Cooking with Julie: Part 1

This year, for my mom’s birthday, my sisters and I bought her a very special cooking class in Napa. Cooking with Julie is an experience that cannot be matched. This was actually my second time participating in her class and I was so happy to be back. What makes this day so special is that you start your day at the Farmer’s Market buying the vegetables, fruits, cheese, and other ingredients we would be using during the class. Chef Julie really believes that good food starts in the picking of ingredients. Makes sense too, right? If you have beautiful flavorful ingredients, you can cook them simply and their flavors shine through.

This particular Farmer’s Market was one of the best I have ever seen. The colors were dynamic but what makes this market is the people. They were so knowledgeable and friendly!

I loved talking to the people in each booth. Their passion for what they are growing and selling is contagious. Besides how good food taste, I think that my absolute favorite part of food is the community.Throughout the entire day when our small group was cooking, I could not help but pause and think about where this food came from and the hard work it took to create such beautiful products. I was grateful.

After buying our ingredients, we headed to Back Room Wines in Downtown Napa to taste the wines that Julie’s friend, Dan, had selected to pair with our food. Dan was so friendly and you could tell he enjoyed talking about wine and pairing wine with food. Everything was delicious and I ended up purchasing the 2009 Copain Rose (perfect for a hot Summer day) and the 2007 Salvestrini Rettagio.