My CSA Box- Natural Trading Company

I finally found a CSA to join that was in our budget and met our requirements. I could get fresh eggs for happy hens, all organic, with a good seasonal variety, winter harvest along with other seasons, give not too big of shares of the harvest(just Ben and I so I did not want to waist any of the share, plus we can order from two sizes of shares), easy to pick up, easy to put on hold if we go out of town, easy to stop if we move, weekly reminders/updates, great communication with the farm owners, auto payment and charged week to week instead of for a whole season or a whole year at a time. The Natural Trading Company in New Castle, Ca fit the bill to a tee. We pick up our share every Friday at the farm because we live pretty close. It cost $20.00 a week and we get eggs every other week and those weeks cost $26.00. Like I said perfect:) Ben and I eat a lot if veggies but with these boxes it is a no brainier with incorporating more fruit and veggies into your diet. No meal planning required either you just work with what you get and it just makes cooking so much easier.
This week we got:
Garlic-2 heads
Turnips a very large bunch
Red potatoes about three pounds
Butternut Squash
Persimmon- 5 Fuyu variety
A huge head of purple lettuce
A huge bunch of collards
Heirloom carrots about 10 in the bunch
One dozen eggs
Plus the box comes with a weekly newsletter with a recipe incorporating the share.
All organic and $26.00 total!!!

Where the buffalo roam...

Another Sunday drive took us on a great adventure and another wonderful Winery find a few weekends ago. As usual Ben and I decided to explore the Sierras and see what kind of gems we could find. So we drove towards Granite Bay and by chance saw a grape sign with a arrow and fallowed it. We had no idea where we were going but what the heck, lets go. We actually ended up back in Newcastle, and drove into the area where people build huge custom homes on what use to be hilly farm land.

Finally, we find this sign and what looks to be someones very large home. We pull into the drive way and walk into what maybe was a very high end fancy garage, turned tasting and barrel room. It was a fun feel with all the other wine tasters drinking down their tastings and look to be loving every sip. We finally were able to get a place to taste at the bar and surprise, surprise great wine.

The wine maker and co-owner, Phil Maduxx, was of course working the wine room and was poring his wine. He started making his own wine at home in the 1970s, and one day decided to make it his career. Thank god he did his wine is great! He grows vines around his home, but also owns a hill side not too far away from his property that he bought from a what I would call "wanna be weekend wine maker" that did not realize the amount of work it would be making wine. Worked in Phil's favor for sure. His wines to me are pretty much Organically grown and produced(they are not certified but if you listen to how he grows them I believe they are) and he believes in water conservation and let's his vines look for their water and waits until the driest months to actually water them. The wine really shows this with the richness and depth of flavor.

The reds where great especially for 09s. The stands out to me from what he had on his Tasting Menu that day were:
Thunder Beast Zinfandel 2009


Where the Buffalo Roam 2009
Bison Blanc Viognier 2010

He also let us a taste the 2009 Just Grenache and is was Just Wonderful!

Ben LOVED the Pawny Tawny!! Great desert wine for sure!

The wine room was great with the Buffalo theme throughout, but not in a Disneyland way. If you ever get to go and do some tasting at the winery, maybe Phil will tell you why he decided to name his winery Lone Buffalo it is a great story.

Here is a link to check them out Lone Buffalo Vineyards

If you are in Tahoe their wines made the Ritz-Carlton's Northstar Resort Wine list.

New Amador Wineries and Cheese Shop #2

The next monster winery to take the Amador Valley by storm is Andis Wines. I did not take a lot of pictures because the winery is a clean modern design and the winery was packed that day as well. If you look at the second picture you will see the wall of woven wood. Well, the wood is from re-claimed oak barrels that they used as a design feature throughout the out side of the winery. The winery was founded by a husband and wife team that are native Hawaiians and still split their time between the main land and the islands. They owned a home on the Silverado Trail for years and one day went to a Wine Club dinner at a Amador Winery and met their now Wine Maker, Mark Mckenna. The story in its' entirety is located on Drink Up Magazine.

I have now gone to the winery twice since I shot the images. The wines across the board are very good but like Helwig are very young and need some time to settle. The region grows Italian varieties best because of its similarities to the climate of the Italian Wine country. Many Italians settled in the region and found the elevation and climate identical to their native Italy and so they planted what worked best also French varieties are grown in the region and do very well also. Amador is completely different growing region from Napa, Sonoma, Lodi and Santa Barbara. Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara are near the ocean so that in its' self can tell you a lot. Lodi is very flat so that tells you another story all together. 

The tasting room is very large, clean and modern. When I first shot the images the room was packed so I did not want to shoot because I would have to get the crowds permission to post images with them in it. They have very cute out door furniture for you to buy a glass of wine and bring a picnic and enjoy their top of the hill views. Also a nice thing about Andis is their wines are on taps and you can refill your bottles when you come into the winery instead of buying corked bottles. They offer corked bottles but if you live close this is a great option. I think the winery is already a force to be reckon with, but give it another couple of years and you will see their wines featured in some top wine journals for sure.

Now on to Ben's favorite place on earth. The Sutter Creek Cheese Shoppe! This place is a great gem of a find. It is located on the main drag of the very cute Sutter Creek town. The Amador Valley is made up of all these old mining towns and they are all charming and cute as a button. If you love history then this is a great place to visit as well.

So what makes his little cheese shoppe so great is they let you taste every cheese they have and not even having to ask either. As soon as you walk in the door they shower you with samples and extremely detailed knowledge of the cheese as well. They know their cheese inside and out and have a true love for it.

They give you these tasting sheets and you can just down the list if you like. We usually walk out with maybe five or ten types of cheeses. They also are kind enough to give you extra pieces of that great french cheese paper that makes your cheese last extra long in the refrigerator at home. They even have the back history on the paper as well.

New Wineries in Amador Wine Region #1

As usual Ben and I take many trips to the surrounding wine regions as a great mini day-cation. On one of our trips last winter we observed a few new wineries being built in Amador. We like the region because it has so many wineries but it does not feel too commercial.

Now, looking at two of the largest being built, Ben and I both said at once "on no". These two wineries looked like they might be owned by corporations and not families. So we where a little worried. Finally, in the spring the two where open for business. Ben and I decided to do some snooping and some tasting and see what the story is. The first winery is called Helwig. From what we found out it is owned by one person and he was a CEO of a one of the largest Health Insurance companies in the country based in Sacramento.

 

The wine list was of course full of very young vintages, but all had a lot of promise if they where layed down for say another few years.

 

The Sauvignon/Savignon Blancs where pretty much ready to drink. They had a Syrah Rose' that was not bad at all. I am in love with true Rose' so this was pretty good. 

  

The owner and designer actually took their time building this winery and went to great lengths to keep everything Eco-friendly. Pretty much all the wood used to build the winery is re-claimed from the region which is not a cheap route to go. 

 

They also built a medium size amphitheater into the hill side and have already sold out evenings of live music. For sure a stop and see place for the surroundings and in about three years their wine will match the beauty of the winery for sure.  

The winery itself is beautiful. Lots of unique touches throughout. They really put a lot of forward thinking into the design with lots of out door space that is covered so people can drink wine and bring a picnic and enjoy their million dollar view.

Harvest Time

Wild Turkeys abound around the Sierra Foothills.

Thank god the first signs of Fall, finally!!! Last weekend I was not sold that it was Fall even though the temperature felt Fallish over the weekend and we did one of our favorite rituals, going to Apple Hill in Placerville, Ca. During the week it was in the high 90s, so as you can understand not convinced. The weather lady on the local news said it is supposed to rain this week and we are on a permanent cool down. I got so excited that I told Ben the weather is great and it is September so what do you think we are doing today? We are going Winery hunting! We live on the out skirts of the Sierras and there are pockets of Wineries all around. One large one is in Amador( I am working on a post about some new places to visit around there to) but going up towards Tahoe you have a good amount as well. Ben found one on a Google map that was actually not too far away, and a little hidden. So we drove down a windy road and through the woods and pulled into a steep drive way to find Pescatore Vineyard and Winery.

Pescatore Wines 

 is owned by the the Wegner Family with David Wegner at the wheel. David is also a serious fishermen splitting his time between the Winery and Baja California. The Winery also host several wine dinners where his latest catch are sometimes featured. The Winery is about ten minutes outside of Newcastle, CA and tucked away in a hillside with incredible views. David and his family planted the vineyard themselves in 1997 and had there first harvest four years later. 

Ben and I arrived at the Winery and saw a sign on the door that said to call a number and David would be right down. So we called and he came hiking down a large hill to meet us and opened the wine room. They had a party the night before and you could tell it was a fun one. David started to open bottles for us and the first was incredible. I am thinking, they must specialize in whites. Well, I keep tasting down the line all the way to his desert wine and I am in shock. Every single wine is great across the board. This never happens especially with small wine makers. Usually only one out of the selections of wines are standouts. Maybe two if they can afford a professional Winer Maker. David is the wine maker and he was a home wine maker for many years and took class at UC Davis to perfect his craft. Years later he took the plunge and decided to buy some land and plant a vineyard. Thank god he did!

The real kicker is he sells all his wines for the same price $13.00, with exception to the desert wine! I was in disbelief for sure. He says he has to compete with Trader Joes pricing and super markets with over whelming selections. The pricing makes it a stand out on the shelves over the more expensive ones no doubt. He says he rather set a very reasonable price and have return customers then sell his vintages comparable to everyone else in the region and not sell as much. 

So while most people walk out of local Wineries with one or two bottles his customer's walk out with CASES!!! Now he sells through the local Grocery Stores and at the winery. If you want to buy online he sells almost every thing with exception of his Whites, Rose' and Desert Wine, but if you call him he will ship you some. His Sauvignon Blanc is wonderful and like I said across the board everything was wonderful even the Rose' was stellar. Also he only uses his own grapes to make his Wines with exception to his Chardonnay that comes out of Sonoma. This is a can't miss place. So great!

next on the list to hit was 
PaZa

This is a very new winery. Just opened in July this year. Another wonderful small family operation. The winery is owned and operated by Pamela and Zane a husband and wife team. The winery is very sweet and has beautiful views as well. I was excited when I started to taste because the wines where great for a first run. The winery does not have a website yet and you cannot buy online either. Zane, is for sure focused on creating a quality wine first and then getting the online presence up and running later. If you are going up to Tahoe or want to do some wine tasting this is a great stop. They have a nice tasting set up where you can buy a bottle and just hang out in the Vineyard. 

If you want to check out the whole region you click on this link to the Placer County Visitors Bureau.

You can make a weekend getaway out of it with the cute old mining town of Auburn near by also Nevada City is not too far north either. Many Bed and Breakfasts around the area as well to stay at. In the link to the Placer County Visitors Bureau they have listings of places to stay as well.

Happy Monday All:)

a monday

Cashmere keeping me company in my almost re-decorated office while re-designing my blog today.

We had a busy weekend full of house remolding, but we managed to escape and go to Apple Hill in Placerville, CA to buy some nice apples and organic produce at Willow Pond. Also stopped by a new Winery called  Grace Patriot Winery. The Winery is very young but had two stand outs. They did not have all vintages out for tasting, but the standouts are the:
2009 Pinot Gris
2006 Syrah
They were pushing a wine called 5pm that is a blend. Now, I like blends just fine and have no issues with Wine Makers blending but this was not the wine they should have been pushing this was a really not great wine. The Syrah and even there Cab was a much better wine for sure. They had a fun very Dry candy like Rose' as well that would be a great pool party wine in the summer time. So all in all a very fun weekend.

Now today I was TIRED. Poor Ben had to drive into the Bay for work so I just had to get breakfast and coffee together and push him out the door. The rest of the day I finished the two week process of re-designing and organizing this blog. I finally got it the way I wanted it so I hope you like it! Feed back would be great! Still not sure on the colors.

So today I went to whole foods and picked up some of there Mediterranean Crunch Salad that looked almost Mediterranean. I just did not feel like making anything for lunch even though when I got home I still had to doctor it up to really make it "Mediterranean". Then before I left I wondered down the raw food isle to see if there was anything interesting. The raw food isle reminds me of a very cold dank old almost deserted European village for some reason. It is isolated from any of the happy food areas and everything looks dead and muted. I know sounds horrible but it is the truth. I find new stuff all over the store so I figured I would take a shot and see what I could find.

The October 2011 issue of Fast Company is a must read if you like to read about business, tech and love Industrial design as much as Ben and I do!

I found these GF breakfast crackers by Mauk Family Farms. They are organic and GF also grain free basically a cracker made with just seeds and some GF buckwheat. Per serving they have 11.8 grams of protein, 17.5 grams of fat, 158 calories, 13.1 grams of fiber and 45 grams of carbs. This is something that you would eat for energy for sure and in the morning or in the afternoon for lunch. I just topped mine with almond butter and organic no sugar added strawberry jam. They have a few other savory flavors that would be great with a hummus or avocado spread along side a big salad for lunch. Not bad.  Now, for the salad I got at Whole Foods needed a lot of help for sure. So here is basically what is in the salad if you want to make it with my additions:

Shara's Doctored up Kale Mediterranean Salad 
(yeah, all the extras I added and I am most certainly calling it my own for sure)

a bunch of chopped kale (WF)
one to two cups(depending how much you like them) Garbanzo Beans (chickpeas)
one diced and peeled cucumber (WF)
one diced red bell pepper (WF)
half of a red onion chopped (WF)
two cloves of garlic chopped (Shara)
1/4 cup or more if you like of kalamata olives halved (Shara)
half one lemon zested and juiced (Shara)
some black pepper (Shara)
some kosher salt (Shara)
maybe some crumbled feta if you want
one good pour of olive oil (Shara)

Just combine and toss it all together. Holds up in the refrigerator well for a few days because the kale takes a while to wilt.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!








 

home already....

So after traveling for about ten hours I made it home last night. I just got back from visiting one of my Besties, Laurence, in Montreal. Man, was she surprise to see me! Her husband and her oldest Daughter, Salome, did a very good job at keeping the secret. She could not speak for about an hour and still would look at me the rest of the night and say "you are really here"..."I cannot believe you came all this way for me, you are a true friend". Warmed my heart to say the least. She is the kindest and most appreciative person I know and I would only go through all the traveling and planning for her. We had the best time. Her 40th Birthday Party was probably the best party I have ever gone to. Nothing flashy, just her back yard, some great food, great wine and Rose' Sparkling Wine(we share a great love for Rose') and her friends and family. They all love and cherish her so much. She really deserved this day for being such a good, hard working, friend, Mother, Wife, Daughter and just a wonderful person in general. They do not make people like her much anymore that is for sure.

When I got there her family broke out a bottle of  Heidsieck Heritage Brut NV Champagne(yes, can actually be called Champagne because it is made in Champagne) that they brought with them all the way from France. It was excellent on the warm and humid day that it was.  Yummy, nice and dry, tart, medium bubbles with a not too buttery taste. Citrus and green apple flavors galore. Very good. Hard to find in the US though. Found it on Wine Searcher for about $37.00 but not anywhere else.

Since it was just close family the day I got there we did her presents then. Our gifts where personal and we new she would be too overwhelmed the next day to really take in the gifts and the stories behind them. Plus, Laurence hates being showy in anyway and these gifts where very glamorous and personal to say the least. I got her an engraved pendant from Tiffany so it was funny for her husband to hand her a second bag from Tiffany. She was so surprised. We all know from my last post her diamond band was in there. I love that I was the courier to bring it from Cal for her. She got some other great things hand made by her Mother and her Daughter. Also a beautiful LV bag and matching wallet. We all agreed she deserved all this and more. It was a emotional day for us all. 

The next day was the party and it was so much fun.  They had a pièce montée made in the shape of the numbers 40. So great! I have never seen one in person much less in the shape of a 40(Laurence turned 40 and she is not afraid to tell you either, love that girl).

I ate the filling out of the centers and the sugar candy disc on top of the custard balls(cream puffs). I ate the centers out a few actually;) Had a bit of the shell just to get a little taste to, but not too much. I think I like this concept better then a cake. I don't know why people don't do this more in the US. I am thinking to try and make some gluten free cream puffs next week and see if I can convert the recipe. We will see. We had lots of Mumm Napa Brut Rose'. Always a home run with me. Great price point and has a great taste for a American made Sparkling Rose' for sure. We all had a really good time. From the picture below Laurence had the best time of us all!!

Laurence is dancing with her Mother-In-Law. Now I never volunteer someones age lets just say she is in her 60's and still looks like that and dances like that!! Love it! No surgery people! Cross you fingers we look that when we are in our 60's!

The rest of the trip was hanging out and going to a Apple Orchid to pick apples. Montreal has some beautiful country side. The name of the Orchid was La Magie de la Pomme. Wonderful setup and beautiful orchids. Fall is here people!

I went into the city while Laurence was at work the day before I flew home and walked around Montreal. Great city. Nice people and very clean. I have been there to visit Laurence before so it was a little familiar for sure. We went to Celine Dion's diner called Nickels Grill. The food was like a New York style deli. I found lots of Gluten free options with no problem.

When I arrived for the trip I actually stayed down town the night before I was going to surprise her. With the flights and stuff it was better this way. I managed to catch the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit in Montreal at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts before I went to her house after she got home from work to surprise her. The show was wonderful. If you are going to be up there go and see it. The museum does a great job with these types of shows. I saw the YSL exhibit last time I was visiting Laurence and they did such a better job then San Fransisco did with the exhibit.

It was a wonderful trip and I had the best time. So now back home with Ben and Cashy(my cat) life is good and I know I helped create life long memories for a very special person and her family forever.

Love you Laurence:)

Gluten Free Travel Tips

*This post was written and posted on my other Food blog. I wrote it right before I left for the trip to Montreal. Wrote it fast to, sorry if there are too many mistakes. 

I am leaving for Montreal on Wednesday. My Besty Laurence, is having a 40th Birthday Party and I am flying in for the big day! Actually, it is a surprise and she has no idea that I am flying in to see her. This post will be published after I am in Montreal just in case. Her Husband and I have been in cahoots with the surprise for about two months. I am also bringing her gift from her Husband with me. She is going to be so surprised. He could not get the ring in Montreal so he asked me if I could get it and bring it with me. Laurence and I met while we where both working the Jewelry Business as Gemologist.

Lucky Girl!!!!!!

Paloma Picasso's Crown of Hearts eternity diamond band in 18kt Rose and White Gold. So cute!!! Her Husband is the nicest of all my friends Husbands and not because he buys her nice gifts but he is very good to her and is great to her friends, i.e. me:) They have been together since they where 14 years old!! True love I think so!!!:):)

So this post is actually about traveling as a person with Gluten issues. Above is a picture of what I travel with when I go out of town:
Organic Quinoa
travels better then Brown Rice Pasta.
Brown Rice and Almond crackers
gotta have them for eating cheese or whatever.
LARABARS
these save my life if I am around town and cannot find something to snack on.
Justin's Nut Butter Packets
life saver. I can just get a Banana or an apple at Starbucks in the airport and just slather it on and keeps me fool for quite awhile. Also I can top my oat meal with it or even yogurt in the AM.
Organic Green Tea Bags
this is a must. Saves a lot of money and non-organic tea and coffee is fool of chemicals.
Almonds
another quick snack and I can put them on my oat meal too.
Sweatleaf brand Stevia tabs
I keep these in my purse at all times. I really limit my sugar in take and these are great to top tea, coffee or yogurt even your morning oats with. You just need one tab for a serving. Very concentrated stuff and no bitter after taste from the Swealeaf brand.
Dr. Bronner's Liquid Soap
 Great for anything. Washing clothes, body face even hair. Gluten Free. No more rashes from Hotel Soap that has wheat protein in it.

EO brand Shampoo and Conditioner
EO does not state that they are gluten free but I have read the ingredients very closely and looks like they are not a problem. 
Probiotic Pearls brand
these are really a must for anyone traveling. Probiotics keep your immune system strong by gabling up bad bacteria that enters your gut. The PEARL brand is great because you do not have to keep it refrigerated. I learned my lesson when I went to Hawaii by not taking them. Not a great scene in the airport bathroom coming home!!!
Baby wipes
just in case you go to the Bathroom in lets say a Pub in London and there is no TP!!!! I use them to wipe off my hands if there is no paper towel in a bathroom too. Also another tip is to bring a half used roll of toilet paper with the card board center taken out. You never know when you will need it. Mother's out there no what I talking about. Kellie Rippa was just talking about how she carries this at all times.
Anti-bacteria wipes
I love the CleanWell brand. I don't do the gels and stuff. I have a friend that is a Pediatrician and he says the wipes are better because you wipe off the germs not just rub them around and kinda kill some with the gel. Plus, you can wipe off the arms of your seat on the airplane and the tray table. Another friend of mine is a Flight Attendant and he says he has seen many people change diapers on those tray tables and never wipe them off after they are done! Especially in first class!!!
San-J Organic Tamari Gluten Free packets
Depends on who I am visiting or where I am going. Also not shown are my
Natural Calm magnesium packets
Whole foods was out so I had to place an order for them. The powder is a god scent because it helps me fall asleep, helps me with constipation issues that go along with time zone changes that always screws me up. Also really helps with Migraines too!!! Don't leave home with out if. Also I will bring how ever many days I will be anywhere a measured out baggy of
Gluten Free Rolled Oats
If I am going to places that have Wholefoods and I have time I just buy stuff when I get there but usually I don't have time and there is not a store near by so I schlep all this stuff with me.

I know it is a lot to bring but these are the cards we are dealt with having a gluten issue and we can either have a great travel experience or a bad one. I say schlep the stuff and have a great time and not pay for it later with not being prepared.

Pescadero

    

 So Fall has begun. Kids are back to school. All your vacation days have been used for 2009. Weekend getaways are your only form of survival to get through the daily grind until next year. Living in the Bay you have lots of options for weekend trips. 

   My favorite mini vacation spot was discovered two summers ago by my parents. My parents were going on and on about this great restaurant that I must try. They are usually on the ball with the "whole in the wall" restaurants so I did not doubt them.

So last year for Mother's Day I asked my Mom where do you want to go? She said "Duartes Tavern" without missing a beat. So I called and made reservations. The lady on the phone said "you just made it we only have two slots left"!!!! My Mom said "I want to sit in the bar and not in the restaurant and you will know why when we get there".
In our house we appreciate kichty anything. I think it comes from being born in Indianapolis where a truck stop is considered a three star restaurant and a Cracker Barrel is a five star special occasion restaurant.
So Mother's Day rolls around and we drive to Halfmoon Bay then about 13 miles further south and hang a left at a pretty wood carved hand painted sign that reads Pescadero. We drive further down going east into the hills and then hang a left at this little street with a few older buildings and some old farm buildings and gas station then I see a cool retro Sign for Duartes Tavern. We park and walk in to Duartes. It is packed with people waiting for a table that don't have reservations. The hostess told people it will be a two hour wait without a reservation and I am thinking to myself "are they kidding, thank god I made one".

So we are seated in the Bar and then I understand why my Mom made the request. I it is a cool old bar with deer heads on the wall. Bikers of Harley Davidson and Bianchi with the locals and the Yuppies packed at the bar. The cool thing about this place is that you can buy Wine or Alcohol by the bottle "to go". From what I know that is not heard of anymore. They are Grandfathered into this really old liquor law, crazy.

So now for the food. The food was amazing. I had the signature Half Green Chile and Asparagus Soup which is a must try. The crab legs where fresh and not fishy smelling and then I finished it up with Vanilla Ice Cream and Fresh Strawberries. The thing that I noticed about the menu is that most of the food is locally produced or grown in the restaurant's own Vegetable Garden you can't get much better then that. So Duartes is a must try!!
Now since your in Pescadero you should check out the other things to do. I have to admit there is not a lot, but there are some key places.

1. The Goat Cheese farm
Harley Farms


2. The furniture store called made in Pescadero. This place has hand made on site beautiful furniture and pottery.
Made in Pescadero

3. Grocery Store with the Amazing Artichoke Bread that my mom loves. I have never had but people stand like an hour in line for. And the Riesling Wine that comes in the Kitty Cat shaped bottle. And carries all the locally "Made In Pescadero" food products.
Norm's Market

If you want to make a weekend out of it there is a B&B in Town called the Pescadero Creek Inn. The second is Costanoa a luxury camping resort with three levels of "ruffing It" and a very nice three star restaurant on the propriety. The resort is a bout about another 13 miles down the Highway 1 form the Pescadero sign.
Pescadero Creek Inn
Costanoa

If your driving the route back through Santa Cruz instead of driving back toward Halfmoon Bay there are a couple of little side destination. All summer there are great road side stands with all kinds of locally grown produce and this great Pie place that is only open on the weekends called Pie Ranch . This place is really neat. They are a cooperative that teaches the public and Urban youth environmentally friendly farming, baking and cooking. They are restoring the farm land that the Pie Ranch sits on and work with the famous San Francisco based Mission Pies. What a great idea and very tasty I might add.

Make a day of it or a weekend. There is nothing like the clean sea air to re-charge your batteries and make you appreciate that you live in California.
All the best,
Shara

Amador Wine Country

Ben and I headed to the Northern California Gold Country a few weekends ago to check the Amador Wine Country. This is the next up and coming Napa Valley. We had a great time and met some really nice people, ate great food and I drank some wonderful wine!!! The Northern Cal Gold Country is a really cool part of Cal that most people don't know about. The Gold Country's name comes from the fact that the area is where the Gold Rush started and in turn help fund and develop San Francisco and most of the West. The Gold is pretty much gone, but what is left is some cool historic cities, and beautiful wine country. So I am going to break this down to a few posts as well. This area has three particular areas that I want to focus on. The first is the Amador Wine Valley.

We decided to stay at a Bed and Breakfast instead of a franchise Hotel. I like to support the locals as much as possible. Now all of the Bed and Breakfast are highly rated in this area, but not incredibly expensive. Ben and I looked at a few in Jackson, and found one that suited us just fine. It is a Craftsman style home inside and out, so it was perfect. Ben called to make a reservation and Chuck, one of the innkeepers, asked if we had any food issues. Ben right away said "wheat", Chuck said no problem. I am a Celiac and a pancake breakfast would just not be ok. Gluten Free living is very hard so to get this response from an Innkeeper was wonderful. The name of the Inn is called the Eureka Street Inn. The Eureka was written up as one of the best places to stay in the Gold Country by the New York Times. Sandy and Chuck are a husband and wife team and run a clean and warm Inn. They only take reservations for the weekends. If you want to stay through the week there are many other nice places to stay as well. I will list them below.



If you are an antique person there is a lot of that to do. Lots of local history to learn and lots of out door activities as well, but the wine and the food is what drew us. I scanned the wineries and the restaurants before I left. Bring your laptop. It came in handy for me. Most of the Inns have free WiFi, so you could double check directions, or look up info and watch movies at night in your room. Ben and I brought season two of the Office and the box set of Sex and the City to watch. We both are night Owls so we new staying up till 2am in the Inns TV room would be rude. I brought some books and Magazines too, but we where so tired from having such a good time that watching Movies was all we could do.

So Sunday after we arrived and checked in we went exploring the little city of Jackson, it is a cute little town. The towns are basically connected on one windy road. The area consists of Sutter Creek, Jackson, Plymouth, Amador City, Drytown and Fiddeltown. All of these towns are very close together, even though on the map everything looks spread out, it is not. The Shenandoah road is where a majority of the wineries are along this road, but there are a few others that are near Drytown and Sutter Creek that should be visited as well. Along with wine the area has some great food. In my highlights below are my favs that should not be missed. This is a place Ben I will go often and you feel good about supporting.




Highlights:

Restaurants
Taste
VERY good food, more formal fair but worth the splurge. Actually your getting a five star food experience for three and two star prices.
Incahoots BBQ
This place has the BEST FOOD!!!!!! It is a bright yellow building with flames painted on the outside of it, and is down the street from Taste.
P.O. Box 310 • Plymouth, CA 95669
(209) 245-5544

Sutter Creek Coffee

No Starbucks or Peets for miles this is your best bet.

Shops

Amador Vintage Market

This place has the best home made foods to take home with you. They have this Humus that is like nothing I have ever tasted.
Numerous Antique Stores and Kitchen Shops and Specialty Shops

Lots of place along the main streets of all the towns.

I have heard Water Street Antiques has a great selection of furniture.

Wineries

Bantam Cellars

What a great staff. Really nice people. All the wines are wonderful.

Dobra Zemlja

Ok this place has the BEST wine!!! The jug wines are not to be missed!!!! The wines have very high alcohol content, so make sure to have a designated driver. After the tasting I was pretty trashed.
Terre Rouge Easton

Places to stay

Eureka Street Inn

Wonderful Inn keepers, beautiful and clean accommodations, wonderful breakfast just great all around!!!

Handford House

Has great reviews on the web.

Grey Gables

Also has great reviews on the web

More Info

Historich High Way 49

Sutter Creek

Amador Wine Valley

Amador Wine Grapes