Wine, Food, Beer & Cheese.....uh?

Photo: Andrea Cannistraci

For the 4th year out of five years, I headed down to the Annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, now in it's 8th year. (I missed 2010 when I was in Morocco--well worth it!) This international showcase of the world’s premier wines, spirits, chefs, culinary personalities, and gourmet foods did not disappoint! And I invited my man, John Puopolo, along this year to indulge with me.

Since we are both huge Kimpton Hotel fans, we called Hotel Solamar home for the weekend. It's an amazing property located in the heart of the vibrant Gaslamp Quarter.

Our weekend of gluttony included a Belgian Beer Tasting & Cheese Pairing with Chef Daniel Joly (Mirabelle at Beaver Creek). This was all for the boy as I dislike "white" beers and we all know how I feel about cheese. I guess this is what being in love is all about :) And at the Reserve and Limited Tasting Event, it was more than just wine... There was scotch!  SipSmokeSavor was pairing scotches with chocolates...and I was in my glory.

It was a sunny San Diego Saturday for The Grand Tasting Event down at the Embarcadero where we ran into a number of unique luxury brands such as Chuao Chocolate, DelGrosso Sauce (yes the sauce from back home!) Wild Hibiscus, and Ca’momi Wines.

Can we just stay in San Sebastian forever, please!

We definitely loved San Sebastian! Best idea for a day trip. We were both so excited that the San Sebastian International Film Festival was happening during our visit! The 50 minute bus ride was pleasant and easy. We wandered into a wine store called Luka's and was surprised to hear perfect English! Ben, a surfer from San Diego, poured us a few awesome wines and gave us the lay-of-the-land. I felt right at home in this seaside resort town. La Concha Beach is the place to sunbathe and the walking path along the waterfront allows for great views. A great place to stop for a beer by the water is a small bar called Akerbeltz. We enjoy the local brew, Estrella, and was invited to do shots with the bartender! We asked for the "local" liquor of orujo --they laughed at us and gave us tequila. The best pintxos ever were found at Ganbara. The restaurant is known for it's amazing dinners, but that would require us waiting until at least 9pm when restaurants open. (Note: our bus back to Bilbao was at 8pm. Needless to say, we missed it! We were able to get the very last bus back to Bilbao at 10pm, but would have stayed the night in a heart beat had we'd been able to find a hotel!)