It’s been a BUSY year. ::::
In the course of a few weeks, I became a temporary single mother as Eat moved to start a new job this summer, then I moved across country with Peach to join him, took my first (of two) medical boards exam, gave birth to Baby Grub, sold a house, and am now looking for a job (this is what I do). Eat started his new job with vigor, with 12-14 hour days, enthusiastic but exhausted. I have been left again feeling like a single mom, now with two kids. After six months of this, we decided it was time for a VACATION.
Two kids running amuck makes vacation planning a little tricky. Spending time in Napa at the wineries? Not likely. What about some late romantic dinners in a quaint restaurant by the sea? Nope. Sleeping in? Not a chance. We planned for some fun activities for Peach that were grown-up friendly and some grown-up fun that was kid friendly. Win-win. Big Sur for hiking. Monterey for the beach and aquarium. Napa for some good food. Davis to see relatives.
Thwarted by the Highway 1 road washout, we had to skip our trip to Big Sur entirely. Big disappointment, seeing as I really wanted to go to the Big Sur Bakery
We started our trip a day later than expected, initiating ourselves with beachiness by visiting Half Moon Bay for the day.
Peach got some good use out of her bug boots and fiddled with seaside life at low tide. Sam’s Chowder Housewas our lunch stop, and we shamelessly gorged ourselves on the lobster rolls. The soup du jour was Shrimp Bisque: sweet shrimp and butternut squash paired with a drizzle grassy olive oil, quite honestly the best olive oil pairing I’ve had in eons.
recipes, the stunning grape and yuzu jellies never gelled right! Stupid jellies! Damn you, apple pectin!) Bouchon was not high on Eat’s list of places to check out. As much as I love dainty french macarons, perfect baguettes, and lovely brioche, I agreed and we went elsewhere.It was serendipitious that we found ubuntu. And it was the biggest surprise of the trip. Of the month. Of the last two months. Even more shocking: my carnivorous husband omygosh-I-can’t-get-enough-sausage-in-my-diet-drool-drool raved about this place: a vegetarian-vegan cuisine. And a yoga studio. Weird? A hard sell? Doesn’t seem like it anymore. They promote seasonality in the cuisine, and delve into their own garden for produce. We went for the prix fixe menu so we could try a little of everything.
Here are some of the highlights:
We loved the shot of green garlic soup. And I appreciated its art.
A steamed bun stuffed with burrata and coated with sunchoke dirt. Persimmons and green tomatoes added to the taste. I had to exclaim aloud that “This dish makes me happy!” when it was set before us.
I about died eating the warm foccacia: topped with truffled pecorino and apricot/almond agrodolce, ‘ping pong’ radish slices and rainbow chard. And so pretty.
Better still: kid-friendly restaurant. Crayons. Awesome mac and cheese. Raspberry lemonade. And Peach’s dessert? Carmelized bananas, ice cream, and chocolate sauce. Our dessert was such a blur of sesame and chocolate amazingness, the photos didn’t turn out. And the kicker: the apricot jellies with earl grey sugar. Someone, please, GET ME THIS RECIPE! Heaven, pure heaven.*
After some dabbling in visiting relatives and gorging on dim sum for two more days, we came back to reality. Work. Bills. A credit card bill from an expensive restaurant that was totally worth it. The normal stuff. *sigh* Time to look for an apricot jelly candy recipe….
* Although there are no Bible verses to support it, I am sure that bergamot wafts through Heaven. It causes one to raise hands and sing praises to God.
