The biodesign program hosted its annual dinner at the Thomas J. Fogarty Winery for all the fellows, faculty, sponsors, and their spouses on Friday night October 23rd, so we had secured our babysitter for the evening and were looking forward to a fancy date night out. I picked up Valerie from school, made sure the house was clean and started getting myself ready, and then the misadventures began.
I had asked the sitter to come at 6, and at 6:10 there was no sign of her, so I sent her a text to make sure she was still coming. She responded, "Hi! I'm so sorry! I'm at the hospital! I fractured my ankle. I wasn't even thinking" ... so we began to panic. First I called our other sitter, who was just leaving to go to her school dance. No dice there. Then we thought of Rich's colleague with a one-year-old son, who also had a babysitter for the evening; maybe we could share their sitter? We were brainstorming options when our sitter said, "I just talked to the doctor and will be leaving soon. I can be at your house in 20 minutes." WHEW! She would be a half hour late, but at least we could still make it. Crisis averted!
Rich had called Andrew, his colleague with a little boy, and he and his wife were looking for a ride to the winery, so since we were running late anyway, we agreed to give them a ride. Rich told them we would probably leave around 7.
Our sitter showed up just as she said, about 6:35, and seemed to be walking just fine, thankfully. Then we waited for Andrew and his wife Katie, who were taking an Uber to our house. We got in the car so we were ready to go, and they came a few minutes after 7, so we headed out. The event started at 7, and it would take about 40 minutes to get to the winery, so we were running about 45 minutes late but hoped to still make it before the sit-down dinner started.
We had just started the winding ascent into the mountains when the gas light came on and we realized we needed to stop for gas, and there would be no more gas stations on our route. We would have to turn around, drive 10 minutes back to the main road, get gas, and start again. At this point we had to laugh at the comical progression of the evening thus far. Would we ever make it to this doomed dinner?!? And why didn't we bring some hard liquor!?
We found gas (unfortunately, no liquor), and started back into the mountains, with a new goal arrival time a few minutes past 8:00.
This time, we made it all the way there. It was pitch black out, but we could see this was an absolutely breathtaking spot with an incredible view of the bay from the mountains. We walked around for a bit trying to find where we were supposed to go, and made it just after everyone had taken their seats for dinner.
We were sorry to have missed the delicious wines at the cocktail hour, but so relieved we made it! The rest of the night was wonderful. They featured an excellent chardonnay (which I usually don't like) and pinot noir, and a server brought me a fantastic green pea soup when I asked if the regular soup contained meat (it was made with beef broth). She asked what I would like for the entree, since the regular entree was a steak and halibut duo. She could either bring a vegetarian meal, or a double halibut - I went for the double halibut, and I am so glad I did! The fish was melt-in-your-mouth perfection. I was so impressed; they are clearly accustomed to dietary restrictions around here!
The food, wine, atmosphere and company were outstanding. It turned out to be a great evening after we finally made it there. We definitely want to go back for a tasting one day so we can see the place in daylight! What a beautiful setting.
We had nothing planned on Saturday, so we did our usual workout shuffle in the morning; Rich went to the gym and I went to hot yoga, and we had a lazy afternoon of napping, relaxing and straightening up. After Valerie woke up we decided to drive to the beach at Pescadero for a quick hour before the sun set and then grab some dinner before driving back.
After an hour I'd had my fill of shivering and we headed into town to find dinner. There were approximately 3 options, as Pescadero is an extremely tiny one-stoplight town. We chose the Pescadero Country Store, which looked cute from the front and had a sign that said "pizza." We had some tasty brick oven pizza, split a large beer and then the apple pie a la mode for dessert, which turned out to be HUGE and mostly crust. Then we went home, full and happy.
Sunday we had a full day planned, and I intended to go to hot yoga at 9 am before our lunch date in San Jose around 11, but it was not meant to be. The alarm clock next to our bed is one Rich had long before I met him, and it's programmed to automatically adjust to daylight savings time - but on the old schedule, before it got moved out a week. And Sunday, a week before the time change, was the day the clock thought it should fall back. This has been happening for years now and I still haven't learned to anticipate it. I laid around all morning, thinking I had time before I had to leave at 8:45, and then it hit me while looking at my phone that it was an hour later than I thought. ARGGG!!! I missed the 9 am yoga class so I went out for a short jog instead.
We drove down to San Jose at lunchtime to see our friends Anjuli and James, their daughter Kalinda (Valerie's same-age bff / sister from another mister) and their new house. It was a perfect afternoon. The girls ran shrieking around the house and the backyard, drawing with chalk, pouring water into cups, dressing up in tutus and having a ball together.
Our hosts made a most awesome lunch of wood plank salmon on the grill, salad with grilled carrots, bread and butter and fresh raspberries. It was all soo yummy, and even Valerie, the pickiest eater this side of the Mississippi, devoured every bite on her plate! She does love salmon, carrots, bread and butter and raspberries, so the menu was perfect. It was so great to see them in the last few weeks before their new baby arrives, and so generous of them to offer to host us in the midst of getting settled in their house and preparing for the baby. We can't wait to meet the new addition when she's born!
We brought an extremely worn-out Valerie home for a late afternoon nap before our dinner guests arrived; one of Rich's colleagues and her boyfriend who was in town visiting from Belgium came over and we had a lovely evening talking and breaking bread with them (in spite of constant interruptions by Valerie until she went to bed).
I made a sweet potato/apple/pumpkin soup topped with spiced candied nuts and a dollop of goat cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches with apple, and caprese salad with balsamic glaze. I had a minor disaster and burned some of the spiced candied nuts but was able to salvage enough for dinner. Hate that! Burned wasted food just gets me right where it hurts, every time, and of course I feel the need to go through every last nut, saving what's salvageable. All that time spent sorting through the mess is the worst.
Anyway though, dinner came out pretty well, and Véronique and Moïse brought the most spectacular pear and Belgian chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream for dessert. My weird child did not like the tart and just wanted ice cream. I can only assume she will eventually grow out of her frustrating toddler-y food preferences. Lord knows I only wanted chicken fingers with honey mustard for the first twelve years or so of my life so there is hope for her.
It was another superb weekend with a few snafus thrown in to keep things interesting!
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