the oakville grocery co, 7856 st. helena highway, oakville, ca

love at first sight.

{it's not just a song by kylie minogue}

some would argue that love at first sight is horsepuckey fairytalery. it's not possible. it's silly and nonsensical. well it is silly and nonsensical but you can't help it when it happens.

[if you must know, i think it's happened to me many times: matt damon in mystic pizza, dude from columbus, mr. strong, geez could i go on? i should really get a handle on this boycraziness.]

believe it when i say it's possible. i've somewhat successfully achieved it. at times. but i've preserved a love at first sight love for only one thing. and it's a place. here i go again sappy-sentimental me.

people wanna know why i'm a chef. well here's the real story. what sparked what i do today. i'm not makin this up. you never know what might inspire you.

as i was experiencing career-boredom in an irksome and dead-end corporate marketing job, my girlfriends and i took a trip to the napa valley. giggling, hungry, buzzed between wineries [and driving a rust-colored and heinous pontiac aztec i recall, that we were inebriatingly referring to as "the ass tec", which we thought quite funny] we happened upon the oakville grocery co., where we found the motherload of all things snacky to indulge in as we went about our winery tours. a happenin' place, the oakville grocery. it's packed with people. it's completely and utterly overwhelming with stuff you need and then there's a whole bunch more stuff you don't. but you know someone who might.

in a merryhappy wine-induced state [kind of like beer goggles i guess], little did i know i'd started obsessing about this place. long after i came back to dc, i was still harboring romantic feelings for the oakville grocery co.

the oakville grocery might be the best market ever. the idea is you stop in to grab some bread, snacks, gifts, whatever, between wineries. they have everything from wine to charcuterie to fresh salads and sandwiches. all to go.



then they have an inundating array of jams, tapenades, oils, vinegars, baking ingredients, chips, salsas, sauces, i could go on and have.



officially in love with the oakville grocery, i resolved to bring a similar concept to the dc area.



but once i started investigating what i thought i needed to do to get this endeavor going, i got sidetracked. you see, i am an all-or-nothing chick. overwhelmed by the fact i didn't know enough about food to open a market, i got paralyzed and gave up. that is, until my job pissed me off to the point of no return.



next thing you know i'm in culinary school. in order to graduate, i have to do an externship at a restaurant for 6 months. two years later i leave what was going to be a 6-month stint. and, i'm teaching at the culinary school. and then i cook at another restaurant for a year. all the while catering on the side to make ends meet. [never did miss a mortgage payment but there were some scary close calls].



blah, blah, blah. a major detour off highway 29 north. enough of that boring stuff.



i revisited the other afternoon before heading back to san francisco. it's exactly the same as i remember it. and i'm still head-over-heels.