Bread + Butter: wine

Labor day usually makes the beginning of the school year. It also mark the beginning of many more holidays to come. Probably on of my favorite times of the year because holidays equals food.

This past Saturday, I took a trip up to Santa Barbara. It's such a contrast from LA. Really a beautiful place to visit. One of my best friends lives there while she goes to school up at UC Santa Barbara. She invited me and few other of our friends for a small house warming and a little wine tasting. I decided to take the train up there as to make it a bit more relaxing. Driving the 101 north freeway on a holiday weekend would probably have been crazy. My stop was in Goleta, CA. Shortly after the main Santa Barbara station.

I arrive shortly before 12 noon, meet my friend and head back to her place where the others of the party are waiting.

There are many winery tasting rooms in Santa Barbara and the tasting room we went to was for the Giessinger Winery in Santa Barbara. They have 2 other locations at Fillmore and Westlake Village. It's nice little place. The weather was fit for a little wine tasting on a sunny and breazy afternoon.

We get there and view room full of their selections of wine. $8 per person for a little taste of 19 different wines: white, reds, dessert and ports. Not bad, eh? So our group settles into a little booth and for the next couple of hours enjoy the lovely samplings. Our hostess, comes by every 5-10 minutes, serving up a bit of each wine. One by one we all swirl, smell and sip each deciphering whether our palates liked it or not.

Lady in Pink

From the selections, I loved their Sauvignon Blanc Reserve. It has a light body and a crisp fruity flavor. I know I've mentioned that I'm not much of a white wine person, but I think I can make an exception. I also liked their Forgiveness Reserve and Lady in Pink Reserve. Both having a lovely fruit taste. Those two are dessert wines. The aroma was pretty nice with a red and pink color, too. By the end of it, we were all pretty slightly buzzed, but enjoyed every moment of it.

So if your in Santa Barbara and in the mood for a little wine tasting why not give Giessinger a try.

210 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Ph.(805) 568-0820

http://www.giessingerwinery.com/

For those closer to LA:

3059 Willow Lane

Westlake Village, CA 91306

Ph. (805) 405-5557, 494-1122

http://www.giessingerwinery.com/

After the wine tasting, we decided to grab some grub from a local joint there called Freebirds. The first thing that popped into my head was the song by Lynard Skynard by the same name minus the 's'. It's a Mexican fast food place a little reminiscent of Chipotle in LA. You wouldn't necessarily connect the name to the type of cuisine it offers. So I was a bit confused at first. I decided to share a veggie burrito with my friend.

Loaded with rice, black beans, guacamole, cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream and wrapped in a large flour tortilla and served warm. Good thing my friend and I decided to share because those suckers were huge, but it was really good. Our other friends also ordered a chicken burrito, some tacos and nachos.

Yeah, it was that big. Let's see...there's was cheese, beans, beef, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo. I think our friend had gotten the works. A fully loaded serving of nachos fit for 4 people. It was pretty good, too. But "food coma" inducing good.

I planned to spend the night at my friend's place as we were driving back together into LA the next day After everyone had gone, we decided to head for some frozen yogurt at YoYumYum in Goleta, CA. It's not far from where she lived. It a new place there. I had gotten the original flavor and topped it with some fresh strawberries, pineapple and some granola. I love frozen yogurt. This is one of those places where you grab a cup and fill it your self. They weigh it to determine the price. I paid a little over three bucks for mine. Not bad considering how much I had gotten. A nice desser for a chilly night.

The next day before heading back, we stopped off for lunch at Silvergreens. It is the first certified green restaurant in Santa Barbara. It's a cool joint that serves healthy type foods that is full of flavor and it pretty good. I think someone in LA should do something like this. One neat thing is that on your recipe there a little table showing you how many calories your meal is all together. It's called a "nutricate recipe."

I ordered the Ahi Club. Seared ahi tuna with hickory smoked bacon, tomatoes, goat cheese, baby spinach, fresh sliced avocado, cucumber and lite mayo on your choice of bread. I enjoyed it very much. I had gotten mine with a nice chocolate chip cookie and a lemonade.

An awesome meal to end my little Santa Barbara adventure. I'm still thinking about that sandwich, though. I think I may just have to recreate it myself soon. Stay tuned!