It is not all doom and gloom, it is just not. Yes, times are tricky and that relaxing feeling of “everything going my way” isn’t hanging around like it used to. Most of us, okay probably ALL of us will have to work harder. But, I know the sun will still shine, I WILL strap on a snowboard sometime soon (just maybe not as often as past years), I will eat great meals, I will drink good wine, and I will have fun with my friends and family. I am actually looking forward to 2009, and I know I am not the only one.

Put away the bunny slippers, get out of your comfort clothes, and resist the urge to look at New Year’s Eve as just another night. What happened to Carpe Diem?

You will never have another New Year's Eve 2008 to celebrate. You need to make this one count. By now, you know that I want you to come to the great party at the Napa Valley Wine Train, but it really doesn’t matter what you do -- as long as you do something.

Our Reservations Supervisor, Pat, grabbed me by the hand this morning and asked me how my ride on the Wine Train was this past Saturday. I loved it and had been totally looking forward to the lunch with my online strategy team. She beamed and said that even though she had been on the train at least 24 times, she still looked forward to going again and again.

November finds me pining for comfort food, the hearty fare that comes with the cooler temperatures of fall. With these seasonal changes comes a shift in the variety of produce available to us. Gone are the days of delicate summer squash and vine ripe heirloom tomatoes. Now is the time to think of stews, soups, or cassoulet. And what better to accompany these filling dishes than a crusty loaf of bread?

As the chill creeps into the air, and the leaves turn their beautiful fall colors here in the Napa Valley, my thoughts turn to one of my favorite food, wine, and family occasions of the year; Thanksgiving. At our home we gather friends and family from far and near; to cook, eat, laugh, and reflect on all that we are fortunate for.

Over the past almost 20 years, the Napa Valley Wine Train’s path has been a bit predictable. After all, we have a set of tracks that were laid down more than a century ago, and our multi-ton leviathan pretty much needs to stick to them.

But with the participation of a couple of local businesses, the Wine Train recently, well, jumped the tracks. We now offer a wonderful tour of two mid valley wineries thanks to the use of an executive shuttle provided by Beau Wine Tours.

Food safety in the kitchen: what does that mean? Food borne illness occurs when foods are not handled properly or the environment that food was cooked in was not properly sanitized. Some types of foods are more likely than others to grow germs that can make us sick. Foods that contain proteins and that are moist have the most potential for being hazardous. Germs grow easily at room temperature in these foods.

When you think of attending a service club meeting, you usually don’t expect to get a great meal to enjoy with your membership duties. Sometimes, finding a place that will serve the size and the frequency of the group is a big enough challenge. Not so, for one lucky group in Napa.

For businesses who are interested in going “green,” or even going “blue” (air quality), there are plenty of places to focus improvement. One of the most impressive things to me about the Napa Valley Wine Train is how subtlety pervasive its environmental programs are.

It is sometimes hard to think of an operation that prides itself on being historic or vintage, as innovative, but that is exactly what the Napa Valley Wine Train achieved in 2001 when it became the first locomotive in the nation to convert to compressed natural gas (CNG).