True, saying goodbye to a friend who was already living a six-hour plane ride away shouldn't be that difficult, but trust me it is when you have two years of friendship that feel more like 20. So is saying goodbye to someone with whom you've had two months of friendship that feels like two years. The numbers are starting to confuse me.
Nonetheless, we've all heard the phrase that "time flies when you're having fun," and somehow I've blinked and it's nearly October. Though the weather outside would suggest otherwise - here in Napa and on the east coast alike - it's no longer summer. The carefree summer parties and evenings of light until 9pm are over. New friends are leaving, bidding farewell to the fantasy land that they've lived in for the last few months.
And I'm still here.
So, I can't help but wonder - what happens to paradise when the novelty wears off, when the weather takes a turn for the worse, when the grapes are no longer on the vine?
Fortunately, I don't have to answer that question just yet, thanks to an Indian summer heat wave (nice for me, bad for the grapes!) and an endless stream of visitors. Which means I'm still living like I'm on holiday. And, oh, it's been a lovely holiday.
When reality still seems suspended in this vacation sort-of way, even the goodbyes are easier. Leah's return to New Orleans, where she works as a sommelier, was the perfect excuse to have a delicious meal at a new restaurant. You're leaving Napa? Well, we must celebrate by dining someplace special!
That's how we found ourselves at Solbar, at the Solage resort, earlier this week where I had one of the best meals I've had since moving out to Napa. It was simple and fresh, and both Leah and I were taken aback by how tomatoes and ricotta could be prepared so well that those basic ingredients alone could earn our praise as our best Napa meal. It was so good we almost forgot we were there to say goodbye.
And, of course, the wine was a perfect complement. Leah and I bonded this summer over trying unusual varietals from the state of California. The 2005 Spencer Roloson Madder Lake Tempranillo, a grape that we normally see from Spain, took on an almost chocolate quality overpowering the typical red fruit that we were expecting. It even went perfectly with the dessert we ordered: the fritter-like fried apple pie.
My second goodbye of the week also included apples on the menu: a (hold your breath as you read this, it was that good) dulce de leche apple bread pudding. At the Google office in Mountain View. Yes, not only is their food free at Google, but their menu includes food like that.
I burned off maybe one calorie of my two helpings as Amy took me on a tour of the Google campus, which I would have taken photos of to share with you but then someone would have to kill me. I will say this, though - it was unbelievable. If I worked at Google, I'd never leave. Which I guess is the point.
Amy is moving to Zurich, where she'll still be a Googler, but just as far from New York as me - in the opposite direction. Just as we "celebrated" my leaving New York with something quintessential Manhattan , seeing Sex and the City 2 and dining at one of our favorite restaurants, L'Artusi, we did the same here in Mountain View: a cup of tea and an episode of Gossip Girl. We could have been in one of our Manhattan apartments instead of Google corporate housing.
It felt like the reality I remembered, which is why it was so comforting - and still so hard to believe that things are different now. And, the reality I've come to know in Napa is changing, too.
This weekend I'll again get to have two realities collide when my friend, Tiffany, from Cornell comes to visit. We'll catch up on a past that brings us comfort, yet live like we're on holiday in wine country. The best of both worlds, no?
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