2016 Abalone Report Card Nos. 1,2,3 + Food Fest in Napa Valley

Low tide was at 7:45AM. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife rules say no abalone diving before 8:30. Conditions were more inviting than yesterday, so ...

... we went in as soon as it was legal.

Swells were better, but visibility was poor. I was only shooting with Olympus Stylus Tough (the GoPro having suffered an ignominious end last year), so...  not much in the way of underwater photography this outing.

With flood tide, the breakers started to build again,  so we just picked our limit and got out of the water.

I didn't quite get into position before the self-timer went off

Nothing of size - all between 8" - 9"

For our first outing this year, we were happy.

Beer is always better apres' dive

Abalone diving is exhausting

Usually we're ready for a nap after a dive, beer, and cleaning up.  Not this trip.  A colleague of Harlan noticed on FB that he was in California, pinged him, and arranged for us to join him at "Cochran's Heritage Fire" event:

Two hours later, we're in Napa Valley at the Charles Krug Winery:

Abalone diving in Mendocino County in the morning. Feasting on gourmet grilled meat in Napa County that afternoon.

California living at its finest. 

A Wine and Food Orgy - Day 2

 With a firm grip on the cookbook guide, we start the day with Kahlua Pork Sliders at Longboard Vineyards

As noted in the prior post, I am apparently unable to exhibit any restraint or editorial discretion in posting pictures from our two days of "Tasting Along the Wine Road - A Wine & Food Affair".  For our second day of gastronomic indulgence, we focused on the concentration of wineries to be found within easy walking distance in Healdsburg proper.

Along the way we walk along a new pathway with decorative period streetlights. The newly built path ends at the decaying train station. The path and streetlights were built in anticipation of the the arrival of our California "Moderate Speed Rail to Nowhere"...

... which Governor Brown assures us will be arriving in Healdsburg any decade now, complete with the tradtional massive cost overruns.  But I don't want to think about that today. I'll think about that tomorrow. Today - it's wine and food.

Teriyaki salmon at Bluenose Wines

Pork and black bean stew at Pezzi King

Baby back ribs at J. Keverson Winery

Poisson cru ahi cones at Sapphire Hill Winery

 This one deserves special mention - note the glass bowl full of black truffles...

 ... as they are generous shaved into...

 Sigrid's Favorite:

Fondue with truffles at Holdredge Wines

Le Boef de Bobcat Zin at Selby Winery

Braised pork with herbed polenta at Roadhouse Winery

Herbies Paella at Williamson Wines

 It was a tough call, but ...

My Favorite:

Duck liver croutons at Topel Winery Tasting Room - yum.

Gourmet mushroom ragu over creamy polenta at Muller Winery

Meatballs with polenta & parmesan at Portalupi Wine

Prosciutto Maki Roll at Hawley Winery

Whew... I am fasting on Monday.

We'll wrap up with the gratuitous posting of a photo with the "UR Here - Heaven Condensed Wine Road" Tag:

 

The back of the tag says that if I post a picture with the tag #wishyouwerehereWR, I could win some Wine Road goodies. So...

Given the Wine & Food "Affair / Orgy / Food Porn" theme of these posts, the reader should not be surprised to learn I have no shame about prostituting myself for even more Wine & Food goodies.

It was a great weekend. Thanks Lenny and Debbie.

UPDATE:
Can't help her finding an extra cookbook, but by special request for Julie in the comments:

click to biggify

A Wine and Food Orgy - Day 1

We spent an enjoyable weekend with cousins Lenny and Debbie in Healdsburg. They invited us to join them for the annual "Tasting Along the Wine Road - A Wine & Food Affair."  The annual event attracts a wide range of Sonoma and Mendocino wineries pairing gourmet food and wine samples for roving bands of foodies, oenophiles and drunk millennials. There are far more wineries participating than it is possible to visit, but we gave it the old college try.

The cookbook included with the event is the bible we used to plan our two day assault.  IMHO the cookbook alone is worth the price of admission. Lenny is the official photographer for all locations / wineries listed in the cookbook so we were well armed with inside information.

Friday evening we poured over the book and, assisted by their dog Sasha, planned the campaign over a few glasses of J Brut Rose'. There is no way to adequately chronicle the sights, drinks and food we enjoyed, so I'll just post a selection of pictures with a few comments as best as I can recall. In an attempt to adequately document the experience I tried to take shots of the food samples matched with the appropriate page from the cookbook. Whether this is best described as a Wine and Food "Affair" or "Orgy" or simply gratuitous "Food Porn", I'll leave to the reader to decide.

DAY 1

Vineyard

Mushroom bread pudding at Alderbrook Winery

Pot Roast at Pech Merle Winery

Chocolate decadence brownie at Mill Creek Vineyard

Contrary to appearances, I am not yet drunk

 Peach cobbler at J. Rickards and pork ragu pasta at Geyser Peak

Chiffon cupcake at Pedroncelli Winery

Shrimp with inflated wild rice at Route 128 Winery

Porchetta Italian street food in the Locals Tasting Room

Dry rub ribs at Mercury Winery

Geyserville

Rosemary & bacon beef stew at Delorimier Winery

Starlight Vineyard

Mediterranean lamb spear at Starlight Vineyard

Starlight Vineyard sculpture

Pork chili at Soda Rock Winery

Lenny catching up with friends at Soda Rock

Believe it or not, we still went out for a fine dinner to cap the day -  Catelli's in Geyserville.

The baratta, prosciutto, arugula appetizer was just too good, and I also enjoyed the rabbit cacciatore for the main course.

I am obviously unable to show any more restraint with the photos on this blog post than I was indulging in the food and wine over the weekend.

Day 2 continued on next post.