What a Weekend

I took a couple days off of work last week to attend a Wine and Food festival with my dad in Carmel.  Every year he goes and he treats one of us kids, or our spouses, to a ticket.  This year was my turn.  Brett planned to hang out with my mom and sister when he wasn't chauffeuring my dad and I to the affair.  About three hours into our drive to Carmel, my dad called and said he wasn't feeling up to going.  We swung by my parents' house and picked up both tickets.  Brett and I went together and feasted on amazing food (big name chefs from all over the country) and wine (the big wiz bang wineries from Napa, Paso Robles and Washington).  That was Thursday.

Friday, we decided to take a small detour to look at horse property in the gold country east of Sacramento.  It was a good three hours to the real estate office in Roseville.  Once there, we climbed into the realtor's car and she drove us through the windy roads, up and down the hills, crossing the American River numerous times.  We found a house that we liked.  A house that we REALLY liked.  We're going to make an offer on it but I don't know if it will be accepted since it will be contingent on our place selling.  Living at the top of a mountain is a bit... unique.  There aren't any properties like ours on the market.  Will it take a week or a month or ??  I guess we'll find out. 

What do you think of the house?

And the barn?

 and the big fenced pastures?

There's an arena, a hen house, an orchard... pretty nice.

After finishing up with the property hunt, we climbed back in our car and drove to Paso Robles -- another five hours.  How crazy is that?  We were wiped when we got to our B&B.

Saturday, we attended a party at a winery we like and picked up some wine.  My dad was feeling better so he and my mother met Brett and I at the party.  We sat at a table, in the winery owner's backyard, by a pool, sipping wine and nibbling on pizza fresh off the BBQ.    For dinner that night, my son Kyle met us at my favorite farm-to-table restaurant, Thomas Hill Organics.  Lori Skoog asked me to take pictures of our food.  I almost forgot (sorry, no pictures of the appetizers).

I had scallops and Manila clams in a wonderful broth with black rice and bok choy. 

Brett had Hawaiian monchong (fish) with kumquats and oranges and all kinds of colorful fruits.  He said it was amazing.

Kyle had the hanger steak (college boy - hollow leg - going for the steak) with avocado and ... I forget.  He cleaned his plate in nothing flat.

Sunday, we drove home.  And collapsed.  It was a good weekend but exhausting, to say the least.