A saturday in Santa Barbara

Hey everyone,

I went to Santa Barbara this week end with some great friends to do some wine tasting. This was actually my second time in SB, but last time since I almost ran out of gas on the way there and there are not a lot of Chevron's or Arco's on the scenery PCH...As a result, I didn't have enough time to visit the wineries.

This time we all made the resolution to leave in the early morning to beat traffic and have a nice long day in wine country and it turned out to be really great. We all left the Metro 417, our downtown LA residence at 9AM sharp and headed to SB.

We first had brunch on State St in Downtown Santa Barbara and I had the best egg benedicts ever on crabcake...how original and how good!

Just before 1PM and with a far from empty stomach, we went to Beckmen winery, one of Santa Barbara's well known wineries. We sipped all sorts of wine on a sunny terrace and ended up buying their 2006 Syrah which is really great.

After a stop in Santa Inez, we headed to danish style town Solvang..and went to a really cute winery where we repeated the wine tasting process. I purchased a bottle of San Giovenesse which I enjoyed yesterday with my tilapia crumble...great wine but extremely strong compared to usual french wines. What a great souvenir!

After our wine tasting activities, we decided to stop in upscale Montecito and watched the sunset on a beautiful beach. It was then time to head back to LA...what a long drive.

I really enjoy wine tasting and what is so special about it in California is that the wineries are often right next to the beach. It reminds me of Cape Town where I grew up and which I still thinks is one of the world's most fascinating cities.

This week end, I am going to take the wine tasting to the next level as I am heading to Sonoma and Napa for my last week end in California. I'll be back...I promise!