on April 15th, while most people were frantically trying to finish up their taxes, caryn turned 30.
the present
i wanted to get her something really cool for her 30th bday, and i hadn’t ever gotten her jewelry, so i decided to get her some. it was a crazy hard decision seeing as she doesn’t usually wear jewelry, so i had no idea what style she would like. i finally settled on this silver and blue topaz bracelet. after buying it, i got really worried that she wouldn’t be into it, but she ended up really liking it a lot. unfortunately, it somehow mysteriously broke the very next day after i gave it to her… but then we got it fixed.
the wineries
i thought caryn should do something fun that she’s never before done on her birthday, so i suggested going wine tasting in Napa. we gathered a group of 7 people and hired a limo to take us around. it was so damn fun. the limo picked us up in SF and we spent the day driving around, drinking champagne in the limo, eating bread/cheese, and having a good time. man, limos are so fun!! we ended up going to 4 wineries: Madonna Estate, Robert Mondavi, Peju, and Mumm. at Mondavi we got a tour of the winery where they explained how grapes are grown, how wine is made and stored, etc. i thought it was pretty interesting. tasting wine at all the different places was a lot of fun. i dont really know much about wine, so it was cool to try such a wide variety of different kinds.
Mondavi
Mondavi
Peju
the dinner
on the day of her bday, we went out to some random Italian place with some friends, but i also wanted to take caryn out for a special dinner myself. that following Tuesday, we went to a restaurant called La Foret. it was a small place a bit south of san jose, kind of out there. the place was really fancy, not as fancy as Gary Danko of course, but still really nice. this place was i guess a bit more rustic compared to Gary Danko’s very modern feel. the food was really really good. i had excellent beef w/ chanterelles and caryn had some really good buffalo. wow, it’s so nice trying all these really fancy restaurants!
*v
Yeah, La Foret is really good! You should check out Le Papillon, as well. The food’s incredible and they’ve received Zagat ratings comparable to that of Gary Danko.
Tom and I went to The Fifth Floor many, many years ago. That was pretty good too, but nowhere near as good as Gary Danko, La Foret, or Le Papillon - plus, it was hella stuffy!
Have you been to Aqua? My Dad took me several years ago, and I was pretty disappointed, despite the fact that I’d already read very mediocre reviews.
Yup, it’s all about fine dining - it’s definitely one of my very, very favorite pastimes!
Comment by Jamie — 4/28/2006 @ 3:33 pm | reply
oh, and this place, that just opened, sounds hella bomb! http://www.yelp.com/biz/HG5cvtfUcpMojb2RyB2ZJQ
Comment by vlad — 5/2/2006 @ 1:51 pm | reply
yeah, i’m sure i’ll chekc out le papillon one of these days. it sounded hella good!
Comment by vlad — 5/2/2006 @ 11:01 am | reply
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