{host your own series: do-ahead menus}

{menu from our 26th birthday}

In the first post of our Host Your Own Series, Kevin walks through the benefits of a make-ahead dinner party menu and highlights some of the dishes we will be serving at our upcoming dinner!  Head over to The Dining Society to check out all his great industry insight by clicking here!

{diy bridesmaid's hangers}

 {image via Cherry Blossom Girl}

One of my favorite pictures from weddings are the ones of the bridesmaid's and bride's dresses hanging all lined up (like the gorgeous image above from MLH).  I recently spotted a great deal on a set of vintage gold hangers on Etsy and I immediately knew what they would perfect for (similar hangers available here).  Rather than use whatever hangers are lying around on the day of the wedding, I decided to take a few minutes and make some more photogenic hangers.

I picked up two different colors/sizes of lace from Target Trim and then whipped up a little girly graphic which I personalized for each bridesmaid and printed onto a plain white cardstock.   After cutting out each graphic, I affixed it to the lace with a small dab of hot glue.  If you would like a copy of the graphic I used email me and I will send you a file that you can personalize yourself. 
 

{recreating a Bottega Louie favorite}

I cannot even count the amount of times we have been to Bottega Louie since it opened a few years back and that is not even including the times I have run in to pick up macarons or coffee.  One of my favorite dishes to order for dinner is their Trenne Pasta which is a pan fried triangle shaped pasta served with kale, carrots and braised short ribs.   This past weekend while my mom was visiting, we decided instead of going to Bottega Louie we would try to recreate one of our favorite meals at home.

After some searching, it became clear that a recipe for this exact dish did not exist so we had to piece it together using various recipes.  This dish is going to take you a little bit of time, it's not going to be a great weekend night meal since you will need a few hours to braise the short ribs (time that I promise you will not regret).  We found the braised short ribs recipe on the Pioneer Woman.  I was able to find the Trenne shaped pasta at our local Whole Foods, but you can also purchase it here or substitute it with a regular penne shaped pasta.  I also whipped up an easy side dish of baked acorn squash which we topped generously with parmesan cheese and black truffle salt.

We followed the Pioneer Woman's recipe almost exactly except once the short ribs were done, we pulled the meat off the bones and boiled the cooking liquid until it reduced by half.  While this was boiling we cooked the trenne pasta to al dente and sauteed the kale with some garlic and set aside. 

Now the final step was to fry up the pasta and add the rest of the ingredients.  Basically you are heating up some butter or oil in a large saute pan, throwing the pasta in and shaking the pasta until you achieve a nice golden brown color and a slight crispy finish.  You can reference this recipe for more detailed instructions on the pan frying.  Once the pasta is nice and crispy add the kale, short rib meat, and some of the reduced cooking liquid.  Reheat all of the ingredients and let the flavors come together over medium heat and serve with some fresh grated Paremsan cheese.  Enjoy!   

We also stopped by Bottega earlier in the day to pick up some desserts. I am not even going to try to act like I could recreate these. Somethings are just better left to the professionals. 

 {lemon tart, caramel budino, vanilla bean cream custard with raspberries & pistachio}