Eat, Drink and be Married: traveling

Well, this experiment at blogging failed spectacularly. Let's try this again.

So much has happened since the last post (damn those ensuing YEARS of time.)

I (Shell) lost my job, couldn't find a new one in the SF area, and ended up looking (and finding) in Portland, OR. That means that right now we are split between two states and dealing with the repercussions of being apart. It's tough. It sucks. But it's OK. Well, it's going to be OK. And we're both staying focused on it being so much better in the long run. The cost of living here is so much less that things like paying off old debt and saving up for new debt (i.e. buying a house) actually seem like possibilities here, rather than just pipe dreams. (Plus, snow!)

The Willamette Valley (about 150 mile long stretch of land that covers from Portland all the way down to Eugene) also happens to be chock full of wineries, breweries, cider houses, cheese caves, small farms, large farms, and other foodie haven locations.

So far our favorite winery find (not that we have done a lot of exploring yet, but spring is coming!) has been Amity Vineyards. The wine maker was there when we went and he and I had a great chat about vines and varietals and wine making in general. Turns out they are also bay area transplants.

The tasting room is up on a hill in the valley and the view is gorgeous, a lovely little spot to sit and sip.

They also have a fabulous winery dog, which, if you know me at all, tells you that this winery got double bonus points from me. This is Mosely, he is gigantic and friendly and oh so fluffy.

They had a Pinot Noir when we were there that I absolutely loved, and all of their whites (the bread and butter of the WV) were lovely. We bought a few bottles to take home and were quite pleased with them. Plus, they give you a little plate of charcuterie to snack on while you taste. Heavenly.

At the end of last year I also took a short trip to Boise and my friend Sarah and I did a little local beer exploring. Of note, Payette Brewing. Their tasting room was small and funky and they had a good number of beers. Unfortunately I failed to note what we got in our flights, but I remember that I really liked the amber and Sarah really enjoyed the ale, which was noteworthy as it's not generally her style.

We also stopped at Haff Brewing, where they had a watermelon wheat beer on tap that was to die for. Light and fruity and one of those beers with which you could get into a lot of trouble on a warm summer day. Perfect for floating the river! Plus, they have the best logo...I bought C a pint glass and Sarah got a growler just because we were so in love with their logo.

Chris found a book about making cheese at home when she was here over Thanksgiving and has been reading up in preparation to start making our own cheese, which I am pretty excited to experiment with and document. I got her a second book about cheese making for Christmas, and she also got a pressure cooker, so we are getting well set for making all of the things. She's been using her time home alone (she ended up having surgery at the end of the year, so she has had lots of time home by herself) to learn to make delicious things like cheesecake and experimenting with shepherds pie and creme brûlée. I think I gained 5 pounds in the week I was back with her for Christmas, but it was delicious and worth it!

Okay, I think this'll do for today. I would say I'll be back in a week, but I seem to have a poor track record for keeping that promise! Sarah will be here to visit in less than three weeks, so there will definitely be food and beer exploring happening for me to write about then, if not before!

-Shell

Chris and I just got back from a four day trip to the Central CA Coast and Los Angeles. It was nice, we went to some of the places we loved to eat when we lived in L.A. We drank a LOT of beer.

We got kind of a later start than intended on Thursday, didn't leave Oakland until about 11AM. We decided instead of trying to get to Solvang before the tasting rooms closed we would stop in San Luis Obispo and visit Central Coast Brewing instead. They have a really cool truck parked outside the brewhouse right now! It says "Tactical Thirst Response Unit" and it has four taps in the side...I wonder if I could rent this for my birthday?

I got a pint of their Doppelbock and sat on the patio enjoying the beautiful Central Coast weather.

From San Luis Obispo we went to Pismo Beach. The idea was to go to Hot Lix, Chris wanted a caramel apple rolled in meal worms, but they didn't have them. We did get some chocolate covered crickets, and Chris got a scorpion. Those pics are on her phone, I will add them later.

We also stopped at the Splash Cafe to eat. The clam chowder was AMAZING, I cannot imagine what the ratio of cream was in that soup, and I did not have one sandy clam, which always makes me happy. I am iffy at best on clams most of the time, sandy clams just slay me. And all the veggies in the soup were perfectly cooked, impressive considering that with the volume this place sells they must have huge bain marie's of soup in the kitchen. I got scallops and chips, Chris got a mixed platter, it had fish, calamari and maybe shrimp?

From Pismo we went on to Buellton, where we were staying the night. After we got checked in to our hotel we drove over to the Firestone Walker taproom, because we clearly needed more beer. I was delighted to find they had their seasonal "Solace" on tap, so I got that. Chris got a taster because you get a pint glass to take home if you buy a taster and I broke one of ours the other day.

Friday morning we took advantage of our hotels free breakfast (no pics, it wasn't very exciting) and then hit the road to Los Angeles. Long Beach, to be exact. We bounced around Los Angeles on Friday...Chris got a haircut, we grabbed some shawerma (we were so hungry we forgot to take pics!), then drove to Long Beach and checked in to our hotel. Friday night we had tickets to see a concert at The Hollywood Bowl and we stopped at Philippe's for my FAVORITE french dip sandwiches. If you have never been to Philippe's you MUST go next time you are in Los Angeles. The experience alone is worth it.

You stand in line (sometimes a LONG line, I have waited an hour for a sandwich here) to place your order with one of "The Ladies" who stand behind a huge counter full of amazing looking goodies. Potato salad, macaroni salad, pickled eggs, scratch made pies, pickles...it's a little overwhelming if you aren't used to it. They get you your food and you pay, then you take your tray to one of the long family style tables in the big dining area, sawdust on the floor...and you dig in. Don't forget to add a little of the house made spicy mustard to your sandwich, but JUST A LITTLE, it's REALLY hot.

This is my double dipped beef sandwich, Chris got one with bleu cheese and we shared halves.

Saturday morning we slept pretty late (for us) so we skipped breakfast and headed to Huntington Beach. I had picked up a Groupon for a place called Rockin' Crepes. It had good reviews and the concept seemed fun. It was...OK. I love the concept, but I think they have some severe issues with execution.

The restaurant itself is funky and fun. Skulls and flames painted on the walls, guitars and album artwork, a good rock selection in the juke box, music loud enough to be rockin' but not loud enough to be obnoxious, our table was painted to look like a Ouija board. However, the waitresses shoes were obviously sticking to the floor right inside the kitchen, which annoys me right off, mop your damn floor. Our Ouija board table wasn't designed to be used in a restaurant and the constant wet wiping had made the finish start to weep a little, so it was clean, but slightly tacky to the touch. They don't appear to have an actual chef/cook, rather the waitstaff does some of the prep and someone who I would guess to be one of the owners wives does the rest, all the while speaking to the staff very poorly.

We got a crepe with chicken, brie, mushrooms and green onions. The flavors were great together but overall it left a lot to be desired. The crepe was really thick and I think overcooked. It had a ton of plain, boiled, shredded, unseasoned chicken in it and a good hanful of green onions, but very little brie or mushrooms. They could have gotten away with the chicken had it contained more of the other more flavorful items, but, it didn't.

We also ordered a fondue of cheddar cheese with red wine. Great flavors, but, again, horrible execution. I am pretty sure our waitress took a pre-portioned pack of fondue ingredients, heated it up in the microwave, stirred it and tossed it into an electric fondue pot. It was grainy and thanks to the huge fondue pot it was served in, it just kept evaporating and getting grainier and grainier. They did serve it with some fun dippers...it came with apples, bread, pretzels, sliced pepperoni and cheese puffs.

All in all, it was fun to do once, but I won't go back, which is going to be what causes them to go under, eventually, I think. The wait staff was decent...a young girl and a younger guy who were the only personable people there. The woman working the cooking area spoke to the staff terribly and didn't seem to have a very good handle on her organization. There were also two or three middle aged dudes who I assume are some manner of owner/manager types and wandered around the restaurant not helping with anything and not speaking to any of their customers, not a very good impression.

From there we went to Seal Beach and walked along the main street and the pier...no good food or drink photos since we didn't eat anything there and we only stopped briefly for an overprice beer in a touristy pub, lovely way to spend the afternoon though.

Saturday night we went to see a movie at the Hollywood Forever cemetery. A pretty cool experience, everyone sits on blankets on the lawn and they encourage you to bring a picnic, which we did. =) Beer, cheese, crackers, sliced meat, olives, salads. We didn't come close to finishing it all, but it was good!

Sunday morning we got up and met Chris's dad for a dim sum brunch, which I totally spaced out on taking pics of. We went to Empress Pavilion, which is (in my book) the best dim sum place in L.A. Very much the quintessential dim sum experience, the women with carts laden with little trays and steam pots of food, the vested waiters running around bringing pots of tea, the cards on the corner of the tables which the serving ladies stamp with everything your table has consumed. If you have never been out for dim sum, I highly recommend it.

I did find something fun in a shop window walking back to the car that, so here is a pic of that in place of dim sum.