A Side of Sweet

Beautiful Food, Travel & Design

Sonoma Wine Country Travel Guide

My Sonoma Wine Country Travel Guide. Here are all of my favorite restaurants, bakeries, and wineries for this charming city in one place!
What to Do Sonoma Wine Country - Restaurants, Wineries and Wine Tasting

Living in San Francisco, one of the most frequent things I get asked is for recommendations for what to do in wine country. My San Francisco friends, as well as people visiting, assume that I have a list of great things to do in Napa Valley ready to share! I actually do have a list that I send to people when they ask, and today I’m going to share it here.

Today I’m going to focus on things to do in Sonoma. Sonoma is super charming and slightly less touristy than Napa. The city itself is absolutely beautiful, with gorgeous roses everywhere, cute cafes and amazing wineries. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re planning a trip to wine country…. Read More »

Savory Mushroom Tart with Shallots & Rosemary

A recipe for a stunning savory mushroom tart or galette topped with shallots and fresh rosemary. It pairs perfectly with a pinot noir wine for #NationalPinotNoirDay!
Delicious Savory Mushroom Tart Recipe with Shallots and Rosemary plus a Pinot Noir Wine Pairing Idea

I seem to have a knack for celebrating fake holidays these days (National S’mores Day and National Donut Day anyone?).  Keeping with the trend, today is actually national Pinot Noir Day! In the celebration of celebrating the little things, I’m sharing this recipe for a savory mushroom tart that pairs perfectly with pinot noir wines…. Read More »

Viansa Sonoma Winery, California Wine Country

An exclusive wine tasting at Viansa Sonoma Winery in California Wine Country. Make sure to upgrade to a pavilion tasting and try their wood fired pizzas.Best Wine Tasting Sonoma - Viansa Winery

On our recent wine country weekend, Ally and I stopped at Viansa Sonoma Winery in Sonoma, California for a wine tasting. Always looking for a photo opportunity, we reserved one of their beautiful pavilions overlooking the grape fields in advance…. Read More »

A Perfect Day in Sonoma :: Sonoma-Cutrer Winery

Napa & Sonoma Wine Tasting IdeasThis post brought to you by Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards. The content and opinions are my own.

Pat and I had day free last weekend and we took the opportunity to sneak away to wine country for the day. We’re not much for hopping from winery to winery. We much prefer to pick one place, explore it and relax. This time, we chose Sonoma-Cutrer to explore. We’ve actually been one time before in the past, but it was for an event to benefit the Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation. (Side note: This year’s event raised almost $100,000!)… Read More »

Guilt-Free Artichoke White Bean Dip

Guilt Free Artichoke White Bean Dip Recipe

Buckle up

Bear with me dear readers. Today’s post has approximately one point five million photos, but I just had so many great ones it was hard to narrow them down! Don’t forget to check out the guilt-free artichoke white bean dip recipe that this amazing event inspired at the end of the post!Wishes in Wine Country by Bay Area Make a WishWishes in Wine Country by Bay Area Make a Wish

Make-A-Wish Foundation event

Last weekend, Pat and I were lucky enough to attend Wishes in Wine Country, an event to benefit the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation hosted by Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards. It was a fabulous afternoon of sampling amazing dishes from Bay Area restaurants and sipping delicious wine. We seriously ate ourselves silly.

Scroll through for more photos and the recipe for Artichoke White Bean Dip! … Read More »