there and back again

i have been gone for a long time.

i have been working late or

weird hours and

occupied on the weekends. i have

been committed to a time consuming,

one hundred percent

self-imposed project.

i have been

falling asleep really early

and for at least two weeks, i didn't

even take my camera out of its bag

once. and, i'll be honest with you:

for a little bit there, it was nice.

i didn't make fancy or interesting

things and i didn't feel guilt. i got

our simple dinners on the table

in less than an hour most nights

and when we ate, our food was hot

or cold because, well a lot of times,

it was just a salad.

but, as someone has

taken to reminding me, i have a blog

and i have been ignoring it. so, while

now, i kind of wish i had taken

the time to talk about my mom's birthday,

the delicious roasted grapes i made one evening

or the red bank farmer's market we've made

an effort to frequent on some weekends,

i'm skipping them. instead, opting to

get back on track with our vacation to

san diego and temecula last week.

the san diego part of the trip had been

planned for over a year.

one of larry's oldest friends,

joe was marrying his girlfriend, jen.

larry is one of those lucky people whose

high school (or maybe i should say

elementary school) friends have sustained

the test of time. six of them attended different

colleges, followed varied careers and some

have moved to different parts of the country.

but still, their friendship has stayed a top

priority to all of them. everyone came together

two years ago for our wedding and we finished

off august by meeting in san diego for joe's,

a couple years after he had moved to the west coast.

the weekend turned out to be just as much

about time together as it was the wedding

and from thursday, at the margaritas and taco

party at joe and jen's apartment building

to sunday morning at brunch, that's what

we did. but, saturday.

saturday was all about the wedding.

after, the wedding, we took a few days to ourselves,

traveling to temecula, southern california's answer

to wine country. originally, we had been torn

between hawaii and sonoma, but becoming

homeowners had made our decision significantly

easier: three days and driving distance.

i treated these three days with little respect.

as the trip neared, it became apparent

that this was an awful time to travel, work-wise.

i was hesitant to spend the money to go

somewhere for even three days

and truth be told,

i just wasn't so interested in any of it.

suddenly, it was the 18th of august

and i realized that even

though we had owned our plane tickets

for months, we were leaving on the 26th

without a second hotel reservation.

this is not me.

i research. like crazy.

i read reviews. like crazy.

i find the perfect-fit funky restaurants

that we absolutely must visit and even

if i won't quite admit it, i have the days

mostly decided in my head.

like, maybe, i'm a little crazy.

but this time?

no reservation.

no research.

no restaurants.

a friend of the family had recommended

temecula a few weeks before. i looked at

a couple hotels, skimmed a couple opinions,

shrugged and booked.

kind of disrespectful.

and, now, we were in the car,

driving to this temecula place,

with only a little extra information:

there was a winery famous for

almond champagne, the vineyard

we were staying in allowed

eating grapes off the vine and

the town housed a casino.

it was beautiful and we were

blessed with gorgeous weather,

a welcome change from the sweltering

east coast heat we had been

battling all summer. the area wineries

and streets proved charming enough

that i rarely let go of my camera the

entire time we were there.

but, it turns out that

temecula, proud of its old town,

westernish charm, is not known for

its food.

luckily, it doesn't matter how behind

i get: i'll never stop loving my research.

if you can imagine me, sitting on a bed,

facing a vineyard reading

yelp on my cell phone, you'll understand

how i spent a good part of the trip,

determined to not regret the fact that

we weren't in hawaii. we didn't.

just before leaving san diego, larry and i stopped at urban solace, a restaurant that i had read about on chowhound, for bloody marys, a quinoa-flecked veggie burger and beef cheek hash.

south coast winery was a bit of a larger operation than we usually go for, but luckily they're quiet during the week and our small villa in the back made it very easy to never see anyone. this was our view.

we really tried to take advantage of our surroundings, joining a vineyard tour and tasting that turned out to be a tour for four: us, a very friendly german couple from arizona and a very, very perky guide. we ate grapes from the vine, sampled different wines with different cheeses and afterward, we stayed put, eating lunch only a few feet away.

we visited public house, the only place i could determine was worth the effort of finding, and the restaurant did not disappoint. it was, however, quite dark and the only redeemable picture was of this "appetizer" that would have served a better purpose as a meal. regardless. call it dinner, lunch, a starter or just delicious, this was one of the tastiest things i have eaten in a very long time: goat cheese toasts drizzled with a reduced balsamic and brown sugar tomatoes, all surrounded by arugula.

and we used the last day to eat a very cheap, unexpectedly good breakfast (larry's, below) and to see a few of the other wineries, finally sipping the almond champagne at one and stopping by another that had been deemed, quirky and unpretentious.

we tasted (and bought!) olive oil and smoked salt, drove past a place for honey that, in retrospect, i would have like to have visited and on the last night, we enjoyed a cheese plate and a bottle of riesling on our little deck, falling in love with the quiet, the peace and the oozy piece of honeycomb that sat just beside the humboldt fog.

and, we relaxed. just a little bit.