Nana visit and the Superbowl

We were so excited to kick off February with a quick visit from Nana, who we miss so much! She flew in on Thursday night and Valerie and I went to pick her up (and give Daddy a night to himself) and then to Pacific Catch for dinner, just us girls. It was a pretty late dinner for Valerie, I think we got there at 8 or 8:15. She was starving, and our server kindly brought us some goldfish and edamame to snack on while we waited for our food. Valerie scarfed the goldfish and a few edamame and asked for more, but we managed to hold her off.

Fish sticks are one of her favorite dinners at home, so we ordered the kids' fish 'n chips for her. Naturally, she wanted nothing to do with the fried fish. She went straight for the steamed broccoli and gobbled most of it up. What kid bypasses fried fish and sweet potato fries (both of which she loves) and goes straight for steamed broccoli??? Sometimes I wonder how she is my child. But hey, no complaints from me!! I can never predict what she will eat on any given day. There's no end to the surprises.

We had a delicious salmon sandwich, ahi tuna poke and coconut shrimp, and then the macadamia nut brownie with coconut ice cream for dessert. And vanilla ice cream for Valerie, of course. She was soooo happy to have Nana here to see her!

Friday morning Nana took Valerie to Target and Kohl's for new shoes while I squeezed in a workout, and then we took her to school for her nap so Mom and I could get lunch at Oren's Hummus. We lucked out again with a beautiful sunny afternoon to sit outside and roll around in hummus and pitas, and it was so nice to have time to catch up just the two of us.

Nana very generously offered to stay home with Valerie that night so Rich and I could go out to dinner just the two of us. We considered this our date night for Valentine's Day since we were going to be in Tahoe with a group on the actual day. We went to Scratch in Mountain View for cocktails and dinner and it was wonderful. The truffle mushroom pizza lived up to the hype, and I had a hard time choosing what to order from all the lovely vegetarian options. I ended up going with brussels sprouts and a salad and Rich had the lobster pot pie. The truffle pizza and cocktails, and of course the company, were the highlights in the end. I shouldn't have ordered the brussels sprouts; let me not forget that this is not Boca. I have to learn to stop trying to get brussels sprouts other places.

Saturday morning we made delicious lemon curd pancakes with raspberry syrup and mimosas for breakfast, and then we all ventured out to Half Moon Bay and Pescadero for the day. We stopped at Lemos Farm for Valerie to take a pony ride, and then for lunch at Romesco Bistro & Tapas, where we ate some of the most beautifully presented tapas I have ever seen. The shrimp came lit on fire and every plate was an absolutely dazzling display of color.

lemon curd pancakes with raspberry syrup and mimosas... mmmm!

riding the pony at Lemos Farm

crab stuffed avocado at Romesco Bistro

crab stuffed piquillo peppers

Pescadero State Beach

pretty but so cold!

we found a little wood hideout on the beach

 Then we made our way to Pescadero Beach. It was quite chilly in the wind. The sun was shining down and felt nice further inland, but in the cold wind coming off the water I could barely stand the chill. We hung out on the beach as long as we could stand it and then headed back up to Half Moon Bay for dinner on the patio at Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. We were so looking forward to enjoying their outdoor patio under heat lamps! Unfortunately, they had recently nailed all the heat lamps down so people would stop hoarding them around one table, and since we could only sit close to one heat lamp, only one or two of us would be warm. We had to move inside. On the bright side, they sat us next to the fish tank so Valerie got to watch the clownfish swim around while we waited for dinner, and dinner was delicious.

We had such a great visit with Nana and took her back to the airport the next morning.

That day was the Superbowl live from Santa Clara, just a few minutes away. We drove north, away from Santa Clara and up to San Francisco to watch the Broncos defeat the Panthers with biodesign friends. Alesandro and Christina hosted at their sweet pad in the Mission, streamed the game on their projector and grilled burgers and hot dogs, and also demonstrated their voice-controlled Alexa device for us, which was entertaining. Justin and Aly brought Doritos, and I made guacamole and made the earth-shaking discovery that Doritos and guacamole are amazing together. We had a lot of fun watching the game, the commercials and the halftime show, which I especially loved as a Coldplay fan. The night was perfectly topped off with Bi-rite ice cream. A great end to a great weekend!