Back from the land of almonds and honey (and olives and wine)

Last week we escaped for a little working vacation, aka buying trip for the shop. Have to say, it was fabulous just to get away (even if we did have to close the store for a few days), but what made it the perfect week was seeing old friends*, visiting mom, and having a teeny bit of time to enjoy the bay area. Oh, and perfect weather didn't hurt, either. Ahhhh. We went to the San Francisco gift show, which sadly, is a mere shadow of its former self, but still full of good finds, enthusiastic vendors, and creative, lovely booths. Going to a smaller regional show means you might bump into some smaller artisan companies that may not have the budget to show at the major markets, and that's what we found. [Had plenty of exposure to the 'biggies' at the Atlanta market in January.] I'm so happy with all of our buys, some of which we brought home with us (some really good vintage finds!), and some that will ship later.

Highlights of the trip: going to The Legion of Honor on opening night of a new exhibit called The Cult of Beauty (on loan from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London). It's an amazing and wondrous group of objects and paintings from the Aesthetic Period (late 19th c to very early 1900s), and well worth an expedition. We went with dear friends and ran into some other great friends we hadn't seen in a long time. Happy, happy, happy. Dinner at a darling little SF bistro called L'Ardoise (the chalkboard). Then there was the trip to Pt. Reyes: what a gorgeous, perfect day that was, ending with a fab dinner of barbequed oysters we picked up fresh from the oyster ranch on the bay. Next day we visited the B.R. Cohn winery with the hope that we could pick up a couple of cases of their wonderful olive oils and vinegars, which we've carried in the store before (but had never visited their location). Another sunny, perfect day (about 72º – doesn't get better than that!). They were so welcoming and wonderful: not only did we pick out numerous cases of our favorite olive oils and vinegars (omg, that blackberry balsamic!) to bring back to the shop with us, we got a personal tour of the gorgeous grounds and did some wine tasting with some extra special pours.

Let's see, then there was the return trip to mom's in Chico, where (lucky us) the almond trees were nearly in full bloom. It only happens for a few weeks in late February, and the whole place explodes in these pale pink clouds of blossoms. Took a few pictures, but couldn't capture the full effect of the beautiful trees. Everywhere we went, things were lush and green and blooming. The mustard under the grapevines. Camelias in four different technicolor shades. Tulip trees in full pink bloom. Sigh.

Need I mention that it's snowing hard in Bend right now?

View of the vineyards from the back of B.R. Cohn winery.

This is where your olive oil came from. Olive trees on
left are of the Picholine variety (one of my favorites!)

Almond orchard starting to bloom

Each flower will be an almond

If only you could hear the happy, buzzing bees all around...

*uh, gulp, to all of our other dear SF friends: we couldn't fit it all in and call everybody, because it really was a very tight, quick trip... will do it again, with more time to spare next time...