i'm on schmap!

a couple weeks ago i got a flickrmail from schmap - free digital destination guides.  i'd never heard of them but their maps are pretty cool - all interactive and social media optimized (read: widgets/embed codes, etc).  anyway, they had chosen one of my cakebread photos for their selects for their napa guide.  

using my photography rights knowledge from a previous life in advertising, i figured it was okay to give them permission to potentially include me in their published digital guide.  i wouldn't be getting paid, but the usage they wanted was non-exclusive, which means i was free to sell this photo to other buyers if i wanted to.  i actually think it's pretty cool that they are utilizing networks like flickr to pool together images for their guides - it makes sense in this digital age.  also cool that you are appropriately credited and you get your stuff out there.  

anyway, i just found out that they did indeed choose my photo for one of the cakebread images. so cool! i am listed as "shoe_monster" - my flickr (and "blogosphere") name. yay shoe monster! the widget version of the guide is above, and below is the image they chose:

funny, because this was not one of the selects i chose for my cakebread post!

napa continued: cakebread

after lunch we stop by luna (there's a good sangiovese there), and then we continue up the silverado trail for our last stop before french laundry: cakebread. the tasting here is by appointment only, and we had a few extra minutes to spare so we stopped at the winery next door (nickel & nickel). we didn't go in for a quick tasting; we got distracted by the horses playing outside so we all hopped out of the car for a photo op. they were obviously used to this kind of attention, because they thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures with us and being petted and fed (random grass nearby).

white picket fences outside nickel & nickel, sitting on gorgeous flowers.

finally at cakebread. the tasting is $10 i believe...there is also a reds only for $25 or something like that, which i wasn't aware of (but would have chosen if i knew). but on our way out we wanted to buy some pinot noir which wasn't part of the tasting but asked them nicely if we could taste it - we got a small pour =] (and yes! it was delicious and we bought some)

we also walked around the property for awhile, just relaxing in the sun before heading over to french laundry.

napa: journey to french laundry

ok, i have to take a break from my beijing posts. it is obvious to me at this point that it will take me forever, so i need to move on with my life.

in march, destructor and i went with some friends to napa to achieve our ultimate life goal: EAT AT THE FRENCH LAUNDRY. we lucked out with reservations (more on that later) and snagged a table for 4 on a sunday at 5:30pm, right when their dinner service opens.

so, what to do with the rest of the day? go wine tasting in napa of course! (saturday was spent in san francisco at a hotel with horrible customer service but we did eat a burma superstar which will be posted later)

our first stop sunday morning was artesa winery. it was a beautiful sunny day, even though the weather forecast had said it was going to be cloudy and rainy. lies! we arrived right before 10am, when the winery opens. on the side of the road by the entrance, there was a flock of sheep just hanging out. i squealed and we stopped the car. they were so adorable. we all got out of the car for the photo op.

my friend kept saying, "this is what i want to eat for dinner. mmm." how?? look at them!

once we all finally left the sheep and made it inside the artesa property, we were stunned by the gorgeous landscape.

the artesa property is truly amazing. not only that, but the views were breathtaking. of course, drinking wine at 11 in the morning is always nice. the tasting was pretty good and the people were great, but my favorite part is definitely the landscape.

we found lots of fresh herb plants around the property too. mainly, a lot of rosemary which we wished we could have taken.

see the rest of the artesa photos here.

birthday feast

this year for miss phd's birthday, i decided to do something different. after years of buying her purses, clothes, jewelry, and the occasional cookbook, it was time to do something creative and fun. so, i set out to present her with a home-cooked meal. with 5 courses, complete with wine pairings! (the lucky boyfriends got to come along for the ride - although destructor really did help me a lot in the kitchen)

i spent an evening earlier in the week perusing my collection of menus (from various cookbooks, NYT dining section snippings, stolen recipes from the new school of cooking's website), and then on saturday, after 4 hours of prep (plus 2 more hours of cook time), I presented the following:



1st course: seared shrimp in a mint/lemon marinade, topped with freshly made mint pesto. i loved the pesto from this recipe. i didn't like the shrimp; it wasn't my best and i should have grilled it like the recipe said, but for the sake of time i modified.

i paired the shrimp and the salad (below) with a sauvignon blanc from wally's wine. some guy recommended it when i said "shrimp". i don't really like white so i just went with whatever he suggested, and it wasn't bad at all.


this is my 2nd course. a salad with watercress, mozzarella (which i uh, made fresh that day, using organic ingredients from the farm called trader joe's), endive and pears. tossed with a simple oil and lemon vinaigrette. the recipe called for grilled peaches but of course it turned out that peaches were not in season.

this is one of my favorite dishes. for my 3rd course, i made a simple fettucine pasta with peas in a cream sauce, topped with prosciutto. it's from my wolfgang puck book. i don't think this dish needs any explaining. what doesn't taste good with cream?


now we've moved onto the red wine. woohoo! per wally's recommendation this is a bookster pinot noir. it was really good and the smell was intoxicating. it smelled really sweet - almost vanilla like/syrupy. i was really trying to look for a bottle of joseph swan's pinot noir since that is miss phd's fave but i checked bristol farms and wally's with no luck. so this had to do.


and now for the 4th course. i have to say i'm pretty happy about how these turned out. i made a meatball tasting plate. there were 2 kinds: a tuna and pancetta meatball and a pork meatball with fennel, cumin and other spices, topped with a greek yogurt/cumin dressing and a mint/lemon dressing. i served 2 of each on long skinny plates. i love presentation. destructor was so great and helped me form and cook these meatballs while everyone was finishing up the pasta. i could not have done it without him (one because of the difficulty of timing everything and two because by then i was probably on my 4th glass of wine!) however, he was not allowed to plate these. yes, i am exec chef, he is sous-chef.

here is a close up of the pork meatball. you can't see too much of the meatball itself, but really the yogurt and mint toppings were the stars of the dish. i am going to top everything with these two things now. it was so delicious. both meatballs turned out really well - perfectly salted and tasty, but i do like the pork one better. i would also add more pancetta next time to my tuna meatball.

so...this is my "5th course": dessert. everyone who knows me knows i don't do dessert. i don't really like dessert and i can't bake to save my life. actually i think i just refuse to bake, because i don't like to measure and i don't like flour. so..i cheated a little. i didn't "make" anything, but instead assembled a platter of greek yogurt topped with honey, fresh strawberries, and chocolate (ritter sport - the kind with biscuits in the middle. the best!)


dessert was paired with a delicious black muscat from kalyra winery in santa ynez. served in my vintage rose decanter circa 1930s. (i have a thing for glasses/bottles/dishes) pictured above is the result of this crazy 5-course meal. well, not really - you should have seen the kitchen!

happy birthday miss phd!

fast times at the hollywood forever cemetery

i love summer in la. it just feels like there is so much going on, and the weather is always gorgeous. this weekend we went to the screening at the hollywood forever cemetery. since fast times at ridgemont high was showing, we knew we had to be there early. we packed a picnic basket full of snacks and wine (of course!) and picked up 2 doughboys sandwiches on the way.

the picnic starts outside, while you wait in line for an hour and a half! everyone spreads out their stuff and starts boozing. look how many people are in line by 6pm! (gates don't open until 7:30 and the movie is not until 9!)


i sipped on a beer while laying on the grass; here is my view. ah, blue skies and nice, warm sun!


finally! at 7:30 we make it inside and find the perfect spot right up front. (no, i don't know that guy)


here is our picnic basket.


wow, check out that crazy "vip" picnic area up in the front! they had little tv dinner tables set up with fancy wine. wonder who that could be?


here are our sandwiches. i had the "pan bagnat", which is supposedly a nicoise salad inside a hollowed out sourdough baguette. the idea sounds nice, but by the time i opened it, everything was soggy! PLUS, there was NO tuna! hello, what a rip off. i was really looking forward to the tuna. i think maybe there were 3 shreds total. since i didn't like my sandwich, i took a picture of it with the bottom of my boyfriend's shoe. there you go nike, here is your product placement.


here is what he had (much more tasty and less soggy) - a prosciutto sandwich with camembert cheese, yum! only, he asked for no melon. who does that?? weirdo.


then i lounged around some more while drinking wine. here is mostly what i was staring at:


finally the movie starts; oh yea and who was that special vip guest? drew barrymore! she was so cute when she got up on stage and "introduced" herself. then she introduced amy heckerling, the director of the movie who came up and talked about it. the crowd was great and it was a wonderful way to spend a saturday evening. i wonder if the inhabitants of the cemetery mind all the loud music and people stomping all over the place?