Nights of Wine and Roses

A few weeks ago I received an invitation from Veuve Clicquot to join for an evening floral arranging class with my friend Ariana Lambert Smeraldo at her ultra-chic floral boutique, Lily Lodge. I knew it would be fun and that I’d learn a thing or two because Ariana has exquisite taste and her floral arrangements are second to none (psst—if you are wondering what we moms really want for Mother’s Day, a big green box from Lily Lodge is a good start). If you’ve ever wondered who does the drop-dead gorgeous arrangements at Bouchon, it’s this girl:

At some point we’ll want to devote another post to Ariana’s hair, but in the meantime back to the flowers. Buckets of orange and pink petals on tables as Ariana instructed us how to arrange, starting with our biggest blooms first and playing around with height and color.

There were trays of gorgeous little lobster rolls and ahi on cucumbers. Even the food was pink and orange!

I love the idea of using cupcake wrappers for popcorn or crab salad. Wouldn’t they be great for a birthday party?

And there was champagne, lots of it—pretty little coupes of Veuve Clicquot Rosé with candied rose petals were on offer from young gents, also with good hair.

If I can ask you to refocus your attention for just one moment, check out the gorgeous array of vintage vases over his shoulder in the background. Oh, that’s what you were looking at all along? Good. Because one of Ariana’s exquisite arrangements sent in a vintage vase for Mother’s Day would really knock it out of the park.

At the end of the evening we got to take home our creations. I love Natalie Martin‘s arrangement, above, but she is a fashion designer after all so of course hers is going to look fabulous! Ditto for the stylings of STYLOOT co-founder, Carlota Espinsoa, below.

Even if my own arrangement was, in Ariana’s words “wild and crazy,” I am absolutely wild and crazy about it! Here it is on our kitchen table.

Cheers and thanks to you, Ariana, for an absolutely beautiful evening.

Veuve Clicquot Champagne Reception at Lily Lodge photos courtesy of Veuve Clicquot.

The Best Damn Margaritas You’ll Ever Taste

Here at The Foodinista, we take our margaritas very seriously. We drink them made with limes, not strawberries, not mangoes, and absolutely not with pineapple juice (I’m talking to you, El Coyote Scratch Margarita). We also drink them year round. But if you’re just tuning in for Cinco de Mayo, here are our four of our favorites.

The all-time most popular recipe on TheFoodinista.com remains David Lansing‘s Perfect Margarita, pictured above. David knows his margs, and years ago I sent him down to Jalisco to research tequila for Bon Appétit magazine. Amazing that he ever came back, but when he did it was with this recipe. The man knows his stuff, and his margs. Get his recipe HERE.

I’m a believer that the best margarita is one somebody else makes for you, which is why this dandy little “skinny margarita” that Bruce stirs up at our local tennis club ranks right up there. I’ve watched him make it more times than I care to admit, and as best I can tell here are the basic proportions.

Los Angeles Tennis Club Margarita

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 ounces fresh lime juice, plus one lime wedge

2 ounces* silver tequila (Bruce uses Patron, I like Don Julio)

2 tablespoons triple sec

1/4 cup club soda

*2 ounces is a heavy pour, and believe me I’m not complaining, but you may want to start with 1 1/2 ounces. Or not.

Sprinkle salt on a small plate. Rub lime wedge around rim of a rocks glass and dip in salt to coat rim. Fill rocks glass with ice. Add lime juice, tequila and triple sec. Stir, and then top with club soda.

The Soho House Picante de la Casa Margarita is my favorite new discovery for spicing things up in the marg department. This one gets its kick from red jalapeños and cilantro. My friend Vanessa recreated the recipe for home consumption and says feel free to play around with proportions depending on how spicy you like it.

And then it’s hard to improve on perfection, which is why this is my go-to classic margarita recipe. Simple and sublime.

Foodinista’s Go-to Marg

Makes 4 stiff drinks

Kosher salt

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup Don Julio blanco tequila

1/2 cup triple sec

Sprinkle salt onto a small plate. Take a juiced lime peel and rub around rims of glasses, dip glass rims in salt. Pour lime juice, tequila, and triple sec into a shaker full of ice. Shake and strain into salt-rimmed glasses.

Minty Fresh, Mint Julep Cups

Whenever my friend Lulu Powers sees silver mint julep cups at a thrift store or flea market, she grabs them. As a result she has an awesome assortment of mismatched cups that looks so effortlessly chic when she serves up cocktails, or “sneekys” as she calls them. I was inspired to do the same, and picked up this silver-plate engraved julep cup from Churchill Downs—home of the Kentucky Derby—on eBay. I surprised my husband with it just in time for Derby Day, and think it makes a wonderful cup for his toothbrush, razor, and comb and such in our new bathroom.