At the Ab Shack

The wave forecast looked great. It was borne out when I got to Sea Ranch:

The Pacific is one big bathtub. Since I did not dive this year, had to be particularly careful about getting the equipment sorted. Nothing worse than getting to the dive site and realizing you've forgotten something.

After a quick parity check, called new dive buddy Jeff to coordinate meeting at the cove.

 

The cove was everything we hoped it would be. Great viz. No waves. It is a good day to dive.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

We have the coolest polling place.

It's election day. Not much interesting on the ballot.  I strolled down the street to fulfill my civic obligation only to discover our polling place moved around the corner to 1088 Green.

This year I voted in a vintage fire house constructed in 1908 immediately after the Great Earthquake (and coincidentally - the last year the Cubs won the World Series). They built it on the top of Russian Hill so it would be a quick and easy downhill run to any fire. Getting back up the hill was another matter.  Winches were needed to assist the horses pulling Engine 31 back up the hill.

Now owned by the Scottish Heritage Saint Andrews Society, it functions primarily as a museum and meeting place. Gene from the Society was standing watch in his kilt. He noticed my interest and offered to give me a tour after my vote.

 It was great to get a better appreciation of a neighborhood landmark.

I thought it pretty cool to be voting in the same space where the horses that  pulled the fire engines at the turn of the century were stabled. Yet I couldn't help but feel it would have been appropriate if the manure smell still lingered as I perused my voting choices.

As regards the vote itself: The only thing on the ballot that garnered much attention were initiatives B & C.  Former mayor Art Agnos and current board supervisor President David Chiu were featured prominently in an advertising campaign urging a NO vote on the propositions. That was enough for me. I voted YES.

All of the city officials on the ballot were running unopposed. I found that annoying so I wrote in the name of a Civic Center blogger of my acquaintance for the City Treasurer and Tax Collector role. I hope he wins. Judging by the turnout it's entirely possible.

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.