Sassy Radish

It was perfect.

Warm, sunny, green, calm, quiet. It was at times lazy when we lay on the beach curling our toes in the sand, and at times active and strenuous when we ran and completed the Easter 10K race across the island’s very hilly terrain.

There was my chance meeting with Mick Jagger (yes, the one of the Rolling Stones fame) and our nonchalant chat about the weather – apparently the weather report he gets is from Norway and he’s not terribly pleased with them. My lazy beach reads of M.F.K. Fisher and Proust both felt somehow appropriate for the occasion despite the latter’s heavy-handedness.

Every breakfast began with a solitary cup of coffee, a newspaper, a book while gazing out to the sea, the sky and that gauzy, glowing line where the two meet – my version of heaven on earth. There were moments when I wanted to snap a mental picture of the vast, expansive horizon, the curve of it, so that I could instantly recall it in my mind’s eye, so that I could remind myself that while I am back in New York, on a cold and rainy day, that magnificent horizon is out there still.

Every morning and afternoon upon crossing over to the main house, I looked for a team (group? family?) of turtles that would slowly, persistently be crossing the lawn. They ate the dessicated grass from time to time, showing visible excitement upon finding a fallen hibiscus flower. I was quite taken with these turtles – they were charming in their languid, pensive ways. I’d like to think, that in their own, turtle ways, they were equally taken with me.

Mustique is a bit of a riddle – it’s difficult to describe. It felt unlike any other place I’ve ever been to. It was in some ways magical, fairy-tale like, disarming. In no other place have I ever felt so safe, so relaxed, so trusting. Like Disneyland minus the tea-cup ride and the Mickey Mouse.

The last place where the water was so blue was Cote d’Azur, I couldn’t believe my eyes – it’s as if someone colored the water with a crayon.

There were new local foods to try: like baked christophene and callaloo soup (I didn’t take pictures at dinner as I didn’t want to be a nuisance to the rest of our party – there were 18 of us there). There was rum punch and homemade ginger beer, which I’ll attempt at home, and amazing hot sauce which we brought back with us.

It went by so fast and I miss it already. Mustique is a kind of place that is difficult not to love and impossible to forget.

I was really hoping to share an old family recipe with you of Salad Olivye, which is a glorified, amazing potato salad with flare, but I simply have run out of time. I’ll say this though, I made it using Molly’s recipe for mayonnaise and the result was nothing short of symphonic, divine, stunning. I will wax poetic on that and Mustique experiences upon return next week.

I wish everyone happy Purim, Easter and a good week ahead.

A month after the trip and I’ve been laboring over a long post about wine. What we drank, how much we liked it, down to the most minute detail. Well, after I read it and then read it again, I threw in a few yawns. I mean really, who am I kidding? I’m no Robert Parker! I am simply someone who really likes wine. And besides, if I have to read any more about a hint of tobacco or caramel or violet in the finishing touches of my wine, I swear I’m going to have to throw the damn bottle at the offending party(once I finish the wine, of course, I wouldn’t want to waste any).

That said, I’ve been barred from drinking until I get better from being sick this past month – thanks to that medium rare steak.

I decided to rework this post into a shorter and hopefully more fun “reduction”.

So here are the three wineries that I must recommend and a quick explanation as to why:

Etude
Aside from the fact that Pinot Noir is my favorite grape, this was just lovely all around. The Riedel glasses, our tour guide with a wry sense of humor, and the small-scale focus on the grapes, made a lasting impression. “Now that we have all the tools at our disposal, there should be no such thing as a bad vintage,” our guide said, “We simply know how to make a good harvest out of a year that might need a little help.” The winery also produces an heirloom Pinot that’s delicious and worth trying.

Frog’s Leap
By far the most fun we had on a winery tour. We started out sampling wine, then got a little tour of the garden where we sampled organic produce, then a tour of the winery where we drank some more wine. In between, I got to play with a cat, listened to some stories and at the end, we all shot some hoops. The winery has a good story to tell, but more importantly, they make a tasty wine. I particularly enjoyed the Zinfandel – perfect for barbeques and outdoor meals. They also make a Leapfrogsmilch – a blend of Riesling and sauvignon blanc with the funniest label I’ve ever seen on a wine bottle. The wine’s yummy too!!

Duckhorn
There is nothing campy about this winery. They’re as serious about wine as they get. A tad more serious and they’d be downright stuffy. But, they don’t push it too much and the result is a serene estate, impeccably maintained, with glorious, idyllic landscapes. Their wine is constantly in demand by the White House banquets (and I doubt they drink crap). Their main focus is on Cabernets, but they also a stunning Merlot. Their wines are the most expensive, approaching $100 a bottle, but well-worth the splurge for a special occasion.

We also visited Grgich Hills, Clos du Val and Sterling. The first made excellent Chardonnay, but I wasn’t charmed by the experience. The second made good wine, but nothing I’d get incredibly misty about. Sterling’s wine didn’t make an impression, but the ski-lift tour was breathtakingly beautiful. I’m sure if we stayed for their Reserve tasting, the wine would have been superb, but we only drank the regular stuff.

I realized that I’m far more interested in boutique wineries than larger scale productions. I think the wines tend to be better, I think the wineries are more in tune with their neighbors, the environment, utilizing the most environmentally sound practices. And I firmly believe that if you do sustainable, chemical-free farming, you will produce a better quality product that will take on the personality of its winery.

I can definitely see myself doing another wine tasting trip within a year. There’s upstate New York region, there is Long Island, if I want to stay local. There are wine countries in France, Spain, Italy, Germany and others. There’s more Napa, Sonoma, Washington State, Oregon to explore. Each wine has its own story – and it’s the stories that make your wine experience truly memorable, imparting a unique print onto each wine tasted and savored.

On our last day in Napa, we had reservations to a very posh, very yummy looking Auberge du Soleil. After drooling over their menu every day and offering up half of my worldly possessions, I was ready to taste the legend. I called a few days before leaving for California and double-checked the reservation. I noted the time. And given how punctual each one of the girls is (including myself) there was no way we were going to be late for this lunch. Our wallets might have groaned, but our bellies were all anticipation.

After the valet parking services took our car, we proceeded towards the restaurant. There, the hostess rudely told us we had missed our reservation, that it was for an earlier time. I, very politely, tried to insist that our reservation was for the time we arrived. The hostess, a tall, tan, athletic woman in her forties, vaguely resembling Suze Orman, glared at us.

“I don’t make mistakes,” she hissed, “This is an omission on your part.”

Even if we were irresponsible and screwed up the reservation, this was no way to speak to customers. We politely excused ourselves and left.

Lunchess and a bit deflated, we decided upon going to a nearby little grocery store, stocked with yummy gourmet food, and indulge in a picnic fit for kings. We bought three different kinds of cheeses, made locally in Napa as well as Hudson Valley of New York: a sheep’s camembert, a goat cheese, and a hard, cow-milk cheese; soppresata, perfectly cured; duck liver pate, decadently rich; a freshly-baked baguette, and some yummy beverages.

We sat outside, savoring our makeshift lunch, admiring the acres of grape vines all around us. We agreed that this picnic was far superior to any gourmet lunch we could have had and how great it was that everything turned out this way.

Having been given lemons, we made lemonade. And I dare say it was better than the feast we were promised.

Well, there will be a longer post, many more posts on the trip to San Francisco and Napa. Loads more. With pictures. And reviews. And write-ups on the wineries. I’ll give you my favorites and my blahs. But be patient with me, as I’m recovering from a bout of an e-coli. I know, I know, it sounds horrific and odd, and believe me, it was. Quite possibly the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. Next time I’m in that much pain, I better be having a baby!!

I’ll have no report of the lovely New England because I ruined it with getting sick, and my boyfriend and parents saved the day by tending to my sick and sorry self. I owe them big time for their care and patience, especially the boy because instead of a vacation he got a girlfriend writhing in agony.

So give me a few days to recoup, get home to New York, load up some pictures. In the meantime, I’ll write some reviews so they’re ready to post once I’m back in the saddle, sort of.

For me vacations are about three things: rest, food and friends. Put those three elements together and the combination is unsurpassed. If you take the best of people, the best of food, and things that relax you and throw them together, you’ve got yourself a vacation that goes down the memory lane as truly unforgettable.

So when you put three college friends together, give them the freedom to roam vineyards and eat the freshest produce, it’s bound to get incredible. This is only a part of what we plan on doing:

drinking:
Clos Du Val
Etude
Grgich Hills
Frog’s Leap
Sterling
Duckhorn

eating
Terra Restaurant
Auberge du Soleil

Not to mention our plans on making a home-cooked meal using local ingredients, sampling some olive oil, nibbling on some cheese, and indulging in some gourmet chocolate.

My interest in food peaked when I was a teenager in order to seem sophisticated, well-brought up, and well-rounded. Back then, my palate was not trained to taste the intricacies of quality vanilla, nuances of wine and notes of coffee. But, the palate can be trained and through tasting new things, reading about food, sampling new ingredients, my palate began to differentiate between Hersheys and Maison du Chocolat, between Kraft cheddar and cheddar imported from Ireland, between Dunkin Donuts and Peet’s.

This vacation is all about expanding the palate, reawakening it to taste, freshness and balance. I want my tastebuds to be surprised by an unusual combination of flavors, by a quirky wine/food pairing, by something I’ve never before tasted.

Here’s raising a glass to a delectable trip, with stories and pictures to follow.

Bon Appetit!