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Search Results for: natasha

Sweet dreams are made of this

By Rachelle
June 7, 2010

Ah, the weekend. “Perfect” is not too strong a word–especially on Sunday, when the old crew got together again for a girls’ day out. We started off with a Pilates class–the effects of which I am feeling keenly today. (It hurts to laugh. How sad is that?) We changed into stepping out clothes and piled [...]

Sunday in the city

By Rachelle
April 28, 2010

Sunday was spectacular, weather-wise. Can you even remember back that far? I can. All that sun and warmth is hard to forget. Robin and I took off for San Francisco to visit Natasha–recently escaped from the Napa Valley. We came bearing humble gifts: Robin, a bag brimming with the reddest strawberries (from the roadside stand [...]

Food coma

By Rachelle
March 26, 2010

It’s been quite the week, food-wise. Getting a gym membership at Synergy is an urgent solution. Here’s the rundown: Saturday night: Natasha, Robin and I invaded Annalien to celebrate Natasha’s impending move back to the city and new employment. (Though, to be honest, we don’t so much approve of the move part!) We started off with [...]

This valley life

By Rachelle
March 13, 2010

In case you missed Dan Dawson’s and Holly Krassner’s column in the Napa Valley Register yesterday, I recommend you click on over. I am sure most of us in the Napa Valley can relate to this: the phenomenon of living in a place brimming with wineries, yet no time to visit them all. For example, [...]

Without a care

By Rachelle
March 6, 2010

If I could turn back time, if I could find a way, I would re-live last Sunday–it was that perfect. Natasha and I had decided to play tourist and were off to Far Niente for a tour and taste. Have you been? As you head north on Hwy 29, about a quarter mile (or less) [...]

If you can’t stand the smoke …

By Rachelle
February 15, 2010

… get out of the cigar shop! Well, technically Baker Street Downtown isn’t just a purveyor of cigars, but when we walked in Thursday night for the Silver Oak/Twomey and La Toque pairing, the predominant “note” was essence of cigar. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, but we three innocents (Natasha, Robin and I) were [...]

Bottega in the rain

By Rachelle
February 5, 2010

I’m here to tell you that Bottega—you know Michael Chiarello’s little spot in Yountville—is great in any weather. I’ve perched on the patio on balmy summer nights and now I’ve cozied up to a great meal at a bistro table in the bar while rain poured (poured!) outside. Both are exquisite. Robin, Natasha and I [...]

Thursday night at Annalien

By Rachelle
January 29, 2010

I couldn’t even think of eating breakfast this morning, so full was I from last night’s dinner at Annalien*. Testament to the deliciousness at Annalien or evidence of my own gluttony? You decide. (I dare you to sit down at the table and delicately nibble, turning away opportunities for a taste of this or that. [...]

Recent Napa Valley adventures

By Rachelle
December 6, 2009

While the holiday and general life responsibilities have kept me away from the computer, I have definitely not been sitting idle. Here’s a recap of the latest and greatest, complete with photographic evidence: A couple of weeks ago, Natasha and I caught the afternoon showing of “Looking” (by Norm Foster) at the Napa Valley Opera [...]

Friday night at Bounty Hunter

By Rachelle
October 25, 2009

Friday, post-workday, a group of us descended upon Bounty Hunter. Or, rather, it would have been a group if two of us hadn’t bowed out because of feeling under the weather. In the end, three of us perched around a cocktail table and had a time of it. We got things going by taking advantage [...]

Small-scale Napa Valley Harvest

By Rachelle
October 21, 2009

Saturday I took part in something quintessentially Napa Valley: harvest. This is a small family (though not my family) vineyard. H had grown up there and remembered harvest as a child and how it took ages to pick the grapes. As she got older, she would feign illness and when she was a teen, she [...]

Sushi and Twomey

By Rachelle
October 1, 2009

Natasha* and I stopped by Go Fish this week for sushi. I confess: somehow until this point, I had eaten sushi in a restaurant only once before. I hunched in my chair at the sushi bar and felt bashful and 100% the philistine. Fortunately, Natasha, a worldly and knowledgeable woman who hails from San Francisco, [...]