This weekend was Porter’s bachelorette weekend out at the cabin. It was nice to take a weekend and unwind. And it was nice to spend some time with Kitty - the other girl in the wedding. Our original plan was to go kayaking and horseback riding this weekend, but instead we went on a picnic at Hog Island Oyster Co. (pictures to come) and hung out at Salmon Creek beach watching all of the surfers and kite flyers.

We also visited the Cowgirl Creamery, which was DELICIOUS. I ended up buying two cheese, one was a sheep’s milk peppercorn and one was a harder goat cheese. Porter bought some Chevre, which was to die for. I strongly suggest checking out their cheeses if you are a cheese lover. They are phenomenal.

I also got the chance to finish up Harry Potter. Man! It was a bummer. Like such a bummer, you can’t even be sure that there will be a happy ending at the end of the series kind of bummer. I guess that is life though, huh… not always a happy ending.

Two weeks ago, Porter, Sheesha and I went to a restaurant called someone’s something Haufbrau. It is basically like a buffet with prime rib, turkey, chicken and meatloaf. I would classify it as a classic American food. My sister found the giant ham hanging in a warming oven to be the funniest thing ever. What is even funnier is that both Porter and I tried to capture the essence of the ham with my digital camera. Porter did a great job. Mine was just plain scary.

This Sunday my family and I went to a jazz brunch at the Mission Ranch Restaurant. Here is an except for the above link:

“More than a few local residents breathed a sigh of relief when Clint Eastwood bought the historic Mission Ranch property on the Carmel River in 1986. It wasn’t just the threat that the old ranch would be torn down and replaced by condominiums. That was bad enough. But the possibility of losing the restaurant that had been a favorite local hangout for as long as some of them could remember made it doubly distressing.”

The brunch was divine. We had a lovely waitress, who had a slight Irish accent. After getting seated outside on their amazingly scenic back patio, we were brought our mimosas (YUM!). For my first course, I had the shredded prime rib burrito with mole sauce, thick cut french toast, and breakfast potatoes. The mole sauce was perfect, not too spicy. The shredded prime rib was moist and they did an excellent job not including all of the fat. The breakfast potatoes weren’t cooked all of the way and the spices were bland. But 2 out of 3 was a pretty good start in my book. My sister had the eggs benedict, french toast, and a bloody mary and she thought everything delish. The french toast was done with a custard so that the bread was nice and gooey with the coating.

For my second course I had a slice of ham and a slice of prime rib. I had wanted more, but for some reason, they gave you HUGE portions of meat and reasonable portions of everything else. The ham was so moist and juicy that it melted in your mouth. It was cooked to perfection. The prime rib was also moist, but again, there were no seasonings and the meat was extremely fatty.

My third course involved a myriad of small desserts, including the chocolate covered strawberry and the pecan tart in the picture. I also had a slice of ripe pineapple. The pecan tart was well done with a low sugar taste, which is the way I prefer pecan pie/tart - without an overpowering sugar taste.

This was an excellent meal at a price of $24.95 per person. If you are ever in the Carmel area on a Sunday morning, you really should check it out. I wouldn’t hesitate to go back, hell, I would do it just for the view and the jazz. The first song the band played was Take 5 by Dave Brubeck. I mean, it was like they were after my heart right out of the gate.

Well, the martini tasting, it was a success! There were five martinis and three different types of vodka. Here is the run down:

An extra dirty Belvedere martini (pictured below) that went was served with the shrimp cerviche

A Belvedere lemon drop that was served with crab cakes

A Chopin albino cosmo served with grapes, arugula, and fontina cheese with a balsamic reduction sauce

An orange creamcicle Belvedere martini that was served with prosciutto, asparagus, and pineapple.

And finally a chocolate raspberry Ciroc martini paired with a white chocolate mousse (pictured below).

It was a great night! Afterwards we went across the street to Paragary’s where the bartender made us some lemon drops and gave us a free eggplant pizza that was DELICIOUS. I love this place and it has the most beautiful and zen-like back patio.

click below to see the full review of the martini tasting.
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