When Expectations Are Met

I came across some pictures from our trip to Napa over Memorial Day weekend.  I'm still a little surprised at how much I loved the area and how much I wanted to spend more time there.  I thought that since we wouldn't be participating in any wine tastings, there wouldn't be anything else to do. We would go to the wedding, see the vineyards and go home.  But I want to go back and go bike riding and hiking and want to go eat amazing food.

My favorite part of the trip to Napa was the morning of the wedding. We had some time to kill, so we drove through the valley and kept seeing beautiful sights.  Like this adorable grocery store.  

We stopped when we saw it, because we just knew there would be wonderful things for sale inside.  Our expectations were met and even exceeded.  Homemade sandwiches, gorgeous pastries, amazing mustards and chutneys and bread and cheese.  The perfect place to buy everything you need for a picnic lunch and then head out to find a perfect spot to eat it.

A little further up the road, we came across this:

This is the Culinary Institute of America's campus in Napa Valley. G-Man was asleep, so Diggity was nice enough to stay with him so I could go explore the campus store. To get to the store, I walked through huge castle vaults and cask rooms with gigantic casks of wine until I finally reached the store. My expectations were exceeded there as well.

To say it was the most amazing cooking and baking store I've ever been in would be understating it a bit. So many gadgets I'd heard of but never seen and so many things I had never heard of but looked so useful and fun! I had to walk fast so I didn't fall in love with anything I couldn't afford or carry home. I did stop to take the picture above because I was so impressed with how beautiful the store layout was and with how much they had to choose from. I want to go back. But I want to go and take a cooking class. And I want to eat at the restaurant there on the campus. (Michal & Allison - I think you should go with me. :) And anyone else who really likes food and cooking - you can come too.)

I'm including these two pictures from our trip because I think we look cute. Enjoy!