This weekend my family and I visited the Point Lobos reserve. I've been there 4 times before and I'm never bored. It was a great desire of my husband and I to take my parents-in-law to visit Point Lobos. It's called as the one of the most beautiful places in the world for a reason. It would be impossible for me to write down about all the trails, vista points and the different animal and plant species that are there in addition to the remarkable rock formations and the pacific ocean.
Point Lobos offers something for everyone..I've seen people of all ages hiking the point lobos state reserve. I've gone there both in a big group and just with my husband and I loved it both times. My husband and I have hiked the entire park and we wouldn't be wrong if we told that this place is just so unique and vivid. You don't really get to see beauty of this kind when you are going on the 17 mile drive or just around hwy 1 upto big sur. It's unique because of the abundance of plant and birds and rock formations...It's quite breathtaking to see how the plant species and the terrain changes as you hike from one point to another. People really have to visit Point Lobos to understand and appreciate.
My only motivation behind hiking is that I would like to see something beautiful at the end of the hike and I find Point Lobos to be truly rewarding in that regard..each view point different than the previous one yet so beautiful...As you continue your hike you notice that the beauty only increases.
I'll post pics soon...
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Are all parents-in-law MONSTERS??
I just got back from a meeting where one of my colleagues was pretty surprised to know that my parents-in-law are still here with me? They are here in the US for about 3 months now. He asked me "If I was really enjoying it?" well, we all know what he meant!! and I replied "Honestly, I really do enjoy it". He simply couldn't believe it until I told him that my parents-in-law are really nice and I had to explain why I think they are nice.
I'm writing about this not because I had this conversation with my colleague but I had a similar conversation with another newly married friend of mine. First of all the idea of getting into a fight with your parents-in-law only when you spend a few hours with them is quite appalling and I would imagine that it requires a lot of effort from both sides to brood over everything.
These days a lot of the parents-in-laws are educated and do realize their limits and bounds and yet at the same time can provide the newly weds with enough insights on what could be done to ensure that there's long lasting harmony. The educated ones usually try to treat everyone as equals and try and sort things out in a civilized manner.
Here's my take, I wake up late on weekends and my mother-in-law doesn't complain about that (a lot of others do), she cooks once she confirms with me what needs to be cooked and I help out with chopping vegetables and cleaning dishes. I cook the friday dinner for everyone and even though she happens to be the resident expert in cooking none of my family members make a big fuss when what I cooked for them doesn't taste all that great. That's really all I could ask for and more. Not everyone can eat a meal without making a remark(good or bad) no matter how ludicrous it is. In all the 3 months they've adjusted with whatever we had, they had to be in the living room as we hadn't planned for their visit ahead of time. They did understand our situation and never complained at all.
Best of all is when no one would ever come around trying to prove who's superior. Mothers-in-law or daughters-in-law trying to establish authority never works well in a family. That family is bound to be ruined (or atleast laughed at) sooner or later, unless ofcourse one has the virtue of being able to ignore the authoritative person.
I've always wondered what makes the mother and daughter in laws polar opposites to a point where they are uncomfortable they cannot talk among themselves and instead feel more comfortable complaining about each other to everybody else. The basic problem solving method would be to talk to your husband and see if he empathizes you or if you just had a wrong notion...
well then if he agrees he could do the talking for you...but if you have a spine you could talk things out yourself without actually fighting.
Ultimately for any relationship to be fruitful both parties have to work at it sincerely and employ better problem solving techniques where both parties have something to gain rather than just fight over things to prove a very silly point. This reminds me of an incident that happened when I was in India, my mom deep fried some crispy stuff for me to eat, now this stuff was originally prepared by my aunt who was visiting me at the time. My aunt didn't agree with the way my mom had prepared them...well, it was a simple matter of using less oil vs more oil. My mom was the lesser oil side. My mom simply let it go and didn't care to respond much...but when I went to visit my aunt my aunt made sure she deep fried with the same stuff with more oil and made it a point to show my mom how it ought to look. Frankly, my mom and I couldn't care less and we let it go. But I'm fairly certain everyone else in the room lost respect for my aunt...she just proved to everyone there that maturity doesn't always come with age. She did prove her point but at what expense...was it worthy? Maybe to her it was.
To conclude, I'm sure I wouldn't regret if I said not all parents-in-laws are monsters and for any relationship to be successful both parties should work on it and establish trust and be able to disagree with each other without any sense of fear whatsoever and more importantly you treat the other person like an equal and not like your sub-ordinate. Always remember that vain glory blossoms but never bears fruits. I'd rather give up on a few things and live happy than prove my point all the time and make enemies out of everyone.
I'm writing about this not because I had this conversation with my colleague but I had a similar conversation with another newly married friend of mine. First of all the idea of getting into a fight with your parents-in-law only when you spend a few hours with them is quite appalling and I would imagine that it requires a lot of effort from both sides to brood over everything.
These days a lot of the parents-in-laws are educated and do realize their limits and bounds and yet at the same time can provide the newly weds with enough insights on what could be done to ensure that there's long lasting harmony. The educated ones usually try to treat everyone as equals and try and sort things out in a civilized manner.
Here's my take, I wake up late on weekends and my mother-in-law doesn't complain about that (a lot of others do), she cooks once she confirms with me what needs to be cooked and I help out with chopping vegetables and cleaning dishes. I cook the friday dinner for everyone and even though she happens to be the resident expert in cooking none of my family members make a big fuss when what I cooked for them doesn't taste all that great. That's really all I could ask for and more. Not everyone can eat a meal without making a remark(good or bad) no matter how ludicrous it is. In all the 3 months they've adjusted with whatever we had, they had to be in the living room as we hadn't planned for their visit ahead of time. They did understand our situation and never complained at all.
Best of all is when no one would ever come around trying to prove who's superior. Mothers-in-law or daughters-in-law trying to establish authority never works well in a family. That family is bound to be ruined (or atleast laughed at) sooner or later, unless ofcourse one has the virtue of being able to ignore the authoritative person.
I've always wondered what makes the mother and daughter in laws polar opposites to a point where they are uncomfortable they cannot talk among themselves and instead feel more comfortable complaining about each other to everybody else. The basic problem solving method would be to talk to your husband and see if he empathizes you or if you just had a wrong notion...
well then if he agrees he could do the talking for you...but if you have a spine you could talk things out yourself without actually fighting.
Ultimately for any relationship to be fruitful both parties have to work at it sincerely and employ better problem solving techniques where both parties have something to gain rather than just fight over things to prove a very silly point. This reminds me of an incident that happened when I was in India, my mom deep fried some crispy stuff for me to eat, now this stuff was originally prepared by my aunt who was visiting me at the time. My aunt didn't agree with the way my mom had prepared them...well, it was a simple matter of using less oil vs more oil. My mom was the lesser oil side. My mom simply let it go and didn't care to respond much...but when I went to visit my aunt my aunt made sure she deep fried with the same stuff with more oil and made it a point to show my mom how it ought to look. Frankly, my mom and I couldn't care less and we let it go. But I'm fairly certain everyone else in the room lost respect for my aunt...she just proved to everyone there that maturity doesn't always come with age. She did prove her point but at what expense...was it worthy? Maybe to her it was.
To conclude, I'm sure I wouldn't regret if I said not all parents-in-laws are monsters and for any relationship to be successful both parties should work on it and establish trust and be able to disagree with each other without any sense of fear whatsoever and more importantly you treat the other person like an equal and not like your sub-ordinate. Always remember that vain glory blossoms but never bears fruits. I'd rather give up on a few things and live happy than prove my point all the time and make enemies out of everyone.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Weekend getaway!!
My husband and I decided to spend the thanksgiving weekend at Napa as we had no intentions of travelling long distance to entertain ourselves. Visiting Napa was a very unique experience. Please note that Napa is the wine country and every restaurant/Inn that you go to offer wide varieties of wines for you to pick from.
We decided to stay at the Hennessy House Bed and Breakfast Inn at Napa. Initially we were a little skeptical about staying in a privately owned B&B as opposed to just staying in a reputed hotel. Nevertheless we decided to try the B&B as it would be a new experience. Napa has lots and lots of B&Bs to choose from, the choices are just overwhelming. After going through almost every single B&B, my husband and I picked the Duck Nook room at the Hennessy House. This B&B was a stone building that had beautiful antiques and each room had a theme which made it interesting.
We reached the Inn around 6 pm and there really wasn't much to do as it had already gotten dark. There was Sherry for us in the room and it did taste really good too. No sooner than we entered the room and closed the door, there was a pet cat that showed up at the entrance. I'm really scared of cats and wasn't sure about opening the door in order to get to the car and bring our stuff back. It was quite amazing to see how my husband could interpret the cat signals and how he made friends with it so quickly. The cat pretty much obeyed whatever he told it to do and it always came running to him once it saw my husband (I just hope I could love the animals the way my husband does!!!). Since it was the thanksgiving day lot of restaurants were either closed or were already full and couldn't take any more reservations. Hennessy House's website had a list of recommended restaurants and it made it easier for us to decide where we wanted to go for dinner.
We managed to get reservation at Ristorante Allegria which was located on the First Street. That was pretty much the only restaurant that we could get a reservation. We managed to get to the restaurant by 7:30pm. The restaurant was nicely decorated for thanksgiving and had lots of room and the seating wasn't cramped. They were serving Thanksgiving special dinner as well, but since I was a vegetarian we picked Bruschetta Al Pomodoro for Appetizer and Capellini Pomodoro as the main course. Upon ordering they served bread with dipping oil, the bread with dipping oil tasted wonderful. Then we got our appetizer, we have always loved the Bruschetta and it was excellent here at this restaurant as well. Then came my Capellini Pomodoro which was excellent as well. It didn't have too much cheese and it wasn't bland for a change. I had nothing to complain about and I was pleased with my main course. For desserts we had Classic Tiramisu, which was great too. We pretty much had a complete dinner with appetizer, main course and desserst and were really happy with the meal and the service at the restaurant.
We got back to the Inn and watched TV, our room had a 42" LCD TV and that was really nice as some of the Inns don't have TV or internet connection. It was really nice to have TV and internet so that we didn't have to invent other ways of entertaining ourselves when at the room. That was our first night stay at this Inn. The room had a nice fire place which was pretty efficient in keeping our room warm. The bedding was amazing, it was truly one of the most comfortable beds that I have slept in. My husband and I managed to sleep well that night.
The next morning we had to get to the dining room that was at the main house at the Inn. They served us our morning fruits, followed by Frech toast and muffin. The Peach Cinnamon french toast was excellent and the muffins were really good too. They had a lot of berries in them and tasted wonderful. They did have the usual granola and yogurt as well but we decided to have the gourmet breakfast. There was tea, coffee and orange juice for beverages. Overall it was a sumptuous breakfast.
After sometime we decided to go for a nice bath in the Jaccuzi tub. We unwound and soaked ourselves. The bath soak liquid was provided as well and it was great too. It was greatly relaxing. Since it was the black friday we spent the rest of the day shopping at the Westfield mall in Fairfield and then shopping at the Napa premium outlets. I bought a PCTV tuner the review of which would follow sometime soon. Having used to shopping at the West Field Valley Fair in San Jose and the Gilroy premium outlets I don't have much to talk about the malls in Fairfield and Napa.
We got back to the Inn past 6:30pm which means we had missed the evening wine and snack. We weren't interested in it so we decided to skip it and just hang out at the mall. Finally we picked up Pizza at Pizza hut in Napa and went back to the inn. Finally it was saturday morning and time for breakfast again, we were served watermelon soup instead of fresh cut fruits. The watermelon soup tasted divine. As for the main breakfast this time it was baked eggs with dill sauce, I didn't like it as much as I liked the french toast. The muffins were different too, my husband picked the sundried tomato muffin and he didn't like it and I had the Banana bran muffin and it was good.
On both days that I stayed at the Inn, our rooms were cleaned nicely and bed was made nicely as well. Everything was back in its place and as good as it was when we got there. When I went to return the keys I met Lorri who happens to be the owner of this Inn. She was very nice and friendly and gave us a lot of information about which places to see, which wineries we could go to and where we could possibly eat lunch. She was nice enough to get us a wine tour reservation at the Rober Mondavi winery and gave us a free wine tasting coupon for V.Sattui and another coupon for the Sterling winery. She gave us a booklet that had map of all the wineries.
We went to the Robert Mondavi winery and took the tour, the tour guy was great he wasn't too fast or rushing us out. He gave us enough time to ask questions, take photos, etc... We were given a brief history about the winery and then the tour began. From whatever he told it was clear that the most important wines were Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc. Robert Mondavi does make a lot of other wines too...but the grapes aren't always grown at the Robert Mondavi vineyard. We were given the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes to taste. The grape in itself had a strong taste and the skin was way too bitter. Proceeding further we were shown how the oak containers are used and we then got to see the wine aging in the oak barrels. He explained the whole process of wine making and all these intermediary stages from harvesting the grape to bottling the wine.
At the end of it we were given 3 different wines to taste. He offered us the unoaked chardonnay first, I was told that they only made 200 cases of this Chardonnay and that it could be aged upto 8 years easily. The unoaked chardonnay basically bypassed the aging process in the oak barrels and gets bottled right away. Everyone like this Chardonnay as it merely tasted like grape juice only fuller. The next wine that was offered was the 22005 Merlot, this had quite a bit of alcohol and I couldn't take it. Then came the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon which everyone was waiting for. We were given a small appetizer that was made using olive bread and mushroom when tasting the Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery tour guy told us that Cabernet was the biggest wine they make and it needs to be paired with big foods to be enjoyed. We were also told that Cabernets can be easily aged for about 15-20 years. Finally as a surprise we were given muskato this was an outright winner, it tasted like a stronger 7up and every single person that was there in the tour with us bought atleast 2-3 bottles of this wine.
There were people from other states of USA and certain other countries too that had come to visit these wineries. All the other wineries seemed crowded so we went to Beringer more to see its architecture than for the wine. We didn't go on the tour or wine tasting there. The Beringer vineyard was just beautiful. We walked down the St. Helena Downtown and picked up some chocolates at the Woodhouse chocolate store. Those chocolates tasted divine. My husband and I totally loved these chocolates, each chocolate melted in our mouth. It got dark pretty quickly so we were on our way back. Every winery was uniquely decorated with christmas lights. It was quite a sight.
It struck me on my way back home, how the weekend was a real getaway. The two days we spent at Napa were really relaxing and we never thought about work or daily routine or anything else for that matter. We pretty much lived by the moment. Anyways it was time for us to get back home and we did.
In all honesty, I would definitely recommend a weekend visit to Napa and I whole heartedly recommend a stay at the Hennesy House as well. I would love to visit Napa sometime during summer or early fall and I would definitely love to stay at the Hennessy house or maybe try a different B&B just for the sake of variety.
We decided to stay at the Hennessy House Bed and Breakfast Inn at Napa. Initially we were a little skeptical about staying in a privately owned B&B as opposed to just staying in a reputed hotel. Nevertheless we decided to try the B&B as it would be a new experience. Napa has lots and lots of B&Bs to choose from, the choices are just overwhelming. After going through almost every single B&B, my husband and I picked the Duck Nook room at the Hennessy House. This B&B was a stone building that had beautiful antiques and each room had a theme which made it interesting.
We reached the Inn around 6 pm and there really wasn't much to do as it had already gotten dark. There was Sherry for us in the room and it did taste really good too. No sooner than we entered the room and closed the door, there was a pet cat that showed up at the entrance. I'm really scared of cats and wasn't sure about opening the door in order to get to the car and bring our stuff back. It was quite amazing to see how my husband could interpret the cat signals and how he made friends with it so quickly. The cat pretty much obeyed whatever he told it to do and it always came running to him once it saw my husband (I just hope I could love the animals the way my husband does!!!). Since it was the thanksgiving day lot of restaurants were either closed or were already full and couldn't take any more reservations. Hennessy House's website had a list of recommended restaurants and it made it easier for us to decide where we wanted to go for dinner.
We managed to get reservation at Ristorante Allegria which was located on the First Street. That was pretty much the only restaurant that we could get a reservation. We managed to get to the restaurant by 7:30pm. The restaurant was nicely decorated for thanksgiving and had lots of room and the seating wasn't cramped. They were serving Thanksgiving special dinner as well, but since I was a vegetarian we picked Bruschetta Al Pomodoro for Appetizer and Capellini Pomodoro as the main course. Upon ordering they served bread with dipping oil, the bread with dipping oil tasted wonderful. Then we got our appetizer, we have always loved the Bruschetta and it was excellent here at this restaurant as well. Then came my Capellini Pomodoro which was excellent as well. It didn't have too much cheese and it wasn't bland for a change. I had nothing to complain about and I was pleased with my main course. For desserts we had Classic Tiramisu, which was great too. We pretty much had a complete dinner with appetizer, main course and desserst and were really happy with the meal and the service at the restaurant.
We got back to the Inn and watched TV, our room had a 42" LCD TV and that was really nice as some of the Inns don't have TV or internet connection. It was really nice to have TV and internet so that we didn't have to invent other ways of entertaining ourselves when at the room. That was our first night stay at this Inn. The room had a nice fire place which was pretty efficient in keeping our room warm. The bedding was amazing, it was truly one of the most comfortable beds that I have slept in. My husband and I managed to sleep well that night.
The next morning we had to get to the dining room that was at the main house at the Inn. They served us our morning fruits, followed by Frech toast and muffin. The Peach Cinnamon french toast was excellent and the muffins were really good too. They had a lot of berries in them and tasted wonderful. They did have the usual granola and yogurt as well but we decided to have the gourmet breakfast. There was tea, coffee and orange juice for beverages. Overall it was a sumptuous breakfast.
After sometime we decided to go for a nice bath in the Jaccuzi tub. We unwound and soaked ourselves. The bath soak liquid was provided as well and it was great too. It was greatly relaxing. Since it was the black friday we spent the rest of the day shopping at the Westfield mall in Fairfield and then shopping at the Napa premium outlets. I bought a PCTV tuner the review of which would follow sometime soon. Having used to shopping at the West Field Valley Fair in San Jose and the Gilroy premium outlets I don't have much to talk about the malls in Fairfield and Napa.
We got back to the Inn past 6:30pm which means we had missed the evening wine and snack. We weren't interested in it so we decided to skip it and just hang out at the mall. Finally we picked up Pizza at Pizza hut in Napa and went back to the inn. Finally it was saturday morning and time for breakfast again, we were served watermelon soup instead of fresh cut fruits. The watermelon soup tasted divine. As for the main breakfast this time it was baked eggs with dill sauce, I didn't like it as much as I liked the french toast. The muffins were different too, my husband picked the sundried tomato muffin and he didn't like it and I had the Banana bran muffin and it was good.
On both days that I stayed at the Inn, our rooms were cleaned nicely and bed was made nicely as well. Everything was back in its place and as good as it was when we got there. When I went to return the keys I met Lorri who happens to be the owner of this Inn. She was very nice and friendly and gave us a lot of information about which places to see, which wineries we could go to and where we could possibly eat lunch. She was nice enough to get us a wine tour reservation at the Rober Mondavi winery and gave us a free wine tasting coupon for V.Sattui and another coupon for the Sterling winery. She gave us a booklet that had map of all the wineries.
We went to the Robert Mondavi winery and took the tour, the tour guy was great he wasn't too fast or rushing us out. He gave us enough time to ask questions, take photos, etc... We were given a brief history about the winery and then the tour began. From whatever he told it was clear that the most important wines were Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc. Robert Mondavi does make a lot of other wines too...but the grapes aren't always grown at the Robert Mondavi vineyard. We were given the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes to taste. The grape in itself had a strong taste and the skin was way too bitter. Proceeding further we were shown how the oak containers are used and we then got to see the wine aging in the oak barrels. He explained the whole process of wine making and all these intermediary stages from harvesting the grape to bottling the wine.
At the end of it we were given 3 different wines to taste. He offered us the unoaked chardonnay first, I was told that they only made 200 cases of this Chardonnay and that it could be aged upto 8 years easily. The unoaked chardonnay basically bypassed the aging process in the oak barrels and gets bottled right away. Everyone like this Chardonnay as it merely tasted like grape juice only fuller. The next wine that was offered was the 22005 Merlot, this had quite a bit of alcohol and I couldn't take it. Then came the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon which everyone was waiting for. We were given a small appetizer that was made using olive bread and mushroom when tasting the Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery tour guy told us that Cabernet was the biggest wine they make and it needs to be paired with big foods to be enjoyed. We were also told that Cabernets can be easily aged for about 15-20 years. Finally as a surprise we were given muskato this was an outright winner, it tasted like a stronger 7up and every single person that was there in the tour with us bought atleast 2-3 bottles of this wine.
There were people from other states of USA and certain other countries too that had come to visit these wineries. All the other wineries seemed crowded so we went to Beringer more to see its architecture than for the wine. We didn't go on the tour or wine tasting there. The Beringer vineyard was just beautiful. We walked down the St. Helena Downtown and picked up some chocolates at the Woodhouse chocolate store. Those chocolates tasted divine. My husband and I totally loved these chocolates, each chocolate melted in our mouth. It got dark pretty quickly so we were on our way back. Every winery was uniquely decorated with christmas lights. It was quite a sight.
It struck me on my way back home, how the weekend was a real getaway. The two days we spent at Napa were really relaxing and we never thought about work or daily routine or anything else for that matter. We pretty much lived by the moment. Anyways it was time for us to get back home and we did.
In all honesty, I would definitely recommend a weekend visit to Napa and I whole heartedly recommend a stay at the Hennesy House as well. I would love to visit Napa sometime during summer or early fall and I would definitely love to stay at the Hennessy house or maybe try a different B&B just for the sake of variety.
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