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

Hospitalityaholic

...now browsing by category

 

I Have A Surprise For You!

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings and Happy Spring!

Remember Miss Becky and her gorgeous soaps? In honor of Easter and Spring, we are giving away another of her baskets of soap. Couldn’t you just squeal with delight? Me, too!

Miss Becky With An Apron Full of Soap

All you have to do to win this giveaway is live in the continental U.S. and leave a comment about how you are celebrating spring. That’s all! I’ll choose a random winner with my random counter super duper time machine. Not really, it just picks a random number, but doesn’t that sound cool?

And you can win this! I’ll pick a winner on Monday, March 29, so you can have it in time for Easter.  It will have one of each of the following hand-crafted soaps by Miss Becky:  Lavender, Orange-Rosemary, Vanilla Brown Sugar, Jasmine Green Tea and Oats and Honey.

A Basketfull of The Sweetest Soaps Could Be Yours!

I can’t wait to see who wins!

xoxo, Patti

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | 11 Responses »
Tags: , ,

Miso Happy!

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

A week or so ago, Miss Tami and I had a girls’ lunch at Miso Izakaya just to catch up. Pretty yummy, I must say.

Even though the rain was coming down in buckets outside, inside we were feeling sunny and warm. The sushi here is so beautiful. Take a look.

Don't You Just Love All That Color?

More Fishy Fun After The Fold!

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | 4 Responses »
Tags: , , , ,

A Sweet Night With My Boys

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

As I look back to February and whip out all the fun nights we’ve shared with friends, I had almost forgotten this one.  After returning from NOLA, we invited our sweeties Taruan and Chioke for a sweet night.  And from the looks of the photos we took, you would think there was no dinner served….but I just cannot recall.   Although, here is evidence that I made some fresh tortilla chips.

Mmmm, Fresh Chips!

You all know how to do this, right?  Take a stack of small tortillas, cut them in half and half them again.  Fry in hot oil, scoop out and sprinkle with kosher salt. Devour.

Almost too easy – and so much better than store bought.

More Sweets After The Fold

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | 5 Responses »
Tags: , , , ,

Fun Find Friday

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

I think Friday is a great day to dedicate to fun finds, don’t you?

You know how I love the Goodwill.  Oh boy, do I ever!  I especially love perusing the bookshelves, looking for classic or interesting cookbooks.  I recently found a 1975 edition of The Joy of Cooking, in pristine condition, but this one really tickled me.

More Friday Finds After The Fold

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | Comments Off on Fun Find Friday
Tags: , , , ,

My One Exception

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

As I stated in the beginning of March, there were no dinner parties to be hosted in my home this month. But, alas, rules are meant to be broken. The one person I would allow as the exception came to dinner last night. And it was so worth breaking the rules!

Last night our very special guest of honor was Clint’s enchanting mother, Sylvia. We had not seen each other in seven years and she was in town for a visit. There was no way my little moratorium was going to keep me from entertaining one of my most favorite people. And so I set about to show her a very good time.

On the menu was:

Caprese Salad
Pappardelle with Boar Ragu
Sauteed Broccoli Rabe
Fresh Garlic Bread
Lemon Tart

Mmmm, Meatballs, Y'all!

More Rule Breaking Fun After The Fold

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | 12 Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Oooooooh, Chef Liu!

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

For our anniversary in early March, Eric and I elected to celebrate at Chef Liu’s – the same place we stopped before we sang karaoke for my birthday. For some reason that night, I didn’t snap any photos. But I remembered this time.

Chef Liu’s is on Buford Highway and oh so yummy. The space is pretty, but sparse, there is no alcohol, but I promise, you barely miss it. The food is that good.

Come on in to Chef Liu!

More Dumplings N Such After The Fold

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | Comments Off on Oooooooh, Chef Liu!
Tags: , ,

MREs

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

Miss Diane’s beau is a camera man for CNN. And to our surprise and delight, after he returned from covering the Haitian earthquake, he brought us some French MREs (Meals Ready To Eat). How he held on to those while traversing that tragedy is a mystery to me, but I am tickled that he did.

Last night Eric and I decided to break them out and give you all a report.

Here’s what our care package looked like when we received it from Jonathan:

Looks Like We Got the Kosher Meal. Sweet!

More Military Dining After The Fold

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | 4 Responses »
Tags: ,

Bakeshop!

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

A little while back, sweet Tami from Running With Tweezers invited me to a p.r. luncheon given by Bakeshop, a fabulous little spot in midtown that you simply must try.

Upon entering, we saw tables laden with pastries for our enjoyment.

Luscious Fruit Tarts

More Scrumptious Eats After the Fold

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | 5 Responses »
Tags: , , ,

What Happens When The Conversation Doesn’t Flow?

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

Now, of course the above never happens at my parties, as I am such a sparkling hostess, but I have heard of it happening. Golly, the two sets of in-laws don’t have a thing in common, the people you wanted to set up to meet are both suddenly super shy or, God forbid, there is that one guest that just will not shut up.

Do I have the solution? You know I do! One day recently while posting the blog to Twitter (if you would like to follow me, I’m DinnerPartyP), I noticed a new follower, TableTopics. The name intrigued me and so I followed their links and found their uber-cool website with their even cooler product. Topics – for the dinner table! I love it! And, dang it, why didn’t I think of this first?

After perusing the website (party menus! music suggestions! my favorite things!), I emailed them to ask a few questions and order some TableTopics for myself. Their lovely representative, Marisa, was so very kind to respond to my questions.

More TableTopics Q&A After The Fold

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | 5 Responses »
Tags:

Young Augustine’s

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

Diving backwards a bit, this post is about last Friday night, when Eric and I met Crystal and Teague out at Young Augustine’s, a new pub in town.

Replacing The Standard is a new, fun bar with some really creative food.  My only issue with the space is that there seems to be less seating. But it’s cool. Check out the pirate chandelier!

I Expect To See Johnny Depp Swing From This!

More Swashbuckling Eats After The Fold

Posted in Hospitalityaholic | 4 Responses »
Tags:

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »