Saturday, December 31, 2011

I feel refreshed.....

and I wanna go back. We just got back from taking a little jump up to the Napa Valley we live a mere 45 minute ride to one of the most beautiful places*I think* in California. I have always loved the Napa Valley this weekend I fell in lust all over again. I literally looked at my hubby and I was like I want to move here. Which if anyone knows, they know that I am a city girl through and through...maybe it is because I am getting older or it is because we have a family now but every time I go up to Napa I truly, truly relax. And no,  it is not because of the spa treatments and wine *it helps* it is because of the miles and miles of beautiful vineyard space and the people who are just super awesome and laid the f*ck back it is refreshing to be around people like that. I also love the houses that are located in this quaint little town called Yountville - I mean this area was put on the map because of the world renowned Mr. Thomas Keller of the 3 Michelin Star rated French Laundry and I am telling you in a block radius of that town you have more Michelin Star rated restaurants then anywhere in the world. Besides that more than a handful of star chefs have been on Top Chef one my favorite shows from that town.  I know to some peeps this doesn't mean shit but when you are as into cooking, baking and chefs as hubby and I this area is the holy grail for foodies. Throw in the that it looks like a small town in France and I am f*ckin hooked. On the way up we stopped in downtown Napa to grab a bite and found this amazing little french place...all I can say is Mmmmm smack my lips good so going back cuz food was amazing and the staff was super helpful. Because as all of us know toddlers have the attention span of guppy fish when it is time to sit down at a restaurant and have a meal. Hubby and I shared an appetizer of steak tartar which was super good then I ordered the Croque Monsieur ou Madame - Parisian Ham and Gruyere on Country Bread which I have not had since I have been in Paris. I could only eat half  because it was so rich but boy was it DAMN good. 

Angele Restaurant 2 thumbs wayyyy up 


Pommes Frites for my little mama

 Croque Monsieur ou Madame - Parisian Ham and Gruyere on Country Bread, Mixed Green Salad
LDG taking a rest

Beautiful mosaic fountain by the Napa River 

After a long walk we got back to the car and headed to Yountville at the Bardessono Resort....Ahhh bliss we were greeted at the front desk with........ you guessed it more wine.


Our room 
The Jacuzzi tub was the shit 
The grounds 


Very ultra modern property 


We rested, spa'd and then headed to dinner at Bottega which was f*ckin  amazing. I am telling you gang I have tried most of the restaurants up here and you never ever go wrong with the food. Yes I am a food snob and I will not make apologies for it! Life is to short to eat bad junky food.

Happy...happy...joy..joy

Yep this is the modern day babysitter when you want to get through a meal in a nice place 
Check out copper water goblets

Soooo like we do not have photos of what we ate because hubby and I got so carried away with just smelling,  drooling and eating t food we forgot to take pics.....It was sad we went through a food porn moment. 

Food Porn 

I usually do not have dessert at restaurants however I made an exception for this 
Sweet mini donuts with raspberry and lemon custard dips oh yeahhhhhh
At this point we were done,  we need to walk and get little ms sassy pants out of Bottega. LDG had made it through an hour and half of quietly sitting through dinner but I could tell that LDG was getting over it and a "spaz"  moment was about to happen so we got the hell out of dodge before she broke down. It was a beautiful crisp night so we decided to walk off the 10,000 calories of food and wine we had eaten through the day. The great thing is everything is within walking distance in this town so you park your car and have wine and walk...what more could you want out of life?
The whole town was lit up with lights for the holidays...so pretty.
These pics kinda of suck cuz I had some wine......OK a bit of wine...lol





It was a perfect quick get away to make before the end of the year. Hubby and I are going to make this an annual trip.  I think though,  that next time I will be leaving LDG with grandpa our auntie K. Don't get me wrong she was great on the trip but we truly want to enjoy the dinning experience which is very hard to do when you are trying to get through the meal before the melt down happens. And this food is so good you want to to take your time to savor every little last bite. I am going to be planning the next trip with hubby. I will be trying to make reservations for the French Laundry - 2 month waiting list just to get on the waiting list so we are talking  some major shit....but I have figured out a way to get in there so I am going to try it out and I will let you know if it works. All and all and awesome few days. Looking forward to chilling out this weekend with my family and getting the menus ready for the house for the next week. As of January 1st we are all back on 1,500 calories and daily work outs. Time to get back in the healthy train.
Wow this was a long post...sorry about that!

Happy New Year MoFo's

7 comments:

Michael Ann said...

Looks like a fabulous time! LDG looks adorable in her tights and Beret. Good for you!!!

Ronni @ Anywhere Is said...

Awesome. :D So glad you enjoyed, and I'm glad you're back.

Anonymous said...

soooo funny! the other day my fam and I were at Bj's I wanted to take a pic of our pazooki (not sure if Im spelling that right??) but it looked soooo good we all dived in w/in 2.5 secs.
Ps. You've made me want to go Napa..I must be living in a hole somewhere because I didn't realize Napa was in Cali?
-barbie @ Style of a Mrs.

Mommy Bags said...

Yep Napa Valley is in Northern California and we love that it is here :0)

Nancy said...

Hi and thank you for following my blog. Most of all thank you so much for linking up your blog for the New Year New Follower blog hop! :)

Can I just say how incredibly jealous of those photos? You guys looked like you had a great time! I hope to visit Napa one day. :)

I'm looking forward to reading your blog and I hope you have a happy new year.

Nancy
The Chrancy Family

Kerry said...

Happy New Year to you and your family!! This place sounds devine, I am jealous ;)
Hahaha funny you mentioned food porn cause the first thing I thought when I saw that pic wasn't of a G rating lol
How clever!
So glad you had an awesome time away, and yes you should definitely make it an annual trip, do it for all of us who can't ;)
I hope this year is a wonderful one for you xo

I'm free of the abuse said...

Mmmmm. So tasty looking and I'm a vegetarian! LOL That's how good that food was I'm betting! ;) Glad you had such a good time. It's a tad delayed but Happy New Year!
Susan
http://75percenthippie.blogspot.com
http://happyhippieheart.blogspot.com

Feeling the love......