It turns out that moving away from California is a traumatic experience. It’s taken me a long time to get over it, and while I have loved every single place I’ve lived subsequently, I now know that a large part of me will always reside in California. I just had the pleasure of a week long Bay Area Vacation, and the sense of adventure and exploration that drew me out there in the first place, quickly blossomed and reminded me why it was so hard to leave. Going West, seeking the horizon, being near mountains and oceans, this is what my soul thrives on; and lots and lots of sun never hurt me either. I hit a perfect week of weather; much deserved I thought, after snowy trips to Austin, TX and Charlottesville, VA. Even my LA trip this year was rainy and cold. My week of plans revolved predominantly around visiting my sister in Wine Country, but I sneaked in a trip through Tahoe and on to Reno, NV to visit an old friend, a day in San Francisco and down the Peninsula to visit old haunts and friends, and enjoyed the delight of a day sailing on the Bay courtesy of my aunt and uncle and their boat, the Jupiter. In between, was of course, emphasis on food and wine with the theme of inspiration for my blog always lingering near the forefront of my mind. Travel has always been a huge part of how I recharge and feel inspired, and I think this is common amongst cooks. Seeing how different people live and eat is critical. We’re hands on, sensory driven people and there’s nothing like eating something new, finding a new ingredient, seeing someone use a kitchen tool you don’t know to inspire something new in your own cooking.

I arrived late on a Wednesday night, and after a quick meal with my sister and a little sleep, I was off to Tahoe for the first leg of my trip. Lake Tahoe, CA was the first place I lived as an “adult”. After college, I packed up my car and drove from Wisconsin to California with my friend and roommate, Kirstin. We worked at the Resort at Squaw Creek for a ski season, and when I headed down to the Bay at the end of the season, Kirstin stayed on in Tahoe and fell in love in every sense of the word. She resides in Reno these days, and since I had a little extra time on my drive up to Reno to see her, I stopped in Carnelian Bay on the North side of the lake to stretch my legs and take in what will always be to me one of the most beautiful places in the world. When I arrived in Reno, it was a little past time for lunch and we were both hungry. She took me to Anna’s Mexican Grill, which, like many of the best restaurants in any suburban place, is in a strip mall. It’s one of those zero atmosphere places where the food delivers. The meal started off with puffy gorditas, compliments of the cook, instead of chips and salsa. They were hot and fresh and delicious, so much so that I was inspired to put myself in the hands of the server. I told him to bring me his favorite and I was oh-so-glad that I did. He selected the Chamorro Adobado with rice and beans and homemade tortillas. It was the kind of dish I never would have ordered particularly at lunch, but it was really, really good. The meat was tender, yet crispy on the outside and along the bone, flavorful, moist, smoky, spicy. I loved it. It was a serious meal, which they finished with a sliver of tres leches cake. It too, was excellent and it cemented a place for Chamorro Adobado on my “things to make” (in the Winter) list. Kirstin and I spent the day catching up, walking around Reno, playing with her kids and we ended my visit the next morning with a leisurely outdoor brunch. It was great to see her, but it was also time to zoom back down the mountain. MacRostie was hosting a birthday party for their cellar master and I was informed that they were having an Aguachile contest and tasting through the library and I was invited. Trust me, you never pass up a party at a winery. The thing about wine people is that they are all great cooks, and they never run out of wine. I forgot to take pictures during the event, but I thought the aftermath was picture worthy, too. After the wine and beer was gone, they broke out some very special tequila. Which of course, I was willing to sample. It was cool to watch how tight-knit the group was and to see the wine compared from one vintage to the next. Heidi and I headed back to Santa Rosa late in the day without a clear sense of who made the best Aguachile. We suggested that all the cooks try again, the following Friday. No news yet on that invitation. I became a regular at The Spinster Sisters while staying at Heidi’s place in Santa Rosa. Trust me, it was easy to do. We ate there at least twice and picked up a mini cake, which ended up being dinner one night. It was a pistachio cake with rosewater butter cream. It actually reminded me a lot of the Persian Love Cake that I make, but the pistachio brittle they served it with was a brand new thing altogether. The sugar was very caramelized, which tamped down the super sweet taste that brittle can have and there was no cream of any sort in it. My sister REALLY loved it, so it’s now on the list of things you’ll see coming out of my kitchen in the next year. Their South A Scramble was one of the best I’ve had and the toast was so good, I actually wanted to eat all four pieces. Usually I just leave that iffy whole wheat toast on the edge of the plate, particularly if I’m not eating poached eggs and there’s no yolk to sop up, but not this stuff; it was grainy and seedy with perfectly balanced flavor. The other dish I know I’ll be working on this year? The Harissa Carrots with yogurt, cilantro and poppy seeds. Seriously good. Spicy and spicy in all the right ways. We followed up brunch with hiking, sitting by the pool, and wine tasting in Sonoma. Check out the cool picture of the vineyards through a horsetail screen. I couldn’t resist. Finally, we decided to sample oysters at Willi’s Seafood and Raw Bar. They sweetly held our wine boxes for us since it was too hot to leave it in the car and we started off with a dozen oysters. Of course a winemaker and a cook can’t just enjoy their oysters like regular people. We conducted an oyster tasting and took notes. The best part, we were in complete agreement and ranked them in the same order of preference. Here are our results:

Shigoku- WA: Super creamy, no salinity. Speculate good cooking oyster. Great texture, receptive to flavor enhancement.
Blue point- East coast: bland watery average with slight meatiness (The kind it’s easy for me to buy here, and the kind I used for my Madmen Premier Party Oysters.
Virginica- CA: mind blowing, salinity, balance, creamy, good texture good herbal/savory note
Drakes bay- CA super salty!
Kumamoto- WA: good. balanced.
Olympia-WA: meaty, fishy!

Once we’d made our selection, we had to order another dozen of the Virginicas, because they were that good. We headed back to Santa Rose for some R and R after a very full and wonderful day having gained a case of wine and some excellent oyster knowledge, which proved to be very useful later in the trip, when it was time to order Oyster Po’ Boys.