Healthy Scavenger Hunt Wine Country & San Francisco

I always have a hard time with the hobby question. “What are your hobbies?” makes me feel inadequate wishing I collected something or was semi crafty. I usually answer with a sport such as tennis or skiing. Blogging, tweeting or organizing don’t feel like legit responses. But I do have a hobby that I forget about when I’m not doing it and that’s traveling. Few things make me more excited or, and I know this sounds so cliché’, feel as “alive” (as if we can feel dead…).

While out to dinner a couple of months ago, friends mentioned a trip to Calistoga and said “you guys should come.” I know they didn’t expect us to email the next day confirming, “we’re all set, can’t wait.” We hadn’t been to the Napa area in 15 years. As I did with New Orleans, I’ll fill you in on my favorite healthy finds:

Workout

I’ll admit, I was a little apprehensive when friends mentioned a Sip and Cycle tour. Wine tasting and cycling seemed like a dangerous combination but I also knew this was something I couldn’t pass up. I had to pinch myself as we rode with grapes lining the path on either side of us and the scent of lavender in the air. 

We visited 3 vineyards but my favorite was Lava Vine. They figured out how to remove all the pretentiousness of winemaking. It’s a charming, rustic set up. We left with a bottle of their port which they had us taste with chocolate drizzled with olive oil and sea salt.

Also loved this indoor/outdoor gym set up. And yes we like activities so tennis and golf happened too

Green Juice (of course)

When traveling, especially at hotels, ask and you shall receive (or in this case sip). They didn’t have a green juice on the menu but they had fresh squeezed juice.  A little conversation and minutes later…to our little cabin in Calistoga.

In San Francisco we stocked up at Pressed Juicery in the ferry building. I chose Greens 4, which includes watercress while Marc opted for Greens 6 with lemongrass, honeydew, and greens.

Commendable Cocktail

We tasted some delicious wine but truth be told I’m more of a cocktail girl. Normally, a spirit on the rocks does the trick but how I could I resist this?

Lavender, elderflower and lemon (trying to get complete recipe) from Brix made this my favorite drink of the trip (Range in SF deserves runner-up status). 

Veggie Action

Oftentimes, when away, despite eating well I feel a little veggie deprived. My favorite restaurant in the wine country was Farmstead. Farmstead is housed in a former nursery and as they say it’s “authentic farm to table” cuisine. I think this was my first grilled artichoke, we also had the kale salad. There was a special pepper described as “a lot like a shishito” that they ran out of before we ordered. Hate that.

Sensational Seafood

I loved the wild salmon at Farmstead but this crudo at Bottega was special. Served on a block of pink sea salt, it was a pretty fantastic starter.

Worthy Treat

When we visited Cowgirl Creamery at the Ferry building in SF I tweeted “I’ll give you all the sweets in the world if I can just have this” but my treat of the trip was definitely the Humboldt Fog cheese served at our picnic following the sipping and cycling.

Other Highlights

March and Heath Ceramics in San Francisco for tableware/décor.

Gotts and Meadowood two places we didn’t get to this time.

And then came the return trip complicated by the unfortunate plane crash in San Francisco. If you’re going to be stuck in an airport, that one isn’t so bad.

Any summer travel planned? Or have you already been away? Any workouts or healthy finds to report? Do you have hobbies? 

Setting the Table For Weight Loss

Which black circle is larger? 

I’ve mentioned my adoration for Brian Wansink before. For those of you who aren’t enthralled with food research he’s the author of Mindless Eating. Much of his research focuses on external cues that affect our eating. Everything from what we’re told about a food to the lighting in a room has an impact on what we ultimately eat. I was interviewed for a GMA segment, that should air today, about the Wansink's most recent research.  This study entitled “Plate Size and Color Suggestibility: The Delboeuf Illusion’s Bias on Serving and Eating Behavior” looked at food color, plate color and the amount of food we eat.

The main conclusion was that we eat less food when the plate and the food are contrasting colors. Conversely, we eat more when food and plate are more tonal. To GMA’s credit they conducted an informal study at a NYC restaurant to replicate or challenge the study results. Sure enough (and thankfully for the producers' sake) particpants plated significantly less (2 ounces less or almost 30%) pasta pomodoro on white plates than they did on red plates. While I’m not saying pasta pomodoro on white plates is the answer to your weight loss dreams. The plate/food color is something to think about.

So what is the explanation for the color and consumption connection? It’s related to an optical illusion with concentric circles (see top).  When “two circles of identical size have been placed near to each other and one is surrounded by an annulus; the surrounded circle then appears larger than the non-surrounded circle if the annulus is close, while appearing smaller than the non-surrounded circle if the annulus is distant." Thank you Wikipedia for that. For those of you, like me, who didn’t learn annulus when studying for the SATs, it means ring. The contrasting color in the study provides the close annulus and the net net is that the food on the plate will appear larger.

If you have white plates, you don’t need to do much other that eat the way practically all nutritionist’s suggest which is brightly colored food. Should you buy a second set of plates for when you have cauliflower or grilled chicken? Probably not. And I don’t foresee people going to restaurants and BYOP (bringing their own plate) as this crosses into eating idiocy. However, if you’re in the market for plates I would suggest white, small ones. And unlike food and plates, the researchers found table linens should be a similar color to your plate or the illusion is ruined. Coincidentally, my new plates from my favorite place in SF, Health Ceramics, are different colors and shapes. How versatile.

slightly concerned about oatmeal in the beige bowl

Do you pay attention to how external cues (sound, lighting, company) affects your eating? What type of plates do you own? What do you think of the circles above, does the one on the left appear larger?