DO YOU UNIMOG?

Our field trip to Calistoga turned out to be a small group sojourn for four of us.  Sharon was planning to join us but her dog was bitten by some insect or spider.  The wound got infected so she had to stay home with her Buster.  He is on the mend now after surgery, stitches and a cone collar.  Janis & Bill and Bill & I soldiered on however and arrived at the Davis Estate Winery's guest house in Calistoga. 

It had a fabulous view of vineyards and the Castello di Amorosa across the valley.  As you can see from the photos, the guest house is very nice with 3 bedrooms, a wonderful kitchen that Janis and I used to it’s fullest and a large dining table.

We had dinner at Ad Hoc Friday night where the main entré was a Veal Chop.  If you've never eaten there, there are no menu choices.  You walk in, sit down and are served what is being prepared that night.  There are a couple of add on's but it's the same menu for everyone.  As you can imagine, every course was well prepared and tasted as a Thomas Keller prepared meal should!   IMHO, I think our two Ad Hoc dinners were just as delicious as the restaurant's and much more fun since we had twice as many courses!

We ate a light breakfast of homemade granola, fresh baked croissants, coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice and fruit.  After relaxing a tiny bit and wandering around the vineyards, barns and outbuildings of the winery, we headed to Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen for lunch.  Cindy Pawlcyn is another chef whose cookbook we featured a few years ago.  We had a delightful lunch and headed

back to the house afterwards so I could make homemade ice cream and Peach Pie, since I bought peaches from Phil Cosentino’s orchard ( J & P Farms) the day before.  Bill brought wines from our cellar for both meals, of course!

We did a wine tasting of the Davis Estate Winery wines and our top choices were the Windmill Valley Vineyards Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. . . you can see the remnants of our tasting in this photo as well as the beginnings of setting the table for dinner.  Since our cost to rent the house was a case and a half of wine, we purchased those three varieties plus a couple of bottles of their merlot.   We’ll share those wines with you at our next dinner.

We cooked a simple dinner at the house.  Janis marinated a flank steak that Bill barbequed to perfection on the house’s grill.  It was joined by a green salad, garlic bread…how simple can you get?  It was the best meal so far.  Better than any of the restaurants!   We had a slice of pie ala mode for dessert.  We imbibed of the Estate's wines as well as a Gary Farrell Syrah throughout the dinner.  

Mike & Sandy Davis and two of their employees, Holly & Carie, joined us for breakfast the next morning.  They had just returned from Lake Tahoe with their wooden Chris Craft boats in tow very late Saturday night…well, actually early Sunday morning.   Sandi made her mother’s Sour Cream Waffles for everyone and a tomato omelet for Mike, along with sausages and fresh squeezed orange juice from Janis & Bill’s orange trees.   Everyone wanted the recipe for the waffles so I guess they all like it!

You are probably wondering what the heck is a “UNIMOG.”   Before you google it, it is a vehicle manufactured by Mercedes Benz and in this case, a fire truck that Mike keeps on the property.  It has 7 gears and can climb a 40% angled hill and holds 8 easily inside.  Mike was the "tour guide" par excellence and gave us the king's tour!  It was great fun to tour the property and vineyards in it.  It was the highlight of our trip!   

We all left the property Sunday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed the weekend with each other!  Thank you Mike and Sandy for sharing your piece of paradise and wonderful wines with us!

Next Stop:  French Laundry dinner at Janis & Bill’s home on August 31^st.   Save your appetites for this fabulous dinner!