Let the Sun Shine!

What do you get when you have hundreds of wonderful and uplifting works of art, all under one roof, in one of the most beautiful places in the world? (Is this what they call "leading the witness?) Our gallery continues to impress and even astound the many who happen upon us. Recently, a young man in his early twenties was overheard to say, "I did not know that beautiful art like this was still being created." Indeed it is young man. Tell your friends!

The sun has come out in Napa and the last few days have been glorious. This is supposed to be rainy season and yet we have not seen any precipitation for over a week. Mind you, I'm not complaining. Quent and I even managed to get in a round of golf with a friend yesterday (thank you Sarah for the gift certificate) and to my delight I had a great round. I even edged out Quent by a couple of strokes.

We dismantled our popular Christmas window last week (see Dec. 17 post) and I replaced it with a romantic Valentine's Day themed display. I think that I am really starting to get the hang of this window dressing thing. Fifty feet of window space is a lot of space to fill. Fortunately we have a lot to choose from. I still have a few touches to add this week but all in all I am quite pleased with myself. :)

Despite the lovely weather, winter is proving to be relatively slow in Napa; Ok, really slow! It has been very challenging trying to calculate what our walk-in traffic will be like from one week to the next. I think that next winter will be much different since the new hotel will be opening this summer and with any luck the economy will have improved by that time. I guess that means that two weeks in Puerta Vallarta next January is out of the question. In all seriousness though, we are thrilled to be in Napa and there is rarely a day that goes by that we don't enjoy someone new discovering our sunlit world. In addition to our posted ours, we gladly make the gallery available by private appointment. Imagine this, you've just enjoyed one of the most amazing dinners that you've ever had at one of Napa's finest resaurants and now you have 3600 square feet of uplifting and inspirational art all to yourself. Now that's living!

And speaking of food, today's culinary offering from Linda's busy kitchen comes courtesy of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. The next time you want to enjoy a shrimp cocktail, don't steam or boil your little shellfish buddies. Roast them in the oven for 8-10 minutes with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Delicious! The shrimp don't lose any of their flavor to the water. Instead, they retain all of the yummy flavor and the texture is so much better. Let me know if you enjoy them this way too.