Hippocratic Oats

Emily’s 4th Annual Wine Dinner: Scenes from and Italian Restaurant

January 23, 2012 at 10:43 pm 1 comment

It’s that most wonderful time of the year again! Emily’s birthday!!! We all know what that means. BIRTHDAY WINE DINNER. A few weeks ago, my invitation arrived in the mail. Emily had created a boarding pass that included party details and info about the menu. She’s so creative!

I drove out to Webster MA, Saturday morning. For some reason I thought it wouldn’t be a problem to drive through the “storm.” Big mistake. My car could definitely handle the snow (thanks to my snow tires) but the roads were terrible. Everyone (without snow tires) tended to drive very very slow, and a ride that should have taken 3 hours (from Fonda) took over 4. When I finally arrived, Em and I made a quick trip over to her local salon so she could get her hair done. After quite the adventure, we made it back to Em’s house and she started prepping for dinner.

When I wasn’t helping out, I managed to get a few good shots of the set up before the other guests arrived. Em was going for an Italian restaurant vibe. The lights were a nice touch.

Emily crafted up place card holders out of wine corks and some ribbon. She’s so crafty!

The menu was not only delicious but beautifully designed. Emily and Katie embossed them on one of their recent Craft-ernoons.

Some of the wine.

By 6 the guests had all arrived, and it was time for the festivities to start!

The view from my seat.

Vicki and me!

Vicki and Nick. I managed to snap several other fantastic photos of Vicki and Nick, but because I value my friendship with Vicki and want to keep it intact, they will not be posted

Michele, me and our amazing hostess…after we all had enjoyed a few glasses of wine.

On to the food!

First course: Lemon chevre stuffed fig wrapped in prosciutto with balsamic glace

Course two: Red pepper and portabella mushroom pizza…

….paired with herbed provolone and Dolcetta D’Alba.

Third course: Chicken and mushroom risotto and asparagus paired with pecorino romano and pinot noir.

Fourth course: Dark chocolate biscotti paired with gruyere and zinfandel

Night in Review:

Favorite individual food: It’s a tie between the herbed provolone and the pizza.

Favorite pairing: The biscotti and gruyere. I honestly didn’t expect to like this combo, but holy awesome tasting party in my mouth! These two mixed with the zinfandel were pretty incredible.

Favorite Wine: All of them! After intermission wine, they all start tasting like the best wine I ever tried

Favorite surprise: A charlie the unicorn button from Michele!

Favorite funny moment: Tie between the Vicki/Nick photo shoot and any conversation with Emily after intermission wine (part deux)

Favorite PJ pants: No contest, Nick wins with all-season satin

Favorite overall moment: Any moment I got to spread with some of my favorite people in the world (awww sappy but true!)

No wine dinner would be complete, without Emily’s famous brunch the next day. This Emily whipped up a tasty broccoli quiche and a french toast bake. I didn’t take as many pictures the next morning because post wine dinner photos are never anyone’s favorite pic. Regardless, the weekend was awesome, and I can’t wait for next year! It’s already on my google calendar!

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