New Year's Visit to CA

For New Year's we headed out the California to visit Michael's family.

New Year's Eve was a busy day. We started by driving out to San Leandro to visit Bethany, Ryan, and their baby Mercy. She was a really happy baby, but she seemed to like the taste of shoes (at least while we were there). It was really great to catch up. Afterwards, we went into San Francisco to see the Ferry Building and Boudin Bakery because they had been featured on the Food Network show Chefs vs. City. We started at the Ferry Building by having a chocolate San Francisco Egg Cream. Then, we walked up the Embarcadero to Boudin, where we bought two loaves of their famous sourdough. The first loaf was a simple round. The second loaf was a teddy bear. (This later proved to be a problem since no one wanted to be the first to cut into the cute bear, so by the time it was actually eaten it had become slightly stale.) Then we walked back down to Pier 39, where I bought some sunlight-activated color changing nail polish and a new pair of earrings from my favorite designer. Then we headed home where Michael had his New Year's party, where we played about 3 hours of Cards Against Humanity (Apples to Apples for horrible people).

We also drove to Fairfield to visit the Jelly Belly Factory. While there, we also did olive oil tasting at a store for SePay Groves. Here we were regaled with the health benefits of olive oil. The key is to buy olive oil with a high polyphenol content. The higher the content, the better it is for you. So that begs the question: how do you tell if the olive oil has a high polyphenol content? Well, ideally the maker does chemical tests, but a quick and dirty way is to taste it. The stronger the peppery burn, the higher the content. According to the lab that ran the store, polyphenols are a good anti-inflammatory and can help lower blood sugar. The best way to get its effects is to drink a tablespoon an hour before lunch and dinner. So I decided to give it a try. I will let you know how it goes.

That evening, we went out to Ly Luck for dinner with Michael's extended family. The meal consisted of ten courses and a dessert course of cupcakes to celebrate Tori's boyfriend's birthday.

The next day, we drove to Mountain View in the heart of Silicone Valley to visit one of Michael's high school friends. We had an excellent lunch at PastaQ. Before we left, we drove through the Google campus and took pictures with the Android.

So those are just few highlights of my whirlwind visit to the Central Valley.