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Birthday boy

Thursday was my birthday so I took the day off of work and he headed north to Napa Valley.

We went mainly to eat and see the fall scenery since its not much fun to do wine tasting with a 17 month old (at least not much fun for the kid).

We started the day at the new Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa. We arrived about 1:00, just in time for lunch. We got a lamb sandwich from The Fatted Calf that was really tasty. Since it was my birthday, I went with a selection of cheeses from The Oxbow Cheese Merchant, including some Roomano which I've had trouble finding around San Jose.

We then walked around Copia which is next door but inexplicably closed during the week.

Napa Valley - 11/06/08

Notice anything different about me?

We then drove north stopping at Mondavi Winery, we stopped there thinking they'd have the nicest grounds to walk around, but we were a little disappointed because most of it was closed off except for guided tours.

Napa Valley - 11/06/08

We then went up and walked around downtown St Helena before returning to Yountville for dinner.

We first had to stop for pastries at Bouchon Bakery (though we resisted temptation and didn't eat them until the next day.

We then had dinner at Bistro Jeanty, one of my favorite restaurants in the world.

11-06-08 Bistro Jeanty [edited]

The serve very rustic country french dishes, lots of stews and braised meat. Susan had the coq au vin and I had slow roasted pork shoulder. Of course I had to start with french onion soup.

11-06-08 Bistro Jeanty

I used to go here every birthday and was glad to continue the tradition. Maya did great, it's not a real fancy place but because its pretty highly regarded a lot people go there for special occasions and we didn't want Maya to spoil that if she got unruly. In the end she did great, and sat nicely most of the meal and only started getting restless after we had finished and were waiting for the check so it was easy for Susan to take her outside while I paid.

She loved the onion soup and ate some of the lamb and chicken, but didn't gobble it down as I though she would, She must have been tired as she slept the whole way home and then through the night.