Birthday Weekend: Crafts Galore and Winesgiving 2018

Call me Priyanka Chopra because I was basically super busy globe-trotting (or...Virginia-trotting) for all of November and life ain't slowing down one bit. I had a truly wonderful birthday full of friends and laughter this year and thought I'd share a few pics of our celebrations!

Amber's Favorite Things Birthday

One of my lifelong icons is Oprah, and I love the audacity of her Favorite Things. Jokingly, I said I wanted to have an Oprah-themed birthday inspired by Amber's Favorite Things and thus, my birthday party theme was born. When I thought about it, my favorite things are: breakfast pastries, crafting, mimosas and girl time. So, I invited my girlfriends over for a crafternoon brunch!

The dress code was "luxurious loungewear" and I ordered beautiful pastries from May's Parlor in Virginia Beach. The only food I had to "make" were the straight-from-Pinterest baguette cups filled with hummus and bell peppers.

My handmade mug collection ready for duty.

My sweet friend Kate brought her espresso machine over and made lattes to order for everyone (what a rockstar!).

Once the living room was set up for crafting, it basically looked like I'm running an at-home preschool art program. I was truly shocked to find out I had more art supplies to share than I could put out on one table — I have a hobby problem.

I even took a cue from Oprah and hid a few of my "favorite things" as party favors around the room. We had an impromptu scavenger hunt and people got to take home some of my iconic faves: Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers, orange Tic Tacs, Sour Patch Kids, and more.

For my craft, I ultimately just practiced my watercolor brush lettering and added some words to a friend's moon and stars paintings.

A couple friends made wreaths, like Ashleigh's winter showstopper here...

And Kate even taught herself some origami from YouTube!

It was such a fun day of just gabbing and crafting, and I honestly might want to do that quarterly.

Winesgiving 2018

The very next day, Wine Club convened for what is arguably our favorite "wine club" day of the year: Winesgiving! We introduced Winesgiving maybe five years ago and it is basically the Thanksgiving of my dreams. We all pile into cars and convene at The Cheese Shop in Williamsburg, where we collectively spend approximately $200 on gourmet sandwiches, cheeses, jams, crackers, cookies, chocolate and whatever random foods we can't resist. We stock up on our favorite snack: Torres black truffle potato chips. And then we set out for a winery to partake in wine, cheese and fellowship!

This year we ventured again to Gauthier Vineyard in New Kent County, which has a beautiful lake view and fantastic fire pit!

Stacie surprised us with matching wine tumblers that all said "#winesgiving" and we were arguably the most obnoxious clique to ever take over a winery.

It was a fantastic cap to an excellent birthday and I couldn't be more grateful for the friendship and fellowship that enriches my life. As I've aged, I've realized how rare it is to forge deep connections to form and maintain adult friendships, but I've been exceptionally lucky to have found so many members of my tribe. 

Wine Club: We Eat, We Drink & We Celebrate Babies

Wine Club is celebrating our NINTH YEAR, which is spectacular. It's arguably the most enriching part of my life, a sisterhood that meets monthly to share food, wine and laughs. This summer, we also enjoyed a baby shower for our sister Stacie, who just became a mama! For dinner party and baby shower inspiration, scroll on. 

Steak Night

At the start of the summer, we had a Steak-Grilled-to-Order night at my house. Everyone brought their own cut of steak for Sean to grill, and a rose of their choice. We had:

• Whispering Angel: The OG classic. If you haven't had Whispering Angel, have you even had rose?
• Juve & Camps Pinot Noir Rose: Notes of fresh red apple, strawberries and toasted almond
• Mulderbosch Rose: This beautiful South African rose has notes of pomegranate and berries
• Champs de Provence Rose: A classic dry rose that tastes of red berries, citrus and orange blossom
• Apothic Crush: Obviously not a rose, but our go-to red blend wine when in doubt. 

It's rare I get to bust out all my pretty tableware, so forgive me for indulging in a beauty shot.

The menu for the evening...

I also served a strawberry watermelon rose sangria that was so refreshing and delicious.

I finally had a chance to do something I've wanted to try for a while: make compound butters! I made a red wine shallot butter and a straight-from-Pinterest recipe for "cowboy butter." Both were delicious.

A shot of Ashleigh's bloody steak, mustard slaw and mac and cheese. We ate every piece of that mac! 

Summer Wine Night

When Lauren hosted Wine Club, we decided to have summer-inspired labels (sometimes the theme doesn't fit the wine we have in our fridge, hahahaha):

• Charles & Charles Rose: Delicate floral notes of strawberry and watermelon
• Sea Salt Sauvignon Blanc: A tart grapefruity, crispy sauvignon
• Muir Wood Chardonnay: Tropical, citrusy chardonnay that we enjoyed — a rarity for this varietal!
• Lagaria Pinot Grigio: A crisp Italian wine with notes of apples, pears and white flowers

It would be a mistake not to admire Lauren's inspiring porch planters. She's an artist with plants!

She set a beautiful table with classic Blue Willow china paired with buffalo check napkins. So sweet.

We devoured her food so fast I barely had a chance to snap a pic, but this balsamic-marinated chicken is about the best thing on the planet and you should make it yesterday.

Stacie's Baby Shower

What a thrill to welcome another little lady to our sisterhood! We joined Stacie's friends and family in July to celebrate her babe. They did an INCREDIBLE job creating the perfect baby shower and we were blown away by all the special details.

Everyone received a favor of a scented salt scrub, all personalized with a floral motif they integrated into all the decor.

We played some fun games, including the classic "Don't Say Baby" clothespin game, "guess how many kisses" game and some games that challenged us to come up with baby items starting with the letters that begin the words, "baby shower."

We had a gorgeous brunch spread, including two types of quiche, hash brown casserole, fruit, granola parfaits and so. many. delicious. pastries. They also had my partytime favorite — champagne and pineapple sherbet. Heaven!

Stacie received many gorgeous gifts, including this handmade quilt from her sister-in-law. Her baby is here now and we couldn't be happier!

Holiday Entertaining 2017

When I was growing up, my Nana had family friends who always entertained at Christmas with a dressy party completed with passed hors d'oeuvres. People didn't really entertain much where I grew up, so this was basically the height of glamour to me. I vowed to someday do the same, and I've spent the better part of my adulthood so far gathering the tools and skills to do it. Finally — finally! — this year was my year: I had the chance to do some real holiday entertaining!

The only catch: it was twice in one week. We had ordered a new dining room light that turned out to be dysfunctional. I was behind on Christmas shopping and gift wrapping. The house was a holy mess. My practice runs at making a cranberry curd tart for Thanksgiving failed not once, but twice — could I do it now? And in the course of one week, I was going to host Wine Club and an early Christmas dinner with the in-laws. Can she do it????

Yes she can!!

I volunteered to host holiday Wine Club as an excuse to set the prettiest table I could muster, with my grandmother's crystal wine glasses, my mismatched blue-and-white china, my antique pistachio-colored linen napkins and my porcelain twig candlesticks.

I even put out my handmade mug collection (also mismatched) for mulled wine! You can tell I'd basically been training for this like it was the Olympics.

For my friends, I whipped up Julia Turshen's fantastic roasted scallion and chive dip (it's like french onion dip with a deeper, smoky flavor) from her Small Victories cookbook and had Sean artfully arrange a plate of Trader Joe's holiday Joe Joe's. I also served a spinach salad with pear slices, pomegranate seeds and gorgonzola cheese, and put together a charcuterie plate.

I spotted mini wheels of brie at Trader Joe's and had a vision: mini baked brie! It was so easy and would be great for any dinner party. I just thawed a sheet of puff pastry, smeared squares with pepper jelly, topped with the wheel of brie in the center and plopped down a slice of green apple before wrapping it up to become a delicious package of molten cheese. After brushing with an egg wash, I baked the mini brie en croute for about 10 minutes at 350 until the puff pastry was brown and flaky.

We finished our meal with the piece de resistance: mini shepherd's pies using Alton Brown's recipe.

Party hack: You can make this two days in advance and it will taste perfect! I made a big batch on Monday night, spooned some filling into ramekins and piped storebought deli mashed potatoes on top on Tuesday night using a pastry bag with a star tip. On Wednesday, I baked them for about 15-ish minutes at 350-400 degrees and topped with chives. To get nicely browned peaks, I turned on the broiler for a few minutes. The hardest part of the whole thing was piping mashed potatoes!

On Saturday, our Kennedy fam came down to do an early Christmas celebration. While dinner cooked, we set out for a walk to see the lights in the neighborhood — airplane bottles in tow! Gotta get some warmth where you can. 

When we got back, I set out a selection of cheeses, including this cheddar cheese ball topped with pomegranates. May I recommend my favorite party cracker options? These are my go-to's: 34 Degrees wafer crackers and Trader Joe's Rosemary and Raisin crackers.

For the main course, I served Julia Turshen's brisket with apricots, which cooked low and slow in the oven for four hours to deliver perfectly tender and juicy brisket. We paired with roasted carrots and fingerling potatoes drizzled with Mike's Hot Honey and it was all delicious. The brisket leftovers even made for great tacos!

Before Thanksgiving, I was enraptured by the idea of the New York Times' cranberry curd tart and attempted twice to make it for parties and failed miserably both times. I just could not get the timing right enough for every step to lead to the desired outcome. I finally gave up on that recipe and stumbled onto this one, which I'm happy to report worked beautifully.

The cranberry curd tart has just enough sour with its sweetness and a gorgeous velvety pink color. I took the easy way out and used a storebought crust because I didn't want to make a beautiful crust just to ruin the filling again. I topped with piped vanilla icing stars and sparkling sugar, just like a dusting of snow.

I was feeling very rusty after basically ceding all cooking duties to Sean this past year, so having a few victories in a row has me feeling like I got my sea legs back. I'm one Great British Baking Show marathon away from attempting a Swiss roll!

Wine Club Throws a Puppy Shower!

My friend Ashleigh's had a lot of great ideas, but I think multiple lightbulbs went off above her head when she suggested we throw our friend Stacie a Puppy Shower. It's such a great concept, I assume it will sweep the nation.

Our friend Stacie let us know she was getting a chocolate lab puppy a few weeks ago and Ashleigh — perhaps inspired by the Sex and the City episode about why showers are reserved just for weddings and babies — said we should surprise her with a puppy shower. Brilliant!

Ashleigh invited Stacie's sister and sister-in-law and we all met for dinner at Leone's, a fancy new Italian place. Somehow none of that seemed out of the ordinary to Stacie, and she didn't even notice each of us carried a gift bag in when we entered the room. We had a magical moment where we all put them on the table at the same time and she was totally shocked!

Puppy George got all the necessities: chew toys, pool toys, poop bags, treats, grooming supplies and beyond. When I mentioned in passing that I was buying these items for a Puppy Shower, the Petsmart employee squealed and said, "OMG that's amazing." Our waiter said he needed to get better friends. What can we say? We love a good theme party.

I'd be remiss if I didn't also shout out the tremendous beef tortellini I had with sun-dried tomatoes and shallots, followed by profiteroles. Mmmmmm good.

Finally! A Backyard BBQ

After several failed attempts, we have finally crossed "have a backyard BBQ" off our to-do list! In the 2.5 years we've lived in our house, it has rained out approximately three attempts at a backyard party, to the point where I almost forgot how BBQs even work. 

But maybe because Mother Nature knew my mom was coming to visit or that it was Sean's birthday,  we got a perfect brisk, early spring night in the high 60s. Here's a peek at spring around our house:

I set up my spring mantel, complete with my Mermaid Factory mermaid.

I also had the joy of seeing my ranunculus bulbs bloom! I was concerned when they sprouted within a week of being planted and then our yo-yo winter weather, but they're yielding and they're beautiful!

My first harvest! Totally worth every penny and every minute of effort.

My mom was in town and it coincided with Sean's birthday, so we used it as an opportunity to attempt another BBQ and, as I said, we were finally successful!

We even got a new patio umbrella to replace the one wrecked in the hurricane...story of my life.

 Us and our beautiful littlest gal pals!

Happy Birthday to Sean! We dined on hamburgers, hot dogs, carrot cake, corn salsa and this lemon balsamic bowtie pasta salad. And now we have beaucoup leftover beer for the next 2-3 barbecues!