Recently, one of the publishers in the Bay area, Jennifer (Fremont and Palo Alto MacKid sites), put together a get together for Bay Area and surrounding area publishers to get together, share ideas and have some fun. I gotta tell you, I had so much fun, I just have to share it with you! This would be such a fun trip to do with your gal pals.
Our day trip was to Alameda, which if you have never been, is located right on the bay. Great location, right? The bay is beautiful. We were lucky because the weather was great that day.
As we drove through town to arrive at our destination, I spied all kinds of cool shops that I really want to go back to check out (we were pushed for time because we had reservations, so I didn’t get a chance to check them out this trip). It was the kind of street with all kinds of cool, eclectic shops, where you can find some of the best stuff that you never knew you needed. There were also streets lined with beautiful victorian houses.
Our first stop was Pinot’s Palette located in the South Shore Center. If you have never done one of the paint & wine type things, I highly recommend it! So much fun. We had nine in our group, plus there was another group, so there's plenty of space for a gang. The class is priced separate from the beverages, so you can choose to indulge, or not (they also had water). Some of the women I was with brought snacks, and there was no problem with that (but you cannot bring outside beverages).
Our painting for the day was an owl. When first looking at a completed painting, I had my doubts about being able to do it, but our instructor was wonderful, taking us through it, step by step. We were encouraged to customize whatever we wanted, and I found easy to add little things or change colors, to make the painting my own. The class went really fast. Within 2 hours we each had a painting to go home with us. I have to say, I’m really pleased with how my painting turned out, and I’m looking forward to doing it again
After painting, we were hungry. We had reservations at Trabocco, an Italian restaurant, in the same center. They use local sustainably sourced meat, poultry and seafood, locally grown produce, and local artisan cheeses from around the Bay Area.
The chef greeted us, and then they brought us a sampling of appetizers, which included calamari, Polipo e Palate, which is grilled octopus with potatoes, celery and onion (delicious) and Carpaccio which is raw, thinly sliced grass red beef with shaved parmesan and arugula. I have to admit, I didn’t try that one (I don’t eat sushi either…sorry just can’t do raw), but others tried it and said it was good.
We each ordered our own main meal, with about half opting for the Bistecca all Brace, which is a New York steak with roasted potatoes, almonds and spinach. It looked and smelled wonderful. I had the Fettuccine Bolognese and the sauce was very meaty. The Pollo all Contadina (wood fired partially deboned half chicken) looked amazing. We had one person that was very adventurous and tried the Chitarrine al Cocoa which is homemade pasta with cocao powder and rabbit rage. She said it was delicious. I have to say though the best, in my opinion, was the Agnolotti di Zucca, which is a pasta filled with butternut squash, walnuts and a brown butter sage sauce. She let us try it. Now I know what I'm having the next time I go there.
When they brought out the dessert sampling, even though we probably didn’t need any, we couldn’t resist. The 3 offerings were tiramisu, a flourless chocolate cake, and something else I didn’t catch the name of, but was my favorite. It looked like it was molded, and was very creamy, with a raspberry sauce over it.
All in all, it was a really great outing. I enjoyed meeting some of the other publishers. It would make a great girls day outing, but you would want to get there earlier than we did, and check out all those wonderful stores or go play on the bay! Once we have some longer days, you could fit all of it in one day.
This would also make for a fun family outing. The South Shore Center has a playground, and is right up against the bay. There’s paddle boarding and beach bike rentals available. You'll also find a pinball museum with classic pinball games to play, and parks to explore in Alameda. Older kids might like the Alameda Naval Air Museum. You could even take a ferry to San Francisco. Maybe dad could take the kids for a couple hours, while you sneak in the painting, then meet back up to eat afterwards.
So the next time you have a day and you're trying to think of what to do, consider Alameda!
To find out more:
Pinot's Palette https://www.pinotspalette.com/alameda
Trabocco http://trabocco.com/
*Pinot's Palette in Alameda and Trabocco hosted our group for this day out. All opinions and statements are my own and true*
