Phoebe is a New Your based writer, cookbook author, private chef, culinary instructor, and blogger. She is a regular contributor to Food & Wine, Food52, Serious Eats, and Shape Magazine. Her recipes, writing, and cookbook have been featured in Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, O! Magazine, and Glamour. Her first cookbook, In the Small Kitchen, was published by Harper Collins in May 2011, with a foreword by Ina Garten. She documents her healthy comfort food, and gluten-free finds on her award winning blog, Feed Me Phoebe http://feedmephoebe.com/.

What was the most enjoyable aspect of your retreat?

My favorite part of the experience was being able to end the day with a hike in the woods. Armstrong Redwood Park was an easy 15 minute drive, but felt like a world away from wine country. There's nothing like a 300 foot tree to make all of your writerly worries feel small and squashable.

What other activities did you do during the retreat—any napping, hiking, or exploring the area?

I spent an afternoon in Arista winery's Japanese water garden with my laptop and a glass of rose. Westside road was lined with amazing vineyards--perfect for a less productive day of wine tasting and writing a few questionable paragraphs in between glasses.

What did you work on during the retreat?

During my stay I was working on a wellness memoir about how to find the balance between health and hedonism.

Did the vineyard setting inspire you and/or your writing? In what ways?

Ironically, I spent most of my time in wine country revising a chapter on detox. While it was hard to put myself back in the head space of deprivation, with a bottle of red on the table and miles of vines outside, the setting certainly fueled some better descriptions of the re-tox experience.

What was the most unexpected part of your stay?

When I arrived the folks at Moshin treated me to a tasting of their wine portfolio at 11am. It was an unexpected, but great way to start my trip.

Phoebe Lapine