Saturday Fun in Temecula

We got up early on Saturday morning and walked to the local Temecula Old Town Farmers market.

Had an interesting chat with this bee keeper on ways to get different flavored honey and the beneficial aspects of "bee pollen".  That sold us and we added a purchase of bee pollen to our Farmer's market haul.

Have you ever eaten JUJUBE?  This was my first time.  To me it tastes a little like a nutty apple. The woman told Mike, if you eat Jujube you will have a long, healthy life.  Mike said okay I'll take some.  Then as the woman was bidding us goodbye she said, "Come back and see me!"  Mike's response was, "Okay if the Jujube works I'll be back to see you when I'm one hundred!"  

We love good olive oil and stopped at this stand to sample some wares.

Here is the fascinating olive oil maker from Greece.  His name is George Petrou. George  sells olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and capers. With every customer who came by George boldly declared in a strong Greek accent, “Olive oil is the best medicine.”   I forget how we started chatting in italian but we soon became fast friends. George  began telling us that before coming to the States he led quite a different life. He speaks 11 different languages, lived in Paris as a clothing designer and worked for Coco Chanel and designed for many famous clients.  He then said in a very funny way, "I have an article here showing who I designed for. The list was impressive: Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennendy Onassis, Maria Callas and so on.     He pulled out a magazine to show me the article written about him. His 14 year old grandson was there and said he intends to write a book about his grandfathers life.  I hope he does. George is a fascinating character who now makes very good olive oil!

We proceeded to do more shopping before heading on to the Museum of History on the city of Temecula.

 Farmer's market is held each Saturday from 7:30- noon.  Highly recommend this Farmer's market for locally grown produce and a wonderful assortment of other items including beautiful flowers.

It was another  hot day in Temecula.   
We were off to the wine area once again.


First on the agenda was a visit to Doffo Vineyards.

Located on the Northeast border of the Temecula Valley sits Doffo Winery. A small family vineyard situated on 15 acres of lovely countryside. The owner Marcelo Doffo's  family immigrated to Argentina from Italy .  He then came to the States where he founded the family vineyard in 1997 which is   one of a few micro-boutique wineries in the region and the only one built around the former site of a Temecula historic landmark schoolhouse.   This property also houses "MotoDoffo"  the family's private collection of over 100 racing and vintage motorcycles. Both Marcelo and his son Damian participate in bike races. 

You can pick up a self-guided tour map of the Doffo vineyards in the tasting room. We were able to spend a nice amount of time following this map to various parts of the property.

Marcelo's hard working son, Damian  came out to greet us as we wandered on our tour. He's a very  warm and friendly young man and we were impressed that Marcelo's son was hard at work under the noon day sun. 

Very close to Doffo is the Palumbo Family vineyards

By now the mid afternoon sun was unforgiving and we were ready

for the pool back at the hotel. 

Just before dinner we took in some shopping at the local antique store.  Lots of fun to peer into things of the past. I'm so curious as to all the stories these objects could tell about the places they've been and the people that once owned them.

Now time to go to our birthday celebration dinner at a local italian restaurant called "Gourmet Italia"

Salute e buon compleanno!

Here is the owner of Gourmet Italia, Alessandro from Sicily , who realized his dream when he opened his own restaurant here in Temecula in 2000. 

                                  Happy, Happy Birthday Mike!

This day is about over but tomorrow comes the big surprise.  Early to bed as we need to be up at 5 a.m. !