Sampling

It has become something of an autumn tradition for My Beloved and I to go with our cousins J-Yah and Sher to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena each year. We drive up together, picking up the cousins on the way and using the travel time to admire the mellow countryside and to catch up with their doings. They are an active pair so we are mostly there before we've managed to point out all the colors to one another and learn what's new in each other's lives.

We usually begin our meal with Temptations - no, not the '60s singing group - a tiered lazy susan with five or six little bites to sample while perusing the menu and choosing a flight of wines to taste with lunch. The temptations are different each time, seasonal and inventive and varied. There's usually a thimbleful of soup to taste - this time it was celery root soup. We also enjoyed mission fig halves topped with cheese and a little Serrano ham, smoked salmon gmisch on a crisp lavosh cracker, a dab of duck confit cooked with a little Mexican heat and served on a diminutive round crisp corn tortilla, and a bite of pate' topped with soft cheese and a tiny, incredibly tart pickle.

Sampling all these flavors and enjoying the lively ambiance of the Wine Spectator Greystone restaurant really gets us in the mood for lunch. Stay tuned.