Lisa's Culinary Atrocities

It’s 11am and my body, after weeks of wine consumption, is wondering when the wine tasting is going to start…but I am now home and it’s time to… drink… I mean sift my way through all of the information and photos I have collected, have some nice quiet tea, give my pillow some face time and mentally prepare to return to work tomorrow.

But first:

What a wonderful whirlwind vacation of the senses this has been.  I really meant to keep up my posts, but it proved to be a great challenge.  All moments seemed to be filled to capacity.  Pen and paper in hand, I frantically wrote notes—hope they make sense to me now!  One of many lessons to come: day off required in between activities, which in turn would require more vacation time, so either I need to win the lottery and retire or get paid to do this.  What a dream that would be!

SO, I suppose it would be best to start at the beginning and try to keep it (mostly) related to the food and wine highlights, which may be difficult.  That being said, day one:  flew from Portland, OR to San Jose, CA where my Father met me on his drive out from Colorado.  From there we drove down to Monterey where we had some delicious, mildly creamy and quite robust bean soup from the Wild Plum Café.  If I lived here I would frequent this place often.

That evening we congregated with kindred car-lovers & life-long friends of my Father at the Baja Cantina in Carmel, where I had some delicious salmon tacos. Remaining unusually full from the afternoon’s bean soup, but so excited to eat these lovely tacos, I tried to gently coax my stomach into submission (she won).  Alas, it was too dark for a proper photo but I will tell you that the tacos were tender, fresh and perfectly balanced with salsa, cheese and seasonings.  I highly recommend them.

Not quite ready to call it a night, we got some wine and had a little soirée in the hotel room with our beloved friends, where the laughter flowed, pocket knives were compared, pictures were shared and incredible stories of their crazy and high-speed high school days were told. Humorously, it took the small knife to open the last part of the big knife.  I know I know…exciting.  Had to to be there I guess. :)

Day 2:  Went to Carmel-by-the-Sea where we met the cars participating in the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance.  This is where many of the cars that would be in the Concours d’Elegance a few days later would “trace portions of the original 17-Mile Drive, traverse nearby mountains and valleys, dip down famed Highway One and pause for a time in charming Carmel-by-the-Sea.”  So many beautiful cars and waaay too many photos to be shared on this fooood blog.  Why am I here you might be asking?  Well my most adored Father, a car aficionado and former race-car driver, comes here most years for these world-class series of events…and I wanted to share it with him…’cause I like being with him…and they’re pretty…and it would be a great experience (which it WAS!) Plus, we decided to turn it into a lengthy food and wine tour…so what more could you ask for?

Onward.  While there we also observed interesting interactions:

…and went to a little wine tasting room nearby for some wine and noshy bits.

As I look back over my notes I am saddened that I was not yet taking down the specifics of these things, especially this wine and cheese as they were very good.  Shazbat.

The night ended with another event at the Baja Cantina where there were even more cars and food to consume…

Enough for now.  So much more to cover and with much greater detail in the food and wine area…and my pillow is getting cranky from a lack of attention.