I am Your Sunshine

Rory and Logan just had a fight but they made up a day later. I’ve always thought Logan is the right person for Rory. Dean is nothing but athlete charm and Jess is a total freak… Ooops, wrong show, Jess is way too sentimental and mercurial (& touchy.) Logan, on the other hand, seems to match Rory perfectly. I like it when he calls her Ace.

I see myself in her. The people in her life, the panic attack she had when reliving her editororial duty… they made me think and I can’t help but feeling being too slow.

Anyways, reflection ends here.

The past few days were Thanksgiving long weekend plus my birthday. It was one of the best. Superb company, glorious weather, mind-freeing scenery, not to mention all the wine we tasted. It’s what we’d call “天時地利人和”.

Thursday morning, Hui, Eugene and I took off around 3, which turned out to be a wise decision cos none of the wineries was open. (Not that we’d be bored if we’d arrived early. We’ve got all kinds of board games, plus Mah Jon.) We got to our luxurios vacation house around 5, explored the place a bit and jumped right into the hot tub on the deck. After we were all warm and well cooked, we went back to make dinner: steam crab, chicken pasta, stir fried veggie and a bottle of complimentary red wine courtesy of the owner.

(check out more photos of our vacation house here)

Friday morning Hui made us breakfast and we met the rest of the people (Huang, Josie, Dolly, Welton) at Mayo. We’re here for the Annual Holiday Open House held by Heart of Sonoma Valley. There were 17 winery participated in this event and we visit 9 of them:
Benziger Family Winery (we went there twice for my Pinot), Eric Ross Winery (I’m not a Zin person, but their Zin was surprisingly good), Mayo Family Winery (Didn’t tasted the famous Gewurz but still got 3 bottles home), Audelssa Wine & Navillus Birney Winery & Vineyards (pity that we missed the Pinot, but we’ve got Pinot chocolate sauce), Valley of the Moon Winery (Another surprising Zin), Kenwood Vineyards, Loxton Cellars, SL Cellars, VJB Vineyards & Cellars

Aside from the wine, the scenery gave me extraordinary satisfaction. The sky so huge and blue with autumn colours dangled here and there. Been here so many times, I’ve never known this kinda beauty is available dear and near. My old self is reviving, the one who likes to stand in front of 19G and be amazed by the sky, the one who desires to breathe in all the nature’s beauty, the one who secretly opens her arms and drown in happiness.

Friday night we rested a bit in bed and in hot tub, and went out for a grand dinner at Glen Ellen Inn. We had calamari, lamb, duck breast, salad, and Mahi Mahi. Of course we opened a bottle of wine. The old waiter with French accent (real or bogus) realized that I’m the picky one and let me taste few of his recommendation. I picked a Mueller Pinot with a beautiful name – Emily’s Cuvee. Food were awesome and wine too. For dessert, we had creme brulee (again), chocolate torte w/ homemade peanut butter ice cream (I ordered this because I want the ice cream), something something trapped in chocolate cage, and I also got a passion fruit sorbet as birthday dessert from our waiter.

We went home and played Settler (I think I’m getting it! Gotta play it again!!) and I’ve also got a birthday present from Hui. She’s super sweet!!!

Saturday, we visited 3 more wineries and some olive & chocolate shops, and we headed Point Reyes for Oyster. It was so cold in Point Reyes but the oysters were good and we got to see the spetacular sunset by the water.

And happy birthday. Cheers to a whole new year with a fresh start, determination and dreams.