With my last few clinic charts closed, I rushed home with Melody to pack, change, and prepare for our dinner reservations at the Restaurant at Meadowood. It was Melody’s birthday weekend, and what better way to celebrate than at a 3 Michelin starred restaurant. We drove through scenic Napa Valley and St. Helena to arrive at the restaurant, tucked inside a luxury resort. After gifting a new pendant from our friends in the diamond business over non-alcoholic cocktails, we started our 10-course odyssey. Our menu began with a crisped kale chip that reminded us of papadum, tiny pickled garden veggies, and a borage oyster leaf mignonette served in a ceramic oyster shell. This was followed by a salad of miner’s lettuce, caviar, asparagus, and smoked butter; a mackerel verjus escabeche with celery; a mesmerizing grilled abalone with beans and wild onion appetizer; and an incredibly round kohlrabi cooked in its own juice with rye porridge and mustard seeds. The fish was a trout with a realistic buckwheat skin and fermented turnip, which was followed by a “duck tea” with chrysanthemum dill. The recent California ban lift allowed us to indulge in the coal-seared foie gras with raw rhubarb, which led to grilled duck with “duck fudge,” yam, and sorrels. The cheese course was a goat cheese with apple porridge bread. After cleansing our palate with a sheeps milk yogurt with hibiscus rose and wild plum, we enjoyed a chocolate burnt milk walnut spicebush dessert and a frosty chocolate chestnut. The birthday girl got a tiny chocolate cake on the house, presented in a wooden box that splayed open when the lid was lifted. By the time we returned to the Candlelight Inn, it was past midnight and too late to enjoy our pricey hot tub room. We awoke to a nice breakfast and took our time planning the day – until we realized we had only booked a single night, not two. We hastily packed up and headed into town to sample olive oils, browse art galleries, comb antique shops, and bypass the multitude of wineries. For lunch, we pre-ordered fried chicken and ribs at Thomas Keller’s Addendum, which let us skip the line and enjoy extra time dining in the lush vegetable and herb garden. After recovering from our postprandial coma in the car, we strolled through Yountville – skipping the lines at Bouchon Bakery, surveying the French Laundry‘s culinary garden, chicken coop, and bee hive, and looking at the art in V Marketplace. We spent the evening at Ox Bow Public Market, dining on oysters and seafood stew at Hog Island Oyster Bar, strawberry and cardamom ice cream from Three Twins, and cream puffs from Ca’ Momi. Despite the short trip, we are left with fond, foodie feelings for this one-of-a-kind birthday celebration.