Wow, this was amazing! I felt like I walked into a jewlery store, but really fancy one. While I was walking down the street in the beautiful town of St. Helena, I came across this lovely chocolate store. I was very impressed with the interior design and the broad assortiment of beautifully made chocolates. Classy, typicall for Napa Valley. You need to have quite a bit of money to shop there, that's for sure.
Enjoy it for free! :)

Here are some shots from the originat Ghirardelli store at the Ghirardelli square in San Francisco. They have been out there for more then 150 years, right next to Hershey's. My favorite American chocolate and in general, is Scharffen Berger, which is little over 10 years old. If you ever get a chance, try them!
And look at this variety at Ghiradelli's, amazing huh? You just can't get away from chocolate, no matter where you turn around!



They even released a cookbook (of course)! I wouldn't mind that chocolate lava cake though...

I definitely have lots of updates for you, it took me a while to organize everything..So let me show you some of my highlights of fooding in California!
And let me tell you, I could easily live in San Franncisco Bay area, it is absolutely wonderful. I found the San Franicisco very European and I loved the fact that it's so clean. I was eating out almost every day and today I'll show you a little bit from Alice Water's restaurant Chez Panisse and Tartine bakery.

The Chez Panisse restaurant was fabulous! If you are in the area, make sure you go. I went for lunch at the cafe not the restaurant and it was a lot cheaper, but the food was excellent. Meu changes daily and they have their own garden. I support Alice Water 100% and I am glad that there is still someone who invests into local, seasonal, and organic food produce.
p.s - The kitchen totally reminded me at the one in Ratatouille movie! Stunning!







And this is the Tartine bakery which has opened in 2002 by a couple that graduated from the Culinary Institute and now they run this amazing bakery. Their baked goods are very presentable, rustic, and veeeery tasty! I would definitely have something like that in the future.
They also have a cookbook which is featuring all of the items from the bakery.

To my surprise, local farms at Half Moon Bay, which is around 40 minutes west from San Francisco already have fields full of pumpkins! Already?!
I guess business is business no matter what ;)
It really is a beautiful sight and I am so exiced for my first Halloween in the States!

Believe it or not, I am a CIA Alumna! I am officially a pastry Chef and it feels great! :)
I would like to THANK you all for incredible support throughout these 2 years. The whole graduation ceremony was magical, I enjoyed every bit of it.
You think it is all over now?! Noooo way!
Right now I am finally enjoying myself in San Francisco Bay area with my parents and the next stop is Washington State where I'll be with my best buddy Stacey!
In about 2 weeks I am starting my 3rd year/Bachelors degree, so I have 2 more years of CIA adventures ahead of me!

The pictures that I attached are from CIA Greystone campus in Napa Valley, which is absolutely gorgeous. It is hard to put into words how beautiful it is out there. And Napa Valley itself? Oh my, that is a must! Heaven on earth, and make sure you eat at the Greystone restaurant ;)
If anyone's in San Francisco Bay area, let me know!

I will try to keep you updated as much as I can!


CIA Greystone

Grgich Hill vineyard