November is one of those months for Zari and me. Our anniversary, albeit this was the first one, starts the month. My birthday follows and then hers is ten days later.
We took advantage of the the free Friday after Thanksgiving and headed up to Calistoga to celebrate Zari's birthday. Our residence pro-tem was the Eurospa and Inn, the only place bookable with bed, breakfast, and spa on short notice. We checked in and let ourselves be pampered with mineral baths, full body massages and facials. It's a bit pricey, but the accommodations are more than adequate. The small fireplace and two-seater Jacuzzi in the room make it quite cozy.
We took a walk in town to relax after relaxing and then headed for dinner at the Flatiron Grill. I'd give this place two stars. The service was excellent. We were never neglected. The food was, well, OK. Zari had a green salad followed by grillled salmon on mashed potatoes. The salmon was well done at one end and rare at the other. Hmmmm... My onion soup was lukewarm, but tasty. The Flatiron steak with potatoes au gratin and spinach was really good, very tender and tasty, something I didn't expect from a shoulder cut. Zari had a glass of '04 Estancia California Pinot Grigio. Blindfolded one would have screamed Chardonnay. It had a creaminess which seemed to overwhelm everything else. I tried an '04 Jade Mountain Contra Costa Mourvèdre, an unassuming red with medium body and fruit which really went quite well with the griddle steak.
We both could have passed on the fruit torte for dessert.
Back in the room we found a bottle of Mumm Napa Valley Brut Prestige waiting for us. The smell of bread dough was quite penetrating, yet the sparkler wasn't a disappointment, just not as light and lively as I like ... but, hey, it had appeared magically in our room so who's going to fault the Champagne Fairy!!! I put the cork under my pillow in hopes of finding another bottle in the morning.
Morning came; so did breakfast after which we took a leisurely drive homeward south down SR29. The mists were still rising from the autumnal vineyards in their many-colored garb. The hot air balloons floated above us. There are less pleasant ways of marking the turning of another year of life.