Smoked Salmon

Food and wine pairings are all the rage…and why not, it’s a fun adventure with your taste buds. We were recently invited over to our friend Lisa Pretty’s (owner of Pretty-Smith Winery and “Eat This With…” Cookbook) house to help her with some “research” for her next food and wine cookbook, I know, I know, tough work but we were game!

When we arrived we were super happy to see our other buddy Andy, this has nothing to do with this post, I suppose but he’s another great guy and it’s always nice to stop and reflect on the great people in your life. Anyway…after warming up with some sips of wine (poor Annie is so limited in her sipping capabilities so I double up) Lisa started busting out the food. I will pass the rest of the writing to Annie now as she tends to be the one to talk food being the foodie that she is…hit it Annie!

Okay…so we started the evening off with some delicious Smoked Salmon on baguette with Capers, which was paired with a Shale Oak White Blend called SUI. While we contemplated the pairing, the smokey flavors of the salmon and the salty capers, we all agreed that the wine cut through all that with a nice balanced acidity.

Moving right along, we partook in a refreshing Orange, Radish, and Avocado Salad with a Spicy Citrus Vinaigrette. The salad went surprisingly well with the very same wine! Turns out that well-balanced acidity can really do a lot for different foods!

And for the next course….hungry yet???….we had a Sweet Potato Soup with Chipotle, topped with Cashews. It was a toss-up for the pairing on the soup. You could either go with the Clavo Albarino, an oaky yet refreshing white that rode well with the smokey spice of the soup, or get crazy and try the 2008 Estate Venteaux Syrah, which has all the right stuff to hold up to a rich spicy soup like this!

Like this wasn’t enough food and wine, we had to move on to the main course! It’s a tough job, but we had to do it! Marinated, Braised Beef Ribs, with Pesto Pasta and Lima Beans went delightfully well with both the Venteaux Syrah and a little gem of a wine, a 2001 L’Aventure Syrah. Both of these wines were terrific, and the food was fantastic! The rich, beefiness of the ribs made both of the wines stand out for their very own richness.

So, this was where the food and wine pairing ended…but that doesn’t mean the conversation or the fun ended. Pairing wine with food is all about individual tastes and opinions. Everybody has a different palate, and we all have different tastes when it comes to foods and flavors. Lisa Pretty does a terrific job with all this, seeing as how she’s a winemaker as well as an excellent cook, AND she’s a cookbook author. Coincidentally, she’s also just released a tasty line of local vinegars, one of which was used to dress our salad. We’ll talk more about those very soon!

There is no right answer about what to pair with what, the answers lie in your experiments…so get out there and eat and drink, people!!! Let’s get some pairings handled!

Here’s the slideshow for you to check out all the pretty pictures…we’re working on smell-a-vision for you…but in the meantime be sure not to drool on your keyboards!

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We decided to “adventure” to a couple of new places recently. When I say new I mean they’re new to us…both places have been open for a while but even we get stuck going to our standard favorites. Yeah, it’s an adventure even when you’re in your own neighborhood! After all, adventure means doing something different, something out of the ordinary, so here goes!

Red Brick Pizza Serves Up Great Customer Service

One of the places we stopped in was Red Brick Pizza in Paso Robles; we’ve driven by it hundreds of times but finally stopped in on a recent Saturday to grab some food to take to Edward Sellers Winery. I, for one was blown away, from the minute you walk in it’s wide open and bright. Each booth has a television at it with its own remote, the menu is pretty damn good, and the staff was beyond courteous. As we have talked about a lot in the past, when we find courteous staff that knows customer service we like to highlight it because most places (yes, I said most) don’t have a clue what customer service is. These folks did!

As you’ll see in the slideshow, I was not only happy with the presentation of the wine and beer selection but I was also quite content with the selection itself. It appears someone was paying attention to details. Annie ordered a couple of sandwiches, which didn’t take that long for them to make at all, and we headed over to the winery to eat…and yes, the food was consistent with everything else at Red Brick; it was solid! Great experience overall and it makes me giddy like a school girl (weird?) to see that quality customer service still exists!!

Joe’s Place is THE Place to Adventure!

The other spot we went to recently was Joe’s Place in Paso Robles which (for you locals) is located in the building that used to house Lolo’s Mexican Restaurant on South Spring Street. On this adventure, we decided to walk from our house over to Joe’s to give it a shot for breakfast. They did a fantastic job remodeling the interior from when it was Lolo’s, not that it was horrible before but it was definitely outdated. The breakfast we each ordered was awesome, how could I possible go wrong with a breakfast burrito the size of my forearm? You’re right, I couldn’t go wrong!

We’ll definitely be back to Joe’s as well…but we’ve also heard there is a Joe’s in Templeton which we need to try. Some people, who shall remain nameless (right Mitch?), say the Templeton spot is better. Not sure how that’s possible if it’s the same people but we will have to investigate for ourselves and let you know. After overeating we decided to walk down to the train station and over into the downtown park area…needed to walk off all that food intake.

So cheers to Red Brick Pizza and Joe’s Place for a job well done. Don’t rest on your laurels, keep pushing the quality food and superb customer service…you never know who may stop in to write about you next! Now, go make your own adventures! Cheers!

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Harmony Cellars

After spending an afternoon in Morro Bay chowing down on some loveliness at Rose’s Landing we…oh wait, we should tell you what we ate just to make you hungry. Although I only took a picture of one of our snacks, you can just paint your own picture with the other stuff. The clam chowder that you see pictured was absolutely awesome. I am not a fan of runny, soupy chowder and this was NOT that…sooooo good. We also sampled the grilled oysters, and couldn’t pass up the coconut shrimp! Yeah, we like seafood, especially when we’re staring at the beautiful Pacific Ocean!

So, back to the first sentence of this post…after leaving Rose’s Landing we hopped in the truck and headed north on HWY 1 and decided to make a stop at Harmony Cellars in Harmony, CA.; population 18, or something like that.

Harmony Cellars???

We hadn’t been to the winery in over four years so it was time! It’s an absolutely beautiful spot, like so many other Central Coast wineries…great views, rolling hills, and a great picnic spot. It looked to us that they had done some remodeling since we had last been in, it felt bigger inside that it did the previous time. They added to the tasting bar and spruced things up a bit.

The wines were nice, as you know we don’t “critique” wine but we felt they were solid wines overall. They have really reasonable price points and a great selection of varieties and blends. In other words, something for everybody. We’d absolutely recommend that you go in and check them out, but be sure to bring that awesome picnic and sit out and absorb the scenery!

So, back by popular demand, we have a video for you!!! AND a slideshow!!! Check ‘em both out, if you dare!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Slideshow Must Go On…

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Hospice du Rhone

By saying Day 2 of Hospice du Rhone, we might be throwing some of you off a little bit. Officially it was day 2 because Thursday night was a small reception but this was the first day of seminars and everything Rhone.

But I digress…

The first day of seminars is always a blast, we show up around 8 am at the Paso Robles Event Center and chow down on some wonderfully prepared breakfast foods and coffee while people watching. There’s always a great crowd of folks milling about…Vicki Carroll (runs HdR), John Alban and his wife Lorraine, Eric Solomon, of Eric Solomon Selections (well know wine importer), Joe Barton (winemaker at Grey Wolf), Justin Smith (Saxum), Amy Butler (Ranchero Cellars), Chester Osborn (d’Arenberg), Jeb Dunnuck (The Rhone Report), Augie Hug (Hug Cellars) and sooooooo many more we can’t even begin to name them all.

Although, I will digress yet again and say that it was great meeting for the first time or seeing again, other fellow bloggers like Scott (thevinofile), Thea (Luscious Lushes), and Joe and Amy Powers (Another Wine Blog). Good times with them, and there was a tiny bit of wine, beer, possibly some scotch, and food sucked down! No hangovers for me though….:-)

How Hospice du Rhone Spends the Day…

After breakfast we went into the first seminar titled “Why Spain (still) Rocks!” Eric Solomon of Eric Solomon Selections (Importer) was on the panel with moderator Steve Olson (aka wine geek)…the Producers on the panel were Jose Maria Vicente (Casa Castillo, Jumilla, Spain), Daniel Jimenez-Landi (Bodegas Jimenez-Landi, Mentrida, Spain), Bixente Ocafrain (Bodegas Mas Alta, Priorat, La Vilella Alta, Spain, and Daphne Glorian-Solomon (Clos I Terrasses, Priorat, Gratallops, Spain, she is also wife of Eric Solomon).

We found this panel to be quite interesting for several reasons. The personalities on the panel were engaging and at times quite funny, but the knowledge that they laid down for us regarding their specific areas in Spain, including the steepness of the land they are farming, and the types of soil the vines grow in was absolutely amazing. The wines were very intriguing as well, we aren’t used to wines from these areas and they really showed us many different nuances. I personally referred to many of them as having great fruit, different spices than I am accustomed to, and of being sexy wines. Take that to the bank!

When this seminar ended the crowd meandered over to seminar two in a cattle-like manner. This one was titled “The Return of the Bionic Frog”…and oh my, this guy had us laughing from the get go. For this seminar it was John Alban talking to Christophe Baron of Cayuse Vineyards out of Walla Walla, Washington.

Christophe does a fantastic job in front of people and we couldn’t get over how infectious his laugh was…you just had to be there I suppose. He was educated and trained in Burgundy, France but found his way to Walla Walla and is producing some very nice wines, some with entertaining names and labels. We tasted through two Grenaches and about seven Syrahs. The wines were very solid in my opinion and definitely had many of the typical varietal characteristics.

I think we both enjoyed his wines across the board, but getting to the end where we tasted his Bionic Frog label (Syrah) is when even more of Christophe’s personality came out…memorable to say the least. One aspect that I like quite a bit about the seminars in which there is a moderator and one producer is that you really get into their story…and I love stories from the wine world.

After seminar two wrapped up it was time for the always anticipated Rose Lunch. The food was brought to us from Chef John Toulze of ‘the girl & the fig’ in Sonoma. The pairing of their insanely delectable dishes with the Roses was an experience everyone should have…especially you “I hate Rose” people!!

Lunch was amazing and it’s always a really great opportunity to people watch and seek out those that you want to chat with. With our bellies full and lunch winding down, Annie and I decided to head home for a bit and sneak in a short nap prior to going back for the BIG Rhone Rendezvous, which is an amazing opportunity to sip wines in large format bottles and even some wines that these special Rhone producers have dusted off and brought from their cellars.

The evening event was catered by Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee…if you have not heard of them they were voted #1 resort in the Continental U.S. and Canada by Tavel & Leisure for their 2011 World’s Best Awards. Not much to say about them other than “are you kidding me?” It doesn’t get any better than this!

Everything was absolutely superb, kudos to the folks with Hospice du Rhone for putting together such an amazing day of seminars, producers, wines, and food…we literally become speechless at points during HdR at just how good life is when you stop and realize how amazing these wines are, how absurdly wonderful the food is, and how friendly and fun the people are.

Cheers to day two of HdR, we will recap the final day very soon. Be sure to check out the slideshow below, as well as the websites linked in the blog post above and see what these wine and food wizards are up to.

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The Grill at Hunter Ranch

Okay, take a minute and follow me on a little mental journey here…picture this…perfectly groomed rolling green hills, nestled among far-off vineyards, the sun setting in the distance, the birds in the huge oak trees singing, a cold drink in your hand and a tasty dinner on its way. This is exactly what you’ll get as you sit outside on the deck at the Hunter Ranch Golf Course’s Restaurant. It’s a pretty awesome spot, and it’s not just about the beauty and serenity of the location, but the delicious food and friendly service that the Grill at Hunter Ranch has to offer.

Dinner at The Grill at Hunter Ranch

So now that we’ve set the scene, are you hungry yet? If so, you’re in luck because the Grill at Hunter Ranch is now open for dinner! They’ve been doing a great brunch and lunch biz, but wanted to add dinner to their repertoire so that this scene can be enjoyed all day! After all, sunset is one of the best times of the day around here in Paso Robles, especially in the pleasant Summer evenings as the hot days come to an end.

What’s for dinner already? Our little group had a good spread to share, along with a great bottle of Adelaida Pinot Noir; a tasty local favorite. They feature some pretty cool specials, including a daily happy hour from 3-6, along with deals on bottles and locally featured wines. On to the food! We had to order the special appetizer that our server described to us; Asparagus, Melon, Homemade Mozzarella and Prosciutto! It was incredible…especially with the fresh bread and a sip of wine!

Now, on to the main course, There was Chicken, there was Beef and there was Fish. Pretty sure we covered everything, right? Well add some mashed potatoes, some rice pilaf, and a fully loaded baked potato and the picture is complete (when I say picture, I mean look at the slideshow below). The feta chicken with artichoke hearts and a melty feta cheese sauce on top was incredible! The hand cut rib eye, grilled to order satisfied the urge for red meat, and the grilled salmon with an orange glaze was the perfect seafood choice!

If you happen to like good views, good food, and good people, then you’ll be ecstatic with a trip to the Grill at Hunter Ranch! See you there!

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HdR2012

The Hospice du Rhone event in Paso Robles is the most amazing Rhone wine event in the world!!! Well, at least the most amazing Rhone wine event we have been to, and the weekend all kicked off Thursday evening with a pre-party at Paso Robles Inn.

We were upstairs in the bar area at the Inn and had a chance to taste some sparkling Shiraz out of Australia, and hang out with some of the peeps that would be at the event in the coming days. As luck would have it we ran into our awesome friend Amy Butler (her wine is Ranchero Cellars) and her friend Jon (who we met last year at HdR) so we ended up hanging out with them for most of the evening.

How Does a Hospice du Rhone Evening End Up?

After a couple of hours of eating some snacky snacks (I coined this phrase) and Annie watching me sip on some of that delish sparkling Shiraz (truth be told, she had a couple sips too…let’s see how many hate emails we get over the pregnant lady having a couple sips of wine) we decided to take off and head over to the infamous Villa Creek Restaurant…cuz that’s where the after-party always is.

This is the one time of year we can hang out at Villa Creek and hear Spanish, French, and an assortment of english accents and not think it’s odd…they are here from all over the world to get their Rhone on. As per the usual we ran into many of our local friends as well. Villa Creek is one of our most frequented bars in Paso Robles for some of these very reasons; it’s the hangout for winemakers and other wine industry peeps. It’s also just a generally cool place with a great vibe, tasty drinks, and delicious food. In other words, the perfect spot for a Hospice du Rhone after-party!

Stay tuned for more on our Hopsice du Rhone weekend experience; we’ve barely scratched the surface on this Rhone extravaganza and can’t wait to tell you all about it.

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Gratitude

Every once in a while you just have to stop and appreciate how fortunate you are…and this is one of those times. We sincerely want to thank all those people that invite us into their worlds to partake and enjoy in the best the Central Coast has to offer. We get to do, see, and experience some of the most awesome things around here, and we need to let people know just how much we appreciate the opportunities they give to us!

Gratitude is Where It’s At!

We’ll kick this off by telling you about people like Kris Beal with Central Coast Vineyard Team, and her amazing staff: Kyle, Annie, and Beth, who have been an amazing source of energy and fun. You may think I am being biased because I do some social media work for CCVT, but you know what? I’m not being biased; we’ve been super thankful for a long time!

Vicki Carroll and Faith Wells with Hospice du Rhone have been absolutely stellar and it’s been great getting to know them over the years, along with getting to experience the spectacular event that they put on each year.

Adam Montiel and Jeremy West, the Cork Dorks with Krush Radio, KZOZ, and Q104.5. These two dudes are, well, two of the funniest guys I’ve known in my life and we sincerely appreciate the times we all get to hang out. Side note: some of our best ever times have been spent with Adam and Jeremy and the posse…and what happens when we hang out stays with us.

We also need to give a general shout out to the wineries and restaurants of Paso Robles and the Central Coast. Many of them have been big supporters as well as friends of ours and we are absolutely grateful for that!

And most of all, we want to thank our readers! Yeah, that means you…thank you for hanging out here with us, reading, commenting, sharing, agreeing, and disagreeing with us. That’s what makes all this fun, so thank you!

Turns out in general, we don’t express our appreciation for each other often enough…so we wanted to be sure and throw out some props. If we didn’t mention you, it doesn’t mean that we don’t appreciate you too, it just means we haven’t said it out loud yet! Our goal is to start expressing our gratitude more often…so wait for it and I’m sure you’ll be on a list soon!

Who are you thankful for?

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Okie dokie folks, and yes, I said okie dokie…it’s cool and hip, trust me! As you may know, we were at the Earth Day Food and Wine Festival a little over a week ago and to be completely honest, I was blown away. The food, the wine, and the people were all better than expected!!

Did I mention the great sheep escape?

Earth Day Food and Wine Festival 2012

Unfortunately I only have a photo that shows said escaped sheep being led back to its pen after being lassoed in the vineyard at Pomar Junction, but yes…2012 will go down as the year that there was a sheep escape. Although it was a bit warm, roughly 95 degrees, everybody had a blast and the Central Coast Vineyard Team made it easy for everyone by having misters at certain spots, plenty of water, shade under the big oaks, and plenty of delicious, chilled white wines!!

Annie and I really had a great time, luckily we have our routines and rituals at these events which makes it a little easier. We always go in with the idea that I’m in charge of photos (some from my camera and some on my phone) and wine glasses while she’s in charge of grabbing random video and food. Typically we like to get a splash of wine in the glasses and then we try to do a lap around the event just to see where everyone is located and who all is there, than we dive in like ravenous honey badgers.

We try to partake in all the food and wine we can to get a good idea of what’s out there (although, I am handling the wine at this point with our little Hoot or Annie Junior on the way) and then we visit with friends and often, meet new friends. This plan of ours really has worked out for us and, in our opinion, a plan is a good idea. Between the two of us we only have four hands, better make each one count.

Be sure to check out the slideshow and let us know what you think!!

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Hospice du Rhone Celebrates 20 Years of Rhône Love with a Sold Out Event

Hospice du Rhone, the world’s largest gathering of Rhône variety wines and producers, will celebrate 20 years of all things Rhône with a sold-out event April 26 – 28, 2012 in Paso Robles, California. Rhône zealots, restaurateurs, sommeliers, wine distributors, importers and a host of winemakers will make up the international audience throughout the upcoming weekend. Guests will tantalize their palates with Rhône wines and Rhône inspired cuisine throughout the three-day weekend.

Ticket sales are now closed for this annual Rhône wine event which continues to make Paso Robles home for the past 16 of its 20 years. Hospice du Rhône will sell only 100 Grand Tasting tickets at the gate. This Grand Tasting takes place Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. It has been noted that to duplicate this tasting one would need a passport, numerous flights and multiple weeks of travel.

“We are beyond excited to be celebrating 20 years of Hospice du Rhône and to be doing so with a sold out crowd is more than we could have asked for,” notes Vicki Carroll, director of Hospice du Rhône. “This year will truly be a reunion for all who have been a part of helping us reach this milestone for the world wide Rhône community.”Starting off the celebratory weekend will be the seminar and dinner series Conversations with Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The 70 lucky guests, who grabbed these tickets within days of going on-sale in November, will have the privilege to taste Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines dating as far back as 1954. Author of The Châteauneuf-du-Pape Book, Harry Karis along with Vigneron Philippe Cambie will lead the audience through an in-depth look at this historic region of France before delighting in dinner at Paso Robles’ premier French restaurant, Bistro Laurent. Chef Laurent Grangien has carefully prepared a five-course meal for this enchanting evening.

Those with weekend packages and select individual seminar tickets will take in the 2012 Seminar Series. Friday will begin with wines from four rock star winemakers hailing from the Priorat region of Spain. Eric Solomon of Eric Solomon Selections will bring to the stage Jose Maria Vicente of Casa Castillo, Daniel Jimenez-Landi of Jimenez-Landi, Bixente Ocafrain of Bodegas Mas Alta and Daphne Glorian-Solomon of Clos I Terrasses.

Next, attendees will dive into the stones Walla Walla, Washington with a focused seminar by the ever spirited and knowledgeable Christophe Baron of Cayuse.Day two of the 2012 Seminar Series will begin with a look at the historic Northern Rhône with the wines of Les Vins de Vienne. These wines are crafted by three long-time friends of Hospice du Rhône, Francois Villard, Yves Cullieron and Pierre Gaillard. Closing out day two of the Seminar Series will be Chester Osborn of d’Arenberg, South Australia who will guide the audience through 13 wines showcasing the terroir of multiple vineyard sites and plots.

One of the first events to sell out for the 20th year was the new BIG Rhône Rendezvous. This walk-around tasting for 800 guests will feature 100 producers from near and far who will share their Rhône wines from large-format bottles. To complement this BIG evening of BIG bottles the highly-acclaimed chefs from the esteemed Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee will serve up a taste of the South. This will be the only event throughout the weekend that the “Number 1 Resort in the Continental U.S. and Canada” as voted by Travel + Leisure for their 2011 World’s Best Awards, will showcase their culinary talents.

The Rhône quest continues at the Saturday Grand Tasting with over 135 winemakers pouring tastes from around the globe for over 1000 Rhône zealots. It has been said that to duplicate this tasting, one would need a passport, many weeks off work and thousands of airline miles to taste the variety of wines showcased at the Grand Tasting. While strolling the Tasting Pavilion guests will savor bites from specialty food purveyors who will be stationed throughout the hall.

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As many of you know, we are expecting a little Hoot OR Annie Junior and that leaves Annie drinking far more water and club soda (with a splash of cranberry and a lime) than anything else. Now, to be completely honest she does have the occasional sip or does the “sip and spit” maneuver that most wine drinkers consider a party foul…but it’s just NOT the same for me!
Some have said I shouldn’t drink while Annie is pregnant and, well, that just ain’t gonna happen people. But before you go thinking that I’m just being selfish, I got a permission slip from Annie herself. No reason for both of us to go without! We’ve had other people offer to be my drinking buddy during Annie’s down time but that too just isn’t the same, although I’m certainly not turning folks down.

So What is the Answer?

To be honest, there isn’t one other than to adapt and move forward, which is actually the point of this article. She’s okay with not drinking…and, it’s nothing compared to having a baby and growing into our role as parents as the time nears, and, we will adapt to this as well.
Humans are masterful at the art of adapting. We are resilient, each of us constantly growing and changing; however, the funny thing is just how much we bitch and complain about the things that go on in our lives…we look at things with such a negative tone rather than flip it around and understand that this thing we’re viewing negatively may actually be an absolutely amazing gift and open doors to a far better situation.

Miscarriages and Cancer

When Annie and I had a miscarriage in December of 2011 we literally spent a day being confused and upset, but we grabbed our backbones and realized that we had zero control over it…so we could sit and stew or we could jump the hell up and move on to the next party. A friend of ours recently revealed she had breast cancer and went in for surgery, but the crazy thing is that I did not hear a negative word spoken by her, not even once. The positivity that came from her situation is that hundreds, more like thousands, of people came out to show her support, love, and good thoughts during her challenges.
Now, some of you may say that having cancer (or a miscarriage) is not worth it in order to see all that support and love…but I beg to differ. We are human and the one thing we want at the end of the day is to be loved and accepted, and yes, sometimes it takes dire situations for the world to pause and hug you.

Choices and Perspective

I have discussed “choices and perspective” a lot, as well as thought about it, read about it, and worked on my own “choices and perspectives”…I don’t know of any more powerful tools in our toolbox than these two things. We can choose to focus on the negative like a miscarriage, cancer, or temporarily losing your drinking buddy; but the fact is that if you are conscious of your choices and of your perspective you can LIVE your life until your last breath is taken. The other choice is to be clinically alive but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually dead to the world.
We’re choosing to live this crazy, big, sometimes painful but always rewarding life!
To bring it all home now, I am not upset about losing my drinking buddy or the miscarriage we had in December. And, I can say that our friend that just had breast cancer surgery seems to be firing on all cylinders (she says she has good drugs now too) when it comes to her positive attitude toward her situation.
We can own our situations or let the situations own us. Pause for just a moment…when I say we own our situations, I mean that we own every single situation we are ever in…period. We may lose our house to a natural disaster or someone we love to some hideous disease, but we own how we choose to carry on or not carry on. By all means, it’s fine for us to cry and be really angry or feel defeated and want to give up…but once you’re done doing that, grab your backbone and pick your shit up, there’s still a life to live out there until there isn’t.
YOU are the author of YOUR book…what’s the ending look like?

One thing we have noticed over the months and years is that we end up with a bunch of photos on our phones of wine and beer we have drank as well as food we have eaten…so, we’ve done it a couple times before but we thought we’d start regularly posting a slideshow of recent things we have sipped, slurped, and chugged.

With Annie being pregnant, this new duty of tracking the booze rests on my shoulders but I feel I have risen to the challenge. Sometimes we go big and open the good stuff, and sometimes there may not be anything fancy or glamorous in the slideshow, but hey, both going big, and drinking in the “cheap seats” can be fun.

Take a look at this collection…maybe you’ve had some of these. We also like hearing what you guys have been drinking lately…good or bad!! Cheers and don’t forget to kick Monday’s arse!!

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Lavender, Lilacs, and Vines

We visited Wise Villa Winery while in Sacramento visiting my (Hoot’s) dad. His wife Mary Ann had this on her list so we drove through some pretty countryside to get there and found a damn beautiful spot right in the middle of the Placer County Wine Trail; the vineyards were budding and the lavender was in full glory!

It looked like they had a new tasting room that was in the process of being built so they were tasting in their winemaking area. While at Wise Villa Winery you can also taste the wines of Cante Ao Vinho, who share the tasting space with Wise Villa. Always kind of convenient when you can sip, or slurp, at two places for the travel of one.

Anyhow…I/ we aren’t going to critique the wines (although several really hit the spot including Wise Villa’s “French Style” Chard, the Wisdom of Wise red blend, & Cante Ao Vinho had quite an interesting list of varietals, check the pictures) but I can say that I would absolutely go back…why? Glad you asked, because it was fun and the people were very cool, and to top the whole experience off, the day was absolutely perfect…that gorgeous California sunshine was out which drags you out from the inner dwellings of your adobe. What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than with people you dig, in a beautiful place, sipping on delicious and interesting wines???

We know we haven’t talked to you about wine in a while…but don’t you worry, consumption has been occurring and we’ll bring you more info soon. We’ve definitely been on an adventure kick, which is almost as addicting as drinking wine!

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Old Town Sacramento

We recently adventured up to the Sacramento area where my (Hoot’s) dad lives and decided to head off to Old Town Sacramento because Annie and I had not been there together and neither of us had been there in at least a couple of decades.

It’s a really cool scene with rich history, the old cobblestone streets and wood planked sidewalks still cover the area, other than all the hip 2012 paraphernalia it really is like walking back in time. We walked around a good portion of the area and walked in a few shops. Evidently everyone’s sweet tooth was in high gear except mine because the candy store was the most popular store amongst Annie, my dad, and his wife Mary Ann.

What to do in Sacramento…???

If you know me at all, I was in search of beer, not candy…and that too was found on the Delta King, a big boat which is a hotel, a restaurant, and a bar. It was pretty cool hanging out in the bar and watching the river flow by, and as usual the people watching was a good time. We also found time to play with Siri on my 4S which was more fun than I thought it would be. Turns out she (Siri) doesn’t like to be messed with all that much, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Other than Old Town we hung out at my dad’s house, witnessed a brief hail storm, went for a really cool walk up through their neighborhood, ate at Orchid Thai one night, and ate at Awful Annie’s for breakfast one morning. You’ll see pictures in the slideshow from all of this wackiness. Oh, and we also went to a winery while there but that’s for another blog post!

It was a fun visit as usual and it was fun to go adventure in someone else’s backyard! So this was our most recent adventure…what was YOURS?!?!

Chair on the Shoreline

We’ve been on an adventurous streak lately…which is just the way we like it! This time we headed out with a picnic and thoughts of sitting lakeside at Lake Nacimiento…sounds like paradise eh? Well, it was! The drive out there this time of year is awesome because the hills are green and things are coming to life. After arriving at the Public Marina, we walked around for a while to “reacquaint” ourselves with the area.

What’s Lake Nacimiento All About?

Annie used to spend a fair amount of time out there when her family had a lake house and I (Hoot) actually never really spent time there so it was all new, which is all good in my book. We investigated some different areas on foot and watched some boats slip into the water and take off and then decided to back the Tacoma up to the lake and drop the tailgate.

Annie grabbed a few beers from the general store for me (since she’s with child) and we simply sat and absorbed the scene. It was a lot of fun to watch the people go by and the boats go in and out, as if you hadn’t already noticed Annie and I love the water…give us an ocean, a lake, or a river any day of the week and we’ll be content.

We enjoyed the picnic that Annie hooked us up with and we sat in the sun for a good three to four hours before packing up and heading home. Sometimes in life you just have to be, and this day was all about being a “human being” rather than a “human doing” (I saw this little saying on Facebook or Google Plus recently).

This is the whole reason we started this 50 Adventures in 2012…we did it to push ourselves to get out there and try new things but to also reconnect with life and living. We all get caught up in doing things that feel like obligation and you know what? We need to learn to turn our backs on that sometimes in order to preserve our sanity and be in tune with ourselves and those around us.

Adventures don’t have to cost a bunch of money, this one didn’t cost over $30 for the picnic we made at home, gasoline, the beer I bought, and the day pass into the lake area. Get out there and grab life before it passes you by! Cheers!

Barney Schwartz Park Lake

We planned our adventure and it bit us in the ass, okay, not literally but our plan was to go hang out at Barney Schwartz Park on the east side of Paso Robles but the Lord of the Wind said heck no.

First let me begin with how cool this park is, there are baseball fields, soccer fields, kids playgrounds, walking paths, covered seating areas to eat and hang out, and a man made little lake that you can fish in. Wow…why haven’t we hung out here before? Not sure, but this will be remedied! Thank you, Barney Schwartz! 

So we had packed a picnic and grabbed our baseball gloves to play catch as well as our whiffle balls and bat to mess around with…whiffle ball in howling wind = no way! We did a quick walk around to see all this park had to offer and make plans for future visits but then we hopped back in the truck and took off.

Token Pic of Justin Timberlake

Rather than cry a river (a little Justin Timberlake tribute) we decided to head out on a drive and see where we would end up. After taking many lefts and rights on some beautiful country roads we ended up covering the east side’s of Paso Robles, Atascadero, and Santa Margarita…some truly beautiful scenery out there this time of year!!

We’ve done the “driving adventures” before and we really love them, of course, it helps to live in an area like San Luis Obispo County because there are endless country roads that will lead you to absolutely gorgeous scenery…rolling hills, trees, wild flowers, huge green meadows, and mountainous areas that give you views for days!

Adventure is all about being adaptable and taking things as they come. It’s something I (Hoot) have not been good at until recently. I always wanted everything planned out because I was afraid of having to make choices on the fly…but now it’s one of the most exciting things about life! You can fight life or embrace it…live the adventure folks!!

Chips, Salsa, and Whatnot

Sooo, a funny thing happened on the way to dinner one day…we were craving GOOD Mexican food. Not that there isn’t a lot of good Mexican food out there, but let’s be real, much of if is bland and boring. We have driven by Los Robles Café numerous times and had heard good things about it so we decided to check it out since we had not been there together before. Located on Spring Street in Paso Robles the vibe inside is mellow and casual but the people know what they’re doing, especially if you go by their Yelp reviews.

In other words, good service, very friendly people, and just an overall casual vibe.

Chicken Enchiladas

And The FOOD at Los Robles Cafe???

The food was awesome. Hoot got two chicken enchiladas with rice and beans while Annie got the asada burrito…and my was that a GRANDE burrito. Layers of cheese, meat and all the extras made it an incredible dinner! AND, and tasty lunch the next day! The enchiladas were more than your standard chicken and tortilla…lots of spice and flavor, saucy and cheesy made these special.

GRANDE Burrito

Apparently, Los Robles Cafe is known for their Al Pastor. We know this because they have a whole station set up out near the street (Vine Street) in a separate part of the restaurant that is completely geared for selling the traditional Mexican “street tacos”. You know the ones…where they carve the hot meat right off the huge, rotating skewers of pork. You can bet that next time we’re in we’ll give the Al Pastor tacos a try! They were selling like hotcakes! Okay…like tacos!

Great flavors, great menu, and very fair prices leads us to put this on our list as top three Mexican food joints in our area!!

Check them out on Yelp and let the world know what you think…

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Avila Beach Pier

We took off relatively early a Saturday or two ago and headed down to Avila Beach to see what it was like in the morning versus in the afternoon, which is when we normally go. It was pretty cool actually…super mellow with people out walking or jogging, walking their dogs, and coffee was the drink of choice. We went to Port San Luis and out on Avila Pier…it was chilly but a fun little walk.

From there we went to downtown Avila and parked in order to go walk around. We stopped in the Old Custom House Restaurant for a little snack and I enjoyed a screwdriver…because Annie can’t!! After hanging out for a bit we went back outside and gazed at the ocean for a bit; as many of you know we are huge fans of the beach…it is such a relaxing place for us to be!

From Avila Beach to San Luis Obispo

We bailed out of Avila after a great morning and went to downtown San Luis Obispo, otherwise known as SLO, to help support their economy too. After walking around for a while and Hoot getting a lovely new pair of Vans shoes we went to Mother’s Tavern, more known as Mo Tav, to hang out and enjoy the fact that it was early and the college drunkards weren’t in yet.

From there on to Novo Restaurant, one of our favorite downtown SLO restaurants, for a couple of snacks prior to heading back to Paso Robles. Novo is a great spot with amazing service, a fantastic menu, and really killer indoor and outdoor seating. We’ve been there numerous times and never been disappointed by any aspect of the place, well done Novo!!

This was an adventure for us because even though we had been to a couple of these places before, we changed it up by what time we went and the fact that we didn’t really have a plan in place. Normally we are in that rut of only going in the afternoon, but by switching things up and going in the morning we were presented with different people, a different landscape, and therefore a pretty cool adventure. As we have stated before…adventures don’t always have to be some big huge new thing like a safari in Africa, little adventures can be just as fun and eye opening as the big ones.

So get up and get out!! Your life is an adventure whether you realize it or not…do you like the adventure you’re living?

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Desert Flower

A few weeks back my (Hoot) sister and niece were coming to California from Texas to visit our Grandmother (we call her Nana, so from here forth let it be) that lives in Palm Springs…so, we left our little paradise (Paso Robles) and drove down to the desert for a mini family reunion.

The day we arrived, I (Hoot) actually had a Twitter wine tasting to partake in called #CCwineday, which stood for Central Coast wine day and was covering wines from Monterey to Santa Barbara. I couldn’t miss out on this so we took our Central Coast wines to Nana’s house (my sis and Nana got to help and see a little bit of what I do with Twitter/social media) and I spent my hour or so doing the online wine chat.

What to do in the Desert?

A few highlights from the trip were going to Pacifica Seafood which is a great restaurant in Palm Springs….awesome vibe, great food, and a really cool patio to sit on if you can get a spot. I must admit, it was also good people watching that night as some of the desert freaks were out…if you are unsure what I speak of, you need to visit!

On the Friday we were down there we went to the Living Desert, which is this awesome spot with everything from this huge miniature scene including railroads, little towns, waterfall, and so much more. The detail put into project is pretty intense…see pics in the slideshow for what I’m talking about. The Living Desert also has tons of native plants and all kinds of animals ranging from a giraffe (and a baby one right now) to birds to butterflies. This place is pretty interesting and it’s great they have the sponsors and donors they have in order to keep running.

Another cool spot we went to is called Jackalope Ranch…I’m not even sure how to describe it but the bar is HUGE and filled with awesome but the patio (where we ate lunch) feels like an oasis in the desert. This place was gorgeous, complete with waterfall and pond, sitting area next to that, heaters if you needed them, outside bar, and a very well manicured landscape. This place quickly became our favorite!!! We didn’t want to leave!

These were some of the things we did on this quick trip to visit some of my family. It had been a couple years or so since I had seen my sister and niece, and roughly a year since I had seen Nana…so it was good for all of us to be together for a few days. Nana was a huge factor in our growing up….we spent more time with her (and Papa but he passed in 1996) than most grand kids spend with their grandparents, but it was a very good thing for us!

So, anyway…that was our Palm Springs adventure in a nut shell. I don’t want to bore you with all the little details but as we always say, the point is to get out there and adventure. Go do things you’ve never done before, go to places you’ve never been before, enjoy your family, and live life. Very little in life go as we “plan” for it to go, so soak up the adventure and live a little. Cheers and have a great weekend.

Here’s the visual tour for your enjoyment….

Hospice du Rhone 20 Years

Soooooo, you know what’s coming up at the end of April??

 Hospice du Rhone!!

This is the premier event if you are a Rhone lover and the best thing is that it’s right here in paradise…Paso Robles. This will be our second year in a row and we look forward to the seminars, tastings, parties, and the people that come from around the world to pour or sip the world’s finest Rhones! For a few short days, Paso Robles becomes the Rhone capital of the world!

Here is a post we did from last years Hospice du Rhone (HdR) where Annie chats with Sommelier Erick Cadena…super cool guy that we wanted to do regular posts about on here, but our schedules don’t mesh as much as we’d like. Anyway, check out Annie doing what she does and don’t be afraid, Erick doesn’t bite!

 Hospice du Rhone or bust!!

Don’t worry though, we will be posting plenty of other videos from the different events at HdR, but we wanted to start with this one.

Erick, as you’ve seen in our recent interview with him on HdR, takes part in the event as one of the official Sommeliers that opens all the seminar wines to make sure they are sound. He’s a cool cat, laid back, and amazingly knowledgeable about wine and the wine community…always good to catch up with him at these events to get his perspective. So, a big thanks to Erick!!

Also, a ginormous Hoot n Annie thank you to Vicki Carroll and Faith Wells of Hospice du Rhone for a superb event!! We were truly blown away!

Click here to view the embedded video.

World of Pinot Noir 2012

If you’re one of the cursed that has been bitten by the Pinot Noir bug, then you know that it can be a wonderful burden to carry. Forever on the quest for the next best high; that next sip of delicious Pinot Noir that will send you right back into oblivion for a moment, then leave you wanting more. How many sips of mediocrity does it take before you get to the ones that really give you a “mind change”? That blow you away? That really make you stop and take notice? 

What’s All This Pinot Noir Talk?

Okay, enough about the philosophical Pinot talk…let’s get down to business…we attended the 2012 World of Pinot Noir at the Cliffs Resort in Shell Beach. This is the mecca of Pinot Noir, if you’re into that kind of thing. It’s all about Pinot Noir, and nothing else…classic Pinots, cutting edge Pinots, old world, new world, and just interesting Pinots. There are Pinot Noir producers from all over the Central Coast, Oregon, Washington, New Zealand, Australia…you get the idea. We tried to get as many sips of Pinot in as we could, always looking for the next best one. We got to taste some incredible Pinots, as well as some that weren’t so incredible. It’s sort of like life; if you don’t get a range of tastes and experiences, you can’t appreciate the really good stuff, right?!?!

So, here we go, taking you on a virtual slide show tour of the Pinot Noirs that we tasted, the views that we had and the overall vibe of the scene. This is a great event, not to be missed if you like that kind of thing…check it out and be sure to join us there next year. Cheers!!!!

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