Christensen

This past weekend I flew out to California to visit Jake for the first time since he's been out there working. I left Salt Lake City Friday night. After waiting out a slight thunderstorm, Delta got me safely to Oakland. I hadn't even been waiting at the airport for 5 minutes when he pulled up to pick me up. Perfect Timing. We had such a fabulous weekend.
We stopped and ate dinner in a town north of Napa called St. Helena. Cute little town. We ate at a Mexican Restaurant called Armadillos. Jake says he's eaten there with the guys and it was good. He knows how I LOVE Mexican food.

(Just so you know, I had to climb through a barbed wire fence to get these grape pictures)

Saturday night we had reservations to go to the Culinary Institute of America for dinner. It was a once in a lifetime experience. The food was absolutely to die for- only ever seen on TV by my eyes. I am so lucky to have a great husband who would share this with me. Below is a picture of the building.

So, we were in "wine country"...why not do a wine tasting session?? Well, we have a few reasons whey we shouldn't have, but when are we ever going to have this same experience again? They had a few different "sets" of wines you could choose from. We chose the "Flights of Fame". It seemed like a good sampling of local Californian wines. They called it "a snapshot of wines from the vintners who pioneered the Californian wine industry". They brought out 4 glasses and set them on a paper that described each one to you. It was an awesome experience to sip them and think about when the grapes were picked and how it happened so close to where we were at. Jake and I both decided that we would never become wine drinkers, but had a great time together finding that out.

California also produces supreme Olive Oils. So.. why not do an Olive Oil tasting too?? We did a "Super-Premium Olive Oil Tasting". It was amazing how these oils influenced the flavors of our food. On the left was one from the "Reserva Familiar Picual" in Spain. The middle one was from McEvoy Ranch in California. The one on the right was from "L'Olio Di Cosimo" in Italy. We were told to use these oils like we would you Salt & Pepper to season our dishes.

This was my appetizer: Crispy Soft Shell Crab with cherry tomato, corn & arugula salad, Ancho chile puree, & Chipotle aioli

Jake's appetizer: Watermelon & Watercress Salad with Ricotta Salata, pickled onions and a lime vinaigrette

My main course: Pan Seared Day Boat Scallops with sweet white corn, mushrooms, sugar snap peas and a basil pesto

Jake's main course: Crispy Skinned Wild Salmon with beets, baby fennel, King Trumpet mushrooms, and beurre rouge.

Dessert: A Sweet Finale- Complete with Olive Oil ice cream! There was also a creme freche ice cream on top of a blackberry/peach cobbler, a lemon curd tart and a chocolate mousse. The waiter told us to put the Spanish Olive Oil on the mousse, and to even put a little more on it that what we thought we'd like. It sounded a little strange, but I can not tell you how yummy it was!

Sunday Morning we had an excellent breakfast at this little cafe called "Sarafornia". so cute!

After breakfast we went and did a wine tour at Chateau Montelena. It was so beautiful! It was like a castle back in the woods. The grounds were kept gorgeous, with beautiful water scenes too.

And while Mom & Dad played in California...Kanyon & Ridge played at Grannys!!!

Kanyon likes to play dress up with Ridge.

One of the things that Jake likes to do during the summer is watch his garden grow. I know he is missing walking out back with Kanyon, scouting out all the new produce. So, I thought I would show him a couple of the things Kanyon and I found while we were out there last night.
First, Kanyon spotting our Blackberries right off the bat. That girl LOVES them. I would give her one and she would say "more". I'd give her another one and she's say "more". Then, when I finally ran out, she said "I need more!". Here she is showing off her collection of berries.

We have several watermelon that are growing.

And we planted peppers this year too. These, obviously are the green peppers, but we have a purple one growing and some jalapenos.

These were a couple of pictures from the Treehouse Museum this morning that I forgot to post on the last entry. They have a "Doctors Station". Its set up with white lab coats the kids can wear, a real working microscope they can look through, some dr toys, and a few babies in the nursery. Here is Dr. Kanyon listening for the baby's heartbeat. Its hard to tell in this pic, but when she would listen for the heartbeat, she would cup her hand up to her ear like she's trying to hear it. She's so much fun.

Here is Kanyon playing at the "Music Station". They have all sorts of instruments that the kids can play with ...and make A LOT of noise.

Kanyon going through one of many tunnels they have set up for the kids.

Tonight was Kanyon's last night of swimming lessons this summer. I can't say that she learned alot, but she sure has a great time splashing in the water. One of her favorite things to do is jump into the water, or do a "Kanyonball" like her Daddy taught her. Tonight I brought Ridge to the pool with us, so I couldn't get in the water with Kanyon, but it did open up a great opportunity to take some pictures.

Sidenote: (To Deborah: I had a REALLY cute picture of you and the 2 kids playing in the water, but I forgot to upload it...and if I do it now I don't know how to reposition it so its not at the top of the post!)