Happy Bubble Day!

Yesterday was my birthday and in an ongoing change of lifestyle that has been rolling out ever since last year at this time, I actually TOOK THE DAY OFF!

What did I do instead of spending the majority of my waking hours staring at the screen of my Mac? Karen and I spent the day drinking champagne.

First it was Korbel Brut and a bubble bath.... yeah... a bubble bath... with bubbles EVERYWHERE!

Then it was Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noir with this amazing "french toast" breakfast that Karen whipped up for the day. I swear to God I could have stopped right there.... but au contrare....

It was then off on a mystery ride through Napa for the tour and tasting at Schramsberg where my favorite was the J. Schram, a beautifully smooth blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, and where we bought a bottle of the Blanc de Blancs, the first American champagne to be used at a presidential event (Nixon in China in 1972... and interesting synchronistic factoid considering my most recent post at Quicksilver Amusements). It's a terrific sparkling wine made entirely from Chardonnay (and considerably closer to our price range than that lovely J. Schram on the left).

Next, it was time for something to eat and we stopped at Dean & Deluca in St. Helena, grabbed some bread, and salami and "miiscellaneous cheese" and found a spare bit of shade while we sipped Coppola's Sofia from little pink cans.

Lastly on the tour, but not in our hearts, was a trip to Domaine Chandon for tasting of three of their reserve sparkling wines and a couple of souvenir champagne flutes.

More food was indeed in order, so we stopped for dinner at my favorite mexican joint in all the world, a place that I lived around the corner from for a decade, Juanita Juanita, where "food is not properly seasoned unless it is painful to eat." My standard meal was accompanied by Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA here because... well... Champagne goes with a lot of things, but I'm not sure chipotles and habaneros is one of them.

Finally... the day ended at home with a supremely decadent chocolate cake and more Gloria Ferrer...

And then... well... then there was Teddy.

Hard to beat... huh?