Heather McNeil – amusements for your mouth

Have you ever woken up in such a state of ecstacy you're unsure if you are awake?

Am I dreaming?

Do I really get to begin my day this way?

This is what it's like to wake up in Napa!

The sun glistening off the vines, hot air balloons floating up into the morning sky and some hot guy adoring you!...[still dreaming]

Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

But, this was how the "day of fun" began.

So...Keenan Chardonnay for breakfast, courtesy of my favorite wine guy, Billy G.

It's Napa!

First tasting, 10 AM.

Yum, yum, is all I have to say.  As you might know, chardonnay in the traditional California sense, is probably, my least favorite varietal. But the effort from Keenan is, chablis in style and phenomenal in flavor with none of that over-oaked business I can't stand. They don't make bad wine, so I shouldn't have been so surprised.  But it's really a "must-try" if you are anti, buttery, oak-y chardonnays. We also had the '07 Zin, the '07 Merlot and the '05 Cab. 

Can you say,"Good morning to me?"

This is one issue starting the day this way.  Thank God, I know what I'm drinking for dinner!

Woops, I should say,"at "dinner!

Speaking of dinner.... I'm going to get right to this.

Bottega Ristorante in Yountville might be my absolute favorite place to "amuse" my mouth!

Let's start with this...

Polenta, unlike any kind of polenta I have ever tasted...

or... read about,

or... heard about,

or...dreamt about!

Seriously, it's nirvana, like some sort of magic love potion, casting a spell on me! I'm going to learn how to make this! Yea, I will have to get "Mr. Hot Guy" aka "Michael Chiarello" to teach me, but [in my own mind] I'm charming...

So,[if anybody can put in a good word for me] I promise to share techniques but not divulge any secrets! I'm good that way!

Along side the polenta in this first-course extravaganza, is Burrata; a creamy mozzerella cheese worthy of some serious moaning. 

Holy God, I am in awe of this food!

We also had Pecorino pudding with a "crispy" soft boiled egg. The egg seemed to be dipped in Panko and then fried.  Of course, this so wouldn't work if I tried it! Again, some secret technique, but undoubtably, the best egg I have ever eaten...anywhere...

in the world...

in my life!

Do you see what's happening here?

Still on the first course!

Grilled octopus that tasted like some charred, smoky, grilled over the camp-fire,"could actually make me WANT to camp if they served food like this", sort of perfection!

House-cured salumi....I'm dying...

Next course...pasta!

See, there needs to be different words!  A superfluous vocabulary? Another language perhaps? [A different writer maybe?]

The point is this:

Pillows of gnocchi, marshmallow gnocchi, the lightest, fluffiest, ricotta gnocchi ever to pass my lips.

There just aren't words for this...

Needless to say, by the time my main course arrived, I felt... done! Like I had just had the best sex of my life and one second later I'm being asked if I wanted to do it all over again.[The answer is... definitely!]

But...

I needed to breathe...to really sit with what I had just experienced.

Every mouthful was better than the last...

every morsel more spectaular than my mind could even imagine.

You're never going to believe this, but I cannot even go into the wine in this blog.

It's that good!

A hint...

"Come Fly Me With Me"

Stay tuned....