One of the best wineries around has one of the best summer celebrations. Matanzas Creek’s Days of Wine & Lavender. The annual event usually takes place in late June.
Though it’s always nice to visit Bennett Valley’s Matanzas Creek, when the lavender’s in full bloom it’s especially nice. The kind folks at the winery turn the lavender bloom and subsequent harvest into a big afternoon garden party with gourmet food, music and dancing, bocce to play and watch, lavender crafts to make and buy, along with other activities around the winery. (You should still be able to snap up Francois Cordesse’s awesome wines with festival discounts if you buy pre-2009 vintages.)
Of course, the main activity is wine tasting. On a sunny Sonoma day, when you’re sipping a glass of cool Sauvignon Blanc amidst the lavender blooms, you’ll feel just as happy as the tame bees buzzing around the purple plants. (The bees get a bit tipsy on the lavender, apparently, as will you on the fantastic wines.)
Safety First Note: If you don’t have a friend who’s a designated driver, book a hotel in Santa Rosa and have a taxi take you to the event and pick you up. Or, hire a limo to and from with a crew of friends. It would be a shame if anything happened to you that precluded you from going to next year’s Days of Wine & Lavender.
In case you haven’t noticed, candy for grown-ups is officially beyond trend. It is a fact of the grown-up landscape.
Maybe it’s the punch of the face of the recession. Maybe it’s the mortgage you can’t pay for. Maybe it’s the realization that you may be sitting in a beige cube for the next 30 years (or longer, given what has happened to your 401K).
Whatever grim grown-up news you face, candy takes you away from that. Particularly a little nook like fiona’s sweetshoppe with old-fashioned, glass apothecary jars showcasing their sweet contents: chocolate-covered nuts, gummies, sour candies, licorice, and more delights from all over the world. The special focus is on candy from Britain, home of one of the world’s best candy bars, most notably the Cadbury Flake. (Findable at fiona’s.)
For some reason, the Brits are way ahead of us on mass market candy bars. Perhaps it’s their wise decision to provide flavorful chocolate instead of loading a bar with wax for shipping purposes. (This is readily apparent in all mainstream chocolate candies, but very very obvious if you have a malt ball taste-off between Whoppers & Malteasers. Malteasers win every time. Less or no wax taste. Also findable at fiona’s.)
If you happen to be downtown and in need of cheer, although I typically recommend visiting a bar to remedy your troubles, candy is a nice change of pace. (And, there’s no hangover!) Or, if you need to bring a hostess gift and want to forego the candle or soap you have tucked away in your closet, fiona’s is also a good stop, as every offering is beautifully wrapped.
Swing by at 214 Sutter (right next to the entrance of Claude Lane), or check it all out online @ www.fionassweetshoppe.com
Della Santina’s is one of those Italian places where it is difficult to decide what to order because everything you see on the menu and coming out of the kitchen looks great. Fortunately, you won’t go wrong with anything on the menu here. Roast meats are fantastic. Pastas are fresh and sauced well. You really can’t go wrong with anything featuring mushrooms. If they have penne con funghi or anything con funghi, give it a try as they really seem to understand how to honor mushrooms.
The main room is a sweet white cottage-type area, making you feel as if you’re eating in an old school Sonoma family’s home. (And, in a way, you are!) The vine-covered patio, out back, is a beautiful place to have dinner when the season’s right. The servers are always nice and knowledgeable.
The wine list offers an amazing variety, and Della Santina’s is run by one of the most knowledgeable wine guys in the county. (Which is saying something in a county of wine experts.) I was introduced to Radio-Coteau here, which you should try if there are still a few bottles kicking around. On my last visit, there weren’t, but, we discovered the restaurant’s own private label, “R Cellars,” that had a fantastic, very nicely priced, pinot noir.
The commitment to wine knowledge is why Enoteca (also owned by Della Santina’s folks), next door to the restaurant, is worth stopping by before or after dinner. Many interesting wines are on offer there, for sipping on site or taking home with you. There’s even a wine club if you just can’t get enough.
For more info & hours (they also do lunch), check out www.dellasantinas.com, or just swing by: 133 East Napa Street, Sonoma (right off the town square).
Discover your inner Viking at this unique festival
On my father’s side, I come from a long line of Norskes. After moving to San Francisco, I was pleasantly surprised to find a few more links to Norwegian culture here than I expected. (Not sure why I was so surprised since San Francisco is on the water and Norwegians are a notoriously sea-faring people.)
However, the best and biggest surprise is the Norway Day Festival at Fort Mason, where you can enjoy some great open-faced shrimp or salmon sandwiches and drink a few beers, all while taking in some fine musical performances and cooking demonstrations for things like lefse (a crepe-like item that you roll in butter and sugar). In addition to lefse, be sure to try some kringle for dessert.
Even if your ancestors didn’t roll with the Vikings, you can have a great time at this unique and fun festival. It usually takes place in early May. For more info, along with schedules for music and performances, take a look here: http://www.norwayday.org/
After a day of walking through Golden Gate Park or hanging out on the beach, the Chalet is a great place to wet your whistle with the great beer made on site. (Of course, the cocktails and the wine aren’t bad either.) The Chalet encompasses 2 restaurants, each with its own vibe and menu.
When you first enter the building, you’ll notice the beautiful murals that cover the walls, a WPA project. (Back in the day, to help take the sting out of Depression-related unemployment, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration employed artists to beautify public buildings. The Chalet is one of the best examples of such art in San Francisco.)
On closer inspection of the murals, however, you will notice some interesting details, which seem to imply that, perhaps, not everything was as it should be with the local denizens. One creepy stand-out is the mural section as you head over to the bathrooms (on the right side of the passage to the bathrooms). Once you start looking for strange, symbolic things in the murals (think: sausages, fountains, and cylinder shapes at odd angles), you’ll find the oddities right in plain sight. (Much like San Francisco itself, but I digress.)
The Beach Chalet, upstairs, has a menu that’s more steakhouse-focused, and the steaks are great. There’s a lot of music (particularly jazz) played up there throughout the week, which makes it pretty enjoyable. The view of the ocean is tremendous for dinner when you can watch the sunset. For breakfast, while you sip a fine bloody mary, you can watch the surfers and other ambitious aqua-athletes (kiteboarders, skimboarders, and more) hit the frigid ocean in the morning.
The Park Chalet is downstairs in the back, and has a different food menu, though the same great libations. Pizzas are great. Burgers and other grilled stuff are also good, particularly when you eat them outdoors at the weekend BBQ on their lawn (only available during certain months). Studded with cheerful Adirondack chairs where you can get service, the lawn’s a perfect place to watch some great music outdoors in the summer. (The Mermen swing by from time to time.) You’re also welcome to throw a blanket down on the grass when the comfy chairs fill up, and you can even get service from your own blankie. Sunny Sundays are very popular here, and you’ll see a great cross-section of San Francisco folks massively enjoying the weather, tunes, and beer.
If it’s too chilly for all that, as it often is in San Francisco, they’ll do the music indoors at the Park Chalet, which is just fine. The entire indoor area is glass, which opens and closes in different configurations to make you feel like you’re always outside. There’s a stone fireplace that is nice to sit and sip next to on cooler nights, of which there are many in San Francisco, particularly in July.
Check out their site for special nights, special deals, and music schedules before you go @ www.beachchalet.com Or, just get surprised and head over to the end of Golden Gate Park at 1000 Great Highway. If you have only one day in San Francisco and the weather happens to be nice, this is a must-visit.
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