Tag Archives: Wine

2011 Summer L.A. Trip Day 1 of 4

Wifey, the toddler, and I embarked on a 4-day Los Angeles trip a week ago. The highlights for me from Day 1 are captured below:

On the drive down, the toddler wrote wifey a special note. We were blown away.

We had left at 6 a.m. on Sunday, and that really paid off because before we knew it, we had already arrived in the heart of Koreatown.

The Biergarten restaurant caught our eye, and we decided to check it out. They weren’t technically open yet, but we were welcomed in.

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The beer selections got me excited.

For wifey, an Allagash White (a Belgian Style Wheat, AKA Belgian Witbier style – 5% ABV) from Maine’s Allagash Brewing Company.

And for me, a Stone Ruination IPA (7.7% ABV) from Stone Brewing Co., Escondido, CA. Yeah, I went big; it was my first Stone Brewing beer, and it was glorious.

And some food to go along with our beers.

Kimchi tofu – stir-fry kimchee, German sausage, onions, and tofu.

Sliders with cheese instead of peanut butter.

Wurstplatte of bratwurst and bockwurst.

With mustard and kimchi sauerkraut.

We all enjoyed the Biergarten. So glad to have stumbled upon it.

We missed meeting up with Lynn of The Actor’s Diet blog due to scheduling challenges, but she gave wifey a great tip about a children’s festival taking place at Paramount Studios.

I don’t get how the toddler managed to stay paint free.

My heart raced a bit seeing the Glee sign. I’m pretty sure that I’m the number one Gleek for my demographic – Old. Asian. Guy.

That said, I think I like The Glee Project more than Glee – just love Damian and Lindsay. I’m pretty sure that I’m also the number one Gleep. Interesting results from the season finale, yes?

The toddler got so much exercise at Paramount Studios. He ran all around the open space.

Which worked out well because he was in mellow spirits when we met up with our L.A. friends, Sophia and Mimi, at Yellow House Café.

These ladies absolutely glowed, and meeting up with them was great. We planned to see each other again in a couple days. At this point, we still needed to drive a bit to check in to our hotel.

Some enjoyable wines to unwind.

Copper Ridge Merlot.

Copper Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cheers!

Margaritas. Tasty. A bit too sweet.

Cheers again!

Koi pond on the ground floor.

Watching Disneyland fireworks.

And a video clip of the first few minutes of the fireworks. I just checked Disneyland’s website for their up-close video clip of the fireworks – amazing! But we were also very happy with what we got to see:

Before the first day of our L.A. trip came to an end, wifey and I agreed that the day could not have gone better.

Always Grateful,

~Andy

Plethora of Wine

A number of my cousins enjoy wine as well, and at our recent annual cousin’s reunion, there was plenty of great tasting wine.

2008 Sonoma Landing Pinot Noir, Sonoma County – Simply enjoyable. Very smooth.

2008 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir, Oregon – Really looked forward to this one from Oregon. Great quality.

Sokol Blosser Evolution, 14th Edition, Oregon – a satisfying crisp white.

2009 Groundwork Grenache, Santa Barbara County – Very nice.

2008 Elena Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County – I’ve had this enjoyable wine before.

I didn’t have the chance to taste any of the other wines.

2009 Erath Prince Hill Pinot Noir, Oregon.

2005 Pine Ridge Cave 7 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley.

2007 Round Pond Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley.

Newscastle Brown Ale – This beer was available. Had to have some.

~Andy