Celebrations and Week's Menu Plan

Today is definitely a big day. Not only is it our first wedding anniversary but it's also Bryant's birthday! And we've been celebrating both occasions since Thursday. Last Thursday and Friday, we had an anniversary getaway to Napa! Bryant did all the planning so it was a complete surprise to me and it was perfect. We started by hiking a trail through one of the Redwood forests (we ended up picking quite a steep trail, too!). We love hiking and also getting a workout in as well.

I was astounded by how many wineries there are in Napa! There's two main roads that are just lined with winery after winery - needless to say, it was absolutely beautiful (it didn't hurt that it was 80 degrees and perfectly blue and sunny skies). Bryant had winery recommendations from a colleague whose family actually owns a Napa winery; Bryant picked one that also has a picnic area. We went on a Thursday in the early afternoon but it was completely packed when we were there! The tasting was a lot of fun and Bryant has a 2-for-1 deal on it, too (I love that my husband found an online coupon!). However, we both accidentally wore white shirts - obviously, these were our first tastings! After our tasting, we had a picnic lunch outside.


One of the best parts of the trip was where Bryant picked for us to stay - it was a bed and breakfast called the Old World Inn. It was beautiful! It had all the charm of old houses - our room had a (gas) fireplace in it! The inn also had french press coffee and loose leaf tea set out all the time (we had our fair share of both in our 24 hours at the inn). The food was awesome, too - it was one of the reasons he picked the place. It had a wine and appetizer hour, delicious desserts set out all night, and of course, a wonderful breakfast. It was also nice because the eating area was set up with 10 tables in rows. This allowed you to be sociable if you wanted but you could also choose to just have private conversations and be alone.

Of course, we spent an hour at the inn, reading and drinking fresh coffee. Then we walked to downtown Napa, looked around the town, went to the farmers market and finally, had dinner at a small Italian place there (where we, of course, had pizza). Then we went back the inn for dessert, more coffee and tea, a fire and the movie Fireproof. It was really the perfect anniversary!


Week's Menu Plan:
The weekend has come and gone but the meals really were great. Saturday was minestrone soup (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jamies-Minestrone/Detail.aspx, highly recommended!). Today was Bryant's birthday celebration so we had blueberry scones and a spinach, ham and broccoli quiche for breakfast. For dinner, we had sweet and sour chicken with pineapple, bell peppers and broccoli. I'll definitely be sharing these recipes in the near future.

Monday: Taco salad (this is a good homemade taco seasoning: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Taco-Seasoning-I/Detail.aspx)

Tuesday: Gnocchi with white beans and spinach (http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/skillet_gnocchi_with_chard_white_beans.html)

Wednesday: Cod with peach salsa (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Halibut-with-Zesty-Peach-Salsa/Detail.aspx)

Thursday: Pizza

Friday: Loaded sweet potatoes