Amazing Napa & The CIA.

The Bay Area is close to the sea, mountains, desert and... of course wine country, or more specifically Napa and St. Helena.  I've been to Italy many times, visiting family there.  And when the light is just so and the smells are just right, I feel like I'm in Italy when I'm looking at grape fields in Napa. 

We live about 45 minutes away from there, and  yet it's been years and years since I have visited.  For many it's one of those places we rarely visit, because we can.  It's there and yet it so far away.  If I had my choices I'd spend a weekend in St. Helena at least once a year.

Then one Friday, a few weeks ago, by strange chance and circumstances, I was able to attend a business lunch at a winery in Napa and have a few hours by myself in the afternoon.

Our lunch and wine tasting table.  

I almost drove home after my lunch, but decided to be spontaneous and continue driving to St. Helena, which is a small town, right next door to Napa and has many of the famous wineries.

I really wanted to visit my favorite place in St. Helena, Greystone winery and the Culinary Institute of America, the CIA.

As my college graduation gift, my parents gave me an unforgettable week at the CIA for a cooking class.  This was 1996, and the school was brand new - the famous original CIA is in New York.  I stayed at a local inn, and for five days cooked all day, ate amazing meals we made, and hung out with my new cooking class friends in the evening.  I think it was one of the best weeks in my life.  I was in absolute heaven the whole time.

Our Chef instructor, was a typical French Chef as you would imagine.  A largish older man, strict yet nice, had a traditional French culinary background, spoke in a thick french accent and knew everything there is to know about cooking.

St. Helena is a dreamy little town.

It's downtown is a few blocks of cute little stores and then the street, lined with big leafy trees, leads you to many of the famous wineries.  It's beautiful country there with foggy mornings and warm days and fields and fields of grapes.

Miles of wineries.

The Greystone winery is an old castle like building, all stone, with dark gloomy insides. The CIA teaching kitchen is on the very top floor, a huge open cooking area with round windows overlooking the vineyards across the street.  When I was there in the cooking class, I remember looking out and thinking it felt just like being in Italy.  It's so beautiful there.

The front entrance.

Their marble sign on the floor.

My memories of that week and that place is one of those memories that is forever lodged in my mind as a time when I was so happy, content and I felt like I belonged right there.  It's a great place to go back to, in my mind.

The Greystone restaurant terrace.  An amazingly beautiful setting.

I walked around a bit, looked around their huge retail store, bought a selection of expensive hand-made-by-cooking-students chocolates, checked out their restaurant, took lots of pictures and then had to head home.

Ultra modern, ultra special hand-made chocolates.  

My box.  Salted caramel and lavender flavored were my favorites.

It was an amazing day at one of my favorite places.  One day I'm going to do another week of cooking classes at Greystone.