Category: StewsCatEats

Sonoma Eats

Last weekend we attended my cousin’s wedding at a private estate just north of Sonoma in Glen Ellen.  Prior to our arrival at the wedding venue, we stopped in Sonoma for a late lunch.  After doing some quick research I thought The Girl and the Fig sounded like en excellent choice.  We arrived at 12:30 and luckily found street parking less than a block from the restaurant.  Its nice in sonoma in that they have free 3 hour street parking around their Square/Plaza where all the restaurants are situated.  I like that the restaurant has a system that takes your name and cell phone number so you can go wander the square.  It was a windy day but we walked down checking out some shops – stopping in the small kitchen supply store because, well, I love kitchen things!  We were sat just after 1:30, around when they said our table would be ready.  I was fairly excited about the menu.

They have a Salon du Fromage (yay cheese!) as well as their own house-made charcuterie (Mano Formate).  The Girl and the Fig is owned by Sondra Bernstein and delivers rustic French food in a nice casual atmosphere.  The original The Fig Cafe is located in nearby Glen Ellen.  We started with some craft cocktails – and while I don’t remember the exact name or what was in the drinks, they were delightful.  Also we agreed upon getting 3 cheeses and 3 meats to start.  The cheese were a Roquefort, Chevre, and a semi-firm cow cheese (can’t remember the name) along with 3 different cuts of charcuterie.  Delicious!  My wife also tried the soup but it was too earthy flavored for her.  For her main she went with the Grilled Cheese Sandwich, with tomato confit.  It was creamy and yummy.  For my main I went with the Duck Confit, served with fava beans, roasted potatoes, and onions.  I went with the 1 leg option.  Probably the best duck confit that I’ve had, and I’ve tried it at various places.

We have been watching The Great British Baking Show and one of the recent episodes featured trifles.  Since The Girl and The Fig had a chocolate & salted fig caramel trifle, I had to try it.  It was sweet and a nice way to end the meal.  If you’re ever in the Sonoma region, I definitely recommend it.

On our way back from the wedding weekend, we again stopped in Sonoma for some brunch before driving back to Sac.  The wife suggested we try Community Cafe.  It’s a small counter service restaurant that has various brunch and lunch options.  They have self serve coffee as well.  My wife ordered the Truffled Eggs & Toast and I had the Cuban Pork Breakfast Burrito (served with black beans).  I needed something hearty after a bit too much imbibing at the wedding.   Both dishes were extremely good and filling.  The truffled eggs certainly had enough truffle essence.  My burrito came as a wet burrito that I had to eat with knife and fork but I didn’t mind since it was so tasty.  The atmosphere of the cafe was certainly one of locals and a place to read the paper and have a lazy breakfast/brunch.  A nice small non-touristy spot for some good food.

Both places we visited in Sonoma on this visit were spot on.

While we were in the area, we visited Santa Rosa and the Charles Schultz museum (Peanuts!!).  It’s a nice little museum  to visit if you’re in the area.

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Peanuts!

-StewsCat

2014 Rock’n’Roll San Francisco Half Marathon Race Recap

Race Summary: Quick, efficient expo.  Early morning bus ride through the city to reach the start.  Hilly course with good amount of on-course support and spectators.  Beautiful run across the Golden Gate Bridge.

This was my 2nd RnR SF half marathon.  I also ran the inaugural race the year before.  For the second year of the race, the organizers decided to completely change the course.

Since I’m in Sac, SF is only a short 1.5-3 hour drive, depending on the traffic.  We love going to the city, though parking and driving there is not the easiest.  Since we were bringing the dog, we found a dog friendly hotel near Union Square.  Even though it is the touristy spot, it was located where I could walk to the finish line (shuttles took us to the start from the finish line) and actually is in a decent location to a lot of restaurants.

The expo was at the Moscone center and as per usual with RnR races, it was efficient.  I didn’t have time to explore the expo because the wife and dog were waiting outside the building.  But I do appreciate the quick packet pickup.

For my usual pre-race pizza dinner, we ended up at Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission District.  Originally we were going to try out Flour & Water, but the wait was too long.  This pizza joint is located adjacent to their italian restaurant Delfina in a small location.  The kitchen took up about half the space and there were a few small tables as well as a long counter.  Somehow we wound up getting seated at the counter after only a 5 minute wait.

Race morning I woke up super early as per my usual routine.  The hotel didn’t have in-room coffee so around 4 am, I ran across the street to a 24/7 pharmacy and picked up some nasty tasting coffee.  I then made my way to the finish line at Civic Center Plaza.  There I boarded a bus to the very west side of SF (northwest corner of Golden Gate Park).  I sat next to an older gentleman who said he had done a ton of Rock’n’Roll races.  We discussed some of the races that we had both done.

The start line had plenty of porta potties and there was no wait should you need to relieve yourself, which I liked.  My friend and her husband were also running the race but they were running late and we didn’t end up seeing each other.

All RnR races have corral starts.  I lined up in my corral and we were off.  The beginning of this race is a little disheartening.  You run about 1/4 mile and make a right turn and face your first hill.  This is a long slow upwards climb so its best to mentally prepare for hills.  Also because we were running through many neighborhoods, there is a noticeable dearth of bands on this course compared to other RnR races.  We wound our way along the western coast of SF and towards the Golden Gate Bridge around mile 4.  I had run across the bridge the previous year at the inaugural RnR SF race and knew the bridge is not flat.  Many people were stopping when they reached the bridge to take a selfie.  Since I had done this last year with my friends, this race I kept pushing and tried to pick up my pace since I had a slow start with the early hills.  After crossing over the bridge and back, you then run along the north end of SF past Crissy Field, the Palace of Fine Arts, and down towards Fort Mason.  Upon passing Fort Mason, we hung a right onto Polk Avenue and headed south towards the finish.  This was a little deceptive because there were a few more hills in this area prior to a downhill to the finish.  By mile 11 at Fort Mason, my legs were pretty shot with the up and down hills and I was just hanging on to finish.

Final chip time: 2:16:34

I felt good about that time given all the hills.

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2014 medal (below) compared to 2013 medal (above)

-StewsCat

 

2015 San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Race Recap

Race Summary:  Well-established race with a long history.  Needed more porta potties a the starting line.  Point-to-point with a challenging somewhat hilly race.  Great spectators and good on-course support.  Standard swag – tech t-shirt and medal.  Fairly spacious and large race expo.

This race holds some sentimentality for me.  I ran my first full distance marathon in 2011 at this race.  After moving away from the San Diego region in 2011, I try to get back to the city regularly as it is one of my favorite places.  Originally my good friend convinced me to sign up and then he ended up not traveling to or running the race.  I wasn’t too upset because, as I just said, it is one of my favorite cities to visit.

San Diego Marina
San Diego Marina
Downtown SD

As this was my first race since the NVM 2015 disaster and injury, I was definitely not going for a time goal.  I really just wanted to run the entire race without having to walk.  The Expo was unchanged from when I attended 5 years prior.  The SD convention center has been the host of the expo, which is nice because it provides a large open room to hold the many many vendors.  As a Rock’n’Roll race, it is very organized and packet/bib pickup went very smoothly with only a short wait.

For my pre-race dinner, we headed to Buona Forchetta in the South Park neighborhood.  Pretty much every pre-race meal has consisted of a combination of pizza and beer.  For my half marathons, this has resulted in good results overall.  I don’t know how I feel about that combination as a pre-full-marathon race.

Compared to the first time I ran this race and lived in the area, we stayed at a downtown hotel this time.  This allowed me to walk to the starting line on the northwest side of Balboa Park (this is the same starting line as 5 years before).  My major gripe with this race was the lack of enough porta potties.  I arrived well before the half marathon race start so I could use the facilities and be ready.  The porta potties were spread throughout the park in groups of 5-15 in a line.  Since I wasn’t in a terribly huge rush, I jumped in a line that had maybe 20-30 people in front of me.  As I stood there waiting and waiting, I could hear people around me talking about how long they’d been waiting.  A lady came up behind me and asked if she could go in front of me because she was running the full marathon (that started 30 minutes before the half).  I let her go ahead of me and watched her make her way up towards the front.  By the time I was just 5 back the full race had started and I saw many people (in my line and other lines) forgo the porta potty as they needed to get to the starting line.

Rock’n’Roll race starts are all well-organized with lots of corrals.  I found my corral, squeezed in like a sardine and waited for our start.  The half this year runs through various neighborhoods east/northeast of downtown.  I used to hang out in this area with friends and enjoyed running through it to give me a different perspective.  There are tons of good restaurants and bars in this area.  While running through the residential parts, I actually ran directly in front of my friends’s house.   Since I hadn’t been training as well as I should have since the 2015 NVM, I felt very sluggish the first 3-6 miles.  I actually felt nauseous and almost started walking within the first 3 miles.  This is not something I’ve experienced with any other race.  I told myself it was way too early in the race to start walking so I just kept pushing on slowly.

The course has long areas of flatness with a few areas of both decent inclines and declines. The air felt muggy and while I know San Diego isn’t the most humid place, it definitely is a lot more than where I lie and train.  I settled into a routine after about 5 miles and trudged along fairly well.  Around the 9 mile mark when we started back into Balboa Park, I could feel myself slowing down some.   I’ve always prided myself on not walking during (most) races, but I ended up doing some run-walking.  I’ve always liked Rock’n’Roll races because of their regular entertainment throughout the course.  There was a DJ in the last 2 miles of the race that helped push me to finish.

Finish time: 2:16:09

I skipped the post-race celebration (Petco Park) and walked a few miles back to the hotel so we could grab some brunch.  Later that day we met up with a local friend at Bali Hai.  Bali Hai is a San Diego institution and famed tiki bar/Polynesian restaurant.  We enjoyed some tasty cocktails and food there.  It’s a bit out-of-the-way so you really need to know about it to actually visit/find it.  I’m glad that we were able to check it out and the cocktails were tasty.  There’s also a great view from the restaurant.

The next day before driving back up to OC, we checked out the San Diego Zoo.  Prior to this, we figured since it was a Monday morning that maybe we’d get a seat at Hash House.  I’ve been trying to take the wife there for 2 years and we were seated right away.  The food is definitely yummy!  After Hash House, we went to the SD zoo.  This was our 2nd time going and as always it is a wonderful visit.  To round out the SD adventure, on the way back up north, we stopped at the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens for some lunch and brews.  If you haven’t heard of it, Stone built this large compound that has the brewery, a restaurant, and a garden area that you can walk with your beers.  It’s truly a lovely place.  The food was also tasty as well.

Hash House breakfast!
SD Zoo!!
Stone Brewing

 

Overall a great trip to one of my favorite cities!

-StewsCat