San Francisco

Wednesday - Arrived in Frisco and had dinner at a Japanese restaurant

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Thursday – Drove to the wine country and spent the entire day visiting Napa Valley’s vineyards.

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Friday - All the touristy sites, including Lombard St. (The World's most crooked street), Fisherman's Warf, Pier 39, Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory, Union Square, San Fran’s famous Cable Cars

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Saturday – Used the whole day to rest and recover in the hotel after finding out that I have an allergy to shellfish. =(

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Yes! I - the same person who has been eating fish eyeballs since I can remember and who is not afraid to try unfamiliar foods - am allergic to shellfish!

On Friday around 2pm, I had a fabulous lunch at Pier Market on Pier 39. I made sure I had two dishes San Fran was known for: Dungeness Crab and Sourdough Clam Chowder.

At 8pm, I was scratching my palms and wiggling my toes in my boots. About an hour later, my tummy was a little red and my lower back had a few bumps. We decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.

“Maybe I just need to take a hot shower and get some rest”, I said.

At that time we were on Powell St. when we got on the train headed to our hotel. We stayed near the airport so it was still about 20 minutes before our stop.

After passing two stops from Powell, the itching was UNCONTROLLABLE. The itchy feeling was all over me, and I knew I couldn’t last the whole 20 minutes in the train.

We decided to get off the train and find the nearest hospital.

“St. Lukes is 3 blocks from here…” the man working at the train station began to say. I was right behind Sharath listening to the man when suddenly my body felt warm, the room began to spin, my eyes crossed, and my legs could no longer hold me up. I fell back and fainted.

A few minutes later, the ambulance arrived and the first thing he asked me was, “Ok. What did you have to eat?”

I was carried out of the train station on a stretcher and brought into ER. I broke in hives, my face started to swell and the itching continued. After I was hooked up to an IV, pumped with fluids and Benadryl the itching went away and I spent the next 4 hours resting on the hospital bed.

Thank God, Sharath remained calm the whole time. I have never experienced anything like this before. This was his 2^nd time seeing something like this happen - when he was in 8^th grade, a similar incident happened to his brother, so he pretty much knew that my body was reacting to an allergy to something.

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Who would have ever guessed? For someone who eats seafood on a weekly basis. I even ate chili crabs in Malaysia. The Doctor said our bodies change as we get older, even though we have been eating something our whole life.

It was a horrible and unfortunate experience. I’m just thankful that I’m okay and that I made it into the hospital before it got worse. Supposedly the symptoms can happen much quicker and can be more severe the next time. The throat can swell up and stop you from breathing.

Napa Valley

Napa Valley is located about 1 1/2 hours outside of San Francisco. This region's climate and soil is perfect for wine making and is well known for growing some of the best Bordeaux grapes in the World. The valley spans over 30 miles and features over 200 wineries.

The 3 wineries Sharath and I visited were Beringer, Terra Valentine, and Sterling. There are all very distinct and our experiences at each winery was completely different. Here is a little info about each...

1. Beringer - is Napa Valley's oldest operating winery. Found in 1876 by Jacob and Frederick "the Beringer brothers". The vineyard is located on volcanic soil which is ideal for producing varietal grapes. Beringer wines are aged in rock tunnels - hand-dug and built by the Chinese.


















2. Terra Valentine - is located in Napa Valley's Spring Mountain District. This area is known as the red grape country. To get there, we had to drive up a steep windy road which led into a wooded forest area . . . the view was absolutely gorgeous.

Kathy and Beth (Marketing & Hospitality for Terra Valentine) were awesome. They shared the interesting story of the Terra Valentine winery, showed us their wine making process, and provided us with an intimate wine tasting - complete with various cheeses, crackers, nuts and dark chocolate. The personalized touch made this our favorite winery we visited.















3. Sterling - offers one of the best winery experiences in Napa Valley. In order to get to the winery, you need to take an aerial tramway up 300 Ft. The tour is self guided and ends with a tasting in their newly renovated tasting room. Since I've been the industry, we were able to get into the Club Room for a private wine tasting. The best part of the winery is definitely the tram ride up. . .you get to overlook Napa Valley.

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Napa Valley was an amazing experience. It's natural beauty and distinct wines make it a great place to visit. We were able to observe each winery's entire wine making process, from the vineyard to the bottle.

We learned the wineries typically follow this process in making wine:

Picking >> Crushing >> Pressing >> Fermentation >> Clarification >> Aging >> Bottling

This time of year, the grapes have already been harvested, picked and crushed. So most of the wines are now in the fermentation and aging process.

Napa Valley was filled with dark orange, red, yellow and brown colors - clearly showing the Fall season. I'd love to revisit the Valley next year when the grapes are just about to be picked off the vine.

John Legend in Concert

I just saw John Legend in concert on Sunday night. I must say that His vocals are powerful, he's extremely talented at playing the piano and is a great performer. He sounded as good as he does on his album.


I would definitely say he's the male version of Alicia Keys, when it comes to singing and playing the piano.


The concert was held at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel located on the Morehouse College campus. Ne-yo and Esthero were the opening acts on John Legend's tour. I especially enjoyed listening to Esthero. She sounds like a cross between Nelly Furtado, Sade, & Norah Jones.

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Sharath and I are celebrating our 4 year Anniversary and this concert was the first event of our week long celebration. Tomorrow we are flying out to San Francisco. We'll spend most of our time in the city and one full day in Napa's wine country. I'm so excited!