Another Long and Winding Road to Memory, and a Unique Meal

This was a slow morning, doing laundry, errands, reading, jazzercizing, etc. Later on, we were going to meet Gloria and Mike, our Ann Arbor neighbor's sister and brother-in-law, in Yountville at Thomas Keller's unique restaurant, "Ad Hoc."

Dan wanted to try to find an old friend's place in Napa beforehand, so we left early to do that. This was where his friend from his Flint days, Mark had lived. Mark was a legend, a little man full of life and love and energy. Wherever he went, a party and fun followed. Mark moved out here in the late 70's, lived in a cottage in the hills above Napa. He died 21 years ago, while driving home in the steep, treacherous curves up the road to his house. I, Pat, met him once, but he is legendary.

Dan had been to his house, and thought he could remember where it was, but of course, that was about 30 years ago, and Napa has changed quite a bit. I finally texted Ruth, and she answered, good girl that she is! (she also is in love with her I-Phone and I think they are never parted) Anyway, we found the right road, went up it a ways, but didn't have time to explore more, and it was pretty far out.

We then met our friends for dinner at Ad Hoc.

I had eaten there, with them, last year, and really enjoyed it, and Dan did this year. There is a set menu, and that is what you eat. It's a Thomas Keller restaurant, so everything of course was excellent. They serve you the food in the cooking containers family style. The meal was Prime Rib, Clam Chowder, a Cheese course, and Pecan bars for desert. www.adhocrestaurant.com