Beb's Birthday weekend! A movable feast!
Yes oh yes, our dear sweet little Beb celebrated her birthday -- and in grand style no less, spread out in 4 days! Thursday was dinner at the famous Chez Panisse with Cindy and Steve before checking out the American Ballet Theatre company at Zellerbach. The food was absolutely tremendous -- deliciously organic, locally grown, sustainable, seasonal. California cuisine started here folks, thanks to Alice Waters. Many many great chefs have been born out of this place and you can definitely tell from the quality of the food. What did we have? Pizzeta with rapini and panchetta, seared bay scallops, sand dabs and sunchokes, lamb shoulder and polenta, pear cider, poached fall fruits with marsala sabayon and syrup, chocolate pave' with caramel sauce. Heaven! Thank you Cindy and Steve and a wonderfully beautiful evening!
Saturday evening we drove down to Santa Cruz after ballet class to meet up with our dearest R&R. Venue? Soif! We had a blast with all the wine, tapas, and great conversation. It was incredible. What did we have? I will give up now trying to remember all the vinos but we had tapas galore of Roasted marcona almonds, sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic/chili, fried padron peppers with sea salt (most amazing), boquerones con aioli, marinated olives, piquillo peppers stuffed with manchego, lamb meatballs with almond sauce (divine), farinata with sage/caramelized onions, five-spice glazed chicken wings (woohoo!). creamy butternut squash soup with creme fraiche, belgian endive salad with pear/gruyere/walnuts, and an amazing plate of roasted scallops with apple/arugula/pumpkin seeds!
So we finally conked out Saturday night at the local hotel but Sunday was a new day and the Sun was gloriously shining. Celebration continues as we waited for Marcie to join us at Shadowbrook restaurant in Capitola for a birthday brunch with our dear Juanita and Peter. It was so much fun riding that tram down and arduous walking up the stairs on a full stomach -- I had a burger while everyone had french toast, eggs benedict, and guava mimosas. Juanita was so sweet to also bring Beb a birthday cake from Gayle's -- had a chocolate mousse cake and Dutch apple pie :)
Full we were and guilty, we wanted to go for a stroll by West Cliff drive. Marcie has never been so off we went to enjoy the sun, surf, and the Monarchs!
The lawn in front of the Surfing Museum (lots of surfers in the water but no waves yet) and our favorite bench on the drive
Walking back, Juanita mentioned that we should go check out the sea lions. Sure thing, but after Marcie gets a picture with our resident sex symbol, the hunky Surfer.
The not-so-hunky blubbers called sea lions we amazingly perched on the wharf's wooden beams and somehow managed not to fall over in their sleep. These animals were HUGE and those beams were narrow. How the heck do they do it? It can't be that comfortable, no?
The not-so-hunky blubbers called sea lions we amazingly perched on the wharf's wooden beams and somehow managed not to fall over in their sleep. These animals were HUGE and those beams were narrow. How the heck do they do it? It can't be that comfortable, no?
How can you be on the wharf and not have clam chowder? Yes, I was hungry again...
In the string of amazing firsts, we took Marcie to Felton and visited our old house. It was great to see that the new owners were doing some renovations and that my garden had grown wildly au naturel. We then headed towards Cowell Redwoods as Marcie has not seen a redwood tree before. This will be fun!Here is Marcie with one tree :)
The rains had brought our the denizens of the forest. This banana slug was beautiful -- a local delicacy you must try!
This redwood forest truly is a favorite -- easy to walk-on paths, beautiful tree canopies, little denizens. It is a small park but that is what we love about it. It is hard to imagine that you are really not that far from town.
After making the Redwood loop trail, we sauntered over to the nearby Roaring Railroad camp which was already closed for the evening. How can you not enjoy yourself with all their props?
Ah, the coup de grace of the day! We had dinner at Sri! Yes, another Marcie first. She has not had Sri Lankan food before and was courageous enough to try so we had our Sunday dinner set menu. My permuttion had ginger rice, chicken curry, dahl, coconut kale, some chutney and a sweet pappadum. We of course had the amazing salad rolls and garlic paan to start off. It was a perfect way to end the evening and a wonderful punctuation to a great weekend celebration of Beb's beautiful birthday.
I love you sweetheart!
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on Thursday, November 22, 2007 at 8:35 PM.
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