I have always associated Valentines Day with a mother-daughter kind of love due to my mother’s birthday. And I certainly take pleasure in surprising my mother every year. This year, my surprise for her consisted of cheese tasting at the Cow Girl Creamery in Point Reyes followed by a picnic lunch that I set up for the first portion of the day (there was a part II surprise that day, of course!)
The creamery only offers a one hour tour on Fridays from 11AM. As you can see in the photos below, there isn’t much walking in the “tour” as it takes place at the large picnic table set up in front of the window where you can peer through to see the cheese makers in action and enjoy the variety of cheese that they have you taste.
After the “tour” is over, you can use the large picnic table or the other smaller tables in the vicinity as you wish. You can buy any of their cheese at the cheese shop (visible past the tables in the photo below):
Click to buy the fascinator I’m wearing Click to buy the dress I’m wearing
NOTE: There is no bathroom in the vicinity of the creamery so you must walk over to the public bathroom by the grocery store and the the hardware store nearby. From the creamery, walk all the way to the back of the parking lot of the grocery store where you will find the public bathroom that looks like this from the outside:
On the way to the bathroom, you will find other charming local shops that you can visit, including the Bovine Bakery that my mother went gaga over:
Nautical Picnic Idea
I also recently bought this glass bottle and metal cup to help complete the nautical anchor look I started in my bathroom a few months ago when I moved into my new home. And it occurred to me that these items could easily be used as picnic accessories for a nautical themed picnic spread made more complete by the nautical striped blanket:
Click here to buy the cup Click here to buy the bottle
Instead of using the bottle for water or drinks storage, you can always use it for a love note to put inside “Message in a Bottle” style. And you can always use the items for the bathroom once you’re done with the picnic like I did:
(In case you’re wondering what the blue liquid is in the bottle, it’s mouth rinse)
Nautical fashion also never seems to go out of style. So here’s more picks by me so that you can look just as good as the picnic spread when you’re on the picnic:
Click here to buy the blazer Click here to buy the dress
As for the picnic spread, I kept mine fairly simple but complimentary to the cheese I bought there after the tour/tasting:
– A loaf of delicious chocolate raisin walnut bread (I did pack a slicing knife)
– A pear (I also packed a small wooden cutting board for the slicing)
– Smoked salmon salad (mixed greens + smoked salmon + avocado + 1:3 lemon juice:olive oil with some balsalmic vinegar to dress)
– A bottle of white wine (I also packed a wine opener and two wine glasses)
– Oat crackers i bought there (I was told that it compliments the cheese I got)
Another romantic spot I took my mother out to later on that day (this was part of the part II portion of the birthday suprise) was the Samovar Tea Lounge in the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. On a beautiful weather day (like the one we had that day) it is absolutely gorgeous to be sitting there and enjoying the view while enjoying delicious tea. They did of course charge a cake fee for the cupcakes I made and brought along with me, but don’t fret that sort of thing.
I would include a photo for this as well (you can google image it and get a good idea of how beautiful it is at the Yerba Buena Gardens). But for the sake of privacy, I will not be doing that at this time. Another bonus is that the Moscone Center parking garage by the Yerba Buena Gardens is fairly reasonable 😉
After so many blog entries recently on my Fifty Shades of Grey reading, I think most of my readers expected me to write an entry on the movie since it came out Valentines Day weekend. But truth be told. I am planning on watching it this weekend with some girlfriends. So the theme of romance will definitely continue throughout this month with my blog entries!
Here’s to romance – whether it’s for a dear mother or for fun-loving girlfriends.
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