Today, Gretchen and I had a girls' day out and headed on up to the Napa Valley for the Mustard Festival. The weather was excellent... not a raindrop fell on us today, which was a really pleasant surprise. isrameds.com
There was a mind-boggling selection of mustard and wines for us to sample (the above photo shows just one booth's selections). I particularly favored Oakville Grocery's Sun-Dried Tomato Curry Mustard and Willamette Valley Mustard's Aoli Garlic Mustard Sauce. So many good wines to remember (alright, maybe I was a little buzzed)... and a lot of fun, to boot!
The whole experience made me a little wistful. I was really into the culinary world when we were living in Hawaii... mostly because it's a pretty big industry there. We used to host wine tastings at our house, and I loved cooking... a LOT. It also made me wonder, why we never patronize the local vineyards and check out the great restaurants, when we are in the heart of the food and wine country.
I know, it's just a luxury. I also guess that it has to do with the fact that the South Bay seems to removed from the rest of the Bay Area. We have almost nil access via public transportation (and if you *do* take public transportation, it takes at least twice as long to get where you're trying to go). I can't tell you just how much I miss the convenience of BART, MUNI and the ferries. The recent news that I heard regarding the imminent cancellation of the Bart Extension to Santa Clara County is a real bummer.
But I so do love my food and wine!
*whine*
Do you know that there's an Oakville Grocery in Los Gatos? (It's in Old Town, on University Ave, close to Main St. A couple of doors down from the Borders Bookstore.)
Just in case you run out of mustard. Or twelve kinds of olives. Or French ... umh, I mean liberty butter.
You even have a picture! Woo hoo... I'm just now about to post about it.
transmitted by Gretchen on March 16, 2003 10:28 AMmustard? obligatory fark cliche:
Mustard Man