Well, since I went to bed last night really early, I am getting an early start to see my Dad. Â He is buried at San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in Gustine, CA which is only an hour on the freeway. Â A total of 1hr and 15 minutes from my home. Â A really nice drive. Â I ALWAYS have a foldable chair in the truck of my car, a blanket and the necessary tools to cut the roses and a bag to not make a mess. Â I am absolutely grateful that my Dad is buried in such a pristine Cemetery. Â I always drive to Safeway, grab a extra hot, hot chocolate, my dozen red roses, a little memento for the grave. Â I try to remember to bring an american flag. Â Last month, I placed a little mini pumpkin on his grave. Â The month before that was a half drank bottle of coco cola. Â Coke was his favorite soda. Â The reason why I drank half of it, I didn’t want the maintenance crew or whomever to drink something that I bought for him. Â So, if it’s half empty, who would drink it? Since it’s November, I can’t place a mini turkey. Â I have to think of something to place other than the flowers. Â Maybe I will just be traditional and place an american flag. Â He will LOVE that too. Â The cemetery opens at 8. Â I can’t wait for “THE VISIT”.
I’m already thinking about Thanksgiving weekend. Â Up to Truckee for sure. Â My brother his family and my Mom will be at his place while my husband and I will stay at his parents place which is only a half mile away. Â
Every time we go to Truckee it’s a mini vacation. Â It’s almost like having a time share except we don’t have to pay a fee. Â We just have to clean up after ourselves. Â That is the only part of it not feeling like a time share. Â But what do you expect, it is someone else’s home therefore you clean up a little extra.
I know that there won’t be much to do for my husband since the snow wont’ be on the ground-maybe a little but not enough to ski. Â You never know… with this warm weather we are having and the cold snap in the middle of the US and the cold snap in the East. Â It could switch at any time and REMAIN cold elsewhere (he he) and the snow could fall by Thanksgiving (AND STICK). Â But still, it won’t be good skiing conditions. Â You need at least a 4 foot base which means it would have to start snowing this weekend and keep snowing until Thanksgiving. Â
The plan for Saturday “DAY” was already planned out on Friday night. Â Clean house, do chores all morning and then our “reward” is to take the afternoon around 2 pm and head over to Wente (4 miles from our house) and wine taste. Â We also had a plan, we had to use a coupon, buy a couple of wines for ourselves and buy 2 bottles for my husband’s brother. Â So, we bought our wine and decided to head over to Blacksmith Square because on Saturdays- they always have a musician playing. Â Well, Blacksmith Square in Livermore has 5 winery tasting rooms- The Big White House (new), Red Skye, John Christopher Cellars, Retzlaff and Thomas Coyne. Â My Favorite is The Big White House while my husband’s favorite is Thomas Coyne. Â But….. with all the varietals served, his favorite winery at Blacksmith Square was Red Skye. Â So, by the time we got to Thomas Coyne and I had 2 samples, I was a bit tipsy and it was only 4 pm. Â Kind of funny. Â Tee hee! Â Wente had 5 complimentary tastings, Thomas Coyne had a tasting fee of $5 but had 6 tastings, after my 6th tasting, I had to sit down. Â While my husband went over to Red Skye for 5 tastings for $5. Then, I met up with him at The Big White House for 6 tastings maybe even 7. Â By the time we left at 6 pm, I was pretty lit. Â Sooooo lit that I couldn’t feel my aching feet anymore and it felt like I was walking on pillows. Â Went back to the car, put my Peach Champagne in the trunk and off to dinner we went. Â We walked around the new downtown a bit before deciding to eat at Strizzi’s (Italian). Â Dinner was good but service was sooooo SLOW. Â Normally, one can order their food, order a glass of wine and get their dinner before the wine is even half way gone. Â Not in this case, I ordered my salad, devoured it, the waiter came by and was shocked that I didn’t receive my salad yet. Â I informed him that I already ate it. Â He seemed shock that it was already gone, then asked to take our order but the general manager must have witnessed us sitting there a long time and took our order before the waiter came back. Â The waiter apologized and stated that he took a large party’s order. Â Blah, blah, blah. Â All in all, besides the service being really slow…… the food was really good. Â I ordered the asiago and garlic ravioli with a pesto garlic cream sauce (really good). Â I love cream sauces on my pasta. Â There was so much sauce left over that I needed more bread to sop of the tasty sauce. Â You know me, I am all about the sauce! The hostess brought over more bread, I wanted to get someone soon so my cream didn’t coagulate. Â My husband had the SPECIAL which was trout served with a pecan butter reduction, mashed potatoes and fresh seasonal vegetables. Â His looked fresh and LIGHT but when I eat Italian, I like decadent. Â We paid our bill and walked back to the coche. Â It was a very special treat.
Heading home… would you believe it was only 7:35 pm but it felt like 10 pm. Â I failed to mention that the weather was absolutely gorgeous earlier in the day. Â It was 75 degrees at one time. Â
We had actually done a lot in one day and to our surprise we were really tired. Â We got home, changed clothes, brushed our teeth and we were in bed by 8:30 pm. Â Yep, we are getting old, in a GOOD WAY!
Do you ever find it odd, especially if you’ve had it quite a bit in a short period of time. Â It doesn’t matter what it is…… what type of food….. Â . Â If someone prepares it instead of you, it always seems to taste better?
Well, my father in law prepared a steak dinner in which he had two types of cut- London Broil and Rib Eye. Â Well, I don’t think it had to do with the cut, but more of how it was prepared. Â Jason and I hardly use the Yoshida’s marinade and we always BBQ on a propane BBQ. Â While my father in law- used the Yoshida’s marinade and use a charcoal BBQ. Â I forget how much the Charcoal BBQ really tastes better.
All in all, I have had a lot of meat lately and this steak dinner was really very good.
