#87 Write a Book

I have officially started to write a book. Not sure what the title will be but it will be a reference book with 1000 things to do before you die. I already have 916 great items and am working on the format. I am hoping to have a first draft by the end of the year! Any input would be great.

#125 Join a Book Club

I just joined my first book club! Our first read is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin. It is the true story of how one man promotes peace. Hmmm...I hope it's good! Our first club meeting is August 25th. OOH...that's soon...gotta go start reading!

#125 Join a Book Club (NEW)

I'm not sure exactly what you do in a book club. I mean, I understand that you read a book and discuss it. But, what do you really talk about? The characters, setting, plot...all of it? Sounds a lot like English class to me, which I was not fond of. We'll just have to see how it goes.

#26 Eat at 500 Great Restaurants

Restaurant #112 is Botegga in Yountville, Ca

Botegga is Michael Chiarello's, from the Food Network & NapaStyle, restaurant in Napa Valley. I tried to make reservations a few days ahead of time, but they didn't have anything available until 9:30pm, even though it was a Sunday night. The hostess did say that they accept walk-ins, but there might be a bit of a wait. We took our chances because the patio is absolutely beautiful & we knew we could have drinks there first! We were told that the wait would be from 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours. No problem for us, it was our anniversary and we brought a bottle of fantastic wine for the wait. We were able to drink our own wine ($20 corkage) & order an appetizer. The first 2 hours flew by, then....it got cold and everyone knows that I'm not good with the cold! After about 2 1/2 hours I went to ask the hostess how much longer. She said there was 1 reservation ahead of us. We saw about three more tables be seated and then us. Unfortunately, we were seated on the patio with no heat lamp next to our table...Ugh! I thought that the hostess might mention how long we waited to the server & she may have at least acknowledged our wait. Nope! The service was indifferent, not good, not bad (though the patio server was great). Plus, she overcharged us for our wine and when we pointed it out she said she didn't.

What I ate & how I liked it:

Organic Prosciutto “house cured”, pasta fritta, zuppa di melone $13 B+
This was a little odd, we had to ask our server how to eat it. We were suppose to cut the deep-fried focaccia in half, roll the prosciutto around it and then pour the melon soup on top. In general I don't like to have to work so hard to eat a meal that I am paying for and having someone else cook.

House-made egg pappardelle with veal, pork & porcini mushroom Bolognese, Sweet 100 tomatoes, rosemary & parmigiano $18 B+
This pasta was well done, but nothing overly special. The noodles were thin and perfectly al dente. The bolognese had either nutmeg or cinnamon in it which I didn't care for so much.

Wood-Grilled Spiced Quail with Pork & Olive Sausage, Calabrese braised romano beans & yukon gold potatoes, red wine-quail reduction $26 A-
The presentation of this freaked me out a bit, looked like a rat spread out on a plate (see photo), but it was tasty, yet bold with spices.

Chocolate & Caramel Tortino. espresso gelato, milk chocolate peanut butter bar $10 B+
I gave this a B+ because chocolate can't really be bad in my book, but I left wishing I would have ordered the creme brulee.

All said and done, I would go back to Bottega to sit on the patio for appetizers.

#26 Eat at 500 Great Restaurants

Restaurant #111 is Barndiva in Healdsburg, CA.

Barndiva is an awesome space with food to match! The interior design resembles a modern bard, with pitch forks and wire pig sculptures on the wall. Believe me, it's way better than I am making it sound. Their outdoor patio is fantastic & I can't wait to go back on a warm summer night to fully take advantage of it. Every Wed. night they have a BBQ night, that includes a prix fixe "all-you-can-eat" menu & no corkage. I hear it's packed, but I'll let you know. Their food is sourced from farmers, ranchers and small batch purveyors who live and work in the area.

We went in the early evening so we could sit at the bar, have wine & nosh. Here's what I had and how I liked it:

2006 Deux Amis Zinfandel ($9) A+
Perfectly rich & jammy, just like I like my zins

Beef Sliders with a Dried Cherry Ketchup A

This came with 3 fairly big sliders, definitely a meal for me. They were cooked perfectly medium-rare

Beer Battered Onion Rings with Basil Puree A

These were the huge onion rings, not those shoestring kind. They were crisp and went fabulously with the basil puree

I only tried a couple of items on their menu, but can't wait to go back for more!

#120 Complete! Be an Extra in a Movie

I considered it super lucky when a coworker of my friend told us that the movie "My Name is Khan" was shooting in Sonoma County and needed extras. All we had to do was send a photo to the casting agent and we were in. The scene they were going to be filming was an outdoor memorial scene, so we were told to wear dull, muted clothing that would be appropriate for spring.

Here's the rundown of our experience:

6:00PM - Call time. Meet at the Healdsburg High School gym & check in. Sit & wait.

8:30pm - We are shuttled in buses to the set (about 100 people). Stand & wait.

10:00pm - They start picking out extras from the crowd and randomly placing them in scenes. My friends and I were given candles (I got a flag too!) and put in the middle of a huge group of people. I was excited that at least I was going to be an extra, but a little disappointed that I would never be seen on the big screen in the mist of this crowd. But then, a Christmas miracle happened, the two main stars of the film (Shahrukh Khan & Kajol) were put right in front of me! I was actually afraid I might burn Kajol's (the leading lady) hair with my candle. They shot a short scene where they were praying as we all watched the memorial. This 30 minutes was the highlight of the whole experience & my only hope of being seen in the movie.

12:30am - By this time everyone was close to frozen, I swear my toes were going to fall off. But, "lunch" was served & I was hoping warm food would warm my tootsies. They had two stations setup for food, one was American & the other Indian. I headed for the American station first; bland broccoli, over peppered mashed potatoes & overcooked chicken...mmmm! Have no clue what the Indian food was, but it was much tastier. I tried to stand in line to get some hot tea, but lost interest after 15 minutes.

1:30am - Cold, tired & crabby, this is way past my bedtime! Sitting & waiting

2:00 am - Another scene in a crowd with candles, but no movie stars next to us!

2:30 am - "It's a Wrap", YEA!!!

2:45am - Shuttled back the the gym for check out.

3:15am - Leave for home

4:00am - Sleepy time

February 2010 - My movie debut...get your autographs now!

Boy, this experience would have been a whole lot better if it ended about 4 hours earlier!

5 New Experiences Added to My Bucket List

120. Be an extra in a movie
This may happen sooner than I thought, since I am on a list to be an extra in a memorial scene of a movie tomorrow!!

121. Milk a cow
Being from a small, farm town I am surprised that I haven't experienced this yet.

122. Watch turtles hatch & run for the ocean

123. Create a piece of art & sell it
I have made some wine cork art that hangs in my restaurant. I'm going to stick a price tag on it & see what happens!

124. Finish a crossword puzzle (no dictionaries allowed!)
I have been doing crosswords for over 20 years, why can't I finish one!!!