Several months ago, my champagne-loving aunts Thess and Vangie babysat Amelia. We ended up staying for dinner at their place and they served champagne. Of course. I mentioned that I don't have a definitive favorite because my palate does not have a good memory, there are long stretches in between my champagne swillings, and I've never drank more than one type of champagne at a time. We talked about a tasting to resolve the matter. Finally we did. You're invited.

I was thrilled when I read that potato chips and popcorn go well with traditional brut champagne. No cooking required.

L to R: brillat savarin with truffles, truffle mouse, lambchopper sheep gouda, mortadella.

There you go. Everyone brought a different bottle so we can sample a wide variety. L to R: Monthuys, Cuvee des Crayeres, Moet & Chandon, Gaston Chiquet, Perrier-Jouet, Benoit Lahaye.

A generous tasting portion is not so helpful when trying to remember. For dinner I prepared rigatoni with creamy mushroom sauce that went well with the evening's libation.

For dessert I served Draeger's sponge cake with berries and Suzie & Ellen's homemade strawberry jam.

This cake was so good and more bubbles.

The drinking became more of a pairing than a tasting. I still don't know which champagne I like best. Ah, well. We need a do over. Who's in?

To paraphrase Tom Waits, champagne is for real friends. À notre santé!

Eleanor turns 1 and celebrates with a peach festival!

How did we come up with the theme? Worth (Eleanor's mom) didn't want a prefab birthday party so Ricci suggested doing a color theme. Somewhere along the way we picked up that Sam (Eleanor's dad) likes peaches. Peach is a color. It's peach season. Voila! a peach-colored peach festival.

When I said I'll take you through my party planning process on a previous post, I meant I'll show you the plan and then the finished product. Haha. I really meant to show a little bit more of what goes into it but time just ran away from me and my event co-planner Ricci. It was something of a mad dash to get things done the morning of the party. Shhh, don't tell our "clients." Haha.

Nothing beats a grand setting. I think this peach festival turned out beautifully in large part due to Sam and Worth's gorgeous backyard, which is Sunset Magazine-worthy. Check it out.

I designed the invitation, Sam printed, and Worth mailed them.

Welcome to the party! Here's the sign I made an hour before the party. There's Sam on the grill.

This garland was finished and hung right when the party started. Talk about 'behind schedule.'

newborn, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months,

6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11 months,

12 months old

Sam's grilled shrimp with peach salsa. Peaches and teriyaki chicken on the grill.

Ice cold sparkling juice and peach sangria are perfect for a sunny day.

Worth made peach water for kids and peach sangria for parents. Haha.

the dessert table

The peach filled cupcakes with peach icing were baked by Ricci, iced and decorated minutes before the party.

Happy 1st Birthday!

pretty baby and pretty mom

Eleanor's first cupcake

We think she liked it.

Favors. Please take one. Worth assembled the jellybean-filled popsicles.

Ricci ordered the peach cookies and berry boxes online.

Thanks for coming to the party!


Photo credit: Ricci Sylla

I'm helping my sister and her friend plan a 1st birthday party, which is coming in a month. And I'm taking you along for the planning process. This week I'll show you the table setup.

I love their summer peach festival theme! It's for a little girl and the theme is a perfect compromise between a baby party and an adult party, which is what 1st birthday parties really are. It's sweet, fun, seasonal, and delicious.

I won't ever recommend decorating every inch of a venue because you can drive yourself crazy setting up, it's going to cost more than you'd like, and no one wants to clean that up afterwards. The best way to have a wow moment is to pick 1 area and pimp it out. The dessert table is the best place to do this. I like to focus energies on making a variety of cute desserts and drinks and adding unique (i.e. not factory-churned store-bought) touches to make it special and memorable.

Because I'm a super visual person, I need to have a literal picture of the dessert table for a few reasons. First, it helps me make sure I've considered everything in planning the table. For this party, I put a ton of stuff on the first board that we gathered on our pinterest page. What you see here is the second board, which has been adjusted after we saw the venue and discussed with the planning committee (hehe). Second, having a visual becomes our checklist days before the party. Third, it can be a guide for someone outside the planning committee to help with setup. I created this on Illustrator because I like everything on 1 page and it's the program with which I'm most comfortable. What can I say? I like efficiency.


Next week I'll show you the chalkboard signs I'm making. I'm pretty excited about them.

Have a great weekend!