Birthday Treat - Napa Valley Wine Train ~ 生日禮物之納帕谷品酒列車

During my birthday week, my group of girl friends brought me up to Napa Valley to celebrate my twenty-something years old birthday. I have requested a picnic but they have made reservations for the Napa Valley Wine Train – something that we have wanted to do for years! I was really excited about the trip!

We took off at the break of dawn and drove to Oxbow to board the train. It was too early when we got there so we wandered off to the shops adjacent to the station. We decided to kill time at the Oxbow Public Market before boarding. While the girls were chatting away, I was snapping pictures everywhere I brought myself to. Can you tell I am obsessed of taking pictures of marketplace?! I also did some shopping. I got myself some hibiscus salt and powder from Whole Spice for baking.












These girls brought me to Napa =)


Ellen the event coordinator & me =)


We walked back to the station and checked in then we were told to find a seat because we are about to do some wine tasting before boarding the train. Shortly after we had a glass each of white and red wine and a wine tasting lesson (included with the tickets), we boarded the 3 hours train ride.

The lounge cars are luxuriously furnished and equipped with picture windows to maximize the view. All the rail cars are expertly finished with Honduran mahogany paneling, etched glass partitions, brass accents and original artwork by Nepo. We were told by our server that we are free to explore the train like the kitchen car to see the chefs in action or the wine tasting car. None of us were much of a drinker so we didn’t do wine tasting on board. We had cocktail though =)

We were first served appetizers in the lounge car while heading to St. Helena then we moved to the dinning car for our gourmet lunch on the return trip. The meals are freshly prepared in a specially fabricated kitchen car located immediately adjacent to each dining area. According to the server, the meals were prepared using environmentally responsible ingredients, humanely raised, hormone free meats and fresh, and line caught fish.

We had the followings:

hor d'oeuvre - artichoke hearts, cured salmon with capers, olives, goat cheese, fresh fruits & etc

1st course
- Baby Lettuce Salad w/Candied Walnuts and Smoked Goat Cheese In a Honey Cider Vinaigrette
- Cream of mushroom

Entrée Choices
- Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary Potatoes and Grilled Squash in a Syrah Sauce
- Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Sautéed Portabella Mushrooms and Fig Duxelles
- Pan Seared Sole with Mango Salsa
- Catch of the day – Halibut

Dessert Choices
- Chocolate Mousse
- Vanilla Crème Brulee

I must admit that the food is way better than I expected – worth every penny! We were talking about doing this again while enjoying our meals. There are many other different packages for different time of the day so I am sure I will do this again soon! It was a great gift from the girls and we enjoyed some quality girl bonding time together and had some major catch up!




My other group of friends was really sweet to me too (thought I forgot about you guys?). They surprised me with a birthday dinner at Zen Asian Fusion Tapas + Lounge! My first time there but I love almost everything I had! The Asian fries, kimchi fried rice, beef carpaccio, yin yang wings, Wagyu beef salad, halibut carpaccio……I have been dreaming of them since! Thank you all for treating me and I love my 2 birthday cakes!

What surprised me most are the presents from oversea! Since I started writing this blog, I had met some of the most wonderful people that became dear friends to me. Yvonne aka YY Cake is one of them. We started exchanging emails with each other then we soon started sending packages to each other. The gifts weren’t intended as birthday present but since it arrived during my birthday, I treated it as is ;) She has hand-sewn a lovely purse and included her first book – published trilingual (Chinese/English/Tagalog)! I have been looking for a copy so I was really happy when I received it! What more can a girl asks for! A bear hug and thank you to YY! I also received a package full of lovely things by Table Art from a friend who is currently working in UK. I thought he forgot so big thank you to J!

Again, thank you all for giving me a wonderful birthday and make me feel so loved! Kisses!

朋友為了慶祝我的生日﹐定了納帕谷品酒列車作為禮物。這是我們從很久前就一直想做的事﹐但因為大學畢業後各自忙著工作所以擱置了。我們實在太興奮﹐所以很早出門往納帕谷﹐到達時比出發的時間早很多所以就在附近的商店Oxbow Public Market閒逛。當朋友閒聊的同時﹐我就拿著相機到處拍﹐當然也不會放過shopping的機會﹐ 買了木芙蓉(洛神花)香料及鹽巴。

加州納帕谷品酒火車頗有名的﹐貫穿整個納帕谷﹐除了卡車收藏超過上百款的紅白香檳美酒，可享用精緻套餐﹐還可看盡鐵路兩兩旁的美麗葡萄園與葡萄樹叢中聳立著一棟棟具有歐洲風味的酒莊。列車採用的車廂是從1915 – 1950之間年份的老車廂改裝整修而成。除了風格各異﹐同時提供不同主題的體驗方式呢。朋友選擇了吃好料的Le Gourmet Express主題﹐所以從搭上火車的那一剎那就開始吃 =)

搭火車前在車站裡先品了紅及白酒及上了一門品酒課﹐又因我們都不勝酒力﹐上火車後就沒有再點酒喝了不過有點雞尾酒。侍應先上開胃小點及飲料﹐在回程時再往典雅用餐卡車吃套餐(前菜，主餐和甜點)。比我預期中精緻很多﹐有高級餐廳的水準喔~

以下是我們吃過的料理:
開胃小點 - artichoke hearts, cured salmon with capers, olives, goat cheese, fresh fruits等

前菜
- Baby Lettuce Salad w/Candied Walnuts and Smoked Goat Cheese In a Honey Cider Vinaigrette
- Cream of mushroom

主餐
- Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary Potatoes and Grilled Squash in a Syrah Sauce
- Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Sautéed Portabella Mushrooms and Fig Duxelles
- Pan Seared Sole with Mango Salsa
- Catch of the day – Halibut

甜點
- Chocolate Mousse
- Vanilla Crème Brulee
- Pear galette w/red wine sauce & vanilla gelato

我們除了吃到好料還利用搭乘的時間聊近況﹐實在好久沒這樣過了。好懷念以前住在一起的時光~

除了她們﹐我的另一幫朋友也給我在位於Alameda市的Zen Asian Fusion Tapas + Lounge 辦了個驚喜飯局。說到這家開業不久的餐廳﹐是一個適合談心事又愜意的去處。賣點是中西合併﹑種類多元的下酒菜。味道及氛圍都很不錯﹐值得推薦﹗

最讓我驚喜的還是收到從遠方來的禮物﹗自從寫這個部落格以來﹐通過這個媒介認識了很多素未謀面卻交淺言深的朋友﹐其一就是Yvonne亦即大家稱yy cake的甜點﹑手作達人﹗她不知道是我的生日﹐這只是一份just because的禮物﹐但由於在生日期間收到我就視之為送我的生日禮物囉! 除了收到她縫的清新手工包包﹐還有她的第一本著作 – 自家製美味甜品。非常謝謝YY的大禮﹗

還要感謝一位遠在UK工作的友人J先生。他給我寄來了Table Art餐具﹐居然沒忘記還送禮﹐謝謝你呀﹗還有其他朋友送的禮物﹐殊不能在這儘錄。真的非常謝謝大家讓我過了一個難忘又窩心的生日﹗熊抱加飛吻~~~~~~~~~~~