SF to Monterey-Great Food, Friends and a few books...

We checked out of the Carriage Inn (think typewriter carriage, not horse and...). It was as it has been previously, nice, clean, quite inexpensive and very well located for the shows at the Concourse. We look forward to returning in 2011.

Our luck on this trip continued (twice) today. When I went to pick up our rental car (in theory, a "mid-sized") for the one-way trip to LA, I was asked "if I minded" driving a larger/nicer car down. I said, "No...I really wanted the small POS car I had requested". The clerk, however, was charming and persuasive, so I finally relented and accepted the Ford Flex (it is the bastard child of a Ford Bronco and station wagon...largish and squarish). Interestingly, as soon as I plugged the my iPhone and iPod, the car synced my playlists to the car's system (not expecting this, surprised when the car spoke to me that it had synced ). It also effortlessly paired the car system to my phone. Very slick in a rental...

Thus we were off to Woodside, CA to visit old, dear friends and have an outrageously good lunch. We pulled into Whit and Mary's around 1 and immediately headed off to lunch (though, sadly, Mary could not join us as one of their wonderful Tibetan Mastiffs was just back from the doctor and she needed to baby her).

We returned to the scene of last year's gastronomic excess, The Village Pub...this time for lunch. The volume might be different for lunch, but the style, substance and flair is every bit as wonderful. We each ordered...with the agreement that we would all share...I love foodies. For lunch we had:

Delicata Squash Soup / Brown Butter (this was a gift of the house)

Rabbit Boudin Blanc / Braised Cabbage and Pancetta / Sautéed Pink Lady Apples (Ian)
Wild Nettle and Goat Cheese Agnolotti / Meyer Lemon Cream Sauce (Suzanne)
Slow Grilled Leg of Lamb / Mint Pistou / Chickpea Fries and Sauteed Rapini (Whit)

Pear and Frangipane Tart / Vanilla Ice Cream (Ian)
Meyer Lemon Panna Cotta / Huckleberry Compote / Sour Lemon Meringue (Suzanne)
Trio of Gelatos (Whit)
(and)
Bottle of 2005 Mas Doix "Salanques" Priorat (mostly Suz and Whit...Ian driving)
Tanzanian Peaberry coffee (French press) (Ian)

I am not going to go into further detail. Suffice it to say, The Village Pub is one of my favorite places to eat and I am very grateful (both re girth and wallet) that I am only in the area once a year or so. Do not miss an opportunity to eat there.

We had a nice visit, as always, with Whit talking about tech, crypto, food, wine, books, dogs, other bits of this and that (being nearer to Whit and Mary would be one of the few compelling reasons to move to the west coast). We made plans to meet in the east when Whit is over to speak (Bonus: Short TechReview Interview re Security & Cloud Computing). We also met the newest (and shyest) of the dogs. Though we missed Mary, we had a wonderful time.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

We then headed down to the B&B recommended by our friends Dan and Susan, The Jabberwock Inn in Monterey. Here our luck (on several fronts) continued. Having booked their smallest room (and been pleased to be extended a winter rate), we were very pleased when, after showing us the charming room we had reserved, proceeded to show us the much bigger, more lovely, and fireplace equipped room she had moved us into...complete with brandy in the room and many, many books. The inn has a lovely view over the bay (this, due to height, was less appealing as we trudged back up the hill from dinner). She had out hot hors d'oeuvres when we arrived (about 6pm), wine, sherry and limoncello (that they make from their own lemon trees). We are both looking forward to what appears for breakfast in the morning.

Still reeling a bit from our lunch, we decided to have a light dinner at the Crystal Fish (miso soup, sushi and sashimi). Everything was good, the tuna superb. We managed to drag ourselves back up the hill, made some tea and picked up a bit of dry fruit and headed to our room. A long and lovely day is done.

Tomorrow we head further south toward Shell Beach, through Big Sur. On the tentative agenda is Point Sur, Andrew Molera State Park, Nepenthe Restaurant (lunch?), Carpe Diem (if they are open early enough), and Hearst Castle. [Note: Images are of Suz's insanely good dessert and the spot in Serendipity Books where Jello used to hang (more on this later, it is a tease...).]