Iratxe Arrives today!

This girl, or our That Girl ( she reminds me of That Girl)  from the Basque country arrives today. Her name is pronounced EE-ra-tsay.   She is our daughter across the water.  We  spent 2 summers with her and we love her like she is one of our own kids.  Visiting on a 4 week trip in San Francisco for school, she doesn't want to spend her weekend doing touristic things in the city.  Since she has already done that on her previous trips... She prefers to spend them with us!  So we will figure out some fun things to do on the weekends while she is here.  

When we were in Spain for Christmas of 2014, she and her family took us all over their area, wined and dined us in true Basque style...  For those not familiar with Spanish culture, the Basque are KNOWN for their cooking.  There are cooking societies called Sociodad gastronomica (hope my spelling is correct) , It is usually men, but some allow women.   They go to cook and eat and socialize, think Loyal order of the Water Buffalo with guys cooking Flintstone sized cuts of meat.  Her dad pays a fee of I think he said $30 euros a year which includes unlimited use of the space for any party or event he wants to have.  They (the society) come and clean it up afterward...  It has dining for over 100 people, a huge commercial kitchen with a pit to cook goat, pig or cow outside and a fully stocked bar for cocktails.  You bring your own wine.   OMG the food her father cooked for us was amazing! 

Sadly, her mother passed away when she was eight.  We went to the village where her mother grew up, and where her parents were married.   A cute little Gothic village on the sea called Leucatia.  They have the family home here still but they only open it in the summer.  

all of us with her father, brothers and dads girlfriend

the lovely Gothic cathedral where her parents were married

the square by the harbor

a fishmonger selling fresh caught fish out of a little cart next to the water.  

a little island across the harbor that can be reached by foot on a sandbar at low tide

Iratxe, Yousef and Xabi

Iratxe and her dad

Mini Kings cakes... MAN I love these things!!!

Alberto cooking us a HUGE steak that is like a Porterhouse cut here in the States.

We really enjoyed our 2 days in the Basque country, and hope to spend more time there when we go again.  We really want to enjoy the few days we get with her doing something fun.  We are trying to think of something she would like that she hs not seen here in Nor Cal yet...  We know a trip to the outlets is a must, this girl is a shopper!  Gotta get our thinking caps on!

Daroush & Paraduxx

Their labels are all gorgeous and many different styles.

water features, high ceilings and a server per party.  They take time to explain, not just pour and glug.  

This winery is unique.  It's Persian, named after Darius l who was a king of Persia.  Daroush is how you say Darius in Persian.  The grounds of the winery are lovely.  The tasting room is by appointment, and a more intimate experience from what we saw. Lots of chairs and couches for tastings.  We did not taste here, as it was Valentine's  day and they were booked.  We will be back to check out the wines here soon.  

Paraduxx (pronounced pair a ducks) was another lovely surprise.  Owned by Duckhorn.  Reservations are required, but they do have tables in the main area for walk in customers.  We will definitely be back to lounge on the terrace in the sun and enjoy their wines.  A tasting comes with all the wines poured on a tray.  A server sits with you and explains them all, then leaves you to enjoy them at your leisure.  They also bring you cheese and little toasts.  The cheese they served was called Happy Cow creamy Swiss and it really paired nicely with the wine.  We've been looking for it but have not had any luck finding it yet.

Parduxx indoor tasting area and main entry where they seat walk in's.  So check if they say by appointment, many times they can accommodate you.  We just went to look and they asked if we wanted to taste.  We told hem we didn't have reservations and they said the tables here were for walk in customers... So of course we tasted!

our tastings poured and ready to enjoy.  BTW we liked the 1st, 2nd and last ones best... but they were all good.  Hubs was just sipping each one once, so I got the rest, and quite tipsy as a result.  

Paraduxx terrace tasting area by appointment, lovely views of the vineyards and huge oak trees, you can see their picnic tables in the background.  Ok to picnic as long as you drink their wines.

So check out these wineries next time you are in the valley... We had a nice experience at both!

Howdy, Happy New Year, Happy Valentines day and happy almost Spring

I was reading over my posts in December, and like a lot of my plans and intentions, I bit off more than I could chew.  Planning Christmas, packing, moving and doing all of the footwork as a general contractor for our new home remodel really had me tied up.  I did cook a few more meals after the ones posted, and we had a great Christmas brunch... but my family revolted big time!  I had to break down and buy food, even though there was PLENTY to eat in the house.  So my experiment was an epic fail...  However the Spaniard and I are working away at the food stores.  We have a teeny tiny refrigerator and freezer on loan from our daughters boyfriend that is a little larger than a bar fridge, which holds much less than an average fridge.  It is crammed to bursting with a lot of things left over from the other house...  It never seems to go down.  Don't tell the Spaniard, but I may throw away some items while he is on a business trip just to have a little more room in the fridge.  and we REALLY won't tell him about all that I threw away in the trash at the old house that never even made the trip...

Here is a look at the front of our new house...  Smurf Blue.  All original 1943 amenities... and we LOVE it.  We had an interesting discussion on perspective the other day when my Spaniard was Skypeing with his family in Spain...  He was showing them the house, and they were commenting on how big it was.  Compared to their apartments, it is quite big.  But by American standards, its a really small house at just over 800 sq ft,  We are finding it is big enough for our needs actually the way it is... and have debated over whether or not to do the remodel...  But we have decided to go ahead and do it.  The electrical keeps blowing fuses, we only have 80 amps in the whole house...  the plumbing is shot, the pipes corroded and the water tastes funny so we are drinking bottled water.  We are looking at camping out in the garage this spring as an adventure.  We will see how that actually goes.

My plan is to document the process here... the good, the bad and the ugly of remodeling while living in the home..  Thank GOD we live in wine country.  And a double thank God to the fact that the Napa Valley has a Napa Neighbors program that gives Valley residents free wine tastings at over 200 wineries up and down the valley!  So guess what we do every weekend we are home?  Yep, wine tasting, and other touristic things in our new town.  I do rate all the places we go on Trip Advisor, you can check me out there for more detailed reviews of the places we visit.

My goal this year, I say goal cause I don't know that I will actually attain it, is to post at least twice a week with various upcycling, lifestyle, travel and home improvement tips...  Lets see if I can actually do it.

In the meantime... here are some photos from the last couple of lovely sunny weekends we have had here in the valley...