Every year around Valentine’s Day, my sister’s usually throws a Valentine’s Day party for her Girl Scout troop. Last year, she decided the theme would be “Alice in Wonderland” and asked for my help in planning a Mad Hatter Tea Party. I worked with her and my mother to plan a menu and make all the treats. Everyone showed up to the party and was absolutely thrown away — they were expecting some food and some tea, but they got a full-blown professional-style party planned down to the tee.

The menu included:

Drink Me

Assorted Teas
English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Mad Tea Party, Pomegranate, French Vanilla, CHai, Jasmine, Blueberry, Mint, Papaya Passion Fruit, Mango, Lemon Honey Chammomile
(we bought these as part of a “Alice in Wonderland” tea set from Disney)

Cocoa & Heart Marshmallows

Pink Berry Punch
(Pink Lemonade with fresh berries in it)

Eat Me

White Rabbit Burrow
Spinach and Eggs wrapped in pastry

Queen’s Garden Salad
Mixed Greens, radish & carrot flowers with choice of dressing

Pasta & Croquet Balls
Wheel, Carrot, and Bunny Pasta with marinara sauce, cheese, and mixed meat balls

Absolem’s Thyme Treats
Potatoes roasted with bay leaves, thyme, salt, pepper

Black & White Chess Bites
(brownies with confectioner’s sugar decorations)

Pumpkin Acorns
Pumpkin cakes filled with crystallized ginger cream cheese frosting

Petit Fours
Lemon Poppyseed Petit Fours with Lemon Glaze

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and White Chocolate Butterfly/Heart/Playing Card Decorations

Assorted Chocolates & Cookies
Homemade Valentine’s Truffles: Milk Chocolate Kaluha Ganache rolled in Sugar & Espresso; Dark Chocolate Ginger Spread and Hendricks Gin Ganache dipped in Semi-Sweet Chocolate and topped with Crystallized Ginger; White Chocolate Cherry Blossom Tea Ganache covered in Pink White Chocolate
Chocolate Covered Marshmallows
Red Velvet Cakelets & White Roses/Hearts Chocolates
White Chocolate covered shortbread cookies

Everything was handmade from scratch except I used store-bought sugar cookie dough for the “Eat Me” cookies, and the marshmallows and white chocolate covered cookies, which were store-bought. My sister and mother even handmade the molded chocolates!

There were games and activities planned, but I was too busy taking pictures and cleaning up to pay attention. I’ve done a few other parties with my family and hope to post those soon. They’re always so much work leading up to it, but when they come together and are appreciated, it’s completely worth it.

Last year I went to Toast of the Town 2010 and it was a great way to dive into the world of wine, food, and drink pairings. It’s easy for people my age to feel overwhelmed in the realm of wine–we’re always told it’s an “acquired taste”, but we don’t seem to have the time or money to cultivate this passion. There were hundreds of different wines and I was able to learn more about my preferences for wine and develop my palette. As I became more comfortable with wine exploration, I attended events at the International Wine and Food Festival, the Spirit Festival, and Sweet Charity. Through these great events I learned about many new libations and great places in the DC-area to purchase them at.

This year, I received a pair of tickets from Wine Enthusiast to Toast of the Town in Washington, DC. Upon arrival at the swanky National Building Museum downtown, we received a program for the night and a wine glass to add to your collection at home. The program had every table in the establishment with a space underneath to write notes if you wanted to.

One big difference between Toast of the Town (TOTT) 2010 and this year’s was the balance of food and wine. Though the emphasis is more on the drinks than food, this year had a great balance of small bites to accompany the wines. Eating a hamburger or eggplant lasagna with a wine brings out more flavors on both ends; it started some gears turning in my mind for future pairings. Last year I missed out on some of the food because many restaurants packed up early–this year I only missed Eatonville and SEI. The food was peppered evenly throughout the building, which kept wine lines short and food stocked and fresh.

Since the venue was spacious and airy, attendees were free to wander around at their own pace. I didn’t have to make a battle plan when I stepped in the door, instead I was able to walk up to whichever table I wanted to and strike up in-depth conversations. I learned many things about new restaurants and importers or brands that I had never heard of. One of my favorite parts of the night was when I stopped by Toki Underground to see Erik, the owner, daintily dressing his morsels of tofu and green beans.

I was able to try dessert with wine at Art & Soul, Melting Pot, Zoe’s Chocolate, Crumbs, and Canela Bakery. I was also able to sample some great cheeses from Cabot (trust them when they warn you the Habanero is spicy!), as well as some gin, biscotti liquor, coffee, sake, and beer. Above is the table for Chatham Imports, which was one of my favorite tables. You could try spirits here in their pure form, or in a freshly shaken cocktail. The Farmer’s Gin was too abrasive for me, but I started a love affair with the Faretti Chocolate Biscotti Liquor. The only bad thing–they don’t carry it in DC (yet!).

One of the most interesting things I tried all night was the Shimizu no Mai “Pure Dawn” sake. It was chilled to perfection, fresh, clean, with a creamy aftertaste coating the tongue. Sake is one of the spirits that has burned me in the past and can be expensive to develop a taste for, so I was thankful for the free lesson.

I think that the Wine Enthusiast sums up what I like best about Toast of the Town:

The stage is set for you to sip, socialize, and expand your palate, and to satisfy your curiosity about beverages from around the world not only by tasting them, but also by talking to the people who helped make them.

Wine Enthusiast thinks of wine as a cultural ambassador, providing a window into different cultures, giving you a ‘taste’ of the country. [...] Think of this evening as a delicious trip around the world, and think of yourselves as Wine Ambassadors, because when you talk to people about it—in this venue and outside these walls—you spread the word about the joy that is wine.

I encourage you to attend Toast of the Town next year, whether you’re a seasoned connoisseur that’s looking to try new things, or if you’re a rookie looking for an un-intimidating way to make your debut on the wine scene. Either way you’ll have a great time at a classy and unique event.

The full list of participants in Toast of the Town 2010 and what they brought to the table can be found here.

Disclaimer: I received the tickets to Toast of the Town free of charge in exchange for this post. My opinion is my own and un-affected by Toast of the Town or Wine Enthusiast. All photographs courtesy of Nicole Oandasan, Copyright 2011.

Yelp (@yelpdc) had a contest recently via twitter to see who could think of the most inventive ways to use dessert in fashion. The prize was two tickets to the Sweet Charity event on June 21st!

I’ve been to events like this before — Washingtonian’s “Best of” party, and just the week before (via Yelp) Toast of the Town. This is by far the best event of this sort that I’ve been to. Maybe it’s because of my sweet tooth, but I loved every moment of it. Thankfully there were some savory stations–lest I go into a diabetic coma–but most of them were sweet. There were so many options that were so delicious that I didn’t have time to photograph everything.

My boyfriend (my +1) and I reached a consensus that Chef Geoff’s espresso brownie was the best dish of the night, followed by the dishes from the Ritz. Another great thing that set this event apart from others — the bar. This event was 100% open bar with beer, wine, and mixed drinks. The event was the whole bottom floor of the Mandarin Oriental, which contained many different rooms and hallways. Since it wasn’t just one big open space, there were a lot of different areas to explore and discover.

The end of the night was capped off with awards, a live auction, and a fashion show. The fashion show all had models wearing clothing that was a hybrid of chocolate, marzipan, and/or sugar and fabric. I think the theme was “movies” since there was a Cruella DeVil, “Birds”, Tinkerbell, and a few warriors.

All in all, the event had great people, great food, and it was for a great cause. I honestly would consider going again next year, on my own ticket!

I never got around to posting these pictures from my first-ever Farmer’s Market trip in June! It was absolutely beautiful and I’ve already posted about Lavender Moon Cupcakery, Chateau Gateau, and Buzz Bakery. The market is on the small side in terms of produce and craft options, but I love the little town of Alexandria so much that I think it’s worth it. The fresh squeezed orange juice we had at the market (see below) was pricey and we had to wait, but it was seriously one of the best orange juice experiences I’ve ever had. This stuff is fresh-squeezed (which is why we had to wait).

There are many great restaurants and shop in and around Old Town, and you can even take the ferry boat from here to DC or Maryland. I’ve eaten at Eamonn’s and Rustico, but haven’t posted about them yet. Eamonn’s is a great place to visit, like the Five Guys of fish n’ chips. Take your food down to the water and eat al fresco or pack a picnic~

On the evening of July 15th, I went to Washingtonian’s “Best of DC” Party. I had seen the information about this party prior to the event, but only went when I purchased a Groupon, making the $95 ticket only $50. I arrived at around 7:30 to the National Building Museum. The crowd here was a lot younger than I expected, mostly people in their upper 20s and lower 30s.

After waiting in line to check-in (I saw many people with Groupon print-outs in hand), we received our wrist bands and walked into the museum, which was decorated with an “Asian” motif. Not sure how I feel about that since it’s a little kitsch and an easy way out instead of coming up with an original theme, but I liked the ribbons and fishie cut outs as well as the imperial sun flower artwork (which  I saw someone wearing one of these flowers–I can’t believe they defaced the art like that!).

We stopped and got some Sweetgreen yogurt from the truck on the way to the building. I got tart yogurt with mini chocolate chips. I really liked the refreshing tartness of the yogurt, much better than some that I’ve had elsewhere.

After taking a program and a Washingtoninan “Best of” issue from a nearby table (which I don’t think we were supposed to), we made our way around. A lot of the tables were already sold out or were getting close because the building had opened up at 6pm for people that had “presidental ($125) tickets. Some of the food was good, some of it was not good, but none of it was amazing. I was sad to miss Rasika and the Source (as well as many others that had deserted their tables by about 8:30). I did get to meet one of the owners of Matchbox, who offered to buy us margarita’s, but sadly, the bar did not have alcohol–just beer and wine.

Below is the list of what we had:

• Sweetgreen: tart yogurt with strawberries/chocolate chips
• co.co sala: strawberry cheesecake lollipops, crab corn dogs
• commonwealth: beef brisket on toasted baguette topped with scallions
• founding farmers: nut mix, bread with roasted red pepper or guacamole dips
• 2941: chocolate pistachio diamant, seasonal pate de fruit, strawberry blueberry macaroon pops, milk chocolate ice cream sandwiches, chocolates
• the oval room: shrimp ceviche with “chorizo” and micorgreens
• georgetown cupcake: Red Velvet / Peanut Butter Fudge cupcakes
• bgr the burger joint: cheeseburger with pickle, diced onions, mustard
• kitchen: smoked salmon with truffle emulsion and small salad
• hook: summer berry shortcake, tuna w/ raspberry foam
• bangkok joe’s: pumpkin vegetarian “best” potsticker
• citronelle: chilled eggplant soup
• matchbox dc: sliders
• majestic: homemade mini hotdogs
• asian nine: some sushi roll with panko and sauce
• baked & wired: Peach/Cherry/Blueberry Pie, brownies
• domain de canton: ginger liquer
• stella artois
• hakutsuru: plum wine
• poste: lemon thyme “lemonade”
• water
• kirin ichiban
• cafe bonaparte/napolean cafe: pink pomegranate champane

I was so glad that they had plum wine at a tasting booth, that I went back multiple times. One of the best dishes was the pumpkin potsticker from Bangkok Joe’s, which I haven’t been able to get out of my mind since. They were steaming hot and the perfect blend of sweet and savory. At co.co. sala, I voiced my opinion on the restaurant, stating that I had a previously horrible experience, and the manager invited me back. Not that I’m going to go back, but it was nice to see a face with a name. Many dishes here were half-eaten before going in the garbage, such as Commonwealth’s brisket, the Crab Corn Dog at co.co. sala, both ‘sliders’ here, whose buns were atrocious. I was excited by seeing Citronelle, but the soup they offered was slightly off-putting. I loved the Peanut Butter Fudge cupcake at Georgetown Cupcake, but it was waay too rich for me. The molten fudge filling inside oozed out when you took a bite and I’m sure I had frosting and filling all over my face and hands by the end of it. Definitely a plate/fork deal, not napkin-hovering-while-standing-struggle. 2941′s macaroon pops were nice and fluffy, yet crispy on the outside. We also got chocolate-nut-toffee bark to take home. Hook’s cake was alright, but I spit the tuna right out when it went in my mouth. How disgusting! And I eat raw fish all the time, so it wasn’t that.

Apparently there was a lion dance performance (which I missed), but oh did I see the glow-in-the-dark interpretive hula-hoop/nunchuk dance. I was stifling laughter. Other than that, the music was young and slightly confused, but I could tell they were trying.

I’m glad that I went this time, but I don’t think it was worth it. It was a fun night out on the town, but absolutely not worth full price, and I won’t go next time even at half-off.