A "Napa Style" Day

What a gorgeous day it was....a lovely Spring Day in the Napa Valley and what better way to spend it than with good friends, drinking amazing wine, making our own breadsticks, pasta and meal and looking out onto a view that makes you want to breathe in deeply and stay a while (thanks to our lovely hostess Eileen, I always feel this way at her house).

Entertaining, celebrating, cooking, gathering and just spending time with friends is really under-rated. We didn't need our iphones, our e-mail, or even our shoes...This is what it means to live in California, access to fresh local produce, ingredients, wine and the decor of the garden: freshly cut lavender and garlic added to organic blooms made the table look just finished enough (not perfect, not formal).

You can make your own pasta with three to four basic ingredients: (http://www.napastyle.com/recipe/recipe.jsp?productId=2268) and we were lucky enough to have Mr. Chiarello himself do a quick demo before I embarrassed myself doing this (thankfully my good friend Ute was there to be the second set of hands as dough fell onto the counter)...do all chefs have four hands for this?

The table is set and the other women all lend a hand in preparing freshly shucked peas, a peach and prosciutto salad, so many flavors I can barely remember what went with what but, oh yes--use handmade dough to bake your own breadsticks and for heavens sakes, try sprinkling them with truffle oil and pure sea salt, we were all falling over and licking our fingers while eating these...Are you ready to get your hands dirty, pick some flowers, spread some flour (and some love) and invite your friends over for a summer feast? I hope so and please think about buying local, sustainable ingredients for your festivities--keep it simple and most importantly, turn off your phone, pour an extra glass of wine and eat to your heart's content--this is the good life!