Nonetheless, nearly every house in Napa seems to have some sort of holiday decoration, whether it be snowflakes, snowmen or the more common - and less weather-dependent - strings of holiday lights. Even without the cold (and the locals will argue that this is cold - ha!), there is something about Christmas lights that seem so warm and inviting, capturing perfectly the spirit of the holidays.
In the Jewish calendar, which is based on the moon's cycle, the holidays came "earlier" this year and I was barely back from Thanksgiving break before it was time to celebrate Hanukkah. However, with a busy week spent getting back into the swing of things after a week away, not to mention cramming for my wine exam (have I mentioned how relieved I am to be done with that?) and, to be honest, not really having a group of Jewish friends in the valley, this year Hanukkah felt just like another week in early December (albeit, warmer).
Even with these odds stacked against me, I found a way to fit some tradition in this year: there's no way to get people to go along with what you want quite like the promise of cooking and feeding them. And so, when Nathalie invited me to dinner with her friends at her new home on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to turn it into my impromptu Hanukkah party with the promise of making latkes.
I've had experience with making Hanukkah parties before for people who don't even really know what the holiday is. Any excuse for food and a party, right? My friends and flatmates in London had really enjoyed it and I knew my French acquaintances here in Napa would be equally open to chowing down on fried potatoes.
In fact, they were more than open to it; they truly enjoyed it. They were curious and wanted to learn about the holiday - what the history of it is, why we celebrate, how we celebrate. One was so disappointed that I hadn't brought "one of those things that you spin", a dreidel, that he carved one himself out of a potato, etching the Hebrew letters delicately on each side with a toothpick. It didn't spin so well, but it made for a great display with the sweet potato, parsnip and ginger root latkes I made instead of the traditional white potato (recipe available upon request).
From that moment on, the holidays have been in full swing - and my attempts to resist temptation and be "healthy" have all failed miserably. On Friday, one of my co-workers from the NYC office sent a stollen, a traditional German Christmas cake with dried fruit and powdered sugar, as well as a Christmas fruitcake (he's Jewish, too, mind you). Both homemade. Both delicious. Both seriously not healthy.
Naturally, we opened both immediately and washed down slices of each with a 2009 Hogue Terroir Muscat Canelli, a tasting room-only semi-sweet wine from the Washington state producer. Then, we hopped, skipped and jumped (literally) across the parking lot to the Patz & Hall tasting salon, where we enjoyed their annual holiday party complete with cheese, nuts, chocolate and, of course, wine. My favorite was the 2008 Chenoweth Ranch Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, which was smooth and soft - a truly well-balanced cooler climate Pinot.
I can't even get away from the holidays when I'm on my own. Yesterday afternoon I found myself in Yountville, sitting oustide Bouchon Bakery with a cup of tea and a giant cookie, reading a book on what seemed more like a crisp fall day than the second week of December.
So much for being healthy this holiday season. I haven't been to yoga in weeks and the few short runs I've done certainly won't balance out the two pieces of stollen I had on Friday, the cookie the size of my face that I ate yesterday...amongst all the other goodies.
But, 'tis the season to enjoy and indulge, right? I suppose one of the upsides of living in a warm climate during the holidays is that on one of the rare, few days when it's actually not raining (and we've had two in a row, yesterday and today!) you can walk off a few of those sweets while enjoying the outdoors. Which I plan to do this afternoon with Nathalie and Laura.
Provided we don't get sidetracked by another festive dessert, that is.
No comments:
Post a Comment