When you fly into San Francisco, you will encounter a city full of adventure that is less than an hour away from gorgeous countryside and vineyards.  You can take one of the bridges out of town- the Bay or Golden Gate bridges.  Less than an hour will take you to either Sonoma or Napa cities.  Both are located on the south end of their valleys which lead to more small cities and multiple wineries.  Before you get to either city, just to the south, you will pass through los Carneros which is a cooler spot used to grow very good Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay.  All valleys grow high quality grapes, though Napa holds slightly more history and prestige.

In the center of it all is Sonoma city.  By traveling east you can reach Napa city and take the highway north between the mountains, up the valley, and through the cities of Oakville, Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga.  Traveling west of Sonoma, you drive past Petaluma and north through Sonoma county up to Santa Rosa and Healdsburg.  And just to the north of Sonoma is Kenwood and Glen Ellyn.  Every one of these small towns has something great to offer- including many wineries very close by!  Plus each city, and the beach, are less than an hour from Sonoma.  It seems most who live here have no need to travel elsewhere, but don't get complacent as this, and the world, has much more to offer.

Make sure you have a good map or GPS available.  Even though it is easy to manuever, it is easy to get lost as well.  Also, prep clothing for multiple climates.  The bay area can be a bit cooler and the valleys a bit hotter.  San Francisco is currently about 75°F and the valleys 95°F.  And if you buy wine, remember you can no longer transport it in carry-on luggage.  Be prepared to either check wine carrying luggage or ship it.

Napa Valley Morning, originally uploaded by J. Austin.

Foggy morning in Napa Valley, California, USA.

It was beyond awesome to finally see M&B again.  We had such a good time, as usual.  I'm also happy to report that they decided to join us in Montreal again this December!  Now Todd and I just need to convince H&D to come again, and then we will have a full-fledged reunion of the H.F.L.

So, I plan on doing some more extensive writing on the dinners at The French Laundry and the Meadowood (and also on the lunch we had at Ubuntu), but first I thought I would give a few brief recaps of the other meals we had on the trip:

Orson, SF 

I guess I'll start with the sort of bad news. It is too dark, too big, and too loud.  Also, a little touch of acid would have helped almost every dish.  

A few highlights were the Elizabeth Spencer Sauvignon Blanc, the chicken sausage, the smoked trout with corn, and the soy/peach/white peony dessert.  The biggest missteps were the foie gras, the parmaggiano pudding, and the dish they are calling the "wondrous pig." I am a huge pork fan, PDC is my favorite place in the world, but this dish was so fatty and over-the-top heavy that I couldn't even eat half of it.  

I really wanted to like this place, because I really loved our lunch at Citizen Cake last year, but they are completely different animals.  Actually, I haven't been back to C.C. since the remodeling so it might have changed as well...

Cook, St Helena

Our head waiter at TFL said we should check this place out for lunch.  He was right.  It has all the hallmarks (IMHO) of a great neighborhood restaurant, it is casual, it serves great food (especially the pasta dishes!), and it has a nice wine list.  We especially enjoyed the soup of the day (which was a freakishly flavorful mushroom one), and their pasta alla bolognese.  

Sorry no pictures here either.  The light was fine, but I was drunk.

Barndiva, Healdsburg

This is definitely a place to check out if you ever find yourself in Healdsburg.  Much like Cook, it just feels like the kind of place that you would want to eat (or drink) at least once a week.  The kind of place where everybody would know your name.  Again, a really nice wine list helps to get things going in a good way. I love that they have some great international selections on the list (really enjoyed the Baumard Crémant de Loire BTG), in addition to the very solid Californian base.  The blended gazpacho and the burrata BLT were definitely highlights, and the berry shortcake was no slouch either.

Again, no pictures.  I really need to get this drinking under control...

Still to come:  Ubuntu, TFL, Meadowood, Arnot-Roberts, Oxbow Public Market, and Calistoga Ranch...

Several new websites have been put up in recent days that focus on the presidential transition:

The National Academy for Public Administration has launched a webpage with management insights for the next Administration and Congress.

The Academy is a congressionally-chartered institution comprised of distinguished current and former public leaders who are "dedicated to making government work better for those it serves." Its standing panel on executive organization and management undertook an assessment of the management capacity of the president starting in 2006 in anticipation of the election and transition later this year. That assessment is complete and individual members of the panel have prepared a series of issue papers on management topics such as the president’s role in the government’s use of human capital, budgeting, and organizational structure of agencies. The papers were peer-reviewed by other members of the panel, many of whom had extensive careers in the federal government in the White House, OMB, and cabinet departments.

The first 10 papers are now posted on this webpage, with at least a half-dozen more to be posted in the near future. My recent blog series on government reform is based on an extract from one of the issue papers that I contributed to the series. Many of the others are written from what I call the "traditionalist’ perspective and they provide useful insights based on decades of experience by the authors.

The General Services Administration (GSA) has launched a webpage detailing its statutory responsibilities associated with the presidential transition and the inauguration.

The webpage provides a useful overview and will likely be expanded over time. Ominously, it also includes the text of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act!

The Sunlight Foundation has created a useful resource that catalogs a variety of presidential transition projects ongoing around Washington. This catalog overlap with the list I’ve posted and updated periodically, but extends it a bit by adding organizations that have more of a policy orientation, such as the progressive November 5^{th Coalition} and the conservative American Solutions.

The on-line version of Federal Computer Week has launched a webpage to serve as a one-stop on events, conferences, and groups that are sponsoring initiatives related to the upcoming presidential transition effort.  It's a wiki site, so it can be continually updated.  I’ll hotlink the Center’s blog homepage to the new FCW page and help update that webpage rather than continuing the inventory list of organizations and events in this blog. Should be easier for people to find stuff that way.

Para quien desconozca este juego os hago un mini comentario sobre el. Si habeis llegado hasta hoy sin oir hablar de su primera o segunda parte, creo que estais de suerte, ya que uno de los mayores problemas de su primera parte (al igual que supongo que pasara con la segunda... y con cualquier juego imaginado por "el hombre batidora") fue el hype creado por el... prometia y prometia, y cuando parecia que ya no podias esperar mas... te prometian mas... y mas... hasta esperar de el solo una obra maestra de algo que solo podria ser comparado con Final Fantasy VII o Castlevania: SOTN... que paso, pues que el juego se quedo "solo" en una obra maestra de la generacion en curso. Sin duda, si tuvieramos ke hacer una TOP 5 de la Xbox (la primera) en ese top, aparecerian, el Fable, el Ninja Gaiden, el Fahrenheit, el Halo... y... Haceros vuestro Top vosotros!

Pues bien... que yo os iba a contar algo del juego. Es una genial aventura  que nos mete en el pellejo de un heroe al que daremos personalidad segun nuestras acciones, es decir, podemos darle una personalidad acorde con el angelical Superman o bien darle una actitud mas cabrona al estilo Hancock (pero mas cabron). Empezamos el juego siendo un joven cualquiera de una aldea cualquiera. Segun avanza la historia iremos creciando hasta la edad adulta... bueno, y hasta ser un viejales lleno de cicatrices, porque una de las grandiosidades de este juego es la causalidad... es decir... si te canean mucho tu cuerpo se vera marcado por unas antiesteticas cicatrices... Fuera del aspecto puramente visual, existen otras muchas consecuencias a nuestros actos, la gente nos ayudara o no segun lo cabrones que seamos, las mujeres (y hombres) nos amaran y querran hijos nuestros (literal)... y bueno, otras otras lindeces tipicas de un juego muy cuidado. Por ejemplo, si el propietario de una casa/tienda/granja muere por alguna causa "extraña" (entiendase como causa extraña, espadazo en lomo) sus tierras despues de un tiempo prudencial se pondran a la venta... hay que destacar que el juego se pueden adquirir todas los edificios de los poblados... con ellos puedes, descansar, coleccionar esposas (esposos tambien), o lo mas economico... alquilarlos para conseguir moneditas para nuestros caprichos... Hay muchos de nuestros actos que tienen efectos en todo el universo Fable, la mayoria puras curiosidades pero os aseguro que darse cuenta de ellas le hace a uno ver el cariño con el que este juego a sido creado...

Despues de lo dicho, lo me queda esperar que la segunda parte ofrezca un poquito mas de libertad en la historia, y que haga realidad antiguas promesas del juego...

Para abrir boca y demostrar una vez mas la originalidad del "hombre electrodomestico", en el bazar de Live esta disponible para descargar los Pub Games del Fable II, que no son ni mas ni menos que una seleccion de 3 minijuegos tipo casino para apostar, ganar y perder nuestro dinero... y digo nuestro dinero, ya que el dinero que ganemos o perdamos en este juego sera con el que empezaremos la aventura

cuando el juego salga... Bueno, que sepais que si perdemos mucho, somos libres de elegir no empezar con un pufo sino con el dinero inicial... Yo he pagado por el juego (compre un codigo por eBay) porque tenia demasiadas ganas de jugar y porque el juego de la torre de cartas me parecio de lo mas adictivo... pero a lo mejor 800mp resulta excesivo para otros juegos que se pueden adquirir (Geometry Wars 2 por ejemplo). Ahora viene lo bueno. Como los chicos de Microsoft a veces son buenos (o tienen buen ojo para los negocios), a todos lo clientes que hagan la preorder del Fable II se les enviara un codigo promocional para descargarse este juego gratis... Si os interesa ya sabeis... si sois muy gochos siempre podeis hacer la preorder en Game UK y cuando os manden el codigo la cancelais, no os cobraran nada, ya que esperan al momento del envio para hacer el cargo. Para los mas perezosos que estan dispuestos a adquirir el juego pero no ha hacer la reserva os ofrezco un codigo para descargarlo por la patilla (recordar, yo lo compre y luego me mandaron el de mi preorder) eso si, yo os lo regalo, pero que sea a alguien que tenga intencion de adquirir y jugar al juego...

Ya sabéis... los 2 que leeis esto... me decis!!

When I think of wine country, I think of indulgence - from the famous chefs cooking seven-course meals to the wine-tasting at world-famous vineyards. Unfortunately all that indulgence comes with a lot of guilt. A quick stop and hike at the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park will let you indulge guilt-free.

At just 4.6 miles and roughly 1,000 ft in elevation gain, this rather easy hike right in the heart of wine country will help you burn some calories in under two hours. Even with a heavily packed wine-tasting agenda, you can stop here and race through the hike. That's what we did this weekend before grabbing some gourmet pizza.

My favorite part about this hike was that it was almost completely shaded. Napa and Sonoma are usually much warmer than San Francisco and Point Reyes, and therefore represent a problem to those of us who are climate-control-challenged. But despite the warm temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s, this hike was quite comfortable. On the way up to Coyote Peak, the highest point in this hike, the breeze is like sangria...cools you down and makes you smile. Before we reached the top, we stopped to take a few pictures of the view and good thing we did because the views from the peak are pretty obscured (no good picture opportunities).

The creek was on the parched side in mid-August but it seems like it would be lovely when it's full. We scrambled over rocks to cross the creek on a few occasions and had to dodge horse souvenirs on the first mile or so. Other than these small obstacles, the path was well maintained and the climb quite moderate and doable.

Overall, I would recommend this hike if you're up in Napa or Sonoma and need a break from the wine-tasting, gourmet dining, hot springs-soaking lifestyle, but otherwise it's not worth the drive from the city.

Overall rating: Flip-flops for difficulty and duration

Rating system:

• Heels: So easy you can hike it in heels
• Flip-flops: Too long or hard to hike in heels, but flat flip-flops would work
• Pumas: A nice stroll not much harder than walking in the city
• Trailblazers: If you want to be nice to your feet on this hike, they’ll need some more serious protection and support.
• Hiking boots: Pull out the ugly shoes and summon your closet granola. This hike is going to kick your ass.

I absolutely love this location for destination weddings for Southern California residents. In my past events,  I've worked with some of the best vendors in the Napa and northern California areas and they put on a great show. 

Some of the best locations (just to name a few) for weddings in the Napa Valley include:

1. Auberge du Soleil
2. Calistoga Ranch
3. Gloria Ferrer
4. Beaulieu Gardens
5. Buena Vista Winery

If you are planning a destination wedding in the Napa Valley area, there are many different options to host your friends and family over the weekend. You could take your guests to various points of interest including wine tasting, bike riding, hiking, spas at the various resorts (think hot springs!), and casual to fine dining throughout their stay.

For the special couple, plan on staying a few days at the exclusive Auberge du Soleil resort. There is even an extra special dinner that you could plan for during your stay called Le Pagode Romance package. This is the private dinner for 2 with a special wine and four course meal prepared by a Michelin rated chef, in their Japanese style Ryokan. This is the ultimate in luxury, and perfect for a newlywed couple.

We have had lots of experience in event planning in the Napa area, as well as making many contacts with local area vendors, and therefore love any opportunity to plan and coordinate weddings up there. LA area residents have the benefit of having us available locally to meet and do their planning as well as proximity to the Northern California area for ease of travel for vendor meetings.

If you have questions regarding destination weddings to the Napa area, please contact us!

Needless to say, we are excited. So, instead of just heading out in the car without a destination, which can cause hunger and irritability, I went to Google to find mini destinations - stops, if you will - along our looping route through the beautiful Napa and Sonoma counties. And what I found when I got to Google is that they have altered their Google maps so that now, you can enter a string of directions, a continuous route and it will keep mapping it for you! I am so in love with it I can hardly speak. So here are our desination points:

Dean and Deluca in St. Helena. I know it's a chain, but it's still a loverly specialty store that has delicious deli snacks we'll pack up and take along on our drive. Plus, driving there is gorgeous. Wineries (fields of grapes), even if you don't drink, truly are a thing of beauty.

Then we'll head to the Matos Cheese Factory in Sebastopol to pick up some homemade local St. George and see the cows.

After that, it's apple pickin' also in Sebastopol if the weather's not too hot. Our apples are all ready here in California. In Sebastopol, it is mostly Gravensteins. Up at the farm, we have a grafted apple tree with five varieties on the same tree. The galas are crisp an delicious. I'll be eating two today! But there's not enough on that tree for pie and sauce, and of course, you can't climb it!

Then we'll go to Bodega Bay and sit down and stare at the icy waters! You totally can't swim - it's about 50 magrees - but you can touch your toes in it and feel happy!

Finally, we'll head to Target in San Raphael to get plastic storage bins for all my belongings. Why you ask? Because the upstairs neighbor (who moved out yesterday) decided to take a shower in her claw foot tub and allow about four gallons of shower water to run on the floor, which gravity then pulled down through her floor - my ceiling - and deposited on top of every piece of clothing I own. I am now afeared of putting anything in that closet should an upstairs neighbor be dumb enough to put the shower curtain on the OUTSIDE of the claw foot tub, rather than in (think about it) and ruin my shit yet again.

Also in that closet: sleeping bag, photos, suitcases, 70% of all worldly possessions. The photos, thank God, made it out unscathed. The suitcase, called "Star Fifty" was dead anyway and this helped me throw it out, so that was also good. Bad was: $90 dry cleaning bill for clothes, $12 laundering bill, and a week of a rickety fan blowing at the wall to dry it out before they repaint. Good again: landlord paying dry cleaning bill and idiotproofing resealing upstairs floor/base board. Extra good: I'm getting a light in the hallway, which did not have a light before, which made it difficult to get my clothes out of the dark closet (and also made the closet feel creepy). Bonus!

We deserve a day trip! Don't you think?

Warning: If you're a vegetarian, or a person who doesn't
like bacon, you should probably click here.

This weekend we've gone to Napa, to attend a livestock auction and buy a pig.

This is the Napa Town and Country Fair and it's great.

There's music, barbecue, rides, funnel cakes, and farm equipment (both antique and brand new).

None of the old tractors have cup holders, but the new ones do. Cups must be a recent invention.

Yep, there's even a demolition derby. Awesome.

If this isn't the best bumper sticker ever, it's surely in the top five.

In the livestock area, there are sheep, bunnies, cattle, swine, and all sorts of other critters. The livestock are being auctioned off by the pound, so it's important to know how much a cow weighs.

I'm totally bidding on that piñata.

Inside it's bustling, and there's free food and beer.

The auction sounds something like this:

"Folks, number 308 is up next, and what a beauty.
We'll start the bidding aaaat...
TWOdollartwodollarbeautifulpigfolksletssee
THREEiseeFOURdoiseefourfittyfourfittyfourfitty
folksyoudontwannamissthisone
FIVEfivefiveletsseefivefittyyesmaam
fivefitty?yousir-fivefitty?
SIXdollargoodhoggoodhogit'sabeautifulpig
let'sseesixwhere'ssixsixsix...
...and SOLD the hog five fifty gentleman in blue.
Now number 309 look at this one folks do I hear
threedollarthreedollarTHREEfourdollarFOUR..."

You've gotta be quick if you want to get a pig here.

My brunette is fast like a farm ninja.

Once the word SOLD is shouted, there's some paperwork to do.

...and we get to meet and talk to the person who raised the pig.

These prices (typically $3 to $5 per pound) are way above market value, but the point is to support 4H and Future Farmers, and get an extra-tasty hand-raised pig. One of the kids is giving the money to cancer research, in honor of his mom. His pig goes for more than $18 a pound, which gets a big cheer.

Megan, the young lady who raised our pig, has just joined the Army's airborne division.

Rob tries to distract them, but when my muse and Ashley are together, they're unstoppable. They're so good at bidding that we've ended up with two pigs.

But what happens to the pig? It gets professionally turned into the best bacon and sausage and ribs you've ever tasted. We're going to have to invite a lot of guests to our place for dinner and breakfast this year. Want to come over?

Mmm... bacon.

The rest of the weekend is a nice relaxing time in Napa. We're staying with our friends (thanks guys!). My muse cooks dinner (and excellent dessert, yay!), and there's good wine and that brilliantly easy perfect-weekend tempo.

Random assertion: If you find a girl who enjoys both opera and livestock auctions, marry her quickly or you'll have to get in line.

Steganographic data: 1864/4.1

That’s Ubuntu. If I didn’t love the place so much, I’d have to hate it, because it’s just too perfect. It makes other restaurants look bad.

Okay, maybe I hyperbolize. But Christ, the place is good. Check out my original review for more gushing praise.

This Sunday’s lunch started with Leaves and Things, a perfectly composed salad of greens, flowers, herbs and roots. Then, Radishes with Chevre and Nori, with a mustard and banyuls vinaigrette and black sea salt. (Banyuls is a dessert wine. News to me.) Chevre and Nori together—what a revelation. And the black sea salt? Holy Mary, mother of God. It made the radishes sing in six-part harmony.

The Cucumbers with Miso “Bagna Cauda” was another stand out in an entirely outstanding meal. Let me lay down the players on the plate: Crispy fingerlings, ficoide glaciale (which is a succulent), shaved parmesan and olive caramel. Insane. INSANE. The ficoide glaciale shimmered as if it were frozen, and tasted like citrus surprise. The fingerlings added a warm, grounded goodness, and the olive caramel…well, the olive took the whole dish up to eleven.

The Cauliflower in a Cast Iron Pot. Comfort in a cup.

The Anson Mills Farros with Young Carrots. Vibration on a plate.

The Raspberry Sorbet Float with rose geranium soda, watermelon ice and lychee tapioca. Refreshment in a glass.

And the Mini Carrot Cupcakes with spiced frosting and tiny (tiny!) candied carrots. Bite-sized heaven.

I could go on and on, but that might keep you from clicking over to Open Table and making a reservation of your own. Go. Now. If you’re a vegetarian, you owe it to yourself. If you’re not a vegetarian, you’ll never think of vegetarian food in the same way again.

Mike's kind of a wine connoisseur. Before we met my wine of choice was a glass of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill or Sutter Home's White Zinfandel. Growing up in an alcohol free home I missed out on Wine 101. Over the years with Mike's guidance my palate has changed. These days I find myself liking Red Blends, Cabs and Rieslings. Mike's favorite winery in Napa is Joseph Phelps. He has been a preferred club member for over 15 years. Whenever we are in the valley tasting Phelps is always on our list because they have informative seminars, friendly staff, reasonable prices, a beautiful location, and most important fantastic wine.

On our latest visit we took the Insignia Blending Seminar which discusses the different elements that make up a bottle of Insignia. For those of you not familiar with Phelps wine, Insignia is its award winning proprietary red blend. The class started off with a tasting of 4 other Phelps wines: '06 Viognier, '05 Pinot, '05 Syrah & '05 Cab Sav. Then we moved on to the 5 wines that made up the 2004 Insignia. Once we tasted the components we were free to create our own blend of Insignia by mixing the various wines provided. We had lots of fun and wine...but my Insignia concoction didn't compare to the original!

Tasty Tip: call ahead, all tastings/seminars require an appointment. If you are member pack a lunch and reserve a picnic table.

Website: http://www.jpvwines.com/