And, oh, did I celebrate. Each day since Thursday has been a special treat, all involving food and wine, of course.
I have to admit, in the days leading up to my birthday I was feeling a little out of sorts. There is something about holidays, times of the year when I tend to be surrounded by friends and family, that makes me reflect on the present. I've been in Napa for four months now. Sure, I've made friends and more than kept busy, but the people who know me the best, the ones who I know the best, are far away.
Having been born in the fall, I'm used to celebrating my birthday in new circumstances each year - new school classes, new cities, new countries even. And this year was no different. Yet, I still need to actively remind myself that it takes some time to feel settled in a new place, that though I'm still in the beginning stages of my life here in Napa, I will reach that place of comfort soon enough.
Fortunately, I've met such generous, welcoming people in my new surroundings, who have all helped to make this birthday as special as I hoped it would be. My new colleagues toasted to me with rosé and ice cream cake (cookies & cream and mint chocolate chip, more than half of which is still sitting in my freezer!). Nathalie and my new friend, Laura, surprised me with gifts - a vegetarian cookbook and a 2011 planner with a painting of Paris on the cover - while I cooked us up a birthday risotto (a very unique "harvest" recipe with red grapes, that sounded incredibly odd but was in fact incredibly delicious).
We enjoyed our meal with a glass of 2006 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon that Laura had brought for the occasion. And topped it off with the birthday cookies my parents had delivered to my office.
Friends and family from all over the world took the time to wish me a happy birthday, which was both flattering and comforting. It's good to know that despite time and distance true friendships can survive.
And one of those friendships made my birthday weekend even more special: one of my closest friends, Kate, arrived on Friday to celebrate with me. How did we celebrate, you ask? We went to The French Laundry.
For those of you who know what The French Laundry is, yes, it was amazing. For those of you who don't, let's just say it is one of the country's (the world's?) best restaurants, impossible to get reservations and - if you are lucky enough to get them, as I was thanks to new wine country friends - it burns a hole in your wallet for a nine-course set menu.
Kate and I went with my good friends Christina and Rory, who helped make the five hour dining experience one of the best of my life. Every course was delicious, yet small, so that by the end (after we'd had our additional dessert course, courtesy of the waiter who was a friend of Rory and Christina's - everyone knows everyone out here!) we weren't overly stuffed, simply full and content. We'd made it through three bottles of wine: a grower Champagne, a 2006 Marsannay and a 2006 Barbera D'Alba, the bottles of which I brought home as souvenirs, in addition to a copy of the menu.
Though we walked off the meal (barely) during the day on Saturday, the indulgence continued throughout the day: almond croissants at Bouchon Bakery, lunch at Farmstead. And, then, my birthday party.
Rory and Christina had been so generous to offer their home as the venue for the festivities. There was wine and cheese and crackers. And cake, of course. I was content. And everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves, too. I was so appreciative that my new friends took the time to come out and celebrate with me; I haven't done so terribly here for four months!
After brunch on Sunday, Kate and I mustered the energy to go wine tasting - after all, she was only here three days! We ended our tour at Barnett Vineyards, where my friend David is the winemaker. He convinced us that we needed to join him in San Francisco for Decompression, a Burning Man reunion of sorts in the city. And so, after a day of wine tasting, I found myself in San Francisco, watching a fire dancing performance on a closed-off street in the Dogpatch area of the city.
I returned to Napa Monday morning, exhausted. You would think I would have come straight home after work to go to sleep, but somehow I forced myself to go running and then out to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with friends - ironically at a restaurant called "Go Fish," without a turkey in sight.
Though I may now be a year older, I'm not sure I'm any wiser, but I did have a perfect weekend celebrating the milestone. And I'm still accepting excuses to keep celebrating throughout the month.
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