A Week in Carmel Valley

Pano view from the coastal trail at The Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay

When we had originally planned this trip for our anniversary, we were bringing our puppy Gus with us. Unfortunately, by the time it got close to time to go, we figured out he was too big to fit in a bag to put under the seat. We were bummed, but as you will see, we had a great time. We stayed one night at The Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay before heading to Carmel Valley to stay at The Bernardus Lodge and Spa. It was a 5 Star Week for sure.

The Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay was impressive. We had lived in San Francisco for almost 5 years and never made it to Half Moon Bay. The hotel sits right on the cliffs with a golf course and amazing views. If you happen to go, make sure you get a fire pit room (pictures below). If you are there over the weekend, they do a really good brunch on Saturday and Sunday.

The hotel offers quite a few amenities, some we took advantage of and others we didn’t. Away from the main house they have an indoor pool, which looked nice. They have 2 golf courses, one of which is the coastal course, which looked beautiful. We took advantage of the walking trail along the coast, the spa, which featured a co-ed hot tub and also gender specific hot tub, sauna and steam room. It was a very nice facility and the employees were friendly and helpful.

From the Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay, we took off South towards Carmel Valley. It took us a couple of hours to make the drive, but there were some amazing views along the way.

We pulled into The Bernardus Lodge on a busy Saturday afternoon. We were met by friendly faces working the valet. They got everything out of the car while we went inside to get checked in. The front desk staff were quick to offer a glass of wine while we waited our turn to get checked in. Once checked in we were escorted to our room where our bags were already being delivered. I can’t remember the last time that the valet beat me to my room with my bags, so this was a nice surprise. But little did I know, this was how the week would go.

During our six night stay at the lodge, we met several guests that have been returning for many years. The restaurant and bar staff made everyone feel like family. Just a quick shout out to a few of the staff. The bartenders Gabe and Jason, the bar server Tristan and restaurant server Holly, which ill talk more about later. All of these servers were awesome and are either family or have known each other for a long time.

We ate at the lodge a few nights. You can’t go wrong with whatever you get. The burger and fries were tasty, the oysters were some of the best I’ve had. We ordered them most every night. They were so clean and had no grit. I love oysters, but most of the time, they aren’t cleaned that well.

The one thing that I would tell anyone that is staying at Bernardus is to do the Chefs Table. Its a little pricey, they do one a night and not every night, but its totally worth every single penny. We got to our table at 6:30 and was met by Holly. She would be our server for the night. I won’t give the entire night away, because that was the cool part of it for us, we didn’t know what to expect. We did decide to do the wine pairing with our meal and it worked out really well. We had around 8 courses with dessert and every single item was out of this world. Some stuff Chef Cal took from the restaurant menu and cooked it differently for us, other stuff isn’t even on the menu that we got a taste of. The dinner is just part of the experience, the other part is being at a booth in the kitchen and to be able to see a working kitchen. The kitchen at Bernardus is like a well-oiled machine and most of the time you could hear a pin drop.

While we were in Carmel Valley we had to do the 17-mile drive, which ends in Pebble Beach. If you are a golfer or have a significant other that golfs, this is a must. We had lunch outside around a fire pit at The Bench. It was just a warm, sunny day, the wine tasted great and the food was delicious. Our view of the water was obstructed as they were preparing for the US Open, so were constructing all kinds of buildings for that.

The other sunny day we had we took the drive down Highway 1 down the coast from Carmel to Big Sur. As you will see from the pictures below, the views along the coast are just amazing. We pulled off several times, just to take in the views. I had no idea that there was water that color blue on the coast of the US. We drove about an hour past Big Sur before we turned around and headed back. We stopped at a place called Ventana Big Sur for lunch. The drive up can be tight, as its pretty steep and in some places only enough room for one car. Its also a hotel, but they were busy for lunch, as most people just stop because the views at the top from the restaurant are breathtaking. They have a really big outside patio, that in season the outdoor bar is open with plenty of seating. Unfortunately, since we were there in February, it wasn’t open. The food was nice, they had a full bar and the cocktails looked good. The other place that people told us about was Nepenthe.

The views along Highway 1
View from Ventana patio

One late afternoon we took a Lyft from Bernardus to Carmel-by-the Sea. Be patient and plan ahead, but Lyft and Uber pick up at Bernardus. Most are in Carmel-by-the-Sea, which is about 20 minutes away. We took in a couple of wineries, but our favorite there was Caraccioli. They have really good Rose sparkling wine and also still. We had some of both shipped back home. Then we headed off to dinner. We got a reservation at Seventh & Dolores. They are known for their steak, but had other stuff too. I am very picky about my steakhouses. I like my steak seasoned and most “chefs” think that it only needs a little salt and even less pepper. However, the chef at Seventh & Dolores, got it right. The steak was seasoned perfect and had amazing flavor. Everything there was really good. Cocktails were good (I am a sucker for a proper Manhattan), appetizers and dessert. I took leftover steak and the mushrooms back to the hotel and had them the next day for a little snack. I was quickly reminded how good dinner was the night before.

About 5 minutes from Bernardus is Carmel Valley Village. There are quite a few tasting rooms there, restaurants and art. Our favorite wine from there is I. Brand and Family. The winemaker Ian Brand was named, Winemaker of the Year, by the SF Chronicle. Ian was a little cocky, but his wine was good, so I guess it works.

That about wraps our week in Carmel. We left their and headed north and spent a night in San Francisco before heading home. ill make that a short post on its own. Carmel Valley is definitely worth the trip. Definitely a different vibe from Napa or Sonoma, but still a great vibe.

Two days in Prague

We decided that at the end of our Paris trip, we would fly to Prague. Neither of us had ever been, but wanted to go. After a week of champagne, while delicious, beer never sounded so good.

I am a Marriott points guy, so we stayed at Carlo IV, its an Autograph property. I am usually not a fan of Autograph properties, but this one was nice. I had set up transportation through the hotel when we arrived in PRG to the hotel and then also returning to the airport. I am a fan of setting up transportation to/from the hotels when on vacation. It saves time and is usually not too expensive. The Carlo offers their chauffeur service for 38 euro one way, so very reasonable. The hotel is a quick 10 minute walk to the town square.

The pool at The Carlo is amazing. Its indoors and in the basement, but its dark and so relaxing. They have a cold plunge, sauna and steam room. We did a couples massage there and it was magical. I would at least recommend spending a couple of hours at the pool to relax.

We had dinner at a great restaurant that was really close to the hotel.. it was called, Portfolio. One of us had the tasting menu, shown below. The food was absolutely delicious. We had a great bottle of wine, which they decanted for us. It should also be noted that the wine was served at the correct temperature. Something hard to find and it shouldn’t be.

Tasting Menu

There are several local breweries and cool bars. The architecture here is absolutely beautiful. A few days here is plenty. We were here for two nights and one more would have been perfect. The one thing that we would have done if we had one more day is to go to Prague Castle. We did stop in the sex toy museum, which is a must. I won’t give any spoilers, just stop in. You will probably learn something.

Overall, we loved Prague. I’m glad that we took the couple of days at the end of the trip.

Delicious Duck Breast

I absolutely love duck breast. Its one of those things that if I see it on a menu out someplace I will usually order it. Most of the time, its not prepared the best. I like my duck breast to have a crispy skin and be medium rare. We had a place in Cincinnati, that’s where I am from, that had the best duck breast. It was always prepared, just the way I like it.

I wanted to try it at home, but its one of those things that can psych you out if you haven’t cooked it before. You over cook it, its horrible, you don’t have crispy skin, its nasty and more importantly, duck breast isn’t cheap. So I got duck breast from a local farm here in Atlanta. It was bone-in and had the Wing attached. Now, I’ve never cut a duck breast off the bone, but my dad was a meat cutter, so I have watched him cut a lot and I’ve carved a few chickens. I got the duck thawed out, took a paring knife and cut the breast off the bone. It came out perfect and was fairly easy to do. I just worked my knife around the bone from the inside. Slow cuts, so you don’t chop up the meat. If you have a boneless breast, well then you are ahead of the game.

People think that to get that crispy skin you need to sear it. NOPE, not with duck. If you are cooking two duck breasts, then I recommend a tablespoon, maybe a touch more, but not much of olive oil in a cast iron skillet. the duck will produce a lot of fat, if done correctly. Anyways, salt and pepper on the duck breast, season both sides. Put the breast in the cold (not heated) pan skin side down. Turn the heat on, low. yes, low. You may turn it to medium-low, but everyones stoves are different. Let the fat render slowly. Think about cooking bacon, you get more fat the slower it cooks. The duck works the same way. It will take about 15-20 minutes, but it won’t burn as long as its low heat. The fat will begin to render and then you can turn it over for just 3-5 minutes and it should be medium rare.

Some may disagree with me, but its easy to turn the heat up higher to cook, then to try to cool a hot skillet down. Don’t move it around when the skin is rendering, just leave it be. You will be able to see the fat turning translucent and all of the oil in your skillet, then turn it over.

I recommend taking the duck out of the skillet, letting it rest and using that duck fat to cook some root vegetables or potatoes. whatever you do, don’t waste it. It has amazing flavor. We served ours with a homemade cherry port sauce, that’s where our duck fat went. My other half is amazing at sides and sauces.

My 40th Birthday Trip

Featured

Since this is my first post and I’m still trying to figure out how I want to post information on my page, I’m going to stick to the basics of this trip and the activities that we did while on this trip. As a note, we traveled at the end of June.

Chateau
Entry Foyer
Chateau
Some of my crazy friends

I found this chateau, pictured in the header, on Olivers Travels (I wouldn’t recommend using them). Amazingly enough, chateaus are hard to find of this size in Champagne, France. The owner told us, there are two and this is one of them. This house was from the 17th century. We called it, “rustic chic”. It was nice and a very cool thing to do, but I will say, I like the more modern amenities in life. We ended up with 13 friends to join in on this crazy trip. Everyone flew from all over the US to help celebrate this milestone that I wasn’t looking forward to at all. We had the chateau for 7 nights and friends came and went as the week went on, which was fun. You never know how 13 people that are ages 30-50 are going to interact, but everyone got along and some met for the first time and now are friends forever.

We opted to cook most dinners at the chateau. They had a couple of charcoal grills and a decent kitchen. The owners were nice enough to get groceries for us (for a fee + groceries) to get us through the first few days. We had friends coming that rented a car, so we could get to the grocery store after that.

We had setup two days of tours of champagne houses. Olivers Travels, say they help with this, but they can’t. So we found a company called, France Intense. They put together two very nice days of tours for us. Our tour guide Dorothy was amazing and I would recommend her to anyone. We did a mix of mainstream champagne houses (Moet & Chandon and Taittinger). The better story here, are the family owned houses that we went to. These champagne houses were literally peoples houses or they lived on the property.

Here are my favs:

Dominique Foureur- This house was the coolest of all. It was a husband and wife operation. All of their champagne was in a cellar at their house. They still hand cork every bottle that they produce. They do not speak English, so Dorothy translated for us. After the quick tour, we went into their kitchen and sat at their kitchen table to do the tasting. What a treat it was and felt so intimate. http://www.champagne-foureur.fr

Image courtesy of Christian Dohn

The other small champagne house that we went to was Le Gallais. It sat up on a hill overlooking the vineyards below, just an amazing view. The champagne was amazing and the service was great here. This house is in Epernay.

Images courtesy of Nancy Maack

The last stop in France after spending 7 amazing nights in the countryside was back to Paris. A couple of our friends had come to Europe early and then met us in Paris to head to the chateau. Since we had one night in Paris and needed something to do, they had recommended a river cruise for dinner. Thank you Nancy and David for that recommendation.

There are a ton of these river cruises, so for reference, the name of the company that we went on was, Bateaux Mouches. Do yourself a favor and just spend the extra money for the “excellence” menu over the “prestige” menu. The difference is 34 euro and includes champagne and wine. We had a group of 7 with an amazing table at the front of the boat. Its inside and has air conditioning with an open air viewing area upstairs. http://www.bateaux-mouches.fr is the website for the dinner cruise on the Seine.

View from our table
The couple actually got engaged

Images courtesy of Christian Dohn

I would like to thank everyone that made this trip such a blast. It would not have happened without you. Names are not in any order, so no favoritism :). Billy, Beth, Ryan, Courtney, Heath, Wil, Amy, Christian, Brian, Jason, Nancy and David.