Jojo's Batch

May 4, 2008

Last weekend was dedicated to Jojo, our cute little bride-to-be, who's nuptials are planned for Memorial Day Weekend. Exciting!

So, the girls on this side of the country threw her a little bachelorette (batch) weekend.

SATURDAY:

Saturday was the activity day, where we were spending the day around the bay, traveling all by ferry. Whee!

On Saturday morning, we (Jojo, Wendy, Gail, and I) drove down to Fisherman's Wharf to meet up with Shehry and Alden (plus Alden's little adorable boy, Dexter, batch crasher!). We got our ferry tix at Pier 39, and then took the 10:30 AM Blue and Gold Fleet ferry from San Francisco to Tiburon ($9).

We landed in Tiburon at 11:20 AM, just in time for our 11:30 lunch reservations at Guaymas.
It was wonderful to enjoy views of the city, daiquiris and good food under the warm sun.

I had an awesome dish, the ARROZ CON MARISCOS (Sautéed shrimp and squid tossed with jalapeño, tomato butter and rice). Delish!

After lunch, we walked over to the Ferry landing to catch the Angel Island-Tiburon Ferry ($8.25).

Once we got to Angel Island, we took the North Ridge Trail briefly to Perimeter Road (more jogging stroller-friendly) and then took the Perimeter Road around the eastern side of Angel Island to a fire road (at Immigration Station) and to the top of Mt. Livermore.










We couldn't resist the opportunity to take cheesy/fun pics at the top of Mt. Livermore, where there is a 360 degree view of the entire bay...pretty!

We got back to the ferry landing in time to catch the 3:50 PM ferry with Blue & Gold Fleet back to San Francisco ($7.25). We arrived back at Pier 41 around 5 pm. It was such a gorgeous and sunny day, so glad to have spent it outdoors around the bay with the ladies.

Thankfully, we had a couple hours to kill and relax before our dinner reservations, so we all went home and took it easy. Gail and I decided to get mani-pedi's in the Castro, so we did that during our break.

For dinner, we (Jojo, Gail, Wendy, Katharine and I) met at Perbacco in the Financial District for dinner, which I was excited for, as I've been dying to try this place (shocking...).

We shared some appetizers:
Piastra seared squid with passato of Corona beans, preserved Meyer lemon and chili.
Local strawberries, arugula, red onion, green peaches and barilotta di bufala.
Roasted red and gold beets, arugula, castelmagno cheese, and white balsamic vinaigrette.
I had the beef short rib stracatto with braised leeks, and polenta al testun. This was a phenomenal dish, one of Perbacco's most popular.
Wendy had the grilled lamb chops with Corona beans, braised kale and carmelized garlic.
Katharine had the seared sea bass, with artichokes, black olives, mint and preserved lemon condimento.
Gail had the pappardelle with barbera braised short rib ragu and grated horseradish.
The table shared the thyme and honey-glazed carrots, which were to die for.
Jojo had the Bigeye tuna, with fava beans, spring shallots, basil and fingerling potatoes.

Gioccolato - Chocolate Bergamot tart, milk chocolate panna cotta and chocolate sorbetto.
Gelati - Strawberry buttermilk sherbet
Apricot and hazelnut zuppa inglese with hazelnut biscotti.
Perbacco was a really great experience, and it may be my new favorite in the city!

After dinner, we headed over to Pete's Tavern to meet up with some friends of Katharine's, who were celebrating a birthday.
We stuck around for a couple drinks, and then we headed for home, but not without a stop at Happy Donuts first to placate Jojo's need for a donut fix.




SUNDAY

On Sunday afternoon, I hosted the ladies at our place for an afternoon tea/wedding shower for Jojo.





It was a fantastic weekend in the city and getting Jojo all ready for her upcoming nuptials to Mike on Memorial Day weekend. Can't wait for the big weekend!

Sonoma, Baby!

April 30, 2008

I headed up to Sonoma with some work folks on Wednesday for an offsite, with focused meetings, team-building, eating, drinking, and more meetings. We were staying the night at the Kenwood Inn just north of Sonoma, which was a pretty sweet place. Too bad we were here to work. It was hard not to get distracted...








For dinner, we headed to a place called Ramekins, a cooking school that does group cooking nights (for team-building) and where we were going to have a "hands-on" experience and cook our dinner.



I was excited because I was making the Roasted Butternut Squash and Asian Pear soup with Creme Fraiche. I love butternut squash soup, so it was fun to finally get a chance to make it.










We sat down for dinner and were amazed how wonderful everything turned out, and we enjoyed all the dishes. Turns out we are a high-performing team outside of work too!

Andouille and Shrimp Crostini
Roasted Butternut Squash and Asian Pear Soup with Creme Fraiche, served with Bleu Cheese and Walnut Shortbread.
Spinach-stuffed Pork Loin with Port-Fig Sauce
Apple Tarte Tatin with Cinnamon Creme Anglaise.

The meal was fantastic and the hands-on team building was super-fun. We had early meetings the next day and then rushed back to GNE campus for more meetings, but it was worth it.