Live. Laugh. Eat.

Those three words are not only the name of Miss Allie’s A-mazing blog, but they also describe my Labor Day weekend in all of their simplicity. As you can tell, I unplugged for the weekend and enjoyed the company of family – eating, laughing, living.

Friday

After a beautiful drive through the vineyards Friday afternoon blasting a few new tunes, I joined my mom and grandparents at Kenwood in celebration of my grandma’s birthday. The four of us enjoyed an intimate meal [salmon for me!]… and of course there was wine.

After dinner, I drove to my old college town to hang out with my dearly-missed friends. I was exhausted, but there’s nothing like seeing the people who love you most.

Saturday

Unfortunately, I couldn’t have too much ‘fun’ on Friday night because I had plans to get up early for a full day in Frisco. At 8:45am, eight of us women met to ride the ferry boat into The City.

Once off the boat, we headed straight inside the Ferry Building at Pier 1 to stand in the ridiculously long line for coffee… Blue Bottle Coffee.

We meandered around the shops – staying together as best we could – and then proceeded to stroll around the infamous Saturday farmers’ market outside. Boy oh boy, what a bounty of beautiful produce there was!

Is she not the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen?

After getting our food and craft fair fix, we agreed to find our way to China Town. As many times as I’ve been to San Fran, I have not taken a ride on the historic trolley, so the ol’ trolley it was. All aboard!

We spent the next couple of hours in and around the crowded streets of China Town, admiring the abundance of teas and trinkets. Though, a couple hours of the stop-and-go on the claustrophobic streets is enough for me, so I was more than happy when we broke through to California Street and made our way down to Union Square/Market Street.

When you have a group of eight women in San Fran, shopping is inevitable, no?

More walking. More [window] shopping. More munching. Around 6:00pm, we finally made our way back to the pier to catch the last returning ferry. Starving on the other side of the bay, we found dinner in the way of California Pizza Kitchen before driving on north to our final destination: bed.

Sunday

With two days of rest from training, I sprang rolled outta bed early Sunday morning to squeeze in a run before my muffin-making duty called. It had been some time since running on pavement, but I still managed 4+ miles in 36 minutes around my grandparents’ neighborhood, returning pink-faced to a house seeping smells of crumbly coffee cake and chicken apple sausage.

My mom and I were in charge of making Sunday brunch for the fam. My contributions included a new recipe for blueberry peach muffins and the assembly of the fruit platters.

Clockwise from left to right: blueberry peach muffin, pear ginger coffee cake, zucchini strata, papaya + line, plain yogurt + berries – ‘twas scrumptious, yo!

Would you care for the recipe?

Bellies stuffed, we were set to taste some wine. To the world-renowned vineyards it was…

We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful, September Sonoma County Sunday.

Our first stop was just a few miles down the highway: Chateau St. Jean.

A breathtaking ‘palace’ was she.

Fam-i-ly

Sunshine = Shadows

My beautiful Kansas relatives enjoying their first flight.

Though, I left my ID behind [what are the chances!?], we forged on our second stop down the road: Deerfield Ranch Winery. There, we were hooked up with a free flight of five wines inside a cool cave. Yes, a cave!

Red Wine + Red Eye

Harvest Time

Drowsy from the wine sampling, we made our way back to my aunt and uncle’s for a cozy ‘n’ casual Sunday family dinner + hot tub. It was the perfect way to end the laborious revitalizing weekend.

Wishing you a healthy [short] week from California,

xo Hillary

Various photos courtesy of my family – thank you!

Tagged as: Blue Bottle Coffee, Chateau St. Jean, Deerfield Ranch Winery, Kenwood Restaurant