palo alto, ca

4 days in california, and i'm finally feeling like summer is here. on saturday, we drove up into napa valley on a still bright day to stare at young grapes beginning to get sugary on the vines. lunch was at bouchon, and consisted mostly of cholesterol -- pate, escargot in delicious puddles of garlic butter, and a quite-tasty boudin noir + stewed apples. the nicest thing, i think, about slow european lunches is that by the time they end, dinner is not far away.



re: wines, i still like cabs the best of all, which i think makes me young and unsophisticated. what are academics supposed to drink, anyway? i guess being able to appreciate single malts helps. we got a bottle of a delightfully complex cask-strength aberlour (a'bunadh, batch #26) on monday from beltramo's, and sat around and sipped it and felt like we were tenured. btw, i feel like starting a savings jar so i can put money towards buying beltramo's when i'm 35. they have more whiskey in that one store than in the whole of philadelphia.