We've been having some really odd weather here.
First it's been really cold and it rained today. It also hailed while I was riding my motorcycle back to the house.
What did I learn? I can ride in the rain (must buy a rainsuit) but I kanna ride in hail. At all. I nearly ate it three times in four blocks...
In event planning, the devil's in the details. Such as it was with my friend's 40th Birthday Party. Mark's not one to do things on a small scale. And his party (planned by his wife, Angie) was planned very well. How?
First, there was a pre-party.
Kinda like kissing the ring, except these are balls!
Watching Cars with a good red wine
First taste! Mmmmmm.
Two guys and a lotta gals!
About 20 of use met at his house and proceeded to down 9 bottles of wine in three hours along with hoity-toity snacks to go with the wine including:
Totino's Pizza Rolls
Jalapeno Cheese Poppers
Meatballs
Blondies
Spicy sausage wrapped in bacon
Mashed potatoes (?)
Perfect snacks to complement a 2001 Whitehall Lane...
Freshly killed mashed potatoes...
Next, we all carpooled (except for the birthday couple and 10 select guests) to dinner in Palo Alto where we proceeded to be loud, silly and downing 11 more bottles of wine which was brought from the house.
As the evening went on, the crowd got sillier.
This be the G-rated version!! WAHAHAH
Even the birthday "cake" wasn't free of silliness!
Looks like they're fighting over who gets to eat it first...
She won that contest...
That's a lotta empties...
After dinner, we continued our festivities at Blue Chalk and then ended with a nightcap back at the house. That was fine, until the karaoke was fired up. I endured k-tv until 0330 when I declared it was time to leave. And that's why I got home at 0430 this AM!
This was Coy at 0330. Crashed and burned
As I noted in an earlier entry, the UK Government has, with very short notice, doubled the Air Passenger Duty (APD) also known as a "tax" for passengers who fly to or from the UK. Story here and here.
Although this won't be a big deal for corporate types who fly there on business or rich folk or gov't types, here is how it breaks down for the rest of us...
* Economy class flights in Europe, internal UK flights - £10
* Business and first class flights in Europe - £20
* Economy class long-haul flights - £40
* Business and first class long-haul flights - £80
Of particular interest to the back/flash packer crowd are the amounts for economy class tickets. Since back/flash packers normally fly the cheapest fare they can find, these taxes hit them at a greater percentage than it would for a rich corporate government bigshot.
Economy long haul flights to and from the UK will be taxed at £40 (US$78) each way. That means that out of any ticket you buy that ends up in the UK, US$156 of that will be tax. That makes the US$299 r/t deal to London sound a lot less palatable, dun it?
Now, US$156 can buy you a nifty ticket on Ryanair or Easyjet to other parts of Europe. Neat. But wait, you'll have to pay £20 round trip for that trip. Or US$78 plus the price of your ticket. Dun sound like a bargain anymore does it?
The worst part of this tax is that it's supposed to go "to the environment". Nothing more. No further details. Sounds like a slush fund for Labour and a virtual mugging of travelers to me!
But here's a bright spot. This is greater incentive to visit the City of Light instead. Despite the language barrier, the food's better and the cigars are cheaper. And for US$129.50 (less than the tax) you can take Eurostar into London if you must go.
On Mason near Bay Street, at the Powell-Mason cable car turntable, I give you the most caffeinated trash can ever seen, ANYWHERE!
Burp.
Across the way is a Starbucks. They sell a lot of coffee to tourists waiting for the cable car to take them back to Union Square. Where there's even more Starbucks for them to get their caffeine fix...
I delivered my guest to SFO so she could catch an international flight that was supposed to leave at 0600. That usually means that passengers need to be delivered to the airport 2 (?) hours in advance.
When we arrived at the Terminal, there were no airline personnel around. Or maybe we were at the wrong end of the Terminal. In either case, she's on to colder climes and I made my way to bed.
I slept to 1000 and made brekkie. Then I fell asleep again. Just woke up and am still exhausted!
Oh yeah, 恭喜發財! Happy Year of bacon, I mean pork chop, I mean the pig!
I've recently realized that the Napa Valley, for all of its greatness (great wine, great food), CAN be overdone.
Two weekends ago, I did my annual pilgrimage to Silver Oak and surrounding wineries. This past Friday and Saturday (CNY eve, yes I know...) I did Napa all over again. I can truthfully say that's I'm knackered. Too much good wine, too much good food, too much CHOCKY (yes, S-A, it IS possible) that I'm actually craving something more ghetto, something more common.
Maybe like a chef salad? Or a Chicken McNugget? No, not THAT tired of good food yet...
Friday was a great day of wine and food. It started with Domaine Chandon. Champagne, whoops I mean "sparkling wine" and salmon. Not bad for the first snack of the day...
Salmon. Looks good and it's so easy to assemble!
Lunch was at the Rutherford Grill along with a visit to BV. These two always go together. For over three hours!!
Rutherford Grill's famous Spinach and Artichoke dip
Someone's at the dip...
They make a great rotisserie chicken! Moist and everything!
By the time we finished lunch, there was only time to hit one more winery before closing time. And that was V. Sattui again. Remember the adult ho-ho? Well, we bought one and split it.
A mostly devoured Adult Ho-Ho. And it wasn't all me!
It was SOOO rich and filling that there was no dinner! That was a lot of chocolate...
Saturday we went to Copia for their annual "Death by Chocolate" event.
This....is Copia's parking lot
And yes, the title of the event was an accurate description. Besides the very long demonstration events where dessert cooks were making desserts (takes a very long time to do that), there was a tasting event from 1300-1500 on both floors. Every form of gourmet chocky and wine to complement it. So much that I'm actually swearing off sweets.
For a week.
Copia also has a fancy restaurant named after Julia Child. We had a small lunch.
Cream of Cauliflower soup.
The happy diner. She's here
A very good burger
Things in Napa usually shut down by 1700 so it was back to SFO to wind up this visit. And if you live in The City, you know that traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge is crap going inbound. So we wound up watching the traffic roll in from the Headlands instead.
Watch that fog roll in!
Something to make all native SFers homesick, no matter where they are
After 20+ years, I visited the Magic Kingdom AKA Disneyland with an out of town friend. Even though a lot of things have changed here (where's Fort Wilderness?), much of the charm is still there.
The Main Street drag
Traffic Circle!
Parking lot
The queues are still there (Space Mountain with loud RedHotChiliPeppers soundtrack
We built this place!
Fireworks begin at 2130 instead of 2100 now
I realized during this trip that my interest in transportation began with a visit to Disneyland when I was very young. A LOT of the rides and attractions here revolve around transportation.
Space Mountain
Star Tours
Autopia
Matterhorn
Big Thunder Railroad
Monorail
All are things that society needs to get around (or will get soon). That explains my facination with transportation maybe??
Some things here are more recent necessities...
The most cheerful security checkpoint in California...
Rudy Giuliani in Sacramento
Me?? Calming?? Who writes these silly quizzes I wind up taking???
| Your Blog Should Be Blue |
 You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book. |
They dun know me vewwwwy well do dey?? WHAHAHAHAH
| You Are 76% Capitalist, 24% Socialist |
 You tend to think people should fend for themselves, even when times get tough. However, do think the government should help those who are truly in need. |
Now this one is a bit more accurate. Just a bit.
If you're planning to fly to London on a mainline carrier and then hub out to other parts of Europe via low fare carriers (like I do with Singapore), DON'T!!
The brilliant minds in the UK have DOUBLED the tax that you have to pay for inbound and outbound flights, unless you're transiting through on the same ticket. If your final destination is London or anywhere in the UK, you're gonna get reamed. So forget the UK! Apparently Amsterdam (?) is the new low fare hub for Europe. Informative article about the new parasitic tax here.
Now what do I mean by "hub out"? To "hub out" means to fly a mainline airline to a city that's a low fare airline hub. Using that city as a base, then continue flying elsewhere using low fare airlines. Example: I usually fly Singapore Airlines (best flights I've ever had!) to Singapore and then will fly JetStar to other destinations (usually BKK). It's a good way to stretch your travel dollar and it's kinda fun too.
One of the advantages of living in San Francisco (The City) is that the Napa Valley is close by. VERY close by. 45 minutes (with no traffic) close by. That means that Wine Country events are within striking range from home. Which means, I wind up going to a lot of release parties...
Silver Oak had its 2002 Cabernet release party today. This will be the last release party at the current facility in Oakville as it was damaged just before last year's release party and it was decided to build a new facility instead of rebuilding the old one.
Silver Oak Oakville Winery 1981-2007
So my frens and I headed out at 0830 to Oakville.
...was supposed to be here at 0800, it's now 0830! Latelatelate
A Silver Oak release party is when the winery releases a vintage for sale to the general public. Its also an excuse for food, autographs and US$20 bottomless glasses of the vintage being offered from 0900 to 1500.
Here's the deets on the Silver Oak 2002 Napa Cabernet release
Bottomless glasses waiting for refills
I bought two bottles this year, it was THAT good!
Since the event runs from 0900 to 1500, there's a small time window to actually get here and enjoy yourself before the unkempt hordes arrive around 1200. You can also get free, close by parking if you get here early. We got here around 1000 and immediately began sampling the wine and provided snacks.
Prior to last year's winery fire, the main building used to be open for viewing with food vendors inside, in addition to the ones outside. This year, there was just a handful of food vendors outside hawking chili, mini roast beef sandwiches and fruit cocktail along with the usual gift vendors.
It was crowded this year but not as bad as it was last year...
A very interesting crowd gets here before 1100.
Some people brought their doggies. This was a big golden retriever. He looks happy.
After the event, most people who are already here continue their Napa day by visiting other wineries. We visited Plumpjack, Heitz and ended the day at V. Sattui for a late lunch.
Plumpjack is down the street from Silver Oak and they were offering tastings of two wines and you keep the glass for US$10.00. The red was a 2004 cab that seemed pleasant enough for an everyday wine but had a strange aftertaste. It was a nice place for camwhoring tho.
People who are food enthusiasts are "foodies". So people who like wine are "wineys"?
New this year was a visit to the Heitz Winery. It has a swish tasting room that was recently built and they had a full FREE tasting of two cabs, a chardonnay and a kick ass port.
One of my frens bought a bottle here. Now all we have to do is get him to open it...
The nice thing about small wineries like Heitz is that you can discover some neat wines that you normally wouldn't be able to try because they aren't widely distributed. Also, the vineyard is usually behind the visitor's center. Like so.
The end of the tasting day came at V. Sattui which is our traditional pit stop for food and still more wine.
You go inside and buy picnic sets and then you buy cheese and bread and wine. Then you go outside to the picnic area. Mind the signs and don't stay that late because...
The V. Sattui picnic area, right in front of the winery
This was lunch. Gorgonzola and brie cheeses, some pate and a baguette. Also some off dry Riesling. Mmmm.
Then we went back in and bought more wine. I got two bottles of the Gamay Rouge and one of the Muscat. One of my frens bought a cases' worth so we got the 10% discount! Cool!
Who is that!? That's OK, he drove today.
As the day ended and the sun went down, it was a painful slog to get back to the City. Traffic. It took so long that I passed out when we left and sobered up by the time we hit Berkeley. Still 40 minutes away! It took a while to get home, but I wasn't driving!
Not the road home; just a road..
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