Black Friday

Black Friday is commonly spent arriving at some strip mall in the wee hours of the morning patiently waiting (unless you're at Wal Mart and feel the need to stampede innocent employees) for the doors to open and the holiday shopping to begin.

For the McCormick's, our Black Friday is spent joining our friends, the Kopeck's, in San Francisco for a night out. We grabbed a delicious bottle of Carlisle, jumped on CalTrain, and one hour later, were in the city. This year we went to Bar Bambino in the Mission. The cozy restaurant has a covered patio with powerful heat lamps. We sat outside and it was quieter than indoors and the temperature was perfect. If you're looking for authentic Italian food and enjoy ordering small plates to share with your friends, this is the place for you.

If you plan on dining at Bar Bambino, we recommend the following dishes (this is to be shared with 4):

*Baked Tomino w/prosciutto

*Small cured plate

*Roasted beet salad

*Egg Bruschette

*Pappardelle with sugo di coniglio

*Braised beef brisket

*Branzino marinated in breadcrumbs and rosemary

*Citrus Polenta cake

*Vanilla Gelato

After an indulgent dinner, our server recommended we walk a few blocks to Monk's Kettle for a couple of beers to cap the night. If you're a beer drinker, enter Monk's Kettle and you just might think you've died and gone to heaven. While we didn't eat there, the food looked amazing and each meal was paired with a variety of beers. We met these really fun people who are definitely beer afficianodos. They set up this website BeersByBart for folks to jump on/off BART and find beer stops along the way.

Hand Me Downs

Recently my friend told me about a website called Hand Me Downs that I feel is worth passing along. Hand Me Downs is an online classified website for people to buy, sell, or donate baby clothes, toys, furniture, childcare services, etc. It's really cool. Think of craigslist but for "all things baby".

Thanksgiving 2008

We spent Thanksgiving in Lodi with Brian's family. Our littlest members, Graham and his twin sisters, Laurel, and Ruby captured our hearts and reminded us of how important it is to be thankful for good friends, family, and lots of joyful moments. Happy Thanksgiving!

Girl's Weekend

Over the weekend, I met up with three of my girlfriends in Paso Robles for a wine tasting weekend. It was great to catch up and enjoy some "girl time". By this time of year, the grapes had been picked and the vines were a hue of rusty red and burnt orange. It truly looked like Autumn. With the weather in the low 70's, we took advantage of the sunshine and had a lovely picnic at L'Aventure after wine tasting. Thanks for the fun memories ladies. I'm already looking forward to our next gathering!