I took Friday off to celebrate Margaret's /(her nickname-for that matter, both our nicknames for each other is Boog or Boogie) Boog's birthday with her. We had been planning for a while to go wine tasting in Lodi and after freaking months of talking up Wine and Roses, we were going to have "big girl" lunch there! I know one winery in Lodi, so that's where we started, Jessies Grove. Ok, so its closed...no worries, they open in an hour-we'll come back. So lets check out Wine and Roses...we got there while the staff was still going over the specials and such...so we had to walk around a bit before getting seated. We start with a glass of wine, Boog red and me White. Out comes my white nicely chilled and Boog's slightly warm Red. Perfect...now this is what we came for, a true indulgence. We start with an appetizer that was good, and accented the wine well. Then we hear the "specials" and opt for what we understood as a crab BLT sandwich...ok, here's where things went South for me...a few minutes later out comes this deep fried creature sandwich...now mind you, I've had soft shelled crab before and really not a huge fan. But after the first bite included the fish flavor of the deep sea....bleck! I put it down and see Margaret is doing ok and I look down at mine and a spider walks out from under the half I had already noshed on, it was a bitty spider, but a spider nonetheless. As casually as I can I ask Boog, so "kinda fishy?" and she's a TROUPER. She's like "um yeah"and promply takes the crab off hed sandwich and proceeds to try to enjoy the remaining BLT. By that time my tummy was in knots. I'm no snob and if you know me, I eat my share of fish...but between the soft shell crab and the spider...that was like 14 more legs than I wanted on my plate. So the waitress kindly asked "how was everything?" Before I knew what was happening I was telling her of my dissatisfaction and she was asking if there was anything she could get us to "make things right." I was twisted in belly knots...so different food was not an option...MORE WINE! Then the Hostess came over and she was GREAT, she joked that we didn't like the legs hangin out our buns and I had to tell her, it wasn't just that but the spider was the topper. Note first time Margaret knew of THAT development...needless to say, they comp'd our entire meal and added a free dessert. So ya win some, ya lose some... We returned to Jessies Grove for a little tasting and then headed for a little shopping. We found the HomeGoods in Elk Grove and had a orgasmic shopping fest-which made up for the funky lunch.
Saturday we headed up the hill to see Margaret and Mikes new house in Penn Valley. Rich offered to help move the heavy stuff, as my back is in a bad way...and I moved pillows and lamps. Margaret and Mike have been living in their guest house waiting for the "Final" on their house which has been an ordeal, as expected building your own house. We only worked a couple of hours but it was unbelievable to finally see the house after hearing her stories for months.
Lob ya Boog and next year you pick the place for your birthday meal (I swear!)
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