Scribe Winery. Sonoma. California. 7.30.2017.

Since I was already in wine country, I decided to pop over to Scribe to visit with my friends. Naturally, Andrew was gone doing tastings in the East Coast. So instead I got to wander around the new hacienda since I have not been back since the remodel. It looks a little different than when I broke into the chicken coop... I also miss Glen and Quackers.

Scribe Winery
2100 Denmark St
Sonoma, CA 95476
707.939.1858

Zazu Kitchen and Farm. Sebastopol. California. 7.30.2017.

When in the country I expect country charm, so I was slightly skeptical after stumbling upon this modern industrial chic "farm." However, the food at Zazu was great, and I am a bit smitten with the decor inside. You need to go and see and taste for yourself. I got the corned beef hash and it was ridiculously good. They are famous for their pork, so try some! That sour cream pancake was perfection and great to share with the table.

Zazu Kitchen and Farm
6770 McKinley St #150
Sebastopol, CA 95472
707.523.4814

Matanzas Creek Winery. Santa Rosa. California. 7.30.2017.

Since I also never been to a field of lavender before, I decided to also investigate as to where there might be one in Northern California. Matanzas Creek Winery has 3 acres of lavender on their property. They bloom May - July, and I was there to catch the tail end of it. I am told that the best time for lavender viewing is in June when everything is the most vibrant lavender and the fields are not yet harvested. They also have a barn where it is filled with drying lavender and products for you to bring home. It was the loveliest smelling barn I have been in!

Matanzas Creek Winery
6097 Bennett Valley Rd
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
707.528.6464

Farmers' Market. San Rafael. California. 7.23.2017.

I had 2 food stylist friends in town from New York and Los Angeles last week. I took them to a few of my favorite restaurants and they let me tag along to the Sunday Marin Farmers' Market and Berkeley Bowl as they were sourcing for a shoot. I go to the Ferry Building Farmers' Market here in San Francisco as much as I can as that is how I get all my produce. The San Rafael Farmer's Market blew me away. They had more vendors and options than the San Francisco one. There are many obscure Asian vegetables as well. The people watching is also pretty good. The herb vendor was phenomenal.

Sunday Marin Farmers' Market
3501 Civic Center Dr
San Rafael, CA 94903







Then we drove to Berkley Bowl afterwards to buy even more groceries. I really wish there were a Berkeley Bowl equivalent here in San Francisco. Their ethnic food aisles are very legit, in addition to all the selections for produce with different varieties of everything you can imagine. Simply amazing.

Berkeley Bowl West
920 Heinz Ave
Berkeley, CA 94710

Sunflowers. Woodland. California. 7.17.2017.

I have never been to a sunflower field in my life. When I looked it up to see where there are some in Northern California, it just happened that they were in full bloom when I looked it up. Ironically, this is about 10 miles away from UC Davis where I went to college for 5 years, where I would drive around at sunset with my SLR shooting film. Erika and I were the only ones there in this field and it was one of my favorite experiences in a field ever. There were no noises except for the water pumped in for irrigation and the sound of bees and dragonflies and this massive field of sunflowers surrounding us.

Photos and video of me below by Erika Pino. 

Heliotropes.

A post shared by Amy Yvonne Yu (@amyyvonneyu) on Jul 28, 2017 at 3:23pm PDT

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

A post shared by Amy Yvonne Yu (@amyyvonneyu) on Jul 19, 2017 at 7:10pm PDT

California summer. Video by @erikapino

A post shared by Amy Yvonne Yu (@amyyvonneyu) on Jul 18, 2017 at 10:20am PDT

Here is a fun behind the scenes for you from this adventure. I got stuck in the mud upon arrival to this sunflower field. As you can see, I was knee deep in mud and one of my sandals slipped off my feet in the mud and I had to go digging for it. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Erika offered to help me but I told her she needs to take pictures of this. I was laughing hard when I saw the pictures. Then we had to drive around to find a hose to get myself clean. Hilarious.

Le Marais Bakery. San Francisco. California. 7.16.2017.

I met up with my friend Uli to have a proper catch up at Le Marais Bakery in the Castro, as it's very cute and filled with French buttery goodness. I have to say that their pastries are very French indeed. If you are ever to spend a lot of money on avocado toast, this would be the one to splurge on.

Le Marais Bakery
498 Sanchez St
San Francisco, CA 94114

avocado toast
cucumber melon tart
watermelon mousse

Soundtracks. SFMOMA. San Francisco. California. 7.13.2017.

I went to the preview of Soundtracks at SFMOMA. I saw The Visitors by Ragnar Kjartansson a few years back at The Broad and was blown away by it. Be sure to see it while it is at SFMOMA. It is in the room ro the right of the elevator. I also loved the installations by Anri Sala and Céleste Boursier-Mougenot. You should also see the Edvard Munch while you are there, but you have to get a special ticket for the show, even for members. I enjoyed that one very much as well.

Soundtracks
7.15.2017-1.1.2018

Edvard Munch 
6.24.2017-10.9.2017

SFMOMA
151 3rs St
San Francisco, CA 94103

Leo's Oyster Bar. San Francisco. California. 7.10.2017.

Erika was helping me with my new headshots today, so I ended it by taking her to a nice lunch at Leo's Oyster Bar. A proper ladies' luncheon is a great way to start your week.

Leo's Oyster Bar
568 Sacramento St
San Francisco, CA 94111
415.872.9982

tea leaf salad, gem lettuce, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and toasted garlic 
warm buttered lobster roll, cultured uni butter, brioche and french fries
pineapple sundae, vanilla ice cream, pistachios and pineapple caramel
classic bittersweet chocolate mousse

Ha Nam Ninh. San Francisco. California. 7.8.2017.

I was catching up with my friend Jasmine. We watched Baby Driver , then we decided to go eat at Ha Nam Ninh as it's been a minute since I've had their 25 dry. Does anyone order anything else ever there? I would love to hear about it if you do. You definitely cannot go wrong with the 25 dry.

Ha Nam Ninh
701 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA 94109
415.346.3100

Mount Tamalpais. Marin. 6.19.2017-6.20.2017.

Whenever I am doing a photoshoot up in Marin and I have a car, I drive up to the top of Mount Tamalpais to experience the sunset. For this shoot, I was lucky enough to go up two evenings in a row. It's always magical and a different type of magic.

Photo and video of me below by Alex Swain.

Head in the fog. Photo by @alsueno

A post shared by Amy Yvonne Yu (@amyyvonneyu) on Jun 22, 2017 at 1:47pm PDT

Dusk.

A post shared by Amy Yvonne Yu (@amyyvonneyu) on Jun 20, 2017 at 6:56am PDT

Happy summer solstice! 🌞 Video by @alsueno

A post shared by Amy Yvonne Yu (@amyyvonneyu) on Jun 21, 2017 at 7:17am PDT

Your Name (Kimi No Na Wa). Makoto Shinkai.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I saw Your Name (Kimi No Na Wa) by Makoto Shinkai in the theatre shortly upon my return from my Italian holiday. I laughed. I cried. I recently came into noticing Makoto Shinkai's work and fell in love with it immediately. He has a way of telling stories of fleeting moments of life that can change us forever. And in this new film, he went further than he has ever before so far. I cannot wait to see more form him!