Troble

For the grand finale my favorite restaurant Animalon. Did not disappoint. The pie looking thing with a cherry crust was the best piece of foie gras I’ve ever eaten in my life. Amazing food, amazing ambience, impeccable service. All inside a 150 year old Oak Tree. I love this place

I think I need to see more cooks from you to inspire me! In all seriousness we are redoing the kitchen next month, expanding the house in two years, probably add the Santa Maria grill with the house expansion in two years. Santa Maria grill is a luxury, my KK works just fine, don’t really need a Santa Maria grill but I’d like to own one some day

Baja Omakase (cover your eyes @MacKenzie)

Thanks @tony b I saved the best for last. Amazing sushi today for lunch on the vineyard then dinner at my favorite place. Two more posts and I’ll be done!

Lunario Restaurant. First time here will definitely come back. Great food, excellent service and nice ambiance

Happy birthday @jonj I’m sure you’ll be drinking a fantastic bottle of wine to celebrate today’s lunch is brought to you by Finca Altozano

@tony b that’s precisely why I don’t brew. But this place is 90 minutes from my home. We come at least once a year and it’s like the title of my thread it really inspires me to cook at home. Still got two more nights to go and tomorrow is my birthday and the two meals I’m most excited about. But everything here is cooked outdoor over wood fired grills and the food and price points are much better than I find in San Diego. this was yesterday’s post lunch daytime activity

Deckmans

Which one? Had octopus twice yesterday once for lunch and again for one of the dinner dishes. They were both great. I love grilled octopus

@bruma wine garden crab cake kale, sheep’s milk & garlic pizza Short rib

@tony b I haven’t been back to Napa for vacation since 2012 and I don’t see us retiring there anytime soon. This place is 90 minutes from my house and it’s just amazing. Going to the outdoor Santa Maria grill Mecca tonight

@fauna 11 course tasting menu with wine pairing. $90

@Bruma Casa 8

My wife and I are down here for the first time in 2 years (no kids!). So next few days I’ll be posting our eating journey. Love this place it’s magical started with lunch today at Salve Asador de Campestre aguachiles, ceviche, tuna rolled tacos and grilled octopus. 100 degrees outside so good food/weather

@tony b funny I was literally thinking about making something similar last night after watching Rick Bayliss make a show cooked beef rib with a mole sauce. I did a slow cooked beef rib then put it into a sauce for another 8 hours and put it over pappardelle pasta last year on news years Eve and it was luxurious. Very rich though i agree with you that the beef rib is incredible but I find it’s a special occasion dish as it is very rich, but I think you’ll see me cooking one in the not to distant future as it’s been on my mind a bit. You’re looks lovely as usual iM hungry now

Happy birthday @C6Bill. Looks like a great meal to celebrate a milestone birthday. Well done

Saw this article about it this morning on my news feed. https://qz.com/2060418/why-are-so-many-container-ships-waiting-to-dock-in-california/ hang in there Dennis!

Thanks @Tuck I know that brand Incas food it’s legit and candidly I’m still working on my Pollo a la brasa marinade. I was planning on going to Peru last March and nailing down a few recipes but that trip got cancelled due to the pandemic

@Tuck looks good. I’d love to see the recipes you used for the sauce and chicken.

Homemade Green Curry Paste Green curry with chicken, snow peas, red, yellow & orange bell peppers, sweet onions and oyster mushrooms super tasty. Green curry is my standard Thai dish that I judge Thai places by. This is better than my neighborhood Thai restaurants. So easy to make once you have the paste

Congratulations!

@BOC I agree I tried my hand baking bread last year at the beginning of the pandemic abs found it was too much effort. Same with tortillas I can buy excellent freshly made bread and tortillas locally so I search out the proper store to purchase bread rather than waste my time with it @Basher I’ll send you a DM

Everything is done and purchased. We’re keeping the cabinets and restaining them. Tile floor, new backsplash, new countertops, new fridge, dishwasher, sink, faucet new range top and new vent fan wife and I do our research online then didn’t answer entire day shopping at stores, it’s what we’ve done on all our home projects but she and I can make decisions quickly but we do loads of research online prior. Just waiting for the kids birthdays and parties in October plus a lot of electronics are back ordered but we have our final meeting with the contractor we’ve selected tomorrow but anticipate an early November start date. I will post some pics before/after when it’s that time

@BOC looks great. Do you make your own naan or purchase it somewhere? I prefer naan to pita as well but I’ve never tried to make it nor found a good spot locally to purchase