Weekend in Livermore

Last weekend Scott and I made a quick trip to Northern CA to attend to wedding details. Our first stop was San Francisco, where we met up with friends Brian & Irina and Scott's sister Kelly and her boyfriend Levi. We had dinner in the Presido at a wonderful restaurant called Pres-a-Vi. We started with "duck balls" (steamed dumplings filled with duck) and some of the best ahi tartar I have had. I had the scallops with baby bok choy and spicy red thai curry sauce and Scott ate a steak atop eel sushi rolls and topped with kimchi. After dinner we headed to a bar in the Marina, and then Scott and I made our way to Walnut Creek.
Bright and early the next morning, we headed out to Wente Vineyards in Livermore with my parents for our 10am cake tasting. Let me tell you, there is nothing better than eating 5 cakes so early in the morning! We tasted all the flavors on my poll, and an extra german chocolate flavor. They were all delicious, but our favorite was the chiffon cake with creme brulee filling and fresh strawberries. Once we chose the flavor, we picked a design and were finished! Now we had lunch reservations at the winery restaurant at noon, and it was only 11am, so of course we had to take advantage of the tasting room and our free tasting passes. An hour later, we had chosen our wines for the wedding and were ready for lunch. At lunch we had another coupon for a free wine flight, which somehow translated into a free flight for each of us. Our lunch highlight was the fritto misto we shared, which consisted of fried calamari, octopus, fennel, fresno peppers, and meyer lemons. After lunch we returned to the tasting room for our dessert of champagne.
After Wente, we rushed back to Walnut Creek to meet with the florist, then back to my parents house for dinner with my grandma (paired with the Wente wines we tasted earlier). The next morning we were up early again to journey again to Wente to meet with our coordinator to decide important details such as which appitiezers to serve and when we want to toast. After our meeting, Scott and I ate lunch at our rehearsal restaurant, and then hit the road for hte 6 hour drive back to Orange County. Whew, fast weekend, but we got a lot accomplished!