Skeptickle

We celebrated with an anniversary dinner at Sierra Mar in the Post Ranch Inn.

The food was amazing and the view was unparallel to any place I’ve ever been to.

It was heartbreakingly beautiful.

One of the bottles of wine we got on our Napa mini-moon. It was even more delicious than I remembered it to be:

Simple and classic amuse bouche:

I really loved that they used organic and sustainable food sources. I was totally feeling like seafood (I wonder why?) and I’m so glad I went with it:

Btw, everything was fantastic here and I highly recommend this place for special events/vacations/just because you’re loaded and you can eat wherever you want. However, there was one thing that was a bit…unsettling…every time I went into the ladies room (and I went several times during the course of the evening). This thing (it’s like Beetlejuice’s sister!) seemed to look over my shoulder whenever I’m at the sink washing my hands:

And it got scarier and scarier throughout the night because the lights are really dim in that bathroom and I got more and more inebriated from the wine (Rob was DD so I was sorta forced to drink more). P.S. The flash from my camera is making it look less freaky, but I assure you it was!

Some highlights of our trip:

• Seeing my family in Flushing, NY, which was pretty much Taiwantown, U.S.A.
• The Statue of Liberty, minus the two hours in two different security lines.
• New York pizza!
• Seeing Wicked for the first time on Broadway.
• Tuna tartare and the high tech Japanese toilet at Sakagura.
• The view from the Top of the Rock.
• The window displays were redonkulous!
• Straight New York tap water. Seriously.
• Lunch at Jean Georges with Karri and Misha.
• The Met, minus the insane crowds.
• The butternut squash soup and tweed kettle pie (got it b/c of its name!) at Tea & Sympathy with Karri.
• Central Park right after it snowed.
• Junior’s NY cheesecake with strawberries, thanks to my cousin Theresa.
• The Apple store on 5th Ave.
• Blueberry pancakes at Clinton St. Bakery, minus the 1 hour and 45 minute wait  >_<.
• The last minute right before the ball dropped at Times Square, minus the 5 hours and 59 minute wait beforehand.
• 30% off sale-price sale at BR.
• PDT Bar. Really great original drinks made in the old-fashioned way.
• Momofuku Ssam Bar’s fried brussel sprouts (trust me), kimchi apples, and  steamed pork buns. I don’t usually eat much pork, but I’m glad I made the exception this time.

Lowlights of our trip:

• The wait to do practically anything.
• The crowds and lines and more lines, and more lines…
• Did I mention the lines?
• Slow-ass people that take up the entire sidewalk (actually, that’s a running pet peeve of mine so it doesn’t only apply to New York).
• Trying to hail a taxi in freezing weather and they’re all full.
• Rob lost one of his gloves at the Statue of Liberty and it seemed like the entire island sold out of mens gloves. We tried BR, J Crew, Gap, H&M, Armani Exchange, etc.

Overall, a great trip and we’ll want to be back in the couple of years to experience the stuff we didn’t get to see yet. Photojournal to follow when I finally get all 5k pictures uploaded.

{Feel free to click on the images for the complete image and their descriptions}

Rabbit's Foot Meadery

So after I kidnapped the hubs from work, we headed straight to Rabbit’s Foot Meadery in Sunnyvale. The owner, Maria was sweet enough to let us have a tasting even though it was late in the day. We tried 3 different meads, a chocolate raspberry port, three cysers, and three ales. I liked everything we tried and we made out with bottles of both a sweet and a dry mead.

We then set off to a tea shop and got educated on all the various teas. The shop specialized in Taiwan oolong and aged Pu-erh tea. We got a set of teas to try with the cast-iron teapot we found in Chinatown awhile ago. Since we had a late reservation at Chez TJ, we walked around for a bit and wandered into a fish store. They had some of the coolest fish and other animals to look at including this itty bitty shark:

Shark Purse w/ cute baby shark inside!

Chez TJ Review after the jump

Continue reading Rob’s Birthday and Chez TJ Review