Napa Food and Vine (NFV for short here on SF) invited me out their part of the world for a mini working vacation, spontaneous vacations are the best kind and who was I to say no?

First up let me just correct all of you who are as misguided as I am.  You know those beautiful mountains between Phoenix aka the desert, that white stuff on their peaks is not sand. Ok it was mine, and mine alone, blonde moment and I totally own it.  It is in fact snow.  I am just an ignorant South African who still is in wonderment that snow is in the desert. Seriously. Snow in desert. Not sand.

Moving on…

There is nothing like seeing a friend that is beyond close to your heart after a long 7 years.  Even better being greeted by said friend with your favorite coffee aka Cascara Latte!

Coffee in hand she whisked us off to an incredible restaurant that quite literally is on the bay called Skate on the Bay.  Right from the start I got a taste of what was to come, some serious food and serious wine.  NFV knows the ins and outs of where it’s good/safe to eat and fine delicious wines.  I was in for a treat of note!

After we had our fill I just had to stand outside for a moment and soak up the sun that doesn’t make you want a cold shower, feel the cool breeze in my hair and the stillness overtake my soul once more.  Life is so fast paced these days it’s rare that I can take these soul nourishing quiet moments of peace and calm. I treasure them more than ever.

Sushi, dessert, wine, wind in my hair I thought that the day was set and we’d just go back to their place and chill out.

Well so I thought anyway.  NFV had other plans for this dehydrated African Soul that had been living in Florida where the sun never cools off.

We did have a “mini” rest and then headed out to the Sunflower Fields near Fairfield.  Anyone that knows me knows sunflowers are my “happy place”.  They’re so bright and cheerful they make my soul sing and being around so many at one time I thought my face would crack from smiling so much!

All I wanted to do was to walk through the fields and laugh out loud in sheer happiness (too much?), I really did.  I was as well behaved as I could be though and didn’t… the trespass warning was pretty big.

As a side note though if you ever venture West and you’re from the Southern crazy hot states like I currently am.  Bring warmer clothes.  I’m not joking.

I live in a place where if you run out of electricity and feel like eggs all you have to do is leave the pan outside in the sun and within 10 minutes your eggs are fried sunny side up to perfection.  Coming to San Fransisco from that kind of crazy was heaven for not only my soul but my physical self.  Take it from an African living in Florida. It’s awesomely cold!

Photos from the first day