Or so says Dr. Lodge, the associate clinical professor of medicine at Columbia University in New York City. The editor's letter was meant to encourage exercise and healthier eating, but what my pregnant brain heard was, we sit down to every meal with a fresh set of tasters. 

Who else is thrilled by this lip smacking bit of news?! 

While I'm not planning to run a 10k anytime soon, Self's editor did succeed in inspiring me to be a less apathetic eater. Whether it's a bowl of the season's first tomatoes (with a little sea salt to make 'em sweat), the perfect pear or a juicy summer hot dog, I vow to slow down and savor each first, second, third and last dripping bite. 

Footnote: Speaking of first dripping bites, starting today Chef Rick Robinson of Gott's Roadside cafe in St. Helena, Napa and San Francisco's Ferry Building will spend every Monday posting the latest items from his Garden Grown Menu on the Gott's Facebook and Twitter pages. Each week, Robinson will introduce two summer menu items that come straight from the restaurant's St. Helena garden. 

This week:

1. Fried Zucchini, picked fresh from the restaurant garden, lightly dredged in flour, fried to a golden brown and then served...all in the same day. Note: San Francisco Gott-goers will have to wait until Saturday to see the menu changes.

2. Pesto Home Fries, made from Royal Viking Purple Potatoes and seasoned with fresh basil pesto, also from the garden. Only available at Gott's two Napa Valley locations.

Don’t you hate it when you hear about a great party you weren’t invited to?

Last week, over 800 party-goers pushed through the Far Niente gates and onto the lawn to celebrate the winery’s 125^th anniversary. In addition to enjoying the samba dancing, the culinary treats from the Who’s Who of Napa Valley chefs (Thomas Keller and Michael Chiarello’s restaurants top the list) and performances by an incredible trio of talent – Chris Botti, Joshua Bell and 'O' by Cirque du Soleil – guests also indulged in some delicious-sounding Dolce dessert wine cocktails.

Seein' as how I am eating for two and drinking for none these days (omitting the occasional thimbleful of wine, like that ounce of Sangiovese I sipped last Tuesday in order to see if the Tuscan classic was really the perfect partner for my fiance’s simple, fresh penne with olives, tomatoes and red onions. It was.), I would like to beg one of you readers to please go home tonight and mix up a batch of Dazzling Dolces. And then tomorrow, barring any sugar-related hangovers, I would PLEASE, PLEASE like a full report on whether this cocktail is as refreshing as it sounds.

The floral sweetness of St. Germaine, the chiffon-y oomph of fizzy Prosecco, fresh fruit and honeyed Dolce, how could it not be fabulous? Show up to any party with a few pitchers of these, and I doubt you'll be turned away, even if you're not on the guest list.

Dazzling Dolce 

1 fl oz St. Germaine

2 fl oz Dolce

3 fl oz Prosecco

2 tbsp honeydew melon, diced

1 lychee fruit

¾ cup ice

Shake St. Germaine, Dolce and ice until very cold. 

Strain into a flute, then add Prosecco, honeydew and lychee.

**Photos and Recipes provided by Rachelle Newbold, Far Niente Communications Coordinator (and a fellow Napa wine and word lover whose own work can be found at Napavore). Rachelle also let me know that they will be posting ALL of the Dolce cocktails recipes from the anniversary fete on the Dolce Website in August.

EndNote: If you find a beautiful $85 bottle of dessert wine too luxurious to use as a “mixer,” Beringer makes a dessert blend of Semillion and Sauvignon Blanc called Nightingale for around $40. Although Dazzling Nightingale doesn’t have that lovely alliteration-y ring to it, does it? 

The local tomato and burrata sandwich with razor thin onion rings at Artisan, a restaurant Tommy Oldre of Tablas Creek Winery aptly calls Paso's culinary gem. Best enjoyed with a super crisp glass of Paso Robles Grenache Blanc.

While I have, in fact, been quite the wanderer lately, I have also been rooting myself here in Napa (I mean, seriously digging in my heels) and it is this puttin’ down roots process that has distracted me from detailing all of my recent, delicious adventures.  

What do I mean by rooting? Well...last weekend I moved into a beautiful old house with my fiancé, a wonderful man I have mentioned on this blog during the past two years, although typically as a food and wine geek like myself and not as my significant other. This transitions us to the obvious news that I am engaged! Our Southern Fried Wedding, as we have taken to calling it, is in just a month and a half. There will be Champagne; there will be braised collard greens; there will be fried chicken; there will be baked pies and cobblers for dessert; there will be Willie Nelson on the play list.

And there will be a baby girl come January. You can see how a gal might get sidetracked by such a succession of changes. These days, when I am not unpacking boxes, organizing the big day and trying to keep up with the demands of my day job (Mama needs a steady income!), I’m online trying not to cry at the overwhelming number of baby monitors there are to choose from. The few times I’ve opened up my laptop to write anything personal, my brain has fizzled, cracked and creatively “shorted out.”

Which is too bad, really, because I have been enjoying some amazing meals in some of the most unlikely places –There's a reason owner Craig Mitchell parked his sushi spot and warehouse less than a mile from the airport: The fish at Mitch's is flown fresh from Japan every single dayincluding a three table sushi joint attached to a warehouse in a seedy downtown Honolulu neighborhood just a mile from the airport. If you get a chance to experience Mitch's, you must order the spiny tail lobster, which the chef filets so quickly, its antennae still twitch when he plates it before you. I was two months pregnant when my fiancé ordered this house specialty. When I told him it was cruel and unusual torture to eat such delicious sushi in front of me, he generously said he'd share his miso soup, which came with every order of the lobster.

As if miso could ever sub in for the prettiest lobster tail flesh I have ever seen – it was delicate, with an iridescent cellophane coloring and texture that looked remarkably similar to grapefruit. Happily (for me), the rest of the lobster went into the miso, where it stewed for an hour. The evening passed in a decadent fashion for everyone, and although I wasn’t allowed to nip at even the smallest piece of raw fish, Mitch’s remains a highlight of our Hawaii visit.

There have been other meals, both abroad (does Hawaii count as "abroad"?) and at home, which I hope to tell you about soon. I must confess, however, that although it has wreaked havoc on my personal writing schedule, this season of rooting has been just as exhilarating, overwhelming, terrifying and soul delighting as many of my travels.  I hope you'll be patient with my scattered and inconsistent posts over the next months. I do plan to check in semi-regularly with my food and wine loving friends here at Aficionada. After all, I’m eating for two these days, which means I should have twice as many exciting restaurants and menu ideas to share!

The mystery for me is how the team at Morimoto de-bones the branzino but manages to maintain its fluid, fishlike form.Side Note: If you’re in the Napa area during the next few months, you may want to check out Morimoto, which just opened this week (I attended their soft opening last Monday and indulged in a rich, deep-fried, whole-but-boneless branzino that rivals the version they sometimes serve at San Francisco’s Slanted Door, which is my whole branzino gold standard). If you’re leaning toward  equally fresh but less expensive fare, C Casa, a sustainable taqueria at Napa’s Oxbow Market, offers some of the yummiest tacos and small plates in the area. I have become addicted to their spiced lamb tacos with goat cheese and tomatillo salsa, as well as their broccoli cabbage slaw and white beans with jalapenos and all spice. 

Seen last night while enjoying a bottle of J. Laurens Cremant de Limoux with two girlfriends at the Bounty Hunter Wine Bar. We were as stunned as the overalls-clad young man in the photo. What balance! Although he held tightly to the sign while our small, curiosity-filled friend gave him the once-over, he showed amazing grace when he rounded the corner onto First Street. I wonder how long he's been riding. 

Not exactly the norm for a pairing of the day, but men on super-sized unicycles, a great sunset and a bottle of supercheap and supertasty sparkling wine from the Languedoc take a Sunday afternoon from ordinary to extraordinary. If you can't swing by the Bounty Hunter to pick up a bottle, you can order it for $13 here. 

I immediatley began thinking about the great meals of my life, and how much I'd paid for an evening, an afternoon, a late morning of indulgence. The majority of my most memorable suppers, I realized, don't have a price tag attached to them. Sure, I'll never forget my nine courses at The French Laundry, but in terms of ranking, it still comes in behind a New Year's supper of heavily doctored frozen pizza and NV Canard Duchene, shared with my sweetheart and two dear friends. It also ranks far below the Saturday afternoon a friend of ours brought a dozen live lobsters, which his mother had air-mailed him from New England. We served them on buns with cole slaw, fried green tomatoes and vintage Salon, also a gift. 

And it can never compare to all those SEC football weekends that started with biscuits and andouille sausage gravy and ended with collard greens and something fried, pulled or both. 

I'm curious. What ranks high on the list of your most memorable meals? And, were they expensive or were they priceless?

PS...Isn't that glass relish fabulous?

PSS...I'm watching Anthony Bourdain eat glistening mounds of Petrossian caviar while I write this and am seriously wondering if eating my weight in caviar would be worth the dollar cost. At what price, fish eggs...

When the sun comes back and I can get outside, here are a few things I can't wait to do again this year:

Hike the hills around Lake Hennessey With plenty of breaks

Order a scoop of coconut in a waffle cone at Three Twins Ice Cream, and enjoy the company of my wonderfully curious young friends

Host a Book Club party, being sure to include spring artichokes &

LOTS of fresh garlic 

Snag a seat at the bar and the perfect pie at Flour + Water

Make time for an outdoor shower in a wooded retreat on a late, sunny morningSpend a Saturday sailing to Angel Island on the charming "Nadine," friends and picnic gear on board

If repetition is a sign of a creative lack, then I look forward to a very unimaginative spring. What repeat adventures are you looking forward to this April? 

Cheers to Do-Overs!

In the winter, nothing puts color in my cheeks, warms my middle and adds spring to my step like a few sips of sparkling wine. Champagne ranks at the top, although the more budget-friendly sparkling wines of Limoux and Alsace are getting better vintage after vintage. As winter makes way for spring, however, my mouth starts to water for wines that are white and fresh, cold on the tongue and juicy-bright in body. And lately, I’ve been thinking of the whites of Veneto. No, not Prosecco. I’m thinking of the steep hills outside Verona, and more specifically, the highest estate in the Veneto, Dama del Rovere.

The Pra family makes some of the most underappreciated native white wines in Italy. Their D.O.C. and D.O.C.G. Soaves, made from 100% Garganega grapes (rather than blended with the often over-cultivated Trebbiano, which risks tasting fat and flat) planted in the highest hills of Tremenalto, have real mineral depth and gorgeous acidity.

When I can't track down great Soave, another different, spring favorite is Forlorn Hope’s “Que Saudade,” a young Verdelho with bright acidity to balance its fruit flavors.

And for you? What do you crave come spring?

But what about those occasions when there is no meat? Last night, I was happily stunned by one of the most harmonious food and wine pairings I've ever experienced: a beet and haricots verts salad with a young Kermit Lynch Cotes du Rhone. The salad was dressed in a Banyuls vinaigrette and some endive was tossed in a with a bit of watercress.

The juicy but earthy young Rhone red blended so smoothly with the salad that it seemed like an extended ingredient. I'm always delighted when wines and food dance so perfectly together. 

And where did I have this meal? At the Angele bar, in Napa. One of my favorite downtown bistros, it certainly didn't disappoint tonight. 

Cheers! 

Last night, I think I attended the best pre-party in the valley: Cliff Lede's Open that Bottle Party. What distinguished this from the other events was that everyone was invited to bring a wine from his or her cellar, something treasured ,OR, something that's been sitting neglected in a corner and was never going to be opened otherwise. Honestly, the rules were, there were no rules; you could bring whatever you wanted. 

And people did. Two German Rieslings from the Mosel showed up, a 1989 and a 1990. Both Auslese with no petrol but gorgeous honey flavors as well as still-bright acidity on the 1990. There was an Aussie Shiraz from Victoria, a 1997 I believe, that blew my socks off with how beautifully alive it was (there's that acidity again). Kris Marjoram, the sommelier at Auberge du Soleil, brought a 1985 Stags' Leap and a 1998 Williams Selyem Chardonnay. The latter was, along with the Rieslings, a favorite of the night, with a color that suggested oxidation but with beautiful, rich flavors and brightness in the mouth.

In addition to the great wines, some of San Francisco's best sommeliers came and acted as servers (Christie Dufault from RN74 and Eugenio Jardim from Jardiniere) at the party. Tacos Michoacan pulled their truck upand took orders outside at one side of the winery and Rosso Pizzeria, one of my favorite Santa Rosa pizza places, set up their kitchen on the other. Carnitas tacos and hot Salsiccia pizza may sound like an unusual combination, but it worked. 

In the midst of all this, Cliff Lede and his right hand man, Jack Bittner, happily poured their own wines, including a very pretty, balanced 2006 Poetry. I thought Cliff Lede showed amazing confidence in hosting an event like this; he simply let his own wines subtly shine among dozens of star caliber bottles. Nothing was shoved in your face. Nobody made a speech. Instead, Ciff and Jack were there to answer questions and to serve, if you needed them. The rest of the time, they took pleasure in being surrounded by great wines - others' and their own.

To walk into a party and have the house Sauv Blanc on one side and a 95 Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou (which most people thought was too brett-y but I thought was lovely)...again, it speaks volumes about the Cliff Lede crew. I think this was my favorite Premiere event to date, and a great reminder that it's more fun to open those rare, odd or special bottles among friends.

Over the last week, I‘ve discovered Doug Pike has many facets, and that we only touched upon a few during our brief email interlude. A former drug/liquor store owner from New Jersey, Doug Pike learned the wine business the old school way: He listened. He engaged in countless conversations with his dad; he bent the ear of the salesmen he worked with. He attended auctions, questioned his customers and visited wineries.

Doug got into cartooning professionally about 16 years ago, although he says that as far back as grammar school he was “an incessant doodler, filling my notebook pages with all kinds of drawings.” He originally specialized in business cartoons, of which he’s done about 1,000, but occasionally the subject of wine would work its way into his pieces. He began to set those cartoons aside, thinking it might be a unique niche to develop. When he’d gathered about a dozen, he started to send queries to wine-related websites.

“Robert Parker was one of the first to give me a shot,” Doug says. 

Five years and 365 cartoons later, Doug has become a recognized fixture at Parker’s online version of The Wine Advocate. He’s published a collection of about 100 cartoons called Gone With the Wine, and he’s branched out into the wine labeling world with Richard Smith of Stoney Creek Wine Press, whose often tongue-in-cheek wine labels have even been featured on the TODAY Show.

Doug believes cartoons can be an effective educational platform for wine, a subject that’s often perceived as stuffy or overwhelming. Or both. In fact, several wine schools have purchased his works. “The cartoons often depict, in an exaggerated way, the problems that people initially have getting their arms around the subject of wine,” he explains. “And, they can effectively be used as conversation initiators in a classroom setting."

A man who approaches wine with humor, humility and curiosity – like I said, we’ve only touched on a few of the many facets of Doug Pike. I look forward to discovering more, if only through his art, over the next few years.