Friday, July 25, 2014

Muir Woods National Monument

After our one-night stay in San Francisco, it was off to wine country for the majority of our trip. Jieun had never seen redwoods before, so taking her to Muir Woods was a must. Plus, she had just watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes. With "Dawn" just around the corner, I had to show her Caesar's forest home!







Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Tyler Florence's Wayfare Tavern

We took a trip to the bay area last month to celebrate our 2-year anniversary and our first stop was Wayfare Tavern. I'm just a Tyler Florence fan for no good reason. There wasn't anything in particular that I had heard about his restaurant. I just wanted to try it.



We started with a couple of tasty cocktails. Pictured is my Barrel Aged Boulevardier with Jieun's Cocoa Rum Old Fashioned in the background.



Wanting to try a couple of appetizers, we went for the French Fried Oysters and American Kobe Tartare. The oysters had a light and delicate outer crunch that preserved the perfectly cooked oysters on the inside. A few of them were actually cauliflower florets, which was disappointing albeit still delicious. The garnish also featured cauliflower shavings to tie it all together.



The tartare was good. It was topped with a raw egg with garlic popovers on the side. I found the popovers to be highly enjoyable, except that they automatically serve you the same thing when you first sit down. We had garlic popoverload.



We decided to just go with one main dish and accompanied it with a couple of sides. I'm not a macaroni and cheese guy, but Jieun wanted to try it. We both agreed that it was forgettable.



The Collard Pea Tendrils, on the other hand, were mouth watering. I like the upscale take on collard greens. Actually, I had never even heard of pea tendrils before. This side dish was a big win.



Finally, we went with Tyler's Organic Fried Chicken as our main. I don't remember what lead to this decision. I guess it's their best-seller. For sure, the chicken had great flavor and the exterior had that same light and delicate crunch as the oysters.

By this point, we were quite full and had our fill of fried items. We ended up taking a couple of chicken pieces to-go and they were remarkably even more delicious the next morning!

Sunday, July 20, 2014

12 Days of Beer Camp

Sierra Nevada released a one time only 12-pack where each beer is a collaboration with a different craft beer brewery. With 12 days left in the month, I figured today is as good a day as any to start my "12 days of Beer Camp." It's self-explanatory really. I'm going to enjoy a brew from this collection on each day for the next 12.

The order below is random, except for wanting to keep the two cans on the sides for visual reasons.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Selfie Fixation

We recently took a trip to the bay area. We may or may not have been obsessed with taking selfies. The ones I posted below aren't even all of them.

It started in Sausalito.



Continued into Muir Woods.





Kept going in wine country (Ledson Winery in Sonoma Valley).



Lingered as we enjoyed our dinner in the Vista Dome car on the Napa Valley Wine Train.



And concluded with our visit to the famous Chateau Montelena Winery in Calistoga.