back from my wedding!

[pmmahan]

I am a married woman now - gosh, I haven't been on these boards in ages!! I wanted to post about my honeymoon - cause it was totally related to food and wine! We went to San Francisco and Napa Valley - we ate unbelievable food and tasted tons of wine! I ate some of the best food I've ever had there - we ate all kinds of cuisines - Italian, Chinese, Japanese, German, Swiss, Mexican, Greek - it was great! I highly recommend a trip out there for all of you haven't been and enjoy eating and wine drinking!
We had a fantastic time and I am glad to be back and cooking again!

[emilycat]

Congratulations! Your trip sounds fabulous -- I'm sooo wishing I could have tagged along in one of your suitcases. Although I'm not sure how much a honeymooning couple would have appreciated a stowaway http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Did you arrange it all on your own, or follow a pre-determined itinerary? It sounds amazing -- feel free to offer up more details if you have the time!

Emily

[Wendy w]

Congratulations! I am jealous because you have gone on my dream trip. I'm a native Californian and have never been there http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif. Eating and drinking wine, what could be better?

[Jewel]

Congratulations! As a happily married woman myself, I say 'Welcome to the club!'. The trip sounds fabulous! How much wine did you bring home?

Here's raising a glass to say that I hope your honeymoon never ends... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[pmmahan]

We booked the flight (cheaptickets.com for the two of us from Boston - $750 - the best deal) and made the first two nights reservations. From there, I bought two books that were extremely helpful - Let's Go San Francisco and Fodor's Wine Country. In addition, I belong to another BB where many people are from the area and they gave me some great recommendations for restaurants and things to do. It was a largely unplanned excursion, which is just how we wanted it. After planning a wedding, the last thing we wanted to do was plan a honeymoon to the last detail. IT wasn't high tourist season, and we traveled largely during the week, so rates were lower, and accomodations easier to find. In college, Ted and I both studied abroad at the same time and travelled a lot together. This method really works for us - find it when you get to it, and decide when you get there how long to stay. The guidebooks were EXTREMELY helpful.

We brought about 4 bottles of Cakebread wine home - a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, a bottle of Cabernet, and two bottles of a special mix of Pinot Noir and Syrah that they only sell at the winery - named after the Omar Khayam (sp?) poem Rubaiyat. We went to 6 wineries, and to my taste, these were the most remarkable. we also went to Silver Oak, St. Clement, Merryvale, Robert Mondavi, and St. Supery.
Its great to be married! And thank you for the congratulations! I am so happy. Now that the "wedding" part is over, I feel free to do so many more things!

Originally posted by emilycat:


Did you arrange it all on your own, or follow a pre-determined itinerary? It sounds amazing -- feel free to offer up more details if you have the time!

Emily[/B]

[Julia1Pin]

Congratulations!!!!!

I was wondering how your wedding and honeymoon were going. Question - do you feel any different being married?

That's great that you had such a good time in Napa. I just moved away from SF 2.5 years ago, but my DH(of 3 weeks) and I go to there all the time.

You named all my favorite wineries. St. Supery is one of our favorites because of a guy named Malik, who always makes it special for us (one time he even set up a lunch table with linens and silverware under the big oak tree next to the cottage, for us to have lunch at). At Cakebread, do you remember one guy pouring, who constantly looks like he's drunk (red nose) but is the sweetest guy). And Merryvale definately has a great Muscat that looks like a Johnny Walker Red bottle. I love Silver Oak, but they are always closed on long weekends - which is when we go there. It's a pain, but we always stop in to make sure that's they're actually closed.

I can't wait to go there this weekend.

Anyways, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. IT would definately be my choice for honeymoon locale, if we didn't go there so much already.

[pmmahan]

Yes, I remember the guy from Cakebread! He sold us the wine! Have you met the little English lady? She poured us our wine when we tasted. She was so sweet!
It does feel somewhat different - although we lived together for almost three years before the actual wedding.
I am so jealous that you live near there! Ted and I are considering moving to the SF area, we liked it so much!

[Julia1Pin]

I do remember the English lady. She is very nice as well. One time we went there with my mom, who doesn't drink, so she pulled out some apple juice to give her instead http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

That's so funny. Vitaly proposed to me 2 years to the week since we had been living together, and we get married 6 months later. Sometimes I thnk it does feel different, but sometimes I don't. Wierd, huh?

You would love living in the bay area. We live in Los Angeles, but visit my family about 1/month. Where do you live now?

[pmmahan]

we live in the Boston area and cannot wait to move away - the cold, the traffic (although I know its about the same in CA) and people here are less laid back, lets say, than people in CA.
Ted and I have been together for 5 1/2 years, and it is so fun to have this giddy kind of "married" feeling - husband actually rolls of my tongue a lot easier than I thought it would!
Have you been to Tra Vigne (I'm sure you have)- Ted and I LOVED it. The best "dining experience" we've ever had. The food and service were incredible.
I was wondering if The French Laundry is worth all the hype. Some "gourmands" who were staying at the same B&B ate there and called it "decadent" - have you been there, and if so, is the trip worth it? I'd like to go back to CA - to Sonoma maybe next spring and thought it would be fun.

[KValley]

pmmahan,

Felicitations on your wedding and on beginning your new life with Ted! Marriage is wonderful.

Your honeymoon sounds so amazing. I was just in the Bay Area last month and it broke my heart to drive by the "This way to wine country" sign on my way to Davis. Next time...and with DH- it wouldn't be any fun without him.

Where did you study abroad? I work in the field- spent many years as a study abroad coordinator at Ohio U and the U of Illinois, I now work for a US uni in London...

Julie

[pmmahan]

I studied at the University of Sussex in Brighton - it was a great experience. I love England - so do you live in London? What a great place to be!!
That's another place TEd and I want to live - Britain.
You really should go to wine country with DH - it is a very romantic spot!

[Vanessa]

pmmahan:
Congrats. San Fco and Napa are great for honeymoons. Ours was there too & we went to Sausalito, Carmel, bIg Sur and saw quite a bit. But the wineries were great! I am so glad you had a great time!

[KValley]

Originally posted by pmmahan:
I studied at the University of Sussex in Brighton - it was a great experience. I love England - so do you live in London? What a great place to be!!
That's another place TEd and I want to live - Britain.
You really should go to wine country with DH - it is a very romantic spot!

Nope, I telecommute from home- I go to London a couple of times a year. But I think I live in a pretty amazing place, so no complaints (I'm not the city type)!

We have plans to someday do the Coast-to-Coast ramble in Britain - we've bought our maps, hostel guides- now to find the time!

Too much world, too little time http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[browneye]

Hey,
Our honeymoon was there too! October of 1998... We did Napa and Sonoma, and loved every minute of both. It is a trip we will repeat again.

You all sound like such world travelers- I haven't traveled for a while outside the country. When you travel for work so much, travel becomes less enticing...however, it is such a different kind of travel.
I have enough freqent flyers for a roundtrip ticket to Europe. Or whatever. Maybe I'll have to start looking into it. The boys are at a good age to go too.

[emilycat]

Too much world, too little time

Julie, this is my mantra. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[cchhbb]

Congratulations on your recent marriage. You honeymooned in one of my favorite places. I used to get out to S.F. for business a few times a year. I typically would stay until Sunday to reduce the airfare. At least that is what I told the company my motivation was. In fact, it was that I wanted to run off to the wine country on Saturday. The only bad thing is that I spent way too much on wine. Typically, I would buy 12 bottles and carry them on the plane. I would also sign up for wine of the month clubs. It got to the point that I wasn't able to keep up with what was coming in the mail since I traveled so much and wasn't home to drink the wine. We recently moved to Georgia and can't get wine by mail anymore. I was shocked when I went to change my address with the wine companies that it was illegal to ship wine into Georgia. I guess that they are looking at changing the laws. I really miss the good wines that I discovered.

[Julia1Pin]

Tra Vigne - On a warm day, sitting on the veranda, eating lunch even though you only got up 2 hours ago (but still managed a couple of wineries) is heavan.

Another good restaurant is Don Giovanni - the Osso Bucco is amazing. Very old school Italian.

French Laundry - haven't been, but from what everyone tells me, totally worth the wait.

Ususally, we just get some cold cuts from Dean&Deluca and have a picnic at one of the wineries.

If you go to Sonoma let me know. There's a tiny winery that sells really bold reds, but their tasting room is a real teepee.

-Julia

[cjm]

pammahan - dito on the CONGRATS! What a wonderful place for a honeymoon. I'd be interested in which B&B's you stayed at and which restaurants you went to.

DH & went to SFO to celebrate this past News Years. We wanted to do something extra special/different so we took a balloon ride through Napa Valley! That was just a glorious way to see the valley. We toured Robert Mondavi & I've fallen in love with their wines (plural).

[laughsandlaughs]

Congratulations on your new marriage and to the others who also sound so happily married!! I thought my DH and I were the only ones we've been married almost 2 years and together 7 and I know we're more in love now than ever before. I'm amazed at how many newlyweds we meet who don't sound that happy. It's very freshing to hear from others who are!

[kwormann]

I agree.....I am always surprised at the number of people who say" well....its an adjustment...."

I thought it was magical (and still do 7 years later). I thought I was alone until this board...it must be the creative cook in us all http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Kim

[pmmahan]

I can safely say that I love my husband http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif more now than I did when we "fell in love" 5 years ago. I feel a deeper connection to him now that we are married. Living together can be an adjustment (maybe that is what people refer to) but we don't have to deal with that since we have living together for awhile - takes the pressure off.
It was funny, people asked us if we still got along on the honeymoon. Apparently, some people have this "realization" hit them that they are married on the honeymoon (well, duh) and maybe that's also the adjustment. I can happily say that we didn't experience that.

Its also nice to hear of happily married people on this board - it is too often that I see unhappy people (even some of our family members) in marriage