Monterey/Carmel/SF/Sonoma Valley

I have been busy with work, so haven't had time to blog about my trip up north. I've finally finished compiling the details, so happy reading!

Tiff and I traveled up north couple weekends ago since we both had free time. No, we didn't drive nor did we fly up north; instead we rode a bus. No, not the Greyhound but a Chinese bus. It works the same way as the Greyhound, I suppose...except full of Asians? But anyways, we took off from Monterey Park early Wednesday morning and departed Cupertino on Sunday morning.

Thursday - Monterey/Carmel
Off we went to Monterey to check out tourist sites like Cannery Row and 17-Mile. We had lunch at Bubba Gump in Cannery Row. Yep, you're right, if you thought it was that. The name is derived from the movie, Forrest Gump. Inside/outside the restaurant, you can see the references to the movie. Why did we end up eating there? No one else knew where to eat and this was the most interesting place. Seated at the table, we had a view of the ocean and the pier. It was a cloudy day, but thankfully the weather held up and didn't rain on our party!



We had chinese takeout for dinner and ate at home. For drinks, we made our own smoothies! I've been craving them ever since my DC trip. Petto had some frozen fruits, so in went all the different kinds of fruits, honey, soy bean drink (substitution for yogurt), and Guava juice. It was delicious! In fact, it was so good that I drank TWO full glasses of it. Needless to say that I went to the restroom soon afterwards.

Friday - San Francisco
We met up with several high school friends for dinner at this small, cozy Mediterranean restaurant, called La Mediterranee. The food was relatively inexpensive, considering the restaurant was located in San Francisco where parking is a pain the arse. All those one way streets and no-parking-between-such-and-such-times signs. *Ugh* Don't know which city is worse, downtown LA or San Francisco. Maybe equally bad? Darn all those metropolitan cities!



Saturday - Sonoma Valley
We were up north just at the right time. Russian River Wine Road held their annual Barrel Wine Tasting event during March 3rd weekend. Several wineries from Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley, and Healdsburg Tasting Rooms (in town) opened their cellars for our tasting pleasures! This was our chance to taste futures on their barrel samples, talk to winemakers, and explore the different Valleys. The scenery wasn't much to look as all the grapes are in the freaking barrels! Saw no grapes, only the naked vines. Although I did see cherry blossom trees! So beautiful!



And for all you alchies out there, no, we didn't get drunk! The wineries don't give us enough wine to get drunk off...just enough to taste, hence the event name "Tasting Event."

Saturday Nite - Kirala Restaurant
After wine tasting, which ended around 4pm, we drove to Berkeley to eat at Kirala. Tiff's been craving for this ever since I've been boasting about it since our college years. Finally, she got to dine at this Japanese restaurant. Even though we went there relatively early, it was PACKED already; there was an hour long wait. Good thing we had a Japanese boyo, so he had the manager give him a call when our seats were available. The quirks of speaking the correct language at the correct place!

We had sushi and robata grilled foods, all ordered by our Japanese boyo! Some of you are gonna think, "how is this place compared to Sushi Wasabi?" It's...different. At Kirala, the pieces are in larger portions. For example, since Hiro knew the sushi chef, we got really HUGE Toro pieces. Yuuuuuuuuuummy! Oh, and my favorite...UNI! Since Tiff didn't like Uni, I got to eat her piece. Gosh, so gooood! *Drools* Too bad Tiff wasn't feeling well though, so she didn't eat much. What a bummer for her! I will refrain from telling (to the public mass) what she did when we got home. *Ask me in private* HAHAHA.

Overall, the trip was tiring (woke up early and slept late every day). However, I had lots of fun as expected! Hopefully, we can do this again...but this time trash Petto's house, right!? :D