MrAndrewBradley

After checking out Roseville's Downtown Tuesday Nights I was off to Napa on Thursday to meet with a photographer to take pictures of the last room on our list, the Chairman's Suite. It's the largest suite at The Meritage Resort and Spa with a kitchen, dining room, family room, bedroom (with four-post bed) and 1.5 baths, not to mention a huge balcony with views of hillside vineyards. Beyond the photography I enjoyed a spectacular dinner at Siena , highlighted by an Italian Fisherman's Stew, met with a reporter to give her a tour of the property and had a few meetings. On Friday, after driving from Napa to Sacramento in pre-Memorial Day Weekend traffic, I headed to the Bradley Lodge . Our goal was to get rid of all the pine needles and tree limbs that we have accumulated over the last year or two. After two nights of fires (you can only burn between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. on specific " Burn Days ") and four full trailer loads (10+ cubic yards) to the dump our...

It's Spring! And soon my garden will be producing some of my favorites including snap/sugar peas , a variety of tomatoes and basil . It's also time to start thinking about local produce and with the warmer weather brings plenty of Farmers' Markets throughout my area of Placer county and the rest of California . Last Tuesday I headed to Whole Foods at The Fountains in Roseville to check out their Farmers Market (which actually is one of the few that runs year-round) to see what they had to offer. Lots of fresh produce, of course, but also breads, baked goods, sauces, locally roasted coffee and even live music. As Placer County's seasonal Farmers' Markers are about to launch, PlacerGROWN is having a contest and I hope that a few of your are able to win some of the great prizes. From May 19-30, 2014, PlacerGROWN will be giving away the following items on Facebook : 5 – $25 gift cards to Foothill Farmers’ Markets 5 – Bottles of wine 1 GRAND PRIZE – 8 New...

After a morning news segment with News10 , I was off to Roseville High School as part of Bayside's second Serve Day , a weekend where the church is shutdown and everyone goes out to volunteer in the community. This year approximately 10,000 volunteers completed 150+ projects throughout the Sacramento region. I signed up for and helped with a project at Roseville High School ... we cleared a large and steep hillside of weeds, spread 30+ yards of bark throughout the campus and did some other general maintenance and beautification work. I was on the first of three shifts and we got a lot done in the first four hours, I'm looking forward to seeing what it looked like when it was all done. On Sunday night I headed to Bayside for the wrap up service (and meal) ... pulled pork sandwiches, listening to other volunteers tell their stories, learning what was done all around the community, and even a little ice cream to finish off the night. After Serve Day on Saturday (and two showe...

Last year I helped with the Grand Opening of the Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center 's new facility in Penryn and this year I had the opportunity to help promote their Second Annual horse health fair . I again worked with their advertising agency, C2 Media Services , who did the paid advertising, while I worked on traditional media coverage. With a a perfect tie in, California Chrome racing for the second jewel in the Triple Crown at the Preakness , I was able to bring Good Day Sacramento ( Raising a Race Horse story ), KCRA , CBS 13 and News10 out to the facility for coverage before the event, while also arranging for a phone interview on KFBK and stories in the Sacramento Bee and Loomis News . All that work paid off too ... as people learned more about the services offered they called to make appointments for their own horses or to get more information on what was offered, and today's health fair had a great turnout. Photos for those with iPads .

My last meals at home were relatively healthy with mixed vegetables and chicken, plus a Skippy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter inspired banana quesadilla. Then I was off to KCRA for a cooking segment with the Executive Chef from The Meritage Resort and Spa . He prepared Rosemary Grilled Lamb Chop with Green Pea Salad and Feta , let's just say the anchor and rest of the staff didn't leave any leftovers. On Friday night my mom cooked up some yummy salmon and on Saturday I was off to Napa to pour wine at our Second Annual First Blush "Taste of Summer" event. They trusted me to pour six different wines from the Napa Valley and Livermore area, everyone that came to my table enjoyed the wine, food and event. After the event I headed to Crush Ultra Lounge to start my quest of trying items from the new menu. I enjoyed the de-constructed Chicken Club with a beer flight. It was a new take on the sandwich and one I will definitely have to have again in the future. On Sund...

Another week of fun, eating and working complete ... I started off by joining my parents at their "End of the Month" dinner group ... we had to stop at Target first for a few items and we found Chips Ahoy's newest (to us) flavor combo ... Root Beer Float ... an interesting combo for a cookie and it really did taste like a root beer float . For dinner we had a great lasagna with salad and then on Monday I was off to Fox40 for a cooking segment with Chef Krisztian Karkus from The Meritage Resort and Spa to promote Taste of Summer on May 10. He showed viewers how to make "Seared Black Cod with Green Asparagus and Riesling Sabayon" ... since I was able to take home the leftovers, I can truly say that it was very tasty. Later in the week I got Lady Antebellum tickets in the mail ... my mom, sister-in-law and brother will be watching the concert at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys next month . It's part of my mom's Birthday/Mothers Day gift and its...