Anatomy of a Dinner Party: a day in the life of a hospitalityaholic
 

October, 2016

...now browsing by month

 

Hocus Pocus – Yumtastic!

Tuesday, October 25th, 2016

Good Morning Darlings!

I love Halloween. Not only is the dressing up fun, but CANDY! And not only candy, but all kinds of adorable treats.

This past weekend we went to a Halloween Baby Shower for our friends Laura and Evan. That was a first. Tons of fun. Our fabulous friends, Paige and Alex dressed their 3 yr. old son, Lucien up as Michael Meyers. Which I thought was hilarious.

Here’s our photo together.

How awesome (and scary) is this little killer? I

How awesome (and scary) is this little killer? 

Are you looking for a new, easy, adorable recipe to feed your party guests? How about this Hocus Pocus inspired smores pop? The folks at Delish have got it going on.

I need these. Well, I don’t actually NEED them, but I sure would love to have one. 🙂

Love these!

Love these!

Let me know if you make them and how they turn out!

BOO!

xoxo, Patti

 

Cube The Ice at Alma

Monday, October 24th, 2016

Good Morning Darlings!

Eric and I recently visited Escape The Room, right downtown on our beloved Peachtree Street. It was an hour of finding clues to unlock the locks that held us captive. We had one hour.

Good thing that door opens automatically after 60 minutes. We did not solve all the clues.

Sleuthing is thirsty work. We hopped across the street to Alma Cocina, for the Lay of the Land margarita and some chips & salsa.

The bartenders are new. Kit is the only one who knew how to make it! Luckily for us, Kit had returned to Alma as Beverage Manager and was in the house to whip up said Lay of the Land margaritas. They are spicy and sweet all at the same time.

Lay of the Land and chips & salsa consumed. Now what?

We spied a gentleman at the bar enjoying a giant ice cube and a shot of tequila. Kit, what’s that?

It’s THE CUBE! Ice cubes made with fresh ingredients and paired with a shot of different tequilas to enhance the experience.

We needed THE CUBE. I tried the cube made with pineapples and Eric chose the cube made with coffee and maple syrup.

Our cubes and tequila shots.

Our cubes and tequila shots.

They come with tiny little spoons to break up the cube after you pour the tequila in. Or you can shoot the tequila and wait for the cube to melt, but that seems silly.

Go see Kit at Alma. Get THE CUBE. Impress your friends. Be cool.

xoxo, Patti

Frito Fail!

Friday, October 21st, 2016

Good Morning Darlings,

Happy Friday!

It’s always a hoot when things in the kitchen don’t go as planned. Eric and I got a wild hair last weekend to try and whip up homemade fritos to go with chili. The New York Times had what looked like a super easy recipe with basically three ingredients.

And ours looked pretty close to the ones pictured in the Times.

Here’s their photo:

New York Times Fritos (on the right)

New York Times Fritos (on the right)

And here’s ours:

I seriously have to use a better camera, y'all.

I seriously have to use a better camera, y’all.

Perhaps I should have laid mine out on pretty polka dot wrapping paper?

Anyhoo, Frito Lay doesn’t have to worry about going out of business. We immediately went out and bought three bags of real fritos. We had friends coming over! We couldn’t feed them these homemade things.

But we did – just so they could see what the homemade version tastes like. And you know what? They ate them, because they are awesome people. Polite to the max.  It was the first attempt. We can get better.

Popping out to the store is so much easier and tastier, though.

What are you cooking this weekend?

xoxo, Patti

Spookvegas

Thursday, October 13th, 2016

Good Morning Darlings!

It’s always fun to see what’s going on in other parts of the country. Especially for Halloween.

At the Bellagio and Aria in Las Vegas they are making this October deliciously scary. Take a look:

How can he be so skinny and be made of chocolate?

How can he be so skinny and be made of chocolate?

All chocolate! The pumpkins AND the zombie!

All chocolate! The pumpkins AND the zombie!

ARIA’s main showpiece is a 200-pound, six-foot-tall male zombie made out of chocolate and rolling fondant. Due to his bold, statuesque position near the shop, guests are encouraged to take goosebump-worthy selfies with him if they dare. Another sight to behold is the life-size skeleton perched in a chocolate electric chair. This design took the team more than 70 hours to complete, using approximately 130 pounds of white and dark chocolate.

From gory and gruesome body parts to whimsical cakes and pastries, the displays cater to every guest, no matter how they prefer to celebrate the holiday. Executive Pastry Chef Claude Escamilla and his talented team worked diligently for eight months to create more than 45 festive showpieces that place the undead at center stage.  With a year of planning, countless sketches and hundreds of ideas from skilled pastry artists, the final display showcases their hard work through a cake closely resembling human flesh, tombstones straight out of a horror movie and many more hair-raising pieces.

“I was very much inspired by my favorite TV program, “The Walking Dead,” said Escamilla. “When I was watching the show, I kept thinking about how I could take the characters and turn them into life-size creations for the holiday.”

So you KNOW I’m loving Chef Claude’s creations.

Shall we visit Las Vegas? Hmmm?

xoxo, Patti

Serenbe and Sleepy Hollow

Wednesday, October 12th, 2016

Good Morning Darlings,

My friends are so fab. They always know the cool places to go and the fun things to do.

Travis suggested we all go see the Sleepy Hollow Experience at Serenbe Playhouse. Oh, this would be perfect to kick off the Halloween Season. And truly, it was. You follow the actors through the woods as the play unfolds and it is incredible. The actors, the sets, the costumes and the Headless Horseman – you heard that right – all thrill.

Selfies while waiting for the play to start.

Selfies while waiting for the play to start.

If you get there a bit early, you can grab a bit at The Hil, Serenbe’s cozy restaurant on the, well, hill. We stopped in for a cocktails and the charcuterie platter before making our way to the middle of the field (it’s seriously in the middle of a field, so be prepared to drive your car on only dirt roads).

The Sleepy Hollow Experience.

The Sleepy Hollow Experience.

I really need to get the camera on my phone fixed.

Anyhoo, if  The Sleepy Hollow Experience is not sold out, go. Go – gogogogogogo. It was the best. And before you leave the field after the play, look up. All the stars are visible in that expansive field. It’s gorgeous.

xoxo, Patti

Venkman’s

Tuesday, October 11th, 2016

Good Morning Darlings!

Last week John was in town and so we had to celebrate. We chose Venkman’s, one of faves. There was also an acoustic set of Beatles tunes thrown in for free.

Have you been to Venkman’s? Named after Bill Murray’s character in Ghostbusters. Thursday night their special is an entire fried chicken served with pickled veggies, slaw and potato wedges. All for $29. Eric and I decided to go for it and were rewarded with crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside chicken with puckery pickled veggies and creamy slaw. The potato wedges were a nice foil to all the tartness. And after we ate our fill of chicken, there was still plenty left to craft into a fabulous breakfast hash on Saturday.

And jalapeno corn muffins, too!

And jalapeno corn muffins, too!

I love Venkman’s. You should go. And say hi to Chef Nick Melvin.

xoxo, Patti