Wine Tastings in Napa Valley

I've been doing a lot of fun and happy things here in sunny San Francisco. Let's see, I don't even know where to begin. Basically I've been eating my way through the city since I got here a month ago, but since we're in wine country, let's check out some wineries!

My dear friend Sandy came to visit me last week and I am so happy she did - because that means I've got a buddy to go wine tasting in Napa Valley! We went to Robert Mondavi (my favorite) and did the tour + a guided 3-wines tasting.

Robert Mondavi uses a gravitational system to move their wines from the fermentation room to the barreling room so they don't have to use any pumping system. If you're lucky, you get to see their wine bottling process in the basement. Oh, and they'll show you their barrel room!

They say in Napa, Cabernet Sauvignon is the King, Chardonnay is the Queen, Pinot Noir is the Prince, and Sauvignon Blanc is the Princess.

There's a lot of interesting wine tasting tours in Napa, but I really enjoyed Castillo di Amorosa (a castle winery in Napa Valley). Yes, it's a castle winery! They have a moat, goats in the garden, and a fluffy chicken running around. I'm not kidding you, it's looks like a chicken-dog! What is this thing!?

We had a very entertaining experience touring the castle and had a chance to barrel taste. but the best part was that you get to choose which wines you want to taste for the 5-wines tasting. I like white wines, so my tasting flight was a mix of 3 whites and 2 rose. Sandy did the reserve flight tasting for an additional $10, and she said the guide was kinda cute! He's very entertaining and knowledgeable, well I guess you have to be... What do you think?

Oh yes, and I found my favorite wine that evening. It's the 2013 La Fantasia, a sparkling rose wine. When i took a sip, I'm sold. I bought 6 bottles and shipped them back home. They'll be waiting for me when I travel home next week! 

Cake Couture For My 23rd Birthday!

Please excuse me for the lack of updates, I was having too much fun in California.

A few weeks ago, I celebrated my 23rd birthday!

Like all my past birthdays, I always find myself having this crazy feeling... about suddenly realizing that another year have gone by. For me, September always fly by super fast.

This year, I am blessed to be able to spend my birthday with my family. The last time that happened was on my 18th birthday before I went to college. So, it's been a while.

Nonetheless, I wanted a pretty cake. I've been thinking about it since a month ago, and I knew I wanted a Hello Kitty Sailor cake!

Too bad I am currently staying in my sister's apartment in Davis, CA, so I didn't have the tools, formulas, ingredients, and the time to make one myself. If I could, I would, but this time, I searched around town to place a custom cake order.

After all the research on Google and Yelp, I finally found Christie from Cake Couture. She lives in Davis and caters to clients around the area. Her website is very professional and I guess that was a "wow" factor for me as compared to the other bakers in the area.

I met up with her about 3 or 4 days before my birthday to discuss the cake design and she did a very lovely Hello Kitty figurine on the boat. I absolutely love the effort she put into the details.

It might sound strange ordering my own birthday cake from another baker, but I'm glad I went about calling her. Christie is such a wonderful and talented person. Frankly, I was extremely inspired by her and the hard work she puts into the home based cake business.

I really admire her dedication to this passion and business, knowing that cake orders will keep you up all night, especially if you're working alone...

I was very pleased that she was able to squeeze my order into her super full and tight schedule! She is very approachable and was able to accommodate my request for an earlier pick up time.   

This cake screams 2 of my favorite things: Hello Kitty and Anchors, and I am so hyped about having it as my 23rd birthday cake. 

Wanna have a peak inside? 

Oh by the way, I forgot to tell you, the cake was coffee flavored with French-roast Starbucks flavored coffee filling. I love coffee flavor, so I thought that cake could use a little bit more coffee kick to it, but that's just me. Okay, let's cut the cake!

Finally I'd like to say another Happy Belated Birthday to my September beloveds: 

Jackie, Mom, Sunny, Hans, Grandpa, Cici Cla, Miko, Silvia!

Up, up, and away: Hot Air Balloon Ride

Hello from The Golden State! That's right, I'm in California!

My dear sister is officially a freshie in UC Davis and to celebrate her 18th birthday, we secretly booked a hot air balloon ride from Balloons Above The Valley.

None of us have been on a hot air balloon before so we were extremely thrilled about it, except for waking up at 4am in the morning...

The crew was very professional and organized. The check-in location was at a Marriott hotel. They had us sign agreements regarding the ride and provided us with pastries, muffins, cookies, coffee, and tea before we head off to the balloons.

Getting into the basket was a little "un-glamorous". There were step holes on the side of the basket and we literally need to climb to get in. I've always imagined the basket to be bigger and there's a door or gate that opens for us to get in. 

On second thought, climbing into a hot air balloon basket was pretty fun too.

Photo Credit: Jackie Leonardo

It's not scary. It actually felt like we were floating on air. No, I take that back. We "floated" on air! It's like someone on the ground said "Wingardium Leviosa" and we float up, up, and away! 

However, due to the foggy weather, our initial route over Napa Valley was changed to Winters. A little disappointing but they assured us that it will still be lovely.

And apparently it was pretty colorful!

Doesn't that look just like carpets? Winters has more variety of sights as compared to Napa Valley. We saw rice fields, sunflowers, stone fruit fields, vineyards, empty fields, and greeneries.

The landing was smooth. We only had 2 small bumps, which felt like a thud.

After we landed, the balloon was quickly deflated and re-packaged while we were still in the basket. The pilot opened a small opening to release the air inside the balloon while 2 other men pull down a rope attached to the balloon.

Photo Credit: Jackie Leonardo

After the ride, we had a full champagne brunch!

So that was my first ride, but it definitely won't be my last! 

And by the way, Happy 18th Birthday, Jackie!