Back from Dreamworld

Hello Loves! Just flew in from Napa, and boy, are my arms tired!

Thanks, I'm here all week!

Ah, Napa. Sweet, sweet land of wine and olive oil. Palm trees and pine trees. Heat and chill. Food and fun. How we love you... So, yes, yet another trip to Napa. It was hubsy's birthday weekend, and every restaurant seemed to have a candle for him. We stayed again at the Napa River Inn, that lovely haunted place. They kindly greeted us with a bottle of wine for our return visit. We went to Taylor's Automatic Refresher for lunch and Angele's for dinner. Apres Angele's, we went to Silo's for some amazing old dixieland jazz, played by guys (and a girl), who were just fantastic! We visited Far Niente on Saturday for a fabulous tour and tasting with Walt. Breathing the gorgeous air in the barrel fermentation room - heady aromas that I wish I could re-experience at will. Their grounds are spectacular, by the way, and the staff could not be nicer. And Dolce! OHMIGOD, the Dolce! We tasted a '99 vintage that was gold and honey and flowers and everything nice. Sweet, yes, but cloying? Never! That afternoon we went to Frog's Leap. While I really like their wines, I have to say the tour disappointed a bit. Kinda snarky mixed with Valley Girl. Maybe you have to be in the mood.

And if you are in Napa, please go to Ubuntu for their intensely creative vegetarian fare. Vegetarian, yes, and oh so indulgent.

Sunday brought us back to Duckhorn. Tom gave us a VIP tour and tasting that was an absolute joy. Doesn't hurt that their wines are fantastic, that the property is gorgeous, that the people are really nice and knowledgeable. I love this place! Sunday night's dinner was at Celadon, which, like Angele's, is on the Napa River Inn property. And again, the food was awesome.

Crap, I'm fawning now. How embarassing.

Did I hook? Did I stick?

I sticked, mostly. Hooks were in the bag, but I pretty much sticked on the plane. We were on the go quite a bit, with less time in the room than normal, so the trip was about enjoying what we could about Napa. All that said, I made a bit of progress on the Shipwreck Shawl, undoing the massive screw ups of yore and slowly moving forward. We'll see how it all looks, won't we, when a few more rows have been created...

Till later!

xoxoxoxoxo

A Hand Tease and some Randomnity

Yeah, I'm crocheting, see? I made these wristlets from Drops Garnstudio. They were easy-peasy and simple-pimple. And they speak to a growing obsession of mine: gloves, mitts, wristlets, armwarmers... Any kind will do.
Although these are hibernating, t'were I to use Ravelry parlance, these lovely Manchettes are part of the obsession. I picked up StitchDiva's new pattern, as well as a couple from CopperScaleDrago from Ravelry to work on. But a bigger post on the topic is coming soon - I'm just gathering all the pieces together right now....

In the meanwhile, I spent some time today at Astroland in my beloved Coney Island, as it was its official last day of operations. As you know, I am enamored with this gritty, beautiful part of Brooklyn, and it kills me to see it devoured by scumbag developers with no sense of history or community.

On a final quick note, remember how last week I talked about all the wineries I went to? Some good and some less so? Well, color me shocked if a couple of the wineries mentioned didn't reach out to me! Duckhorn, bless their hearts, appreciated the nice words I had to say about them. They were well-deserved, let me tell ya!

And to their credit, Artesa, whom I completely dissed, also wrote to me asking for a more constructive version of the criticism I leveled at them. Fair enough, and I respect that they contacted me after what I said. While I've not heard back from them after sending them a more thoughtful version of my experience, I am shocked that the wineries even bother reading SubwayHooker, let alone sending me emails about what I've written! Go figure.