Best $49 Fried Chicken of My Life

There's only one place notorious for their $49 fried chicken in NorCal...none other than Ad Hoc of Thomas Keller fame (the dude who also created French Laundry and Bouchon). Ad Hoc is known for their $49 4-course meals...the concept is that guests don't know until the day they arrive what will be served. So while it's not for the unadventurous eater, it is for foodies all around. Mondays are the exception to the mystery-meal in that every-other-Monday they serve FRIED CHICKEN!!!

Keeping in mind that Yountville (Napa) is about 1 1/2 hours away from SF, six of us made the journey on Monday night up there to experience a little bit of Fried Heaven.

First course: Watermelon with cole slaw
Second course: Fried Chicken, Mashed potatoes with mushrooms and roasted veggies from their garden
Third course: Cheese deliciousness with pluots and nuts
Fourth course: Lemon tart with raspberry yummyness on top

Meals are served family-style and you can ask for more of anything. Our goal going into the evening was to get seconds of the famed fried chicken, but we disappointed ourselves in filling up on all of the other courses and unable to down even one more gloriously salty bite.


The Famous Chicken...


Cheese course...


The crew...

The dinner was a birthday celebration for Davey (turning 31 this Friday). Thank you, ladies, for such a terrific night!

26 Weeks - Cucumber?

What a lame-o description. I mean, I love cucumber as much as the next gal, but I don't quite get how the baby can be a cucumber this week and a cauliflower next week:


26 Weeks


27 Weeks (next week)

Regardless, I look forward to my weekly updates of what the baby is doing! This week, BabyCenter told me about the baby's increased hearing capabilities amongst other things. I feel him move a ton and it's become a nightly ritual for Dave to feel the baby kick while we are relaxing in the evenings or heading to bed. I love sharing it with him!

And...drumroll....pics of me. I have not yet become the size of a house and am feeling really, really great! We went to AQUACISE twice this week (yep, Dave the trooper came WITH ME!!!). It was us, 1 "portly" young woman, and 4 geezers who basically chatted it up for the entire hour...it was really cute! Yesterday's class I even had to stop and just walk in the shallow end - it was too intense!!! Who ever thought that Aquacise could be too intense??? Hey...don't knock it 'til you try it!





6+ months in and just 3 months and a week until the due date of November 12th!!!

Babymoon 2009...aka "Our Last Hurrah"

The end is near, y'all! With 3 1/2 months to go before Baby Bryand arrives, Dave and I decided to take what is called a "Babymoon" (honeymoon before the baby arrives) to Hawaii! We went for one glorious, amazing week and didn't want it to end!

We spent 4 days on the Big Island and 4 days on Maui. We thought the Big Island was just okay but we l-o-v-e-d Maui! I have to give a huge caveat as our goal for the trip was to do...nothing. So part of the highlights of the Big Island are the volcanoes and the coffee plantations...we visited neither! Here is a slight recap:

The Big Island: Marriott
Thanks to the company I work for, I won an award last year and it paid for our ENTIRE Marriott stay of 4 nights!!! Awesome. Our bill when we left was a whopping $150 for coffee, room service, etc. YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Our first stop was of course to hit the BEACH!




Try to not get too blinded by our whitey-white bods!

We each had our treats...Dave's was poolside beers, while mine was ice cream in bed!

Dave jumping the kids in line to go down the slide


Haagen Daas...yummy!

We rented a car on both islands...a Mustang Convertible for both of them! We loved having the flexibility to cruise around the island and check out different beaches and restaurants.

I love this pic of Davey...so cute and "island-y"!


I also loved our matching-ish hats that we rocked...so fun!

...and that giant waxy flower in Dave's mouth fell from a banana tree...whacky!

Next, we went to MAUI!
Maui: Sheraton in Lahaina
We loved the beach feel of the island, the lush GREEN-NESS (the Big Island has a LOT of volcanic remnants, making it very black and brown). The hotel location was great for us and we enjoyed every moment.

The Sheraton had a cliff where people jumped off...so Dave had to check it out:

Jumping and Diving

We walked to dinner two nights (Leilani's and Hula Grill) and I looked forward to seeing what flower Dave would pick for my hair...yep, life was pretty easy!


Dinners were fun and delish. We had lots of fruit and fish every day (and ice cream...did I mention ice cream??? ahhhh). We stayed in two nights during the trip and had dinner and a movie in the room - loved it!


Heading to dinner one night while catching a luau


Outside of Hula Grill

We went snorkeling at Molokini one day, and debated the famous Road to Hana for another day. We decided to only go to the first stop - waterfalls - and were glad that we vegged out at the hotel as we later found out what a loooong day the Road to Hana is. The waterfall hike was moderate and beautiful...and Dave got up with the 16-year-olds and jumped!



Casually walking as if we have paparazzi with us...the usual...

While we did those few activities, most of our time was spent at the hotel beach & pool.

Dave checking out Paddle Boarding for the first time!


I spent 90% of my pool time reading...4 books = heaven!


Dave swimming away!

Thank you, lovey, for such an amazing trip together!!! I love you more than I can possibly tell you...and am so grateful for all that you are.



Here are a few more pics from the trip....

Riggles Update!

Riggs is already 2 1/2 months old!!!! Time is FLYING by and Lindsay and Jon are doing great!


How ADORABLE is he???

We went to San Diego for the weekend (July 10-12...I'm just late!) and have been thinking about my sweet nephew ever since. He was just starting to learn to smile (not quite on command...more like we just got lucky here and there) and is just too cute!


Who could say no to this face??


Oh, I get it...easier to say no when THIS is the face!

I still can't get over how IDENTICAL he looks to Lindsay yawning here. I wish I had a picture of her yawning for a side-by-side comparison...I'll work on it!

Riggs...after his narcoleptic auntie's heart


Miss you, Riggs!

xoxo
Auntie B