My first taste came about four days into my internship. Knowing what I do now, I was surprised it even took that long.
We were sitting around the table eating “lunch” on our first break, 9:30 in the morning. I had just a snack because I was normal and ate breakfast before work. The gardeners and my crew on the other hand, each brought a full tupperware and ate family style, usually meals their wives had so lovingly made them the night before. Corn tortillas by the dozens were warming on a comal on the stove (another word and item I learned about upon my arrival). While their food varied day to day, one bowl stayed constant. The chile bowl. Loved and/or feared by all (depending on who you ask), every person at Frog’s Leap had a story about their first time.
My fourth day, Cesar so kindly wrote mine.
I’m eating my yogurt, watching Don Cheto make a fool of himself on the tv, and Cesar passes me the bowl with a sinister grin on his face that read more like a threat. It was a challenge and, as the new guy, there was no way I was saying no.
It was in that moment, tears in my eyes hunched next to the ice machine, that I set my next goal: at least one a day.
Anda-Reese Brown
Wine Consultant
Anda is an East Coast native turned California convert, drawn west by the pull of food, wine, and the way a good meal can tell a story. Raised in a family where milestones were marked with bites and toasts around the kitchen table, she learned early that food is more than sustenance—it’s a language of love, memory, and connection.
Long before she traded criminology for cabernet, Anda was in the heart of the action—passing hors d’oeuvres at weddings, helping out with her family’s catering business, and writing stories in the margins of menus. Her curiosity took her to Sweden, her ambition to Napa, and eventually, her instincts led her to stay in California, where she now works in hospitality marketing and storytelling.
But no matter where she goes, she returns to the same truth: food is how we care for each other. Her writing, which explores memory, belonging, and the emotional undercurrents of shared meals, is an extension of that belief.
Here on the lake, surrounded by family and a deep sense of place, Anda is thrilled to guest write for her parents’ wine and cheese shop. For her, it’s not just a return home—it’s a continuation of everything she’s ever loved about feeding people and telling their stories.