Saturday, June 7, 2014

Exploring Napa, Oxbow Public Market and Yountville

There is nothing better than spending the day with one of your nieces in Napa. I was lucky enough to be able to steal Michelle away and enjoy the day with her in the wine country.
Michelle is getting ready to begin her externship at Stanford Hospital as an audiologist. She has been living in San Diego for the past four years studying, playing volleyball at the beach and going out with friends. Her family has missed her, especially me. So I wanted to celebrate her accomplishments and introduce her to my world.
Michelle and I headed out early and ventured over to Oxbow Public Market. We visited Marshall’s Honey stand first and tasted all the different varieties.  Here’s more @ Marshall’s. http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs173/1102025210658/archive/1114802582692.html
After that we explored the grocery aisle that sold various gourmet specialties, fruits, veggies, and looked at the different gluten free flours. Since we hadn’t had breakfast we grabbed a bite at the taco stand. I ordered the salmon ceviche tostada; sorry I forgot to take a picture and Michelle ordered something with a fried egg on top. Delish!  
We ran across Napa Valley Distillery Tasting Salon.
We were impressed by the technique in which you are supposed to use when you taste each liquor. Paul Martin was our mixologist and he taught us how to take a breath in, sip the liquor, then swallow, and then breathe out slowly in order to get the full flavor/effect.
For our tasting Paul set up a vodka, an anise flavoured gin (my fav), a plume brandy, a Manhattan, a mint julep, and a Meyer Lemon liquor.

Since I try to visit my Dad at the Veterans Home every couple of weeks, I thought I could combine a little fun in the mix as well by taking my dad and Michelle to Domaine Chandon.