Napa Valley Day 3

I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be on my birthday than in this beautiful paradise with my wonderful husband. I awoke to another overcast day to sort of match my feelings on this milestone birthday.

We headed down for breakfast. We just love the waffles!!! We decided to head out on our own today.

Tim wanted to go down Silverado Trail ( a road that parrallels highway 29 all the way down the valley to the town of Napa) to look for the Stag's Leap winery. This is the winery that back in the '70's beat the french wines in some big thing. We found the place and the grounds were absolutely beautiful. We went in and Tim did the tasting. I tried a couple but drinking wine at 10 a.m. (even though it was noon back home) just didn't seem right. Very Very pretentious place. The bottle Tim liked was almost $100. Now I like wine but I don't want to pay that much for a bottle. I talked him out of buying one.

Next we headed back over to Hwy 29 to Folio a Deaux. This is a winery of wine we drink back home. This is the winery that makes Manage a Trois. It was a really neat place and they had some awesome extra stuff like picnic baskets etc... The wine was really good here too.

Our next stop was Peju. This is the place that Kimi had recommended and boy was she correct. I liked almost all of their wines. I even signed up for their wine club. So every other month or so I'll get 3 bottles of wine. They also had some neat extras like dips and picnic stuff.

Our next stop was V. Sattui winery and deli. They are the only winery in the valley that has a full deli and cheese shop. It was extremely busy so we didn't try the wine. We ordered sandwiches and went down in their wine cellar and had a picnic lunch. They had outside tables but the weather still wasn't clear. It was really pretty in here. We didn't know it at the time we were there but this is the most visited winery in the valley. He started the deli and then the county decided wineries couldn't serve food. He was grandfathered in so it is the only place to buy a bottle of wine, a sandwich and go out on the lawn for a picnic.

Our next stop on the trip back up the valley was at Castello De Amarosa or Castle of Love. We made arrangements to take the tour of the castle tomorrow morning. It really looks neat. The sign indicated that this was where the castle scenes in the Adam Sandler "Bedtime Stories" were shot. Kind of cool.

We headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner. Now remember all I asked for dinner was a restaurant that had real food. I didn't want to eat a pretentious place that served meal like on that commercial where there is one carrot, two peas, and that's it. For some reason Tim got it in his head that he wanted to eat at the Culinary Institute of America's Greystone Restaurant. Now what about that name doesn't sound pretentious? I tried to dissuade him but he was adamant about making reservations yesterday. We pull up to this huge building. It is a cooking school. We walk up the walk towards the entrance and like many restaurants there is a menu out front under glass. I look at it and can't read the items names much less want them for my birthday dinner. I even looked at him and said in the most polite way I could. "What exactly am I supposed to order to eat?" He didn't take the hint or chose not to listen and in we went.

It was a beautiful place. If you were into culinary arts you would have loved it. I was enjoying it but the kitchen area, the salad prep area, and the desert area were all open to view from your seat which was a little weird to me. I ordered the hanger steak. Now I'm from beef country Oklahoma and I've never heard of a hanger steak. It was basically like a filet only lots smaller. There were approximately 3 bites of meat on the plate with about 4 quarter size potatoe halves. It was all very tasty but I could have eaten 5 plates of it.

The best part was with Tim's order. He ordered a pork loin thing. At the bottom of the menu they had a few vegetable items a la carte. So he ordered a side of potatoes. Now sounds good to me right. What self respecting Oklahoman doesn't eat potatoes with his meal right. They brought us our dinners and I saw the waiter whisper something in Tim's ear. I assumed he had forgotten to put the potato side dish in the order and he would bring it out in a minute. Tim was about 3/4 done with his meal and I asked, "Is he bringing your potatoes?" Tim replies "No the chef didn't want to pair the potatoes with her pork loin!" At this point I completely loose it. I started laughing and laughing, and laughing. At this point tears are coming. I can't stop laughing. People are looking at me, I'm still laughing. I'm sure the a la carte potatoes were probably $10 or $ 12 dollars that the waiter is getting screwed out of adding that to the check because "The chef didn't want to pair them" I guess we really are backward hicks to think we should pair potatoes with pork loin. I am still laughing I can't stop long enough to finish the last 2 bites of my 10 bite meal. It was hilarious!!!! Of course Tim got mad at me because I was bitching about the place in a fun way but it was bitching. I really did appreciate the effort to take me somewhere really nice. And thanks to the pretentious chef I will have a wonderful memory of my 40th birthday dinner. I'm laughing again as I write about it.

We had great wine, the food wasnt bad just too little of it and the desserts were very tasty too. All and all a great day and evening with the most handsome man around. I loved it and thank you so much for bringing me here on my birthday!