Pumpkin Patch & Sonoma

Fall is my favorite season, and one of my favorite things about fall is going to the pumpkin patch! 

I was starting to worry that my insanely busy October was forcing me to miss out on the fun this year, but last weekend on a whim I wound up at a little patch along Highway 12 between Napa and Sonoma. 

I've got a not so secret obsession with ugly pumpkins - seriously, the more discolored and knobby they are the better! This particular patch had the ideal selection of both pretty, round carving pumpkins and misshapen, mantle-worthy ones. 

 

 

We finished off the afternoon tasting at Michael Mondavi and Domain Carneros. It was my first visit to Michael Mondavi (not to be confused with Robert Mondavi in St Helena), but I really enjoyed their tastings and even scored a case of chardonnay for half off! Domain Carneros is one of my all-time favorites and I try to pop by for a flight of sparkling wines every time I'm up that way.

Tourist in my City

There are so many fun things to do in San Francisco that I never do unless I've got out of town guests. It has been ages since I spent some time being a tourist in my own city, but I more than made up for it last weekend!

We drove down "the crookedest street" (Lombard), people watched at Ocean Beach from the patio at Cliff House (we event spotted a wedding ceremony on their balcony!), fingered through the endless racks of used albums at Amoeba Music in the Haight, shopped the farmer's market at the Ferry Building, enjoyed a 90-minute sailboat ride on the bay, rode the carousel at Pier 39, where we also watched a magic show and took silly photos in a photo booth.

 

 

 

Wine Cork Birdhouse

Sometimes I get these bursts of creative energy, usually after perusing the internet and shouting out, "That costs how much?! I could make that!" Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't, but oh how I have fun trying.

My latest crafty venture was this wine cork birdhouse! My grandmother collects birdhouses, which are mostly displayed along her wraparound porch. All the family will be gathering Sunday to celebrate her birthday, so I thought this would be a fun little gift to bring along. I'm wishing I'd included some sort of wire hang for it, but she mostly places them on the porch alongside her flower beds, so I suppose it's just fine without.

Supplies:

Bag of assorted moss by Ashland

Two 6x6 wood squares by Art Minds

45 wine corks and 1 champagne cork

Hot glue gun

Instructions:

- Line up the corks next to the bottom wood square before you start gluing.

- Try to keep the glue lines toward the inside so it won't squish out and become visible.

- Glue bottom row of corks to wood square, reinforce with extra glue on the inside.

- Leave space for a door on the front.

- Glue second row of corks to first row of corks, reinforce with extra glue on the inside.

- Glue three corks laying down in the doorway as a perch.

- Glue second wood square to the top of the birdhouse.

- Glue champagne cork chimney onto roof.

- Glue as much moss as you'd like on the roof, allowing some to hang down slightly to cover any gaps where the roof wood square is not flush with the corks (this will happen since they're not all going to be the exact same size).

Giants and the Freda B

Coworkers and I were lucky enough to watch a Giants game from McCovey Cove aboard the Freda B recently! I've attended so many games at AT&T park, but this was my first time in the cove! We bundled up, enjoyed some brews and waved at the ESPN cameras all evening! 

 

 

SF Cocktail Week Food Truck Event

Night two of SF Cocktail Week was held at the SoMa StrEAT Food Park. The event boasted half a dozen food trucks and four specialty cocktails. The booze ran dry about an hour earlier than expected, but Anchor Brewing Company saved the day with plenty of Anchor Steam to go around!

Favorite food truck of the night: Voodoo Van
Favorite cocktail of the night: Canned cocktails by 15 Romolo canned onsite with The Can Van
Favorite memory of the night: Bumping into Jenna, one of our favorite event organizers, while she was opening an Anchor Steam for Andrew, one of our favorites at Pixar!

SF Cocktail Week Kickoff Party

Anchor Brewers and Distillers hosted a kickoff party for SF Cocktail Week last night!

The highlight of the event for me was tasting the winning cocktail from the Beantown vs Barbary Coast at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans earlier this summer... and from the mixologist herself!

 

The Tallest Man on Earth

Last night a friend and I went to the Fox Theatre in Oakland to see The Tallest Man on Earth. As if he isn't already brilliant on his album, oh my, you should hear this man live! As it turns out, he's actually a very small man, an unassuming hipster type with knees so knobby when he dances behind his guitar he appears almost childlike. His voice is hauntingly beautiful and his musical talent extends beyond the guitar, as he performed several songs on the piano as well.

We started out our evening with dinner at Betelnut. We've both been before, but I never tire of the interesting menu and open air bar seating. There was a seasonal tomato and curry chicken dish available, that turned out to be an excellent choice. It paired well with a South African Chenin Blanc.

 

Considering that shows nearly always start late, we were surprised when a long haired man and an unassuming drummer walked out on stage at 8 on the dot. They didn't introduce themselves, they just started right into a song. Half way through the set, the singer/ guitarist said between songs, "We should get to know each other better," which I assumed meant he'd introduce the name of his band, but he didn't, he just called out his drummer and then proceeded into the next song. I was so glad when The Tallest Man on Earth took stage and thanked his opener as Strand of Oaks, because the music was so interesting I was dying to know who to search on iTunes after the show.

 

 

Gluten Free Cupcakes

I just realized I never posted about these gluten free cupcakes I made for my coworker's birthday! 

Okay, well, let me just say before you get too proud of me, that I didn't make them from scratch. I had tossed the idea around but wound up deciding that since gluten free baking requires entirely different ingredients from traditional baking, none of which were previously in my kitchen, and because I only had one evening with which to throw these together, there simply wasn't time to buy all the necessary goodies and risk the first batch not turning out. There is a wonderful little gluten free grocery store near my work where I managed to find a cake mix. I got the yellow cake mix and added some almond extract for flavor, tossed out the frosting mix that came with it and made a basic sugar frosting mix with vanilla extract. I topped off the cupcakes with fresh blueberries and refrigerated them overnight. 

To make the "Happy Birthday" banner I used a toothpick, scrapbooking paper and a gold paint pen. I used one level of a cupcake tower and paper shreds for presentation.

I'm definitely inspired to do a bit of ingredient shopping next time I can get over to that shop so I can start practicing gluten free baking from scratch.

 

Goooo Niners!

Last night was the 49ers last preseason game, and what a way head into their 2012/13 season than with a 35-3 win against the Chargers! A handful of coworkers happened to be going to the game, so we carpooled from the brewery and got two hours or so of tailgating in before the game. At Anchor we're all about our "brews and baseball" theme with the Giants, but it's about time for some brews and football!

 

 

Jamaican me Crazy!

As it turns out that saying is quite true - Jamaican me Crazy - That country did drive me crazy! Crazy happy with rum and booty shakin music, and crazy frustrated with the overwhelmingly tourist-centric culture. 

Our bunch had some very bizarre encounters and experiences during our week in Negril, but looking back on the trip all I can think about is how incredibly gorgeous my dear friend was on her big day, and how blessed she is to have a wonderful man beside her for the rest of her life. They were wed just before sunset on Seven Mile Beach. While our wedding party took photos after the ceremony, guests enjoyed a cocktail hour complete with steel drum band. And who caught the bouquet at the reception? Oh you know it!