Fresh pea soup with chive blossom cream
Mustard crusted lamb chops
Lemon roasted asparagus
Leek + thyme potato gratin

What wasn’t lacking…was the flavor. Everything tasted great. The miss -
Soup – was way too thick. I served individual portions in these perfect soup shooters from CB2 and Adam had to grab spoons for everyone. Ugh. How embarrassing? Next time…I need to add more chicken stock to thin it out in the puree process…noted.

Lamb – was way to hard to cook. I had to sear which gets smokey and then I had to bake for 25 minutes…which gave me raw meat so I had to throw it back in. What a foodie no no! Not to mention…there was enough…but I bet my guests could have eaten way more.

Asparagus – was fine…though I should have pressed the garlic and then made a sauce instead of throwing everything on top before roasting.

The Gratin – was pretty tasty. The recipe didn’t call for cheese and I added it at the last minute of reheating…this was the best move I made all night.

Otherwise…….the party was awesome. We sipped on a ton of pink champagne, reminisced over the years we’ve known Ali and how proud we are to see her graduating from college! To honor this…I worked with our girl Christine to make a board for Ali to keep. It was made up of pictures from her instagram of her closest friends, boyfriend and my boys. It turned out so incredibly well and Ali loved it.

For the decor – I was inspired by the many colors of Ali’s hair over the years that we’ve known her. We’ve gone from blonde to pink to purple to blue and finally green. She currently is rocking the mermaid look and is killing it.

Since green is the color of the moment for Ali’s hair…I had some fun with empty Perrier bottles that I stripped and cleaned. I taped half way down the bottle, painted gold and covered in glitter. Once dry I removed the tape. My entire deck is now full of glitter but boy was it worth it…how stunning is this DIY badboy of a vase…?

I organized myself really well for today and had a decent amount of help. Plus the boys were angels all day so we were cooking with gas for the prep of tonight’s party. It all came to a halt just around 4:30 which was go time. Kelsey left, the guests arrived, appetizers & drinks were set out and perfectly timed due to the help of my little friend Gavin who loves to party plan as much as I do.

I was nervous about entertaining my guests, feeding the lil guys their dinner and pouring drinks which was all happening at the same time. But it turned out that the boys just hung out and chilled with everyone and gave me no trouble at all allowing me to put my hostessing first. They ate loads of shrimp cocktail and went to bed as soon as they got tired. It was pretty remarkable actually.

No doubt it would have been easier to give my full attention to this meal…but I love every second of being with them.

Speaking of kids who I love…Ali has become a part of our family and we could have thought of no better way then to share this big achievement with her and her dear family. We hope to share in many more occasions with you all to come…

Seri thought it was a great idea and even asked if I needed any help planning. With 7 months of working for her under my belt, I felt I had learned enough about party planning to pull it off on my own. Boy was I wrong!

I had never thrown what I would call a “grown-up” party before, but working for a party planner meant I couldn’t just throw up a piñata and put out some Solo cups and call it a real party. I got to work on planning colors, décor, food and even got into Pinterest (which is truly addicting- Thanks Seri) and made some really cool DIY tissue paper pom poms!

We of course planned to serve chips and salsa along with one of my favorites- homemade guacamole! For the main event I had the “genius” idea of making Fajita Kabobs on the grill served with tortillas and all the fixings. I also made a yummy quinoa salad with black beans, tomatoes, corn, queso fresco, jalapeño  cilantro, and lime.

Now enter the day of the party, which turned out to be fail after fail.

The first problem was finding my avocados were still rock hard. In a panic I searched google to try and find a miracle method to ripening avocados  And let me tell you… they are all lies! We bought the avocados Friday with promises that the paper bag trick with bananas/tomatoes/apples would ripen them overnight and I thought “Well great! We have until Sunday” WRONG. I tried a trick of wrapping them in tin foil and sticking them in the oven at 100 degrees for a while. Still nothing. So okay, no guacamole.

I was rushing around like a madwoman trying to get everything ready for the 1 pm party. I ran to the grocery store to get ice, flowers, and a tiny $4 thing of guacamole. I even asked my friends Deanna and Matt who were visiting from out of town to help with the kabobs. Yes, I was desperate to the point of asking my GUESTS to touch raw meat and help prep. They did an amazing job, though!

Things weren’t going smoothly, but at least they were going, so I decided to get the table set up outside. Everything looked picture perfect outside and things were finally starting to look up, so I told my friends who just finished up the kabobs to go take a look. As I was inside cutting limes (30 minute countdown to the party and I wasn’t even showered and ready), Matt walked in with a broken vase. Oh no, what now! The table cover blew up knocking all the vases over, spilling water everywhere and breaking one vase. We rushed to clean up all the water and stapled down the table cover. Phew! At this point I had to hop in the shower and get ready, which I did in a record setting 10 minutes.

It was a 5 minute countdown and guests started arriving as I was in the middle of prepping margaritas and trying to clean up my disaster of a kitchen. Everyone filtered outside and I was still running around like a madwoman. I couldn’t help but think that the girls at LMP would never be rushing around like this- they make it look so EASY!

Once the majority of the people were there we decided to put the kabobs on the grill. Now this was one we were sure to get right… right? We did everything you’re supposed to do; we tested it out beforehand, we went to the sketchy U-haul place to get our propane tank refilled, and my roommate spent lots of time scrubbing everything clean. I figured all the prep disasters had to be behind me and I brought out the kabobs. As soon as I put them down on the grill I knew something was wrong. Where was that nice sizzle sound you are supposed to hear? The grill wouldn’t get hot enough. So NOW what?

I was almost at a state of panic- how in the world were we going to feed our guests? And what would I do with 3 trays full of kabobs!? Matt suggested using the broiler in the oven, which I thought was sure to burn the apartment down the way things had been going, but to my (and I think everyone’s) surprise it worked really well!

The fajitas were tasty, but it was clear that the meat we picked for the beef kabobs was too tough. Everyone pretended they were delicious as they tried to chew the through the meat. How embarrassing! Well at least the chicken ones came out perfect.

Then as our starving guests began to dig into the quinoa salad and rice, they found their forks were literally falling apart. The handles were snapping in half and pieces of the fork were crumbling off left and right. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this point. I had found the bag of forks unopened, and never thought there would be an expiration date on forks! Well apparently there is, they just don’t put it on the bag.

Everyone had a great time with LOTS of laughs (mostly at my expense), but for now I think I’ll stick to working with children and leave the party planning to the professionals. I can guarantee you they won’t serve crumbling forks with a side of tough meat topped with rock hard avocados.

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In between all the fun, Eli’s provided some kid-friendly bites for the boys.  Who doesn’t like cheese pizza and pigs in a blanket? We love em!  To protect the cards and chips from greasy fingers, we set up a separate table for everyone to eat at.  We started with black linens and added red & black poker plates and napkins which anchored each place setting.  We then added personalized water bottles set out on casino coasters.  And wicker baskets with snacks were set out for munching.

As a fun take-home, we had personalized playing cards made, which we set out in a mesh pouch tied with a black ribbon.  The birthday boy loves Pellegrino, or “spicy water” as he calls it so we personalized some of these too — how cute did they turn out ??

In the center of the table, jumbo dice lollipops were displayed in glass cubes filled with black rock candy.

We always try and come up with new and creative ways to create fabulous dessert tables.  It’s all about the little details, after all!  By framing playing cards and poker chips, we turned otherwise ordinary picture frames into fabulous platters for our sweet treats. Pretty cool right?

We had some fun playing card and “suit” sugar cookies, mini vanilla cupcakes served in Las Vegas decorative wrappers  with playing card toppers and a fabulous cake adorned with “10″ – which we propped up on a vase filled with poker chips…and also added sparklers to when it was time to sing. All gorgeous and delicious treats were courtesy of Kreated by Kristan.

In addition to the sweet treats, we filled chinese food containers filled with salty “Poker Snacks” for the kids to snack on throughout the night or even take home. Some gorgeous green flowers, a personalized backdrop and chocolate poker chips were the perfect touches to complete the dessert table…and we absolutely loved the outcome.

We love a Polaroid camera for it’s ability to provide instant gratification…so we set out a station where kids could grab silly mustaches or glasses and snap a quick pic!  Before the kids arrived, Seri and I even got in on the fun.

Check out these fabulous ‘poker suit’ shaped balloons we found!! They were the perfect addition to the “TEN” balloons we strung up as guests entered the space.  It took awhile to get them into place, but once we did they looked really cool.

We had such a fun time with this one! Makes us want to grab our hubbies take a quick trip down to AC and try our luck at the tables…

All photos courtesy of Melissa Robin Photography

Congrats on your upcoming nuptials Swanna & Christian…cannot wait to continue the celebrations later this month with you!

*All pictures above shot by our new friend Christine Buckley. Welcome to the team Christine…we loved working with you!

Asher wanted a casual party, but still one that people would be talking about for weeks to come.  He is known for his past milestone birthday parties, which he throws every 5 years, the previous one being held at the iconic Katz’s deli and even featured Cirque De Soleil performers…wow, pretty impressive!  Our immediate thought when discussing casual food options was the ever popular trend of food trucks.  In almost every big city across the country, The Food Truck revolution has taken the food industry by storm, and even made its way to reality TV.  In NYC, the best food trucks have a cult following and are now being seen everywhere from weddings to huge corporate events.  We sought out the best of the best, and brought them in to serve our “dinner course” to guests.  The variety and selections were amazing.  As guests arrived, they were greeted with sparkling wine & water along with Thai Chicken dumplings and Vegetarian Edamame dumplings from Rickshaw Dumpling.

Once guests had a glass of bubbly in hand and had a chance to mingle, we “opened” the food stations for dinner service.  Guests went from station to station, sampling the many different offerings.  We had Shrimp and Lobster rolls from Luke’s Lobster; Alabama BBQ chicken tacos, brisket sliders and quite possibly the most amazing green chile mac n cheese I have ever tasted in my life from Mexicue; a braised short rib sandwich, vegetarian local grilled portabella mushroom sandwich and side of homemade coleslaw from Home by the Range; chicken & shrimp skewers and Greek salad from Soulvaki GR; and a Farm stand with two farm-to-table salads plus a grilled veggie kebob station from our friends at Cobblestone Catering.  These food vendors were all amazing; every single thing I tasted was absolutely delicious.  And what a fun way for guests to eat dinner!  A truly unique experience.  NYers are definitely addicted to lobster rolls because the long line at the Luke’s Lobster station was consistent the entire evening!  Those girls certainly worked their tails off.
In addition to the food, we also asked each food vendor to “set up” their food station with items consistent with the culture and feeling of their cuisine.  It was amazing to see the end result — each so unique and creative.  Each station was not only visually appealing but helped guests get a sense of what type or style of food they were going to be eating.  We also added a chalkboard to each station so guests could see the menu before ordering.  Because the space was so raw and white, we were able to bring in our favorite airbrush artist Vince Harris, of the Art of Air to work his magic.  We wanted him to airbrush each food vendors logo on the walls behind them, but spice it up a little…the result was better than we could’ve imagined!  Check out these food stations, they really turned out fabulous.  The airbrushing was the perfect way to tie it all together.

In keeping with the loft chic vibe we decided to forgo the typical round banquet table with white linen and instead rented these fantastic acrylic tables along with industrial metal chairs.  We loved how they literally just disappeared into the space.  Set out on top of each table was a red lacquer tray topped with a sleek white vase filled with flowers and some votives.  Some tables also had a modern candelabra, which brought some warm lighting to the room.  Simple and elegant, exactly what we were going for.

We made use of every inch of the space, so in the nook by the windows we set out a lounge area complete with contemporary white couches, ottomans and even a neon “LOUNGE” sign hanging overhead.  The fully stocked bar was set up across the room and also had a neon sign hung above. Gorgeous!

Asher is known for showcasing some very unique entertainment at his parties, and this party was no different!  The fun started as soon as guests arrived; greeting them in the freight elevator as they entered from the street was fabulous music by the a cappella group known as Vocal Heights.  An awesome way to welcome guests!  Right before dinner was served, Asher introduced the next entertainer by the name of Caleb Teicher - a brilliantly talented tap dancer.  The crowd absolutely loved his performances…check out these action shots!

To entertain guests throughout the evening, David Schwartz walked around dazzling people with his unbelievable magic tricks.  I actually saw him cut a whole lemon in half and pull out a $20 bill that Asher had written his name on 2 minutes previously! It was insane.  Guests were definitely wondering “how did he do that?” all night long.  Last, but certainly not least, Lonnie Youngblood…aka the Prince of Harlem…and his band rocked the dance floor with their soulful music all night.  There was certainly no shortage of great entertainment at this party!
We stationed dessert with some of NYC most delicious sweets.  Assorted mini cheesecakes from Eileen’s were an instant hit.  There are no calories if it’s mini, right?? We also had brownie bites and some fruit, but nothing could compete with the decadence of the Levain Bakery cookies.  There are no words except ‘mouth-watering.’  These cookies are hands down the best I have ever had.  Ever.  I am not sure how they do it, but they are insanely good.  And they should be for $4/pop!!  Do yourself a favor and go there an try for yourself…you will not be disappointed, I can promise you that.

It was such a pleasure to work with Asher and Enid on this special event.  Happy 70th Asher…we will see you for your 75th!!

All photos by Raquel Bianca