Kitchen's starting to look like a kitchen

Seems I'm falling behind on my updates!

Vern thinks he'll be done with his part this coming week, including the tile countertops, the rest of the cabinets and their doors/hardware. Then it will be up to Rhonda and I to execute the finishing touches like paint. It's actually starting to look like a functional kitchen now- what do you think?

A few random things:

Scored some great tickets to the Blazers game Friday night. These are the best seats we've ever had for an NBA game. Took this picture without zooming- we were 3 rows behind the Blazers bench! Shaquille O'Neal (#32) is the biggest man we've ever seen in person. He's massive! Officially, he's listed as 3-1, 325 lbs. He pretty much dwarfed Joel Przybilla (immediately to his right), who's also 7-1, but "only" 245. Rhonda hates nothing more than sports on TV, but a live game is something entirely different, plus she can have cotton candy, which she loves!

Got confirmation that Jason will be coming out for training in Corvallis for a couple of weeks, and it looks like his weekends (4/25-26 and 5/2-3) will be free. I'll be sure to share some stories/pics of his time with us.

Fran the Van has some sort of issue we have to get checked out soon. She crapped out on us at an intersection last weekend (complete lack of power) and we had to have her towed home. I'm guessing it has something to do with fuel delivery- hopefully it's an easy (and not too expensive) fix like a clogged fuel line.

Jack got a puncture wound in one of his paws and we've held him out of daycare for the past couple of weeks. It's taking quite a while to heal, although it doesn't seem to be causing him any pain (he did limp noticeably the first few days).

Sonoma pics slideshow

Click here for a slideshow of some pics from the Sonoma trip.

Out with the old

It might not look like much, but this is 1,100 lbs (!) worth of the old kitchen headed for the dump. Took me 35 minutes just to get it all unloaded and sweep out the bed of the truck.

The new and improved kitchen is starting to take shape. The big news of the week is we have washed a couple of loads of dishes in the dishwasher- first time in 10 years we can say that! All the tile for the countertops and backsplash is sitting in the basement. Vern has been building cabinets in his shop. Things should improve dramatically visually next week. Stay tuned.

Also, forgot to mention this in the last wine country post. Last Sunday, we finally saw somebody doing the "spitting" thing at a winery. He picked up the bucket off the bar, buried his face in it and let fly. Looked like he was hurling- completely gross. We definitely won't be indulging in that bit of wine culture etiquette.

Does the bigger font/picture size work better? I think the bigger pic size is better, but I should stick with the old font. Hit the 'comments' link below if you have any feedback.

Back home

Ran into some construction and wreck traffic/rubbernecking on the way home, but got back to Portland in ~10 hours. We've done a LOT of driving in the past 5 days and are pretty busted. I'm wishing I'd had the sense to take off tomorrow like Rhonda did.

We took things pretty easy on Sunday. After a nice drive, winery stops were:
* Ledson- Some really nice cabs and zins, but pricey and too snooty/fancy for our tastes- can't recommend this one.
* Kunde- Nice chardonnay and sangiovese here, plus we got to take a tour of their barrel-aging cave.
* Back to Gloria Ferrer for some more complimentary bubbly. Rhonda picked up her first wine club shipment here- looks like we'll be experimenting with aging some sparklers.

After the wine tasting, we headed back to the room to enjoy the late afternoon sun on our balcony.

Among the things we discussed on the balcony was the fact that Sonoma is now Rhonda's favorite non-beach vacation spot. Instead of hitting other wine country spots, we will likely keep going back to Sonoma. It's very laid back, and the locals are approachable and friendly. It's just a very comfortable place with a relaxed pace of life- highest recommendation. For future visits, we'll probably hit an old favorite or 2 on tasting days, plus maybe try a new one.

Other recommended wineries from our first trip (didn't hit them on this trip, but will definitely go back in the future):

* Chateau St. Jean- Wonderful (and wonderfully affordable) chardonnay that is a staple in our house.
* Viansa- Lots of great reds, beautiful location.
* Benziger.
* Imagery.

Saturday recap (for real this time)

I forgot what day it was on the last post (a sure sign of a good vacation, no?).

Kicked the day off at Pearl's for breakfast again. Lots of locals there, including several youngsters getting properly fueled up for their upcoming little league game. Pearl's passed the B&G test on the strength of their gravy: thick but smooth consistency, plenty of chunky sausage and well-seasoned, including a hint of cayenne pepper. The biscuits were the sweet cake-like variety. Not my favorite style for sure, but good gravy makes anything taste better.

The routine has been that we figure out a rough itinerary for the day over breakfast, incorporating any advice from locals along the way. This particular meal inspired us to go brewery-hopping instead of winery-hopping. First, we headed up to Healdsburg and the Bear Republic Brewing Co. Very friendly staff and an expansive selection of quality beers here, including some great IPAs, Scotch Ales and a really nice dry Irish Stout that got Rhonda's seal of approval. Along the way, we saw a couple of wineries we intend to visit today.

Next, a stop at Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa. These guys are one of the darlings of the "beer geek" community, specializing in incredible IPAs, flavorful Belgian-style brews and American Wild Ales (a relatively new, loosely defined style and not my cup of tea, at least the ones I've had so far). I definitely wanted to come here for a pint of Pliny The Elder, one of the best beers in the world according to those internet beer geeks (including myself). We get it in bottles and sometimes on tap, but nothing tastes better than a great beer fresh from the source. The Pliny was great and I could have stayed for quite a while, but it was too beautiful a day to stay cooped up inside so long (they need a patio!).

By the way, if you come to wine country, I highly advise you to stick to a pretty small region. It ended up being a fairly lengthy drive because of the traffic in Santa Rosa. Also, if you plan to hit Santa Rosa, definitely pick up a city map- the maps in the wine country guides did us more harm than good in the city! Healdsburg was a pretty cool little town, with plenty of shops, restaurants and tasting rooms (and the brewery, of course) within walking distance. Next time we do a wine trip, we may base ourselves here and check out some Russian River Valley wines. After a second trip to Sonoma, we think we'll pretty much have "done" the Sonoma Valley.

Once we finally got back to Sonoma, we headed over to the Bartholomew Park winery for a tasting and a picnic. We found out that this is the "boutique label" for the Buena Vista winery just down the road (a place we visited on our last trip). Bartholomew sits on a pretty piece of hillside property, and is a popular tasting spot in part because of abundant picnic spots with great views and a network of vineyard hiking trails. We didn't have a chance to do the trails, but after some tasting (excellent syrah and cabs), we found a sunny spot and snacked on crackers, grapes and an assortment of cheeses. And one of those cabs. We are hauling around an ice chest that was packed with cheese, sandwich stuff, tea and bottled water from home- big money-saver, especially in an expensive place like this.

Had dinner downstairs at the hotel (We're staying at the El Dorado, by the way. Great location right on the Sonoma Plaza.). After dinner, Rhonda got a late boost of energy and we walked across the plaza to Murphy's Irish Pub (perhaps she was inspired by that Irish Stout at Bear Republic). We were up a little past our bedtime, but it was a fun end to a fun day. Well, almost the end anyway. We locked ourselves out of the bathroom just as we were ready to go to bed. I had to get dressed and run downstairs, where an old handyman with a twinkle in his eye lent me an allen wrench to unlock the door.

Back to serious wine-tasting today.

Edit: FRIDAY (not Saturday) recap

A good start to a day of wine-tasting involves a big breakfast, and they don't get much bigger than they are at Pearl's Diner. It's not quite a hole-in-the-wall, but it is hidden away in a little strip mall near the Safeway supermarket, and doubtless escapes the notice of most tourists. It's a very popular breakfast spot for locals (and tourists in the know). The decor is 50's kitsch, and the food is hearty portions of tasty homestyle diner food. I wouldn't be surprised if we ate every breakfast here on the trip. Today I'm going to try the biscuits and gravy, which is pretty much my litmus test for a great breakfast place.

The countryside is beautiful here. It's been interesting to check it out this time of year. When we were here a couple of years ago, it was late May, and the continuous heat had already baked the hillsides brown; the only greenery was the trees and the grape leaves. Now, the hills are lush green, and the vineyards are inundated with grasses and weeds (including the pictured yellow flowers- will try to find out what those are). No leaves on the grapes right now, just little buds of new growth.

Started the tasting portion of the day off at the Robledo Family Winery. Very cool story here, as Reynaldo Robledo, Sr. is the fist Mexica migrant to open his own winery/tasting room. He worked his way up over the years from vineyard worker to vineyard manager to landowner and eventually winemaker. This is very much a family business. All 9 children are involved, and the mother does the cooking for events at the winery. The 8th child, Larry, was an excellent host, and ended up giving us our dinner restaurant recommendation. Strong selection of whites and reds here. We picked up a few bottles of a spicy tempranillo. This winery is definitely recommended.

Next stop was Gloria Ferrer, who specializes in sparkling wines. Since bubbly is Rhonda's favorite, there's no way we were missing this place. It may be the only winery that will be a repeat visit from our last trip. The fact that Rhonda joined their wine club and gets free bubbly at the tasting room makes this a no-brainer! Did the tour here, and saw the bottling line in action. If you're a fan of the bubbly, definitely check this place out. Spectacular views from the hillside tasting room's balcony.

On to Schug, another spot worth a stop for the views if nothing else. Tiny tasting room, with not much traffic (it was Friday). We had the place to ourselves for half an hour. One of the guys working there was planning a trip to Kansas City, so I chatted with him about the trip Jason and I took to Arthur Bryant's and the relative merits of KC, Texas, Carolina and Memphis-style 'que. This guy also sounded exactly like Vince Vaughn, which was pretty funny. Oh, and the wine. Nice pinot noirs here- picked up a couple of bottles.

Next up: Homewood, which was recommended by Eden, our server at Pearl's (she works there on the weekends). Unfortunately, their bathroom was out of order. This was unfortunate because we'd had a lot of water (very important to stay hydrated when tasting) and we were really looking forward to using the facilities. We cut the tasting short here, but did grab a bottle of a nice acidic (in addition to the expected floral and fruity) sauvignon blanc before heading back to the hotel.

Larry from Robledo did us right by recommending Taqueria La Hacienda for dinner. This is definitely a local spot. It's nothing to look at, but what it's lacking in atmosphere, it makes up for in the food department. Great pastor and asada tacos.

Back to the hotel, which was hosting a free tasting from the Nicholson Ranch winery. They had some really nice wines, including a buttery chardonnay and a complex pinot and syrah. Too rich for our blood, though (the cheapest thing, the chardonnay, was 30 bucks). I think they get away with those price points because they're in between Sonoma and Napa (the Napa valley is in general a pricier/fancier spot) If you're not scared by $30-50 price tags, you might consider checking them out.

5 tastings in 1 day- whew! I doubt we'll keep up this pace, especially since I'm squeezing in a brewery visit Saturday or Sunday.

Clarification for interested (or concerned) parties: since I'm driving, Rhonda gets to do most of the actual tasting/drinking. "Tasting" for me involves a lot of swirling and sniffing, a tiny sip, and a lot of chewing and swishing that tiny sip. Most of my sample gets poured out. Apparently spitting is a totally acceptable part of tasting etiquette, but I haven't seen anybody else do it and I'm not inclined to be a trendsetter when it comes to public spitting!

We'll put together an online photo album from the trip when we get back.

Made it down here safely

Including a pitstop for gas/lunch, it took us about 9.5 hours to make it down to Sonoma. It's about 550 miles from our house, so we made some pretty good time! (Guess who was driving? Hint: not me.)

The forecast is sunny with highs from ~60-63 while we're here- great wine-tasting weather!

The kitchen is nekkid!

The demo work is finally complete! We're off to Sonoma for a few days on Thursday. While we're gone, Vern is expecting to get the new cabinets and appliances in place, and the countertop bases in place. The doors of the cabinets and the tile countertops will come a little later.

Below are a few more pics the work from the last couple of days. When the whole project is finished, I'll put together a little online photo album to show how everything happened from beginning to end.

Should have a few stories to tell about the Sonoma trip soon, too. The hotel has wireless, so we might be able to post something while we're there.