Wine tasting in the sun :-)

On Sunday we were delighted to be invited to the Vintage Santa Clara Wine & Food Festival with Eric and Rose - an annual alumni event at Santa Clara University where Eric was a student. Now, this most likely conjures up an image of elegantly dressed people sniffing, swirling and spitting fine wines in the sunshine - and you would almost be right! There were many elegantly dressed people, there were lots of very fine wines, but not a whole lot of "tasting" going on!!






So, I'll set the scene. We're in a courtyard at the uni and it's full of little white tented stalls representing all the local wineries. Once you had paid for your ticket, everything at the event was free, so you just picked up your glass on arrival and started making your way round the stalls.

Now, we tried to be methodical so we could fit all the stalls in but that plan soon fell by the wayside!! (At this point I should probably point out that we were only getting wee taster pours at each stand, although there was nothing to stop you going back repeatedly if you found one you liked!)




There was every kind of wine under the sun, and even a few beers if you were that way inclined, but I stuck to the red and soon lost track of what I had and hadn't tried! My personal favourite was easy to remember though, as it was a rather delicious cabernet sauvignon from the Punch Vineyard, which was the name of my dog when I was a kid! :-)




Luckily some local restaurants also had stands and we were able to line our stomachs with chicken skewers, calamari, roast hog, and a Mexican ground beef pasty which was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten!!






A wonderful ageing rock band provided the sound track for the afternoon, and inevitably there was much dancing as the wine took hold!








It was a wonderful afternoon, and full of many moments where Hubby and I had to pinch ourselves as we still cannot quite believe that this is our life now!







But our day was not over yet. Custom dictates that when the festival ends everyone make there way to the local student bar a short walk away - and I mean everyone!! I have never seen so many people crammed in to one place, and it was incredibly uncomfortable so we didn't stay long.



Eric told us an interesting story, though, of how everyone comes after graduation and pins a dollar bill with their business card (or some just write their name on the bill) to the ceiling, and if they get made redundant they can come back and take the dollar down and get a free drink. I thought that was a nice story, and all the dollar bills made an impressive sight!



Any sane person would have gone home at this point, but we stayed out for another hour or two, luckily in a much quieter bar, before we headed for the train home - very drunk and very happy ..... *hic*

A HUGE thank you to Eric and Rose for an awesome day out!!! x

Further adventures in baking land ......

So, yesterday I decided it was time to try and bake bread. We have long lamented the fact that we can't find a decent loaf of bread over here (seriously - wtf is the obsession with sour dough?!?!?!), and as my beloved Philippa came with a dough hook I was finally out of excuses not to try.



Now, I'm usually a wholegrain kind of girl, but my little Kitchen Aid recipe book suggested a simple white easy rise loaf for beginners so that's what I went with. It was a wonderfully simple recipe - dump stuff in mixer and ..... errrr ....... mix! The recipe made two loaves, but i felt there was too much dough for the mixer and poor Philippa seemed to be struggling.








I persevered with the kneading until I started to fear for my little mixer's well being, then shaped the dough into loaves and popped them in the fridge to rest and rise.









I had little faith when I popped the first loaf in the oven, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a little dense, though I'm not sure if that was how it was supposed to be or if further kneading would have helped, but it was still tasty with a nice crunchy crust and made a suitable accompaniment to last night's soup.





As first attempts go I felt it could have been a lot worse, and there is something unbelievably satisfying about eating your own homemade bread!! Am I about to stop buying shop made bread? Well, probably not! But I'm definitely looking forward to having another go!! :-)

Baking and barbecues

Yesterday was a particularly good day! I was in full on domestic goddess mode and spent the day in the kitchen. I had a wee craving for soup so made a little pot of carrot and coriander and a humongous pot of ham and vegetable - yum! But the highlight of my afternoon was, once again, spending some quality time with Philippa! :-)

We were going to a barbecue in the
evening so I decided it was the perfect excuse to try making cupcakes with the mixer. I probably would have made them anyway, but this way I wouldn't have to eat them all. And I would have. Easily.

Once again, my beloved mixer proved she was worth every cent! My cupcakes could no longer be used as doorstops!! The sponge was light and fluffy, and the frosting was silky and smooth - I
was almost sorry I had to share them!


As I was on a roll, I decided to mix up some more cookies to take to the barbecue too. (I had originally planned on taking the ones I'd made on Friday, but sadly there were only two left ...) It was while sorting the ingredients that I realised I had accidentally made the previous batch using baking powder instead of baking soda. Now, I'm not really sure what the difference is, but the only difference in the end result seemed to be a whiter cookie. I would be very grateful if someone (Nancy? Kirstie?) could tell me why this should be .......



Anyway, the goodies were well received at the barbecue, and of the 12 cupcakes and 11 cookies (one cookie was consumed in advance for quality control ...) only one cupcake was left at the end of the night :-)





Much fun was had at the barbecue! Peter had marinaded a tritip (mmmm .... beef ......!) and Teo (pictured next to hubby) brought some yummy prawn skewers.









In addition to burgers and hotdogs, our hosts Cameron (left) and Katy (below on the left) made some divine chicken stuffed with homemade pesto and wrapped in bacon (Cameron - I want the recipe for your pesto!)








We ate, we drank, we tried not to piss the neighbours off, and after a wee round of Guitar Hero we retired to bed, drunk and happy!! :-)

Cookie-tastic!! :-)

Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! How much do I love Philippa?! (In case you missed my last post, Philippa is my new mixer)



We had our first playdate today making cookies, and I have to say they are my finest work to date!! In my world the perfect cookie is crunchy round the edge and soft and crumbly in the middle, but previous efforts, while tasty enough, were crunchy all the way through. I had tried less time in the oven but the end result was still the same.





Whipping up a batch of cookie dough with Philippa was a dream! No sore arm and shoulder from trying to beat the butter! No head to toe dusting of flour - well, only a little when I turned the mixer up too high!

For some reason the end result was a lot paler than previous attempts, but looked more like the cookies I know and love, and as you can see from the next photo, these cookies were so wonderfully soft I couldn't even get all of them off the tray in one piece.




So all in all, I think I can quite confidently call this exercise a success!! Tomorrow's mission is to see how Philippa performs with cupcakes, but my mission right now is to try and not eat all the cookies before Hubby comes home. Chances .........?!?!

Who am I and what have I done with myself .....?!?!

Ok, so I know I haven't been around for a while, and I do have some adventures which I will try and write about soon, but I really feel I have to share my latest excitement!! Please meet Philippa, my shiny new mixer!! (yes, I have a strange habit of naming inanimate objects - don't ask .....)




I have been very surprised to discover that I have a budding passion for baking, and I imagine most of my friends will be surprised too! (although, I think Kirstie will be quite proud!) I have made some valiant attempts at making cupcakes and cookies manually, but haven't been too pleased with the consistency of the dough so am looking forward to having a go with the mixer. :-)

Further excitement was had when I also bought a sewing machine online. My current skills don't stretch beyond sewing on a button, but I have fancied trying my hand at dressmaking for a while and, with help from the "idiots guide to sewing" book I ordered and pestering my friend who lives across the road (I apologise in advance, Katy!), I should hopefully be turning out pretty little dresses in no time :-)

Well, that's all I really have for now. I will keep you posted on my forays into domestic goddess-ery - I'm sure you could all do with a laugh! First up will be new improved cookies tomorrow - watch this space ........

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! :-)

10 years ago today two young crazy fools stood in front of their loved ones (and one scary old minister!) and did the whole "til death us do part" thing. I do not feel old enough to have been married for 10 years, but there it is in black and white on the marriage certificate so it must be true!!









I can only assume that my dear husband was dropped on his
head as a baby as any man in full control of his faculties would surely have ran for the hills a long time ago! Fortunately for me he has stuck around, and he has made me happier than I ever thought possible.












I was particularly happy this morning when he
presented me with this little beauty!!






My original engagement ring, bought when Hubby was still a student for "less than we pay for a nice meal these days" (his words) had broken again a few months ago, and fixing it for a second time would mean that it had cost more to repair than he paid for it all those years ago!






I had (cheekily and hopefully) hinted at the time that perhaps a new ring might be in order, and we had briefly discussed it last week, but I never imagined something so beautiful and was utterly gobsmacked when he gave me the little box this morning!!








One reason I was so surprised is that I thought I already had my anniversary present - I had returned home from Scotland on Tuesday night to find this waiting for me!



My very own bass guitar!!! I have wanted to play the bass guitar since I was about 17 when my good friend Claire and I spent many evenings watching scruffy bands in dingy little pubs and clubs around Edinburgh. I was always captivated by the bass players who stood around looking a bit bored and incredibly cool, and produced sounds so deep and beautiful they made me shiver. I can't see me getting more than a shudder of horror out of my audiences, but i'm going to give it my best shot and Gods dammit, i'm going to enjoy myself!!!







So, now i'm faced with the challenge of how to repay my wonderful husband for these anniversary gifts, particularly as I am now a kept woman and buying him a present with his own money seems a little wierd! Hmmmmm ....... how about some freshly baked love? Need I say more ..........?

Hello Sailor! ;-)

Let me tell you about our latest
adventure - a day at sea!! Well, technically a day sailing round San Francisco Bay, but you get the idea.

It all started at 8am on Saturday when Pirate Pete and I assembled at Captain Leo & First Mate Vera's house and set off for the marina in Berkley where we were hiring our boat from. Second Mate Brian joined us at the marina and our little crew was complete.




We set about prepping our 26ft vessel for action, with the seasoned sailors taking care of the technical stuff - y'know, the sails and shit - and Brian and myself attempting to go through the pre-sail checklist, which was a bit of a challenge as we really didn't know our jib from our boom or whatever that thing is called! But with a little help from the captain we were soon done and making our merry way out of the marina.

It was a beautiful, though chilly, morning and the wind was good for sailing as we set off towards San Francisco. Once Leo had cleared the marina everyone got a shot at steering, although I politely declined my turn - I was quite content with my responsibilities pulling the rope to turn the front sail thingy (which I later learned was the jib). Brian was up first, and did a grand job for a newbie! He did pull some interesting manoeuvres, and Vera and I soon decided that the theme for the day was Adventure Sailing, but there were no casualties!




Next up was Peter, who was sailing for the first time
in about 15 years, and enjoyed testing the boat's capabilities. In fact, he viewed the fact that the boat was impossible to capsize more like a challenge and we all enjoyed his many attempts to disprove this!!

He was clearly having an awesome time, and everyone was happy to leave the bulk of the steering up to him for the rest of the day, with the captain content to direct and advise.








Sadly, though, we were about to have our one and only casualty of the day when Peter's hat was blown off :-( A rescue was attempted, but was soon called off when we forgot to nominate someone to keep an eye on the hat and it disappeared. Though saddened by our loss, we ventured on .....








Our goal was to hit the farmer's market at Fisherman's Wharf for lunch, and soon the famous skyline of San Francisco came in to view. Unfortunately the wind was not really playing our game and it took us a few attempts to get on course, but the boys were spurred on by Vera's frequent demands for burgers .....







...... right in to the path of a container ship! At first we thought we could comfortably pass the ship and held our course. A brief game of maritime chicken ensued until our opponents sounded their horn and we pulled a swift U-turn to give them right of way!!






Eventually we made it to shore, an hour later than hoped, and went to play in the market. Farmers markets are really popular over here and this one was awesome!! We headed first to the hot food stalls and feasted on burgers from a speciality butcher - Vera and Leo had been singing their praises all morning and they lived up to their reputation! We then wandered round the rest of the market and bought some strawberries for dessert - yum! Sadly I forgot to take my camera with me to the market so I can't show you all the sights, but we will definitely be going back and I shall do my best to remember next time!! We passed a very pleasant couple of hours on land then headed back to the boatie for round 2.

In anticipation of stronger winds, the captain decided to set off with only the main sail raised to make the boat easier to control. But as we sailed round the bottom of Angel Island it became clear that the wind was not in our favour and we were forced to weave continuously to try and catch the gusts. This made for very slow progress and some unrest among the crew!

Now, don't judge, but at this point we decided to cheat a little and powered up the motor to get us round the corner and back to the fun times. Oh, and there were fun times a-plenty to come! With the wind our friend once again, we were propelled smoothly around Angel Island and on to the home strait.



Now, this is where things got interesting, and Peter's sailing skills were put to the test! With the wind behind us, and away from the protection of the island, the waves were getting bigger - and a lot more fun!! Peter had to work hard to get us through the swells with only minor soakings - and while he wasn't always successful nobody minded because, quite simply, is was bloody brilliant fun!!!



Tired and wet (some more so than others!) we made it back to the marina around 6pm. With thoughts of the free bar and barbeque the sailing club was providing in our minds, we sped through the packing up and hosing down of our little vessel, only to discover that the damn thing finished at 6pm!! But, as Leo said, we would much rather have had the extra time on the water so we weren't too upset!



To round off our day we all made the trip back into San Francisco to a random little dive bar called the Broken Record where we enjoyed such delicacies as pork fries, blue cheese chicken wings, and chilli served in a cheesy toasted bun, while we raised a glass of beer to our adventures at sea.




This was such a fun day out! I have always loved being on or around the water, but this was my first time actively sailing (although my role was mainly decorative for most of the journey!) and I absolutely loved it!!!

So, when's the next trip ....?!?!?!?!?!?!

PS - A huge thanks to Vera and Leo for organising the trip, and to Brian too - it was a pleasure to meet you!

PPS - Pirate Pete has already started looking into boats for sale, and we have narrowed the parrot down to a Norwegian Blue called either Hades, Jasper or Vigo. Watch this space ....... :-)