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Beach Day

True bliss for both my husband and I always involves the ocean, and more specifically, an West coast ocean, either on the West coast of Ireland or the West coast of the US.

It was no surprise, then, that on a perfectly sunny, 80 degree November day on our Foodbuzz Festival trip to San Francisco, we chose to head away from the city and down along the coast for a day of wine tasting and beach lounging. I’ll have separate posts about our tasting at Bonny Doon Vineyards and the Santa Cruz Brewing Company and the various other delicious things we consumed on our journey West, but today’s post is all about beachy bliss.

Our trip South toward Bonny Doon included a dip in the Pacific Ocean, just my feet, or so I thought Smile It crept up quickly, and before I knew it, my pants were soaked to my knees. But I was on a beach on the Pacific Ocean!

Pescadero

Pescadero

Pacific Ocean Pacific Ocean

footprints in the sand

Don’t the photos just speak for themselves? My shoulders dropped a few inches, I can breathe *almost* freely again, and my appetite is back! I credit the fresh sea air and sunshine Smile

After our tasting at Bonny Doon, we decided to head to the former hometown of my friend Chef Robin White to check out some of her old haunts. With the sun blazing in the sky, we wandered around Half Moon Bay checking out its quaint shops and beautiful streets. I fell instantly in love and could see why Robin missed it so much.

Half Moon Bay Half Moon Bay
Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese purple flowers
Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese

After drooling over all of the cheeses, meats, chocolate, spreads, and of course wine, we decided on a soft goat cheese, toasts, and a small bottle of Prosecco.

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Ahhhhh. . .

Prosecco picnic goat cheese

Our beach picnic was one of the most perfect moments of my life. The crashing of the waves, the sun, delicious, dry Prosecco, and of course, the company of my wonderful husband. I love vacation!

Kelly over at She Wears a Red Sox Cap is doing something fun, 30 Days of Blogging, and while I may not blog every topic every day, I thought a lot of them were fun, and I also love hearing from readers.

So today, since I will be meeting so many people at Foodbuzz Festival, I thought I would share the thinking behind my blog name.

As you know, I started out as Travel Eat Love. The day I started writing my blog, I didn’t think much about it to be honest! I love to travel and eat, and to encompass all sorts of other fun things, I added the love.

Enter the movie, Eat, Pray, Love. As I was NOT a fan of the book, it became nightmarish every time I told someone my blog name! I changed the name, but not the URL, to Travel, Wine, and Dine, a name that is still kind of in limbo. I love to travel, wine, and dine, but travel has taken a back seat to other things in recent times, and not having a job will probably make that more so.

And so my blog name struggle continues!

If you are a blogger, how did you decide your blog name? If you aren’t a blogger, tell me a fun fact about yourself for this fun Friday! Smile

Tags: beach, California, picnic, prosecco, San Francisco, Travel

Happy Solstice! With a busy week ahead, I am still reflecting on my beachy mini vacation last weekend. . .

Part of the Cape trip tradition is a yummy breakfast, and last year my friend Raija started making us her uncle’s famous waffle recipe for breakfast. Luckily she was willing to share the recipe with all of us!  I paired my waffle with a bowl of cherries and a spicy Bloody Mary 😉

homemade waffles bowl of cherries

Since it was cloudy and a bit chilly last weekend, we opted to hang out at the beach in front of our cottage. It was a lot of fun spending the morning doing nothing but catching up. The scenery was pretty amazing as well.

Cape Cod flowers

Cape Cod beach path

beach snail

After lots of relaxing, it was time to head to the Taste of Truro at Truro Vineyards. We last visited the vineyards a few weeks ago, and I was excited to attend another event at this beautiful property and to try more Truro Vineyards wines.

First we had a little photo shoot.

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Then it was time to do some wine tasting! I ran into the fabulous Mara who I met at the Coastal Wine Trail kickoff and who also happens to have a really great blog, and she recommended the 2008 Maritime Zinfandel which is brand new and which I was already eyeing up, given my Zinfandel love.

image Truro Vineyards Zinfandel

It was really good! It had some great berry flavors and a little bit of spice. It was actually the perfect choice for the day that was in it, and I instantly wanted to pair it with broiled salmon with cherry compote.

I also split a glass of Vignoles with my friend; I had really enjoyed its crisp, fruity flavors at the Coastal Wine Trail Kickoff and liked it just as much a second time.

Truro Vineyards Zinfandel Truro Vineyards

One thing that was different than our last visit to the vineyard were the vines themselves! Tiny little grapes are everywhere just waiting to spend their summer taking in the sun and growing big and fat to make more wine for us! 😉 It’s just so interesting to watch the weather and to see its affect on the grapes and thus the wine itself. Hopefully it will be a good year.

Truro Vineyards Grapes

Truro Vineyards Grapes

The Taste of Truro had a variety of delicious food offerings from local restaurants as well which made it perfect to try out new places. These clams with chorizo looked and smelled amazing.

clams and chorizo

There was also lobster chowder, arancini, whole grains salad, and a variety of other treats. I love “Taste of” events. Luckily this week I am going to Taste of Cambridge!

Truro Vineyards wine glasses

Taste of Truro, like the rest of my visit to the Cape, was a great way to spend time with friends. We followed our wine adventure with a trip back into Provincetown, some dress shopping, oysters with some killer spicy horseradish at The Lobster Pot, and finally dinner at Front Street, an incredible P-town restaurant that deserves its own post!

Lobster Pot Provincetown oysters in Provincetown

Provincetown, MA Front Street Provincetown

I hope you are all having a great Monday so far. I am so excited for the week ahead; there is lots of fun to be had at a variety of blogger events, and I can’t wait to see everyone, eat great food, drink good wine, and to have lots to blog about!  I will also be introducing my “Dinner in 10” and “Wine from Where?” series that I hope to keep going periodically on the blog. Finally, I am excited to say that based on my BBQ & Beer post, the husband decided he does indeed need to have Buster’s BBQ in Calistoga on his birthday. We are going to wine country in July! Woop woop!

Siggi’s winners will be announced on Wednesday, so don’t forget to enter!

Tags: beach, breakfast, Cape Cod, Food, provincetown, recipe, Truro, vacation, waffles, wine, winery

Cape Cod embodies much of what I love about New England. From its picturesque villages and towns to its stunning dunes and beaches to the great local food and friendly, laid back vibe it is truly a special place. And my favorite parts of the Cape are two that I get to return to as part of an annual tradition started years ago with old friends. Every summer we make the trek up to North Truro where we stay in a little cottage on Cape Cod Bay. The nearby town of Provincetown provides us with endless opportunities for eating, shopping, and sightseeing. Provincetown, with its open minded and artsy feel is an instant vacation, and truly one of my favorite places on earth.

Lots of prep work happens before the annual weekend, and one of my tasks was to get celebratory cupcakes. After trying Mix Bakery cupcakes at our blogger wine tasting, I knew that there would be no better dessert than these cupcakes. Nothing I have tried in Boston can compare. After work on Friday, Kelly from Mix had strawberry cupcakes with vanilla butter cream perfection waiting for me.

Mix Bakery cupcakes

Mix Bakery strawberry and vanilla buttercream

We kicked off the trip on Saturday morning, and while I snacked on a cupcake, my friends had farmer’s market strawberries.

local strawberries Two moms in the raw

I also tried this Two Moms in the Raw granola bar which had an AWFUL aftertaste. Bleh.

Before we knew it, we were passing beachy cottages and rolling dunes and meeting up with our other friend, Deb, to head to the beach. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas, and we only had time to eat our Box Lunch sandwiches before the rain came down.

Rain at the beach can be lovely, and we spent the rest of the day food and wine shopping and relaxing.

Truro Beach

island roses

While watching some USA vs England World Cup action, I sipped on a VitaCoco and a Sea Dog Blueberry ale.

Vita Coco coconut water Sea Dog Blueberry

Before we started our lobster feast, we toasted my friend Raija’s Masters graduation and Deb’s pregnancy (she had seltzer!) with bubbly from Gloria Ferrer, one of my favorite Sonoma wineries

Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time for food.

lobster

lobster

corn

There was lobster and corn, lots of butter, and Segura Viudas cava followed by the magical Mix Bakery cupcakes. Cava and lobster make an excellent pair. 🙂

The night ended with us all dressed up and dancing in Provincetown.

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It was the perfect way to burn off of all of the calories of deliciousness that we enjoyed all day!

Do you have a favorite summer tradition?

Tags: beach, Cape Cod, Food, lobster, provincetown, Truro, vacation, wine

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