Recently, I've been busy with end of the semester reading/grading, but I found time to enjoy some holiday cheer.  Two restaurants of delicious eats:

A friend and I went to Marzano, on Park Blvd in Oakland.  A cozy brick interior, very close tables, and yet the feeling is lively and comfortable, a buzz of conversation and a great bar.  Like a little bistro tucked away in an alley in Rome.  The price is right for terrific food, soups, salads, pizzas, pastas, and other fabulous entrees. I had the chicken stew and chicory salad.  Yumzano. 

Kenneth and I had a wonderful Sunday brunch with our friends, Brett and Monique Caires and their toddler, Pepper.  Our friends own their own vineyard in Livermore, BoaVentura de Caires.  Their tasting room is open the first weekend of every month, so see the website below and stop in for a visit.  You will be warmly greeted by Brett and Monique and the beauty of their century-old farmhouse, rustic barn, and bocce ball court.  For our Sunday Xmas Brunch, we drove a few miles down the road to the Restaurant at Wente Vineyards.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  Pricey but worth each exquisite bite.  The view out the floor to ceiling windows: rows of russet and gold vineyard, rolling hills, old California oaks.  Newly potty-trained two-year-old Pepper knows how to dine although she liked visiting the restroom with each of us as part of the program.  She's about to get a new brother or sister in January.  Brett wants to name the baby Curry, but Monique says that's too many spices in one family.  I look forward to the call when baby is making her/his debut.

Merry Holiday Season to all.

Websites:

http://www.boaventuravineyard.com/index.htm

http://www.wentevineyards.com/restaurant/

http://www.marzanorestaurant.com/contact.html