Friday, April 29, 2011

Wines and Oxen at Long Meadow Ranch

Traveling with wines, what a good option! I found this post the other day, all the pictures are so beautiful and you can feel the fresh air. Check here


LMR sauvignon blanc
LMR sauvignon blanc
On the very first sunny Saturday after all of those months of torrential rain, my husband and I headed for the farm. Hello, Mother Nature!
Scottish Highland cattle at Long Meadow Ranch
Scottish Highland cattle at Long Meadow Ranch
Long Meadow Ranch Winery & Farmstead in St. Helena just introduced its new Napa Valley Food, Wine and Tour Program, with tours departing from the historic Gothic Revival Logan-Ives House on Main Street, built in the 1870s and fully restored as a classic farmhouse.
Logan-Ives House
Logan-Ives House
We arrived in the morning to join a Napa Valley Dream tour, which started with some good coffee, pastries, and fresh strawberries, grown right in front of the house on a well-tended circular kitchen garden bed.
Long Meadow Ranch is a contemporary certified organic establishment, successfully growing vines, olives, and cattle, and producing wonderful cabernets, superb olive oils, and farm-to-table meats.
Proprietors Ted, Laddie, and Chris Hall, whose motto is “Excellence through Responsible Farming,” adhere to the full-circle method, which means food and wine are grown sustainably, with the estate-produced animal fertilizer and compost, enriched by unique nutrients found in olives and their byproducts.
As we learned on our tour of the 650-acre green pastures, located in the Mayacamas Mountains with gorgeous views of the valley, the owners believe in eating locally and seasonally, and are committed to providing the best food-and-wine destination experience, equally compelling for the local community and for visitors from near and far.
After a short drive uphill, we stopped among the yellow, red, and purple wildflowers by the combed vineyards, climbing upward with their pruned black vines, speckled with the first greenery.
Wine barrels at Long Meadow Ranch
Wine barrels at Long Meadow Ranch
Above them there was a solar-powered winemaking facility in a majestic building, literally pressed into the mountain behind it to create naturally protected coolness within its thick walls.
A high roof with openings for daylight created deep shade over the stainless steel wine storage vats in one of the spacious rooms. In another, French oak barrels formed rows upon rows under a low curved ceiling of the cave with year-round maintained 100-percent humidity.

the Embarcadero Street - Pier 39

There are lots of landmarks and tourist attraction places in San Francisco, and Pier 39 always tops the lists. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, avideo arcadestreet performances, an interpretive center for the Marine Mammal Center, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of California sea lions hauled out on docks on Pier 39's marina. Pier 39 is definitely a must go place. And it's not like other tourist scene that you go once you don't need to go back again, Pier 39 is a fun place that you want to go back agian!



Friday, April 22, 2011

The Park at Bay Area

Yosemite National Park is probably the most famous national park in bay area. But I have never been there. Check out this blog my friend wrote. 


I recently visitedYosemite National Parkand I was so mesmerized by its beauty. Its giant granite walls, countless waterfalls and just all around beauty were something I had never seen before. Going into the park I was afraid of its natural wildlife, especially the Black Bear, but once I was walking through the amazing scenery, all my worries drifted away. 

I came back to the hustle and bustle of the city and I wanted to know more about this amazing park, so I went onto Netflix and found "National Geographic's Secret Yosemite".

    The documentary was a simple documentary explaining how the elements of nature wind, fire, earth , water all come together to restore the natural balance of the park and its iconic physique. Two interesting facts I actually learned  are that the massive granite structures like El Capitan are the results of cooled magma over thousands of years, and second the giant sequoias pump water 300 ft up to the top every day.

    Overall the documentary is very simple and doesn't offer a very detailed description of the park. But if you want to get a general idea of Yosemite I would recommend the documentary.


Thursday, April 21, 2011

Bush St & Grant St. - Chinatown

It's the biggest Chinatown in the entire U.S! Although this Chinatown is more like southern of China, but I still feel so familiar when I stand right in the middle of it. If you are tourists in San Francisco, you should go and check it out, you can see so many Chinese style buildings and decorations, taste very traditional foods, and buy some really cool stuff from Asia. As a student in San Francisco, I go there pretty often too, the main reason is that you can buy so much fresh vegetables and fruits there at very low price! What a deal! I know the image of Chinatown is always like very dirty, loud and crowed, not like the clean and delicate Japan Town, but it is really just a part China like that. Welcome to Beijing, it's my hometown, and I believe it will impress you with a new modern look! San Francisco Chinatown

Friday, April 8, 2011

Fun in Spain from them

I read this blog from a website, make me wanna go there! 


Its time for spring festivals. Lets go to  Seville, Spain. With the quick flick of a switch, over 22,000 bulbs immerse Seville’s liberal fairgrounds in blissful light. This first night of the Feria de Abril, the Alumbrao, features the brilliant lights adorning the fairgrounds and the massive main gate – designed and constructed anew each year – as they flicker to life for the first time of the year, marking the beginning of a week of dancing, music, and basking in the joyous Sevillian culture. The carnival week sees the best bullfights of the season, so be sure to bring your white handkerchief and follow the Sevillians to the Maestranza bullring.



Market Street!

Market street is the most important major street in San Francisco. Restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores, banks, hotels, cinemas are all over this street, you can almost find everything. It started from the ferry building in financial district, and it goes all the way to corbett Ave, you can also see so many different scenes in this this street, from formal and professional side in financial district to urban feeling around Powell station, easy graffiti side around civc center, also colorful area in Castro. When festivals comes, there are always parade in this street too. Market street, a street people cannot live without in San Francisco! Market Street Wiki Page