bubbling rosé & valentine's day

Valentine's weekend was a wonderful

one for Linguine and Dirty Martinis!

Thursday evening, I represented Linguine and Dirty Martinis at a delightful open house held at Melanie Jones' Prim & Proper boutique.

Lauren Essl of Blue Eye Brown Eye (who crafted my precious holiday tags), displayed a trunk show with her gorgeous letterpress and calligraphy creations.

A few shots from the evening:

Prim & Proper-- truly a unique boutique!

L&DM spread complete with romantic menu options

bright scarves & luxe gift wrap

L&DM coconut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Blue Eye Brown Eye trunk show

complimentary gift wrapping table for guests

calligraphy tags and cherry-red

paper at the wrapping station

(photo courtesy of Lauren Essl)

L&DM strawberry thumbprint cookies

(photo courtesy of Lauren Essl)

Blue Eye Brown Eye letterpress & hand-stitched cards

a plethora of bubbly including sparkling

red wine, rosé and champagne!

(photo courtesy of Lauren Essl)

take-away favors from Blue Eye Brown Eye

(photo courtesy of Lauren Essl)

After a fun evening of sweets, bubbly and shopping, I spent the following evening equally content at a Tuscan Valentine's event hosted by Mike Bloomberg, aka "The Romance CEO," and A Piece of Work painting studio.

Twenty couples sipped vino, snacked on Italian

appetizers, painted a beautiful Tuscan landscape and

enjoyed my Chocolate & Almond-Covered Cherries.

What a fun event!

After sugar-saturated events, I was looking forward to buckling down and preparing a 5-course Valentine's Day dinner for clients Monday evening.

My menu included:

Sweet Potato, Caramelized Shallots, Crispy Sage Pizette with a Brown Sugar Balsamic Reduction

Carrot Ginger Soup with Curried Crostini

Wedge Salad with Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing, Candied Pecans & Pomegranate

Rustic Chicken Pies with Herb Cream, Fennel, Butternut Squash & Heart-Shaped Pastry

Filling included sautéed celery, fennel, carrots, butternut squash and tons o' fresh herbs folded with chunks of roasted lemon chicken, pearl onions, peas and a creamy herb cream sauce.

Individual pies just about to hit the oven!

Pastry was a scratch-made pie dough of flour, cold butter, kosher salt and ice water.

Bosc Pear & Candied Ginger Tartlets with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

When I arrived home after a long day, I was greeted with my favorite flowers in shades of white and pale yellow from my valentine.

What beauties!