2018 Wine Club Christmas

Christmas season is in full swing and our dance cards have been packed with parties and get-togethers. I again had the chance to host Wine Club Christmas last week and we had a lovely time! Here are some snapshots from the night, along with some recipe links to the delicious treats we ate.

I set the table with a red striped runner and these very, very cute scalloped-edge napkins from Target. Wherever I go, red, white and blue always seem to pop up.

I love any excuse to bust out all the blue and white china I've collected over the past few years, and show off my handmade mug collection. Using storebought puff pastry, I made two types of breadsticks (both delicious!) based on this Martha Stewart recipe. It was so easy peasy! One batch was parmesan and cayenne pepper, while the other was Everything seasoned.

I welcomed our guests with some good old-fashioned Glogg (that has to be one of the most fun words to say out loud) — wine mulled with spices and served warm.

I did some prep but Sean did the heavy lifting, so here's a great shot of me wearing my mom's apron while Sean does all the work.

My favorite Pinterest-sourced idea: a Christmas tree veggie tray! I used a cookie cutter to trim slices of cheddar into stars and then laid some pretzel sticks to form a trunk.

I also served my very first hard-but-worth-it sugar cookies with royal icing (these deserve a whole separate post). I used this Tasty recipe for the cookies and bought royal icing mix, just to make the whole process a little easier for a newbie. I may have lost my mind and made custom icing colors matched to my gift wrapping scheme because...well, I'm a little bit extra.

I completely forgot to take a picture of the piece de resistance, so here's an old screengrab from an Insta Story: Sean's extra delicious Bucatini Amatriciana with crispy prosciutto. He's made it twice now and it is a bonafide HIT and everyone in Wine Club loved it.

And as if all that wasn't enough, I also tested my baking skill and made this hot cocoa cheesecake, which required a water bath that — of course — seeped a little bit in at the bottom and maybe made my crust too soft. You can't win 'em all, but the cheesecake itself (topped with a layer of ganache) was perfect.

It was a wonderful night of fellowship with my best gals to close out our NINTH year. Obviously we have to make 2019 a truly baller year befitting our decade of monthly get-togethers!

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. 

Halloween Fun 2018: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Sometimes your friend texts you and says, "For Halloween we should go as 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' except I'll be breakfast and you be Tiffany's" and the idea is so clever and original, you type YES before you have a minute to think about how you'll embody a brand. But that's what happened this year and the costume turned out to be one of my favorites. It was shockingly easy to execute, thanks to a particularly well-stocked craft store near my office.

It wouldn't be Halloween without Hallowino, one of our most sacred Wine Club holidays. Lauren is, as always, the hostest with the mostest and always thinks of every little detail.

This year, our costumes included: Breakfast at Tiffany's (Ashleigh and I), Edward Scissorhands (Lauren), Cocktail Party Cinderella (Stacie) and Catwoman (Melissa). 

Our spooooooky feast included meatball subs, a pasta salad and poison candy apples (the sugar was actually burnt so they did accidentally taste a bit like poison, lol).

Edward Scissorhands with her spread.

Lauren blew my simple mind with this simple trick for an extra fun pasta salad: she soaked the cooked pasta in water with food coloring! The colors really popped and it made such a big impact for such an easy hack.

As always, we brought our scary-label wines and for the first time ever in the history of Wine Club, Ashleigh and I brought the same bottle. Disasters! But, it was good, so no harm. We sipped on:

• HobNob Red Blend: A smooth red blend with notes of coffee, mocha, hazelnut and hints of orange. We've had it before and always enjoyed it!
• Cloud Break Black Cloud: A classic red blend with notes of cherry and dark fruit, plus a touch of oak. 
• Intrinsic Cabernet Sauvignon: A silky red blend with hints of blueberry, pomegranate and chocolate. 

And Melissa made her own spooky label with the help of her crafty four-year-old! Very cute party idea to steal in the future.

Just your regular cocktail gal pals, Catwoman and Cinderella.

Ashleigh supplied Stacie with a mermaid costume bib for her baby, and we had a good laugh having her baby digitally model it so we could get the full image.

Closer to the actual holiday, we went to our favorite Halloween house party where the hosts truly deck out the house and every guest takes the dress code seriously. Here's how we made our costumes:

• Breakfast: Ashleigh ordered felt breakfast items from Etsy, including waffles, eggs, toast with jam and pancakes and pinned them to a black dress she already had. She made a headband with a felt donut to top off the look.
• Tiffany's: I originally wanted to make a Tiffany's box, but realized it would be impossible to move around the party, sit or dance. My local craft store happened to stock foamboard in this exact color, so I grabbed that then trotted over to the scrapbooking section, where I found alphabet stickers in a similar font (I drew the ampersand). Then, I wandered through the applique aisle and they happened to have a sequin diamond ring applique, so I bought that and ironed it onto a blue headband. I decided to be a gift bag, so all I had to add was ribbon and tissue paper, slide into my gold sequin flats and BOOM, I was a gift from Tiffany's. 

Ashleigh and I have done a couples' costume for six years now, so we're aiming for ten and then we'll try to get on the Ellen Show or something. It was a most excellent Halloween season!

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!

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.