Work vacation

At home in Sarasota, Florida this evening after a whirlwind and exhausting eleven day work trip, or as my daughter calls them work vacation’s.

A Five night kick-off in Las Vegas is not to be recommended, although the time there was more dominated (other than work) by sports more-so than gambling. I actually didn’t even get to sit at a table to lose any money. One reason I wasn’t that bothered was due to mandatory mask wearing at all times within the casinos.

Plonking yourself at a black jack table to lose a few dollars is one of Vegas’ greatest thrills, but it was less appealing this time around.

We ate well though with Mr Chow’s flashy and highly-priced Chinese my favourite. The green prawns and crispy Beijing duck are to die for.

We happened to sit in the middle of the restaurant under Chow’s ‘Moon’ sculpture, a bright white circular installation that drops from the ceiling every 30 minutes and pivots into a myriad of configurations and turns the restaurant into an ultraviolet hue.

We whistle-stopped in Los Angeles and spent a couple of days in San Francisco, but a day in wine and sun-soaked Napa Valley is always the highlight of this work trip.

We were very fortunate to have Duckhorn Vineyards host us. They have a luscious portfolio of wines, predominantly reds. We began at the beautiful Migration Winery and then moved to Paraduxx, where we got to hear of the Duckhorn story, were treated really well and tasted some excellent wine.

Some of that wine will arrive here to our house in Sarasota tomorrow to extend the memories of the Napa day for a while longer.