A Day of Many Firsts

It has been a day of many firsts - first day in California, first time in California, first time taking a solo driving holiday, first time driving on the other side of the road, first time putting petrol into a car (!)... the list goes on.

So anyway, I arrived rather uneventfully in San Francisco last night. Having enjoyed a very peaceful slumber for most of the 11-hour flight here, I obviously had a sleepless night at the El Rancho Motel (which by the way is a faux Mexican, pink cattle ranch smack next to a 4 lane highway a mile from the airport!!)

I did not let the pink, nor the terrible brown liquid masquerading as coffee, nor even the grouchy Hispanic servers (why oh why do I still have to tip bad service?!) get me down. This morning, I picked up my geeky little rental car and I was off, down Highway 101, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Wine Country!

It was noon by the time I wound my way through various bits of traffic into Sonoma, which was, despite being overrun by lots of tourists, easy-going, leafy, and very cute. I decided to stop for lunch. Unfortunately, I did not realise my first port of call, Cafe la Haye (Lonely Planet: "One of Sonoma County's best"), only served dinner. Second destination was girl & the fig, which turned out to be an awesome choice - the courtyard was perfect, food delicious, and service impeccable.

I ordered the "pastis-infused steamed mussels", guessing that patis was some sort of liquer - after all, I would make this dish myself with white wine or vodka. (Wikipedia says "pastis" is "an anise-flavoured liquer" from France.) Of course being extremely hungry and greedy as usual, and always forgetting that I go from very hungry to very full in about 3 bites and 5 minutes, I ambitiously decided to go for the optional extra of "matchstick fries with tarragon aioli". YUM.

The food was faultless (or maybe I was just very hungry?). The mussels came steeped in a creamed liquid which had a base of garlic, shallots, fennel, parsley, and another herb (thyme?). The matchstick fries were perfectly done, and the tarragon aioli fresh and homemade. Unfortunately I barely got close to finishing the mussels, and most of the fries went untouched. Oh well.

Hitting a wall after lunch (by which time it was about 5.30am in Asia), I ordered myself a strong macchiato before getting on the road again. I had booked myself into a motel in Healdsburg (which at $229 was the cheapest available anywhere close after many phone calls and walk-ins), but what looked like a 50 mile drive turned into an-hour-and-a-half slow chug through the horrific traffic of Santa Rosa.

From what little I have seen driving through the centre, Healdsburg is a very pretty little town. Lonely Planet also says of Healdburg: "Foodies may think the've died and gone to heaven." However all I was prepared to do when I arrived was to pass out. I'm also too full from lunch to savour a big dinner, so I think I'll have to save the Healdburg dining experience for lunch tomorrow!