About a month ago I took 15 seconds from my lunch to enter to win two tickets to a progressive food, drink, and shopping event at Santana Row. Hey, I won! The comped tickets (retailing for $30 each) included wine, cocktails, and light bites at various Santana Row retail and restaurant locations on October 16. Participants also received a keepsake event wine glass and 15% off towards purchases at participating stores and restaurants. It didn’t take too much persuading to get my friends to change our tennis schedule to accommodate the midweek night out last night. In fact, they decided to join me!

Though the event started at 5 pm, most of us couldn’t make it until 5:30 or 6 due to work so we were a bit rushed at the start. See, the way we went about it it wasn’t exactly a leisurely stroll. Each location has a designated time they can serve and offer discounts to “Strollers”… 5-6, 6-7, and 7-8. There were so many great venues participating that my friends and I had to create a plan of attack to hit all the places we wanted to check out.

Shanghai Mama and I met at Thea Mediterranean Restaurant where we sipped some Mandarin Sangria before progressing across to Amber India.

At Amber India we were treated to a delish Cashmir Apple Martini and their signature appetizer, Papdi Chat. Both were delicious! The Papdi Chat was light with a chutney filling and lightly fried. I will definitely go back for more of that!

G met up with us at California Bistro and Wine Bar for Brasilian Sangria and a bruschetta-like fig appetizer. The fig appetizer was definitely up there as one of the best bites I sampled last night. The sweet and salty combination always gets me!

I think my favorite stop of all last night was here at Sino. I devoured a lamb and risotto-like small plate that accompanied a hard raspberry lemonade. They were so good I had to have two of each.

Me and Shanghai Mama washed out from the sunshine (it reached 90+ degrees yesterday!) but that’s what I get for leaving my camera at home and having to resort to my iPhone to capture everything.

White wine at Flying Lizard Dragon.

Generous spread of cheeses and a pizza-like appetizer that had pita-like bread topped with lox, onions and capers. This is a really fun store and where I get all my hair accessories that I receive so many compliments on.

Lychee Martini and chicken satay at Straits.

By the time we got to Franco Uomo I was happy to have the Sparkling Cider! They also served stuffed mushrooms and bruschetta from Maggianos.

S and G. When we initially planned this night out we were going to do dinner at Pizza Antica immediately following. Quite early on we realized that this was plenty of dinner enough for us.

Especially once we got to LB Steak. Pinot Noir, steak, and mac n’ cheese rounded out our evening. I didn’t particularly care for the fried beef bite which was disappointing since I’ve been wanting to try LB Steak FOREVER. When their steak bite isn’t good and they’re called LB STEAK then I’m not quite sold on the place.

A fried mac n’ cheese ball at LB Steak. Surprisingly tasty but not enough to go back for seconds.

LB Steak does have one of the loveliest outdoor seating areas which is why we planted ourselves there for the remainder of the night.

That is, until we realized we only had a half an hour left until the stores closed. Then we mad a mad dash for Lululemon, Burberry, and BCBG MazAzria.

S found a cozy place to wait while I helped G shop at Lululemon. I found her a super cute jacket that was also on sale and saved her a bundle. G also got my extra ticket since she RSVPed first. Still can’t get over that I didn’t drop a dime on the entire evening! We did decide, however, that $30 per ticket is completely reasonable for everything you get. Especially considering that I went to Straits a few nights ago with Shrek where we dropped $19 on two drinks, one being a beer.

I am so thankful to have these women in my life. Though I’ve known them for a few years now, I only really started hanging out with them in May when we began meeting up for twice weekly tennis matches. In just the past 5 months my friendship with them has grown way beyond the courts and last night was no exception to the fun we have together. Also, something really resonated with me at the end of the night that I think exemplifies how genuine our friendship is. We all parted ways at one end of the row near where I’d parked in the parking garage. I offered G a lift to her car which was parked on the complete opposite side of the Row where we began the evening. At the same time G offered to walk me to my car and get a lift to hers. The thing is, I offered because I didn’t want her to walk all the way back to her car alone and she was offering because she didn’t want me to walk alone through the parking garage, which I hadn’t even given a second thought to. Kinda cool we have each other’s backs like that.

When I got home I received the following text from G whom I am assuming copied us all when she sent.

Omg that was so much fun! and i didnt even miss tennis! i’m so happy we have such a nice group of girlfriends who have fun and genuinely wish the best for each other. have a great week and thanks to mindy for planning.

G, I couldn’t agree more.