Playing Tour Guide in San Francisco Bay Area

We've been having the best time being hosts & playing tour guide to guests visiting from Shanghai, China. I think Gil is the best tour guide because he know where to go, where to park & doesn't get lost (just ask Eileen & Nance!) 

My hosting duties began Sun. nite dining at House of Prime Rib...as usual, everything was perfect & our guests were impressed by the food & service. The guests, Leon & Sophie had never tasted prime rib so tender & juicy.

King Henry VIII cut with creamed spinach

Next day:
1st stop on the way to Napa, Kara's Cupcakes at Ghiradelli Square:

Top row: Smores, Passion Fruit, Red velvet
Bottom row: Chocolate velvet, Carrot cake, Fleur de sel

 2nd stop: A walk across Golden Gate Bridge... then lunch at Mustard's Grill:

Whetted our thirst with a cool & refreshing house-made Lime-ade

Onion Rings

Yukon Potatoes filled with bacon  & gucamole

Slow Smoked BBQ Pork sandwich

Grilled Ahi sandwich

Niman Ranch BBQ Baby Back Ribs

Half pound Niman Ranch Bleu Cheese Burger

Seafood Tostada

 After our filling & leisurely lunch we barely made it to Robert Mondavi's for the last tour. Gil & I waited at the tasting room while Leon, Sophie, & Jonathan went on a private tour of the winery. Since I'm a wine club member I got to try their reserve wines, which was good, good, good. Leon & Sophie thoroughly enjoyed the tour & even taught their tour guide a few chinese words!

The last stop for the evening was dinner at Marica's in Oakland. This is the 2nd group of Shanghai visitors that I've brought to the restaurant, which happens to be owned by my cousin Nedda & her husband, Christopher (who is the talented chef there). The restaurant is skillfully run by their talented son, Austin, manager-extraordinaire, who makes the best Cosmo (among his many talents!). As with the 1st group, Leon & Sophie throughly enjoyed the food...even though we were still full from lunch, not a crumb was left on our plates!!!! The food is always, always good!!!!!

We started with a trio:
Sweet white corn soup with shrimp
Chopped salad, avocado, romaine, red bell pepper, hard boiled egg, white wine vinaigrette, parmesan
Seared Scallops

Quail with carrots + parsnip puree
The carrot+parsnip puree was soooo good I wanted to lick the plate!!!

Organic Prime Ribeye Steak, port demi glace, portabella mushrooms, sauteed onion.
The restaurant was filled with so many people it stopped me from
licking the plate...it was that good!

Smoked Mussels
At this point of our dinner, we were very, very full, but this is Jonathan's
favorite & he had to have this. Somehow we all found room in our stomach
to polish it off!...It's the best!

Dessert!!!!!
Raspberry Biscotti Trifle, Panna Cotta, Chocolate Souffle
Um, umm GOOD!!!!

I think Leon & Sophie had a good time...I enjoyed my hosting duties...especially when I get to eat, eat, eat! If you're ever in Oakland, go visit Marica's, I know you'll like it as much as I do...and as much as all my guests have!

Bodega Bay and Being Stuck on Highway 1

 Saturday afternoon we took off to Bodega Bay.  We hadn't been there in quite  a few years and it seemed like a good place for a quick get away.  We were going to be staying at the Inn at the Tides.  To get to Bodega Bay from Sacramento is an interesting trip.  Passing through Petaluma and little seaside towns and one of my favorite places Valley Ford.  But then driving with Charlie is an adventure in itself.  He will not stop!!  You need to make it quite clear that you want to stop in a certain place to sight see or he will just keep driving to the destination.  Since I'd seen Valley Ford many times we didn't stop and drove straight through to Bodega Bay.  The Inn at the Tides is a huge property.  Each room is like a little cottage the way the rooms are situated.
Our room was a king room with a fire place (which I never could light).  There was a complementary bottle of wine and complimentary breakfast the next morning.  The room (sorry for the bad picture) was cozy and welcoming.  The bay was also visable from our room so it made a great view.

view from our room

 There was also The Bay View restaurant on the property that was pretty good.  We made dinner reservations when we got there for 6:30 but we were really hungry so went down a little early to have a drink and an appetizer.  The bar tender was great, made a perfect "slightly" dirty martini for me and Charlie's Margarita.  We ordered the muscles as an appetizer and had a nice time chatting with the bar tender and enjoying our drinks.  We were seated later for dinner with a nice view of the garden and also of the bay.

our other appetizer, Burrata cheese with prosciutto greens and balsamic

roasted beet salad, feta cheese

grilled salmon with onion jam

veal scaloppini

Dinner was good and afterwards we went back to the room, I tried to light a fire.. I'd never make it as a Girl Scout.  I couldn't get the fire going.  I used all the matches,all the news paper and still couldn't get the kindling to light.  Oh well, it was a warm night anyway.  It was a nice evening.
Sunday morning we used our voucher and went across the street to the Tides Wharf restaurant.  We got a free breakfast, not a continental breakfast though that was on the  menu but a full breakfast and they gave you a lot of food!  I tried the biscuits and gravy which was OK but I've had  better.  It was two large biscuits which in themselves were good with gravy which was OK plus two slices of bacon.  Charlie had the Tides breakfast which was eggs, bacon, hash browns and two slices of toast.  The bonus was a great view of the bay, watching the fishing boats going out.
After breakfast we decided to drive down Highway 1.  Saw lots of little towns I'd never heard of and some lovely views but Highway 1 is very winding and it was getting a little old.  We stopped in Sea Ranch to get out and stretch our legs and get a snack.  We were tired of the winding road and wanted to find a cross over to head back towards Sacramento.  The way it looked we would have to go all the way to Fort Bragg before we would find a freeway.  We finally came to a spot that we could cross over and headed into Boonville.  A cute little town. We ended up at an Indian Casino in the Napa area and stopped there for a while.  I did OK, but then ended up putting it  back.  By then it was around 4:30 and we were wondering what to do for dinner.  We were on Highway 28 which leads right through wine country, Calistoga, St. Helena, and my beloved Yountville.  We hadn't been to Mustard Grill in a long time so we stopped there in hopes of getting a table.  The parking lot was packed but after about a 15 minute wait and a glass of wine we were seated.  Dinner was wonderful. I got pictures of the appetizer and desert but dug into my dinner and totally forgot to take a picture.

Ahi Tuna cracker.  Ahi tuna, sesame cracker wasabi cream

My dinner was the seafood Tostada.  The seafood of the day was sword fish.  It was grilled and piled on a fried tortilla with black beans and a red cabbage slaw.  It was so good, light and refreshing.  Charlie had a NY steak which he said was also very good.  Of course we had dessert.  I had the Lemon Lime tart which I loved but the brown sugar meringue on top was really good and unusual. 

Lemon Lime tart with brown sugar meringue

Charlie had the pear crisp which looked good and he agreed it was.

Pear Crisp

It was a great ending to a fun weekend.  It's nice to get away once in a while to relax.

The Inn at the Tides
800 Highway 1
Bodega Bay  CA

Mustard Grill
7399 St. Helena Highway
Napa CA