Happy Birthday Stacey!

Yesterday was Stacey's 30th birthday.  We celebrated with dinner at Arcadia in San Jose and Scharffen Berger ganache cakes from Miette Patisserie in San Francisco (above).  Highlights of Arcadia: foie gras sliders, an excellent gin gimlet, and tiny doughnuts in a vanilla glaze with house-made bananas foster ice cream and pecan praline.  Highlights of Scharffen Berger ganache cakes: chocolate.  Enough said.  Miette is one of my favorite places in the Ferry Building Marketplace.  Everything they make is precious and delicious, especially their Parisian macaroons.  Friday my friend Daniel and I sampled some grapefruit-flavored ones.  Yum.

Last week, Stacey's mom, Peggy, flew out from Florida to visit and celebrate.  We took her up to Sonoma County, which was a lot of fun.  Now that spring has come to California, the hills are green and yellow mustard is growing in all the vineyards (apparently it replenishes nitrogen in the soil that the grapes take out).  The grapevines don't have leaves yet, but will soon.  With true spring in wine country comes the crowds, which we only sort of avoided.  The limos full of bachelorettes were already storming some of the cheaper wineries.  I think I liked it better in the January rainstorm, though we had incredible weather this time.

Benziger Family Winery

Hills behind Gloria Ferrer Winery

Stacey and Peggy on the terrace at Gloria Ferrer

Stacey is smiling because she's getting some Mommy time, because it's warm enough to wear shorts (and she is), and because she's just taken her first sips of her glass of Gloria Ferrer's excellent Carneros Cuvee, our new favorite special occasion sparkling wine.  We are smitten enough with Gloria Ferrer that on this, our second visit, we joined their wine club, which grants us, among other things, four free glasses of sparkling wine each time we visit.  Who wants to come along?

On our way home, we stopped by the Golden Gate Bridge.  Between its hills, bridges, and bays, San Francisco really does have better views than any other city I've been to.

Marin Headlands, looking out to the Pacific Ocean

My spring break is coming to a close this weekend and I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for two more months of schoolwork before the close of the semester and the beginning of my summer off (from school, anyway.  I'll still be working).  For now, I am just trying to enjoy my last day of freedom.