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.

How to Spice Things Up

If not in the bedroom, then let’s start by heating things up in the kitchen tonight. Last night at cooking club, the theme was recreating your favorite restaurant dish. The evening requires a separate post—Mozza meatballs, tagliata and Brussels sprouts with prosciutto breadcrumbs, Akasha kale salad, Ammo lentil salad, Café des Artiste mac n cheese, Hungry Cat ceviche and chocolate bread pudding, all SO good. (And apparently a lot of us like Mozza and Hungry Cat.)

But for the purposes of romance, for igniting that flame tonight, might I suggest my friend Vanessa’s recreation of the Soho House Picante de la Casa Margarita? Vanessa notes, “There are no real directions for how much pepper/cilantro to add so you just have to experiment and see how spicy and cilantro-y you like it.”

If you know what I mean.

SOHO HOUSE PICANTE DE LA CASA MARGARITA

Makes 2 cocktails

Red jalapeño, chopped, to taste

Fresh cilantro leaves, to taste

4 ounces Cazadores tequila

1 ounce agave nectar

2 ounce fresh lime juice, squeezed

In a mixing glass, muddle together chopped red chilies and cilantro leaves. Add tequila, agave and lime juice. Shake hard. Strain into two ice-filled rocks glasses.

Tomboy Style Q & A

You know how awesome it is when great things happen to great people? Meet the extraordinarily talented Lizzie Garrett Mettler, creator of the ultra-chic Tomboy Style blog and the smashing book of the same name, and—according this year’s September Vogue—inspiration for J. Crew’s fall collection. For reals. She is also one of my favorite people and mixer of mean cocktails, maker of perfect salads with shallots two ways and, of course, always the best accessorized girl in the room. I hope you enjoy this end-of-year peek into Lizzie’s closet and fridge… See you all in 2013!

What was the inspiration for Tomboy Style?

I felt like there wasn’t a blog out there that really spoke to my style, so I decided to start it myself. I remember realizing that there was a shift in the word “tomboy,” its meaning seemed to be in a transitional phase; growing up I thought of it as a pejorative word, now it’s come to mean something entirely different, especially when paired with the word chic or style.

Can you describe your design aesthetic? 

Not well. I definitely like a mixture of periods. I hate this word, but I guess I’d have to say it’s “eclectic.”

Your girliest moment?

I can get REALLY into table settings.

What piece of clothing or accessory in your wardrobe is in heaviest rotation right now?

My new Mrs. P Hicks canoe boots.

What five things will we always find in your closet?

Striped t-shirts
light weight scarves
Tretorn Nylites
I think I just counted that I have nine chambray shirts (yikes).
a photo of my husband

What five things will we always find in your refrigerator?

Lillet
capers
ginger
beer
baking soda

First song played at your wedding? 

With a Girl Like You by The Troggs (wait, Heather, you don’t recall that from memory!?)

[EDITOR'S NOTE: After the fireworks, things got a little hazy...]

Favorite movie?

Hard to pick one. I’ve seen Casino Royale and The Graduate a lot of times.

Last book you read…

Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem (essays), a gift from Julia Leach the designer and creative director of Chance

Favorite drink?

Michelada

Five things you always bring on vacation…

Foldable Ray-Ban wayfarers
an L.L.Bean tote with zip-top
Swatch Watch
The latest issue of The Gentlewoman magazine
Lavender essential oil—it calms, treats minor cuts or bites, helps induce sleep, and can act as a room fragrance. Plus, the bottles are always TSA-friendly.

Favorite piece of luggage?

T. Anothony 1-suiter

Photo of Lizzie, top, by John Konkal.

The Elf on the Shelf

This year, there was something missing from our annual holiday. More than one guest remarked on it. One even got a little upset. WHERE ARE THE CRABBIES???? I’ve had them on the brain ever since their noticeable absence earlier this month. And so, Lizzie—the creator of these little bites of crabby crack—brought over a tray of Crabbies last night and we broke out the bourbon. I was really in the mood for a good bourbon champagne punch, and inspired by my favorite brown liquor cocktail, the Manhattan, I accidentally created my new favorite cocktail, which Lizzie christened the Elf on a Shelf. Careful, these go down a little too easy if you know what I mean, and I kind of feel like this guy might have tattled on me to Santa last night.

Elf on a Shelf Cocktail

Makes 8 drinks

1/2 cup bourbon

3 tablespoons agave nectar

1 teaspoon Fee Brothers orange bitters

1 bottle champagne or sparkling wine

8 Luxardo cherries

Mix bourbon, agave nectar and bitters in a glass measuring cup. Fill 8 wine glasses with ice, and pour one ounce (or two tablespoons) of the bourbon mixture in each glass. Top with champagne and add a Luxardo cherry.

Sisters of Los Angeles

Here’s a smart idea. If you want something done, ask someone who’s busy. If you want something done well, ask three working women with kids. Such is the story of SoLA—Sisters of Los Angeles—founded by architect Barbara Bestor, designer Karen Alweil, and fashion publicist Sara Stein, all of whom are moms. This summer, the trio launched their colorful SoLA collection of groovy goods, which highlight those places most sacred to Angelenos—neighborhoods, canyons, beaches and, yes, our freeways—and L.A. design at its best, or what Bestor describes as “Southern California nature and street culture, kustom kars, Ed Ruscha sunsets, Griffith Park flora, printed materials blown up.”

It’s all so, so good! Scroll down for a Q&A with the stylish sisters, but first my picks for any last-minute holiday shopping on your list. You can find SoLA’s goods at Kitson, Ron Robinson – Fred Segal, The Getty, MOCA, The Downtown Library, Venokado, Firefly in Venice, and Yolk.

I love these Canyon Rocks Glasses, handmade in Los Angeles using organic ink. Or how about Santa using one of these oversized Hollywood totes to deliver presents this year?

If I were Santa, I’d skip the milk and cookies and hope that a plateful of SoLA’s gorgeous Valerie Confections Chocolate Candy Bars (particularly the dark cherry and chocolate, available at Venokado in Santa Monica and West Hollywood) had been left by the mantle with a wee dram of Talisker…

How did SoLA begin?

Barbara: I had lunch with Sara and Karen at Little Dom’s and we had a lot of iced tea and got very excited and that was that!

Favorite Los Angeles canyon?

Sara: I love Runyon Canyon—it is a place for people and their dogs (I have two rescues LUKE & LEIA). And just like all the best places in LA., you never know who you might see. But Beachwood is near & dear to my heart. I escaped there after a bad breakup—it is a place to disappear and redefine yourself.

Barbara: Elysian Park

Karen: Too hard to pick just one. Mailbu for the beach. Laurel reminds me of my childhood. Benedict because it is so much fun to drive and explore.

What piece of clothing or accessory is in heaviest rotation right now?

Sara: Saltwater Sandals & Superga Sneakers & Rachel Loren earrings my husband gave me.

Barbara: Roman Kremer for Camper wedges, Isabel Marant zipper jacket

Karen: Grey Blazer from Uniqlo, Rachel Comey wedges and an FFS necklace

What five things will we always find in your closet?

Sara: Muji Striped Sweater, Odd Molly tops, Matta dresses, Madewell t-shirts & white denim (I never met a white jean I did not like)

Barbara: fancy tshirts black, fancy tshirts navy blue, black jeans, leather bracelet, dark jackets

Karen: dark denim jeans, Matta dresses, blazers, always in search of the perfect t-shirt and always a pair of platforms

What five things will we always find in your refrigerator?

Sara: Manchego cheese, 1% organic milk, red grapes, my mom’s salad dressing, Fage yogurt with honey

Barbara: sharp cheddar, avocados, 2%milk, iced decaf coffee—homemade, apples

Karen: Salami, salami, cheese, more cheese—stinkier the better, and iced tea

Favorite piece of luggage?

Sara: my husband is the traveler so I steal from him whatever I can

Barbara: Clare Vivier leather travel bag (actually I don’t have one yet but I ASPIRE to have one, in navy blue, and then I can be fabulous).

Karen: Flight 001 Spacepaks

Five things you always bring on vacation…

Sara: My children Noah & Maggie, the game Apples to Apples, my iPad, Dr. Robin Sun Screen (for the kids and me), my running shoes

Barbara: Bea and Charlotte—my teen queens, books, tennis stuff, too much weight in my suitcase

Karen: My husband Daniel, my son Gabriel, music, ipad, magazines and of course too many shoes

SoLA iPad cases at YOLK, image via apartmenttherapy.com

Favorite cocktail?

Sara: Hitching Post “Cork Dancer” Pinot Noir

Barbara: vodka soda or maybe a dark and stormy if I am on Block Island

Karen: Kettel one straight up with a twist

i love l.a. because…

Sara: I can BBQ my Thanksgiving turkey in shorts and a t-shirt! (and I do it every year as you know with my dad’s Red River BBQ Sauce)

Barbara: it is the funnest place to live and the most creative place I know.

Karen: It’s home and the most beautiful and inspiring place all year long

Ginvent Calendar

It’s 12.12.12, which means that we are halfway through our advent calendars. For many of us, like my four-year-old son, advent calendars look a lot like this faux chalet, below, that I got at Barneys years ago, hiding See’s foil-wrapped milk chocolates (I’m a California girl, after all) behind each door.

 

If you’re like me, your advent calendar looks a little more exciting. It looks like the most GENIUS present you may have ever received in your life. A GINVENT CALENDAR! Last month, my friend Missy Suicide bestowed me with this inspired and splashy gift of 24 3cl bottles of top-shelf gin. Each evening after the boys have gone to bed, I’ve opened up the day’s door to discover a little splash of gin for a nightcap gin & tonic. Day One started off with a familiar favorite:

But best of all, I’ve made some fun new artisanal discoveries, as well as revisiting a couple of forgotten stalwarts. Here are Days 6-12:

 

Can’t wait to unlock the remaining 12 as we countdown to Christmas. And for those of you still searching for that perfect gift for the gin loving lady (or gent) in your life, you can thank me—and Missy Suicide—later. First, gin up.

 

 

Let’s Drink to Mother’s Day

Flowers, spa treatments, breakfast in bed—it’s all good. But after the kids are in bed, what better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than with a well-deserved drink? One of my favorites is The Lulu (above)—a delicious muddle of basil and strawberries topped with Prosecco, St. Germain elderflower liqueur and Aperol, created by friend and celebrity caterer Lulu Powers.

Also in the fruity family is the beloved Pimms Cup cocktail. Grab some blueberries, strawberries, oranges and fresh mint at the farmers market in the morning and make a pitcher in the afternoon. These taste even better when enjoyed with friends.

For something that packs a little more punch, try a refreshing Vodka Rosemary Lemon Fizz. The nonalcoholic version of this sophisticated drink is equally delicious for moms-to-be. Just skip the vodka and add more club soda.

Or, if we can’t wait until the kids are in bed, why not start the day with my friend Laurie’s perfect Bloody Mary?

Another entry in the morning cocktail category, a favorite riff on the bellini: Peach Tarragon Bellini, a recipe I developed for Bon Appétit magazine. Or just skip the peaches and tarragon and go directly to champagne. Cheers!

Tangerine Dreams

Recently I got several pounds of tangerines in my CSA farm bag and promptly put them to nostalgic use. For those whose happiest childhood memories involve a Creamsicle—that perfect balance of tart, sweet and creamy—this Creamsicle Float from Suzanne Goin’s Sunday Suppers at Lucques is made for you. Goin suggests using tangelos, which are sweet and not too acidic and have very few seeds. But tangerines will also do the trick. I made these for Easter and again the following week when my inlaws were visiting. I’m hoping someone will make them for me on Mother’s Day.

To make, squeeze 1/2 cup of juice per serving (or juice from two to three tangerines depending on size and juiciness). In each glass place a large scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream. Pour over 1/2 cup tangerine or tangelo juice. Top with seltzer. Serve with a straw.