Tuesday, February 15, 2011

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


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!

Photobucket

3 comments:

Ashley said...

The menu looks absolutely delicious!

Unknown said...

Very beautiful photos and such a well written blog, Callie. One day I'll be able to say I knew you before you were famous. I'm so proud of you and all your success.

Weekend Cowgirl said...

Beautiful food! Making me very hungry...beautiful photos also.