Last weekend, the one before this past one, Randy and I went to Napa with a busload of parents from our school.  We were supposed to be on a tricked out school bus but instead it was like a big prom bus.

We bought this excursion at our school auction and the organizers did a great job.  We went to three wineries.  This is Trefethen which was our first stop.  We all really liked the wine although Randy said he would never order it in a restaurant because he wouldn’t know how to pronounce it.  That made me giggle.

Next stop was St. Supéry where they prepared a lovely wine and cheese tasting for us.  We also got to have a catered lunch on their grounds.

Last stop was Louis Martini.  It isn’t the most scenic winery but I loved this tree.  They were the only winery that would allow a busload of 28 people come by on their last wine tasting stop.  Let’s just say things were a little rowdier toward the end of the trip than in the beginning.  There was even an after party that we did not make it to.

First baseball game.  All the little league teams are named after major league teams.  Spencer is a Texas Ranger.

I’ve been leaving my cookbooks alone for a bit and have been just cooking things I like.  I will share three recipes this week and share a bit more about this style.

Love the intersecting lines.

Fog!  All of lower Oakland, San Francisco, and Marin socked in.

An amazing (and brand new!) shop near my house.  Lesley Evers is a local designer and, as it turns out, a mom of kids at our school.  Apparently she has trunk shows.  I bought this one.

Washing farmers’ market lettuce.

This is Veronica.  She was taking a break from being on the wall because the wall was being painted.  We started calling her Veronica because she looks like one (and we call our GPS Veronica), and then we found out from the artist that the model’s name was, in fact, Veronica.

New shoes.  I’m in love.

New bracelet.  Ditto.  You can see the tiniest little bit of my tattoo in this photo.

Strawberries from the farmers’ market.  The best.

When we first moved in to our house, we met some neighbors up the street who mentioned that they too had moved from Seattle.  They also mentioned that occasionally when it was a “hot night” many of them would gather in the cul-de-sac, order pizza, drink wine, and make s’mores.  After the first of these that we joined in, Spencer started asking when it was going to be a “hot night” again.  So the gatherings are now officially called a “hot night” by everyone.  It is pretty amazing sitting in a camping chair, watching the sun go down over the Bay, drinking California wine, while the kids ride bikes in endless loops.  Life is good.