously close to this place, and we'll definitely be going back! It was the perfect meal to end a really great day.

Sunday we slept in much too late thanks to daylight savings. Since the weather was so perfect, our friend Kristin decided to have people over for a rooftop BBQ. After taking Louis on a walk and making breakfast, we took the bus over to Kristin's.

It was the most beautiful day. She put quite the spread together for us, and we spent the afternoon having cocktails and enjoying each other's company and the beautiful view.

Love these two!

With weather like we had this weekend, San Francisco really is the greatest city in the world. There is no where I would have rather spent my weekend. I feel so blessed to have so many amazing friends close by and now with Andrew living here, instead of flying back and forth to San Diego every weekend, we'll have a lot more time to get out and enjoy it.

I hardly got anything accomplished this weekend, but it was well worth it. The laundry and grocery shopping can wait. Spending time with the people you love and living in the moment is always time well spent.

How did you spend your weekend?

We're still waiting on baby Tuff.....

xoxo,

T