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| Mike on Paris Left Bank Food & Win… |
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While in Paris I wanted to make sure Mike had the opportunity to do a tasting of French wines. O Chateau fit the bill perfectly. It is a fairly new establishment right near the Louvre. We chose the 1 hour introductory tasting which was held in O Chateau’s intimate wine cellar. Leading our tasting was [...]
Filed under: France, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: wine tasting, Paris, O Chateau, french wine, class | 1 Comment »
After hours of online research on Paris restaurants and food I was overwhelmed and decided I needed help. When I found Wendy Lyn’s website on Paris I knew she would be the best tour guide. Wendy, originally from the South, has been living in Paris for 20 years, works as a food writer and is [...]
Filed under: France, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: Food & Wine, Paris, Left Bank, Walking Tour, Wendy Lyn, Eric Kayser, Patrick Roger, L’Avant Comptoir | 2 Comments »
San Sebastián is a gorgeous beach town located in the Basque country and is known as the Culinary Capital of Spain with the highest concentrations of Michelin stars in the world. We were in San Sebastián for a family reunion. Mike has a cousin that lives there so we were not visiting to spend hundreds [...]
Filed under: Outside the Bay Area, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, Spain | Tagged: Aldanondo restaurante, Donostia-San Sebastián, La Fabrica, pintxos, San Sebastián, Spain | Leave a Comment »
Before leaving for Madrid I did some online research and one place kept popping up as a must do activity — eat Hot chocolate and Churros at Chocolateria San Ginés. We arrived at 11:30pm (early by Spanish standards) and the cafe was about half full. We easily found a table and immediately ordered …2 hot [...]
Filed under: PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, Spain | Tagged: Chocolateria San Gines, Hot chocolate and Churros, Madrid | Leave a Comment »
Mike has a cousin that lives in Madrid and one of the places she suggested we check out was the Mercado de San Miguel – a hip new indoor farmers market filled with over 30 vendors selling seafood, sandwiches, fresh vegetables, sweets, baked goods, tapas, wine, ham and more (similar to Oxbow market – if [...]
Filed under: PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, Spain | Tagged: Madrid, mercado de san miguel | Leave a Comment »
For our first foodie adventure in Spain Mike and I decided to go on a Tapas tour since we had limited time in Madrid and no idea where to go. Our walking tour started in the heart of the city at the Puerta del Sol where we met our guide James. We had a fairly [...]
Filed under: PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, Spain | Tagged: Adventurous Appetites Tapas Tour, food tour, Madrid | 1 Comment »
Guest post by Mike (my wine guy) On one of our recent trips to Napa, Nicole and I decided to visit Cade Winery (a PlumpJack property) because we had tasted their wine at Pebble Beach Food & Wine and were impressed. The winery is located at the top of Howell Mountain which takes a bit [...]
Filed under: Napa Valley, Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: CADE Winery, Gold LEED certified, napa, plumpjack | Leave a Comment »
It’s baaaaaaaaack! A new flavor brought me back to my old stomping grounds. See how it ranks
Filed under: Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, Palo Alto, REVIEWS OF PRODUCTS | Tagged: sprinkles cupcakes, salty caramel | Leave a Comment »
Mike and I were lucky enough to attend the Sunday Grand Tasting event at the Third Annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine festival courtesy of Foodbuzz our favorite foodie social network. The weather was not as nice as 2009 but that didn’t put a damper on our day. After taking a quick stroll around the [...]
Filed under: Monterey Peninsula, Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: 2010, Jamie Lauren, Lexus Grand Tasting, Michael Chiarello, morimoto, Pebble Beach Food & Wine, Richard Reddington | 2 Comments »
I’ve eaten at a lot of Japanese restaurants and I gotta say this is my favorite if I’m in the mood for Teriyaki and Tempura. This was my go-to birthday/special event dining spot while growing up and every time I get a chance to go back I do. The food, decor and sweet female owner [...]
Filed under: East Bay, Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: japanese, pleasanton, restaurant, review, Sato Sushi, Tempura | 1 Comment »
It’s been months since Psycho donuts opened in Campbell and all the drama surrounding it’s unusual theme seems to have calmed down. When the doors first opened there were numerous claims that the shop was insensitive to the mental health community because they named donuts “bipolar” among other things. We arrived for our first taste [...]
Filed under: Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, San Jose/Silicon Valley | Tagged: campbell, psycho donuts | 5 Comments »
Mike’s “V” day gift to me this year was from a little local chocolate shop. The chocolate dream box is hidden in a shopping center in Los Gatos –you may have passed by on your way into Lunardi’s grocery. It’s kind of a hidden treasure. Mike chose the following treats: (Listed from bottom to top) [...]
Filed under: Los Gatos, Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: chocolate boutique, Chocolate Dream Box, chocolate shop, Los Gatos | 4 Comments »
For our one big night out in Maui we took my sister and husband to Merriman’s to thank them for hosting us. Mike and I became familiar with Merriman’s on our honeymoon in Kona where we had a fantastic meal so we were excited to try the Lahaina location. We arrived at 6pm just as [...]
Filed under: Maui, Outside the Bay Area, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, TOP RATED RESTAURANTS | Tagged: HI, Lahaina, Merriman's, Peter Merriman | 1 Comment »
Mike and I headed to Maui to visit my newly relocated sister and her hubby & kids in early December. One of our day trips took us upcountry to Kula where there is a cool goat farm. When we arrived 2 baby goats (boy & girl) were being hand fed. They had just been born [...]
Filed under: Maui, Outside the Bay Area, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: goat cheese, hawaii, Surfing Goat Dairy | 1 Comment »
The morning after my Gary Danko birthday meal we headed to Tartine for a quick bite before heading back to San Jose. We were unfamiliar with this part of town so we were not sure of the location but as soon as we saw the line we figured we had found it. It’s much smaller [...]
Filed under: Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, San Francisco | Tagged: Tartine Bakery | Leave a Comment »
My birthday week ended with dinner at Gary Danko in San Francisco. It was time to try the #1 Bay Area Zagat rated restaurant. When we arrived we were seated in a cozy corner booth. We were surprised to see that the place was packed on a Thursday night in November. I guess you don’t [...]
Filed under: Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, San Francisco | Tagged: gary danko, restaurant, review, San Francisco, zagat rated | Leave a Comment »
I first heard about Sucré Sweet shop on our visit to New Orleans in August. The Pastry chef Tariq Hanna had just won TLC’s “Ultimate Cake-Off” so he was all over the local TV news. I really wanted to stop by while in town but time didn’t allow. Then 2 months later I received an [...]
Filed under: New Orleans, Outside the Bay Area, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: confectioner, coupon, discount, hand-crafted artisan chocolates, Magazine Street, New Orleans, NOLA, pastries, spca, Sucré | 2 Comments »
Mike and I took my sister and her husband to Napa for a weekend before they moved from the Bay Area to Hawaii. We decided we would dine at Bottega, Michael Chiarello’s newest creation. On the night we arrived he was actually in the house. While waiting for our table he walked through the bar [...]
Filed under: Napa Valley, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: bottega, Michael Chiarello, napa, napastyle, restaurant, review, Yountville | 1 Comment »
Boon Fly is a cozy cafe located in a bright red barn facade at the Carneros Inn (a Plumpjack resort) in Napa. It is a casual set up with a homey menu. The night we went I ordered the Fried Chicken and Mike had the Meatloaf special. Mike’s meal came with a large carafe of [...]
Filed under: Napa Valley, Northern CA, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: Boon Fly Cafe, Carneros Inn, fried chicken, napa, review | Leave a Comment »
12 months, 14 visits, 40 cupcakes digested! I did it! The final rankings can be found here
Filed under: PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, Palo Alto, REVIEWS OF PRODUCTS, VERY RANDOM THOUGHTS | Tagged: food, sprinkles cupcakes, rankings, sprinkles challange, best flavors, 40 | Leave a Comment »
About a month ago we were at a party that was catered by Purple Onion. There were salads, little sandwiches and desserts. Everything was super tasty. Mike and I decided we had to try the place out. We arrived on a Friday just after noon and it was fairly full. We actually bumped into Mike’s [...]
Filed under: Los Gatos, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK | Tagged: cafe, catering, Los Gatos, purple onion, restaurant, review | Leave a Comment »
This was my overall favorite dinner in New Orleans. John Besh’s Lüke is a French brasserie paying homage to NOLA’s past. The decor is bright & simple with a business casual vibe. We were seated in the back room in front of the kitchen. The menu reminded me of Thomas Keller’s Bouchon (which is a [...]
Filed under: New Orleans, PLACES TO EAT/DRINK, TOP RATED RESTAURANTS | Tagged: brasserie, business district, food, french, john besh, luke, New Orleans, NOLA, restaurant, review | 1 Comment »
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