Deja vu in Los Gatos

Saturday 30th November

We were all late getting up today despite yet another day of perfect fall weather.  The plan was to revisit the Los Gatos cafe for brunch.  We seem to have run out of exploring energy and instead are enjoying returning to favourite haunts during the last few days of our holiday.

Once again we had decided to cycle and meet Sherry and Rich there so we got the bikes out of the car and Martin put them back together for (hopefully) the last time.  We set off wearing far too many layers - just can't shake off that English expectation of being too cold - and were soon sweltering in nearly 70 degrees of sunshine.  We are so going to suffer when we get back to England.  We followed a slightly different route than on our previous expedition and eventually after about 7 miles of busy roads, interminable red lights and traffic we got to the Los Gatos Creek bike path and the enjoyable part of the ride.  This time we didn't make the mistake of exiting the bike path too soon but followed it through the Vasona Lake Country Park arriving at the cafe at exactly the pre arranged time of 11.45am having cycled 15 very warm miles.

We got our name on the list and then waited for Sherry and Rich to arrive and thankfully cooled down a bit. As expected it was bustling but the time passed quickly until our table was ready. The food was as usual plentiful and delicious and the company great - although slightly tinged with sadness that time is running out. After 7 weeks of diligent practice putting away American portions I failed again and had to get a "to go" box for the remains of my crab and avocado souffle omelette.  I was absolutely stuffed....

We strolled around doing some window shopping and enjoying the sunshine and also went to Sherry's bank where we were able to arrange to pay my marathon prize cheque (minus the portion that the IRS have incorrectly claimed!) into her account and draw cash.  I felt decidedly nervous walking round with a large sum of money and kept checking that my purse was in my pocket even though it was zipped and impossible for it to fall out.  Pleasant as it was in lovely Los Gatos we were conscious that it was already after 2pm and we had a 90 minute cycle ride ahead of us and no lights so we left Sherry and Rich to do a bit more shopping and headed back to the bikes.

It was lovely cycling back along the trails passing through the parks but I really wasn't looking forward to the road section at the end.  However it seemed much shorter on the way back. We again went a slightly different route and although the distance was the same it took us 20 minutes less. This was odd but we put it down to using more local streets and therefore minimising the time we spent waiting at red lights.

We were back at Erica Court before Sherry and Rich and fortunately we had left the slack line in their car...as Martin was really keen to go back out to the park and set it up.....whilst all I wanted to do was have a shower, a cup of coffee and a rest. We had after all cycled just over 30 miles.  I must admit that I gave into the temptation of a little snooze and the next thing I knew Martin was waking me up to tell me that we were going out for dinner.

After brunch I was so full that I couldn't imagine eating anything else for a week but by 7pm I was (predictably!) feeling quite hungry again which was just as well since Rich had arranged a special treat for us - a visit to Buca di Beppo. Of all the excellent restaurants we have been to this really was the ultimate experience. It's a big bustling Italian restaurant and they have one table which is in an alcove in the kitchen so you get to interact with the staff and watch all the food being prepared and put out ready to serve.  Apart from the unusual setting and lovely staff, the food is brilliant. They serve it in large dishes to share so we chose three dishes between us: Apple Gorgonzola Salad; Salmon Sorrento and Cheese Manicotti and each one was better than the last.  In addition we got to see a lot of other dishes being put out ready for the waiting staff and even as vegetarians we were impressed by the meatballs which were the size of small footballs!

It was a great evening and we are so lucky to have friends with such a good knowledge of all the best restaurants in the area and who enjoy sharing the experience of visiting them with such gusto.  We have been so spoiled and I am going to be on a strict diet for months to come in order to counteract all these special treats!