Day Trippin’

A discussion at work turned into a day trip adventure this past Saturday. My girlfriend Kristen and I decided to drive to Napa for the day. We started at the outlets. CAbi was having a 40% off outerwear sale and I’ve not lost my addiction since I stopped being a consultant years ago. I scored some very cute jackets and a few tops. Kristen bought some shoes and then we were off to our next stop.

Prager Winery & Port Works is a family owned and operated winery located in the heart of the Napa Valley. Since the first harvest in 1979, they have been specializing in the production of various styles of Premium California Ports.

The barn look of the building was really cool. I also loved the garden and grounds.

Kristen had been to Prager’s on a previous girlfriend’s weekend and purchased some Port balsamic that she loved and was almost out of. The 12 year old Port balsamic vinegar is aged in cherry and oak wood, produced from Napa Valley Port. It tasted amazing!

I was fascinated by the entry and tasting rooms interior…

Currency from around the world covers the walls and ceilings.

I missed getting a photo of the cob web/spider window to the right of the cabinets. I noticed it right away and then saw on their website later what it was all about. Nobody has disturbed the only downstairs winery window for the past 25 years. Built in Halloween decor for sure.

While we would have loved to drop $20/each for 5 pours, we decided to skip it this time around. It was getting late and we were starving.

After driving around for a bit, we decided on stopping at the Oxbow Public Market in the heart of downtown Napa’s Oxbow District. I had been to Oxbow once before with Deede and knew that it was full of artisan merchants and lots of delicious foods/samples.

Our first stop was to check out some candy at Anette’s Chocolates. The Easter themed treats caught my eye, but it was the sample brittle that really made the stop worth it. Kristen makes brittle every year for the holidays and I’m pretty sure I ate my weight in her cashew and white chocolate this past Christmas.

So many flavors to choose from…

We first sampled the Chili Lime Tequila Tortilla Brittle and really liked the unusual combination. Then the gal broke out her favorite – the Triple Nut Kentucky Bourbon Brittle and WOW! that stuff was insane…. so good. Had I not dropped major cash on clothing earlier and if I wasn’t tracking every morsel that I’ve been eating, a bag would have definitely gone home with me. Kristen did purchase the Triple Nut, so I can always beg for another piece.

We sampled different olive oils at The Olive Press and Kristen ended up getting a bottle of their Jalapeno flavor for salad dressing and things she wanted to add a little extra kick to.

We rounded the corner and headed into spice heaven. I popped open so many jars and seriously began to wonder why I don’t create some of my own custom blends.

I like that you don’t have to commit to a full bottle. You can weigh out whatever amount you want. I could have spent more time jar whiffing… but my stomach was pretty much yelling at this point… FEED ME!

We decided on Ca’ Momi – mostly due to the incredible smell coming from their wood fired pizza oven.

We sat on the patio and after all the walking we did, it was nice to just relax.

It’s no secret that I’m a pizza freak. I prefer a simple cheese pizza, but also like a variety of veggie toppings with the occasional meat thrown in. We asked our server what her favorite two pizzas were and ended up going with those to share.

I blame Josh and Deede for starting my blood orange San Pellegrino addiction years ago.

Our server dropped of this bag of delicious pizza crackers – I’m sure there is a more legit name… they were tasty.

The first pizza was the Margherita – (San Marzano DOP tomato sauce, mozzarella di bufala Campania DOP & fresh basil)  Apparently their pizza is VPN certified (a legal entity able to give special designation to pizzerias who meet strict requirements that respect the tradition of the art of Neapolitan pizza making), which basically means it should taste exactly like the pizza from Naples. Since I’ve never been to Naples, I had nothing to compare it to. I’ve had other Neapolitan pizza and this was definitely better. The crust was incredible… crispy on the outside, soft on the inside with a nice smokey balance.

The Pancetta – (house-cured bacon, smoked buffalo mozzarella and sauteed wine forest mushrooms) was the second pizza. I got a piece that was mostly mushroom and it was incredible! I loved it. I’m not a huge bacon on pizza fan, but the ratio of mushrooms to bacon worked.The smoked buffalo mozzarella was delicious. I would for sure order pizza from Ca’ Momi again. I liked it so much, that I ate the leftovers as a late dinner the same evening.

After our relaxing meal, we walked around some more and ended up at Kara’s Cupcakes. The cupcakes were not photo worthy after being in the box for 20 minutes. The frosting had rolled off the sides of the mini cupcakes and I was left with a pink box of mess. I got two minis – a  Meyer lemony lemon cupcake and their flavor of the month – a Baileys Irish Cream cupcake. The Bailey’s was the best of the two. The Bailey’s Irish vanilla butter cream frosting was nice once I scraped it off the side of the wrapper and bottom of the cupcake box. It’s like they frosted them when they were too warm, who knows.

The sweet treat was a nice end to a fabulous day. Thanks Kristen for suggesting our little adventure. Now back to the gym and logging fruits, vegetables and calorie counting. It was nice to enjoy a little break.