VenerableBede

make sure of your times and distances, as mountain climbing adds to it. from palo alto to ridge, i'd say it's about 35-45 minutes, including the drive up the mountain. ridge has a few tables for picnics- i've often stopped at togo's (there's a togo's on stevens creek, right off the exit with hwy. 85) and picked up a few sandwiches, then drove to ridge, sampled, bought a half-bottle and drank that with the sandwiches. i recommend ludja's link to the santa cruz mountain winery association; the map on their page is invaluable, but just be aware of distances, as they may not be apparent on the map. also, alot of the wineries on the list aren't open to the public, except for passport days, which does not occur in march, so call ahead. i can say that ridge and savannah-chenelle are good/excellent. . .cooper-garrod is ok, and picchetti. . .not so much.

i will second the j recommendation. . .it's a $20 tasting, but it does come with food, and no appointment or reservation needed (unless you wanted to do the bubble room). i think you have to make an appointment to do the peju food and wine tasting. i think making an appointment is pretty normal, if i'm correct, for most places that would do a food and wine pairing.

wander on over towards the international terminal food court where you can get ebisu sushi (it's outside of security). otherwise, you can take bart one stop south to millbrae. there is an in-n-out burger across the street from the stop.

same here. national drink of the czech republic i was told after quite a few. . course, my memory could be a little fuzzy.

I think I brought this up somewhere else, but I can't remember. I have a friend in Madison who swears that whenever he orders an Old Fashioned in Madison, they always make it with brandy. I have not seen this occur though. Was at a steakhouse in Chicago over Christmas and ordered an old fashioned, thinking. . steak house, traditional cocktails, should be no problem. well, no muddling, and the cherry and orange slice were the last things to go into it. it was a little difficult to drink, having to manuever around an orange slice floating on top of the drink. maybe he was just too busy.

pizza mart in adams-morgan. ha ha ha.. . just kidding.

ahhh yes, the microclimates in the bay area. . .temps can change by as much as 20 degrees if you go less than 20 miles. i live in san francisco, and during the heat wave it was 70 degress at my house in inner sunset, drove to SFO and it shot up to over 90 degrees on the way to the airport.

Just to throw my two cents in here. . .if you don't mind a 1.5-2 hour commute each way, then by all means, hayes valley, noe valley or marina in san francisco all would be reasonable (i live in inner sunset which probably won't have the concentration and quality of restaurants you are looking for). another suggestion would be the richmond neighborhood in san francisco (not richmond the city though), but that's even further away from caltrain and bart. however, i would strongly suggest looking at places in the peninsula like palo alto- the downtown area contains alot of restaurants of varying cuisines and is also much closer to menlo park.

if anyone cares, the s.f. chronicle says that Ame's pastry chef, Marissa Churchill, will be one of the contestant's on season 2. i'm glad to see that top chef is addressing the need for a pastry chef- it was tough to watch the chefs try to make a dessert (remember using a cake mix for the wedding cake).

I admire what they do and enjoy reading/watching how they get to their destination but I have to say none of the food looks all the great. I've only seen the show a handful of times but I wasn't moved to cook after viewing. Their chili looked like a leaden disaster to me. I think it's very Yankee-style cooking, which is interesting but it doesn't seem very passionate. ha ha, yankee. . that's exactly what i think sometimes (especially the episode where they were doing tacos and quesadilla's). not to mention kimball's droll style of talking. i enjoy watching ATK for technique and reasons why one should or shouldn't doing something, but their actual recipes don't really sound all that enticing (their butternut squash soup really didn't look or sound appetizing).

comic book guy once lamented that same thing. . . the episode was fantastic. and the people up-thread were correct- tony acts completely different than in no reservations. it felt like tony was there doing research and to find out what was going on. however, and i'm sure we all have this same nagging thought, that it would be great to hear or read more about it. the section on french laundry, i thought, was just as lacking. i want tony to be more philosophical about these dinners. but, i think he's getting there in some of the no reservations episodes.

i think it's l.a.. . i want to say that i saw a ralph's bag somewhere in one of the episodes. i couldn't make out what the bag said in another episode.

having grown up in california and even worked at one, there is the chain Fresh Choice. fresh choice is a salad bar, but they also have soups and desserts (muffins and whatnot). and in college in texas, there was another chain called Souper Salad. much like fresh choice above. But, when I moved out to D.C., there was no salad bar, like the two listed above. while i generally don't eat salad, i always missed having the option- cause on the random occasions where i feel like a salad, those places have satisfied that need. and it helps that it's all you can eat.

oh, i'm embarrased to talk about my favorite salad- let me preface by saying that i was in pittsburgh. was at a small bar/restaurant across the street from pnc park, and friends and i were looking for place to eat before the gates opened. found this place that would serve food, and, against all my prior desires and instincts, i opted for the salad. why? well, since we were in pittsburgh, the "salad" was topped with mozzarella and included, sprinkled throughout, boneless chicken wings. yum!

i loved one of last night's episodes that had the woman change into something more comfortable when they got home. i find the whole show entirely amusing- a good-looking guy with an accent basically picking up on married or attached women in the grocery store. . .brilliant!

anybody else see the ferrian adria episode commercials in last nights episode (or did i just miss them previously)?? in 2 weeks! is this the episode that was referenced in nasty bits (i think) where food network didn't want it, but bourdain and the crew did, so they went and did it anyway?

ha ha. . i saw that done on Ham on the Street the other night. to make this (somewhat) relevant- i know that places like CF and Maggiano's do serve their purpose of getting groups of people together, i mean, just look at them on prom nights.

I grew up in California, but my mom is from Alabama so there would always be some Miracle Whip around the house when i was growing up. However, and i can't pinpoint the time, it got replaced by mayo (best foods), and i have stayed with mayo ever since. However, when I now go to my in-laws house in Chicago, they have nothing but MW (my wife's mother is from Iowa). course, they also have margarine but no butter. knowing what i know, i have a feeling that they simply have MW (lite, if i remember) and margarine because she read it in a health magazine somewhere, and has no regard for taste (which also helps explain why there's no whole milk hanging around for cooking purposes). for some reason, i'm not asked to cook when i'm over there, despite my pleas. and just one final bit- my mom swears by pickle juice instead of vinegar as her "secret ingredient" for deviled eggs.

i know that on "good eats" alton brown measures all dry ingredients by weight, and makes it a point to mention that everytime.

once upon a time you could find it at the cafe attached to the spy museum.

a friend of mine was in town and i had told him about muskrat. we were never able to find out a place that sold it. what about scrapple? there was a baltimore sun (?) article a few years ago that went over like 5 baltimore food specialites. . other than muskrat, the only other one i remember is a queen charlotte cake (i think that's the right name).

i had a fantastic time at kelham (call in advance). and agreed about artessa, tis a beautiful winery . . .

larry king suggests welch's red grape juice - at least that's what i hear on the radio every so often.

as someone mentioned above, i'm certain that you can get white lily at harris teeter. i saw it just this past weekend at the one in pentagon city. while i don't recall seeing it there, it would not surprise me if wegman's had it too.

aside from it being touristy (and north of the mason-dixon), the amish country near lancaster, pa might have something similiar to what you are looking for.