Travel Days – Cooking at Clark Towers

Good morning or is it afternoon?

I have had a crazy couple of weeks; just woke up about an hour ago 11:30 EST. I have been on six different planes traveled with two different companions and woke up in 3 different times zones in these last couple of weeks. So happy to be home with a mountain of laundry to do, tons of mail; in person and online to sort through and take some time to enjoy a cup of tea in my favorite place of all; my kitchen.

I don’t have a recipe to share today but I wanted to share a few photo’s all take with an iPhone of some great meals and places I had over these last two weeks and share some of the highlights and maybe even the low lights as well.

Golden Gate Bridge from the ferry we were on

Sentinel Building in North Beach area of San Francisco. Much of the building is occupied by Francis Ford Coppola film studio American Zoetrope

A beacon for beatnik culture, City Lights bookstore in San Francisco is best known for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems, and as the site of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s obscenity trial in the 1950s.

First trip was to San Francisco for work which was my companies spirit week where everyone is able to spend quality time with all of our co-workers. About half the company works remote so it’s a great way to get to know each other and create a better work environment. It was a great trip exploring the city on foot one day, riding in a bus up to wine country another day and meetings the next ending with a lovely cocktail party. The week was filled with good food and great conversations.

Some great pizza options at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana and a little bread pudding for dessert

Some of the fabulous food at the Company cocktail party

Little nugget of tuna tartare – I didn’t get any pictures of the Beef Wellington bites or the Gruyere puffs equally delicious!

Super cute cups of yumminess!

Gorgeous Paella for a crowd

A great visit to Kunde wines with a little tour of the caves. Beautiful day for a lovely Rose

Then back home for less than 6 hours of laundry and a catnap then off onto the next adventure Costa Rica for a little rest and relaxation with my husband meeting up with my middle school bestie at her daughters home. What a great week we had. I will admit I was very nervous to go to Costa Rica, my husband has been wanting to go for many many years now but when I researched it forever ago what stuck out to me was they had some of the biggest spiders, bugs and snakes and too many for me were the poisonous type. So I crossed it off my list. My girlfriend invited us with her and her husband to go visit her daughter and husband; UGH of course I said yes but in the back of my mind I was freaking out.

Lets start with a round of drinks 

I always try the fish tacos if they are on the menu – mahi mahi yum!

I was not wrong about the bugs, thankfully I didn’t see anything that freaked me out but they have a ridiculous amount of creepy crawly things. However it was beautiful and we had a lovely time. Not to say that I didn’t have my eye out at all times and that I made sure to turn lights on everywhere I went but I would visit again and maybe even go on a tour or two.  We visited the Pacific Coast for a couple of days but most of the time we spent at my adopted (over the week) God Daughters home up in the mountains. The views and breeze were amazing. We watched the rain roll in every afternoon and it was a spectacular show.

Our Hacienda for the week, no need to venture out!

Above were how big I thought things would be LOL – Below a little taste of the Pacific coast!

I have never been a fan of travel days but I swear they are getting worse. Not sure what happened to the airlines and airports but it’s kind of a shit show with too many delay’s and excessive lines around every corner.

Back to reality and the laundry!