{travel: 24 hours in temecula}

Last month two of my fave bloggers, Lauren of A Fabulous Fete & Sharon of Cupcakes & Cutlery, invited me to join them on a sleepover getaway to Temecula along with 5 other bloggers.  Um yes please- where do I sign up?!?  Temecula is a lot like Palm Springs since it's barely a two hour drive away from Los Angeles, but it feels like a whole different world (plus there are wineries there so you know... it's similar to heaven).  Here's the perfect little itinerary based on our fabulous 24 hours there (plus a few more fun shots from our trip at the bottom of the post!):

Stay at THE COACH HOUSE: We met up in Temecula early Saturday morning at our accommodations for the night, The Coach House at Lorimar Winery, which was an adorable house behind Lorimar's Winery.  You can rent it out through Lorimar Winery and it very comfortably slept all eight of us ladies- plus this mirror lives there.

Wine Taste at LORIMAR WINERY:  You are in Temecula to relax and to taste wine so get started on the wine drinking at Lorimar Winery.

Eat lunch at LEONESS CELLARS:  Leoness Cellars is a another beautiful winery down the road.  You can head here next for a fabulous lunch overlooking the vineyards (do not miss out on their famous fries!).  Then after lunch you can go for round 2 of wine-tasting in their tasting room.

More Wine Tasting at WEINS WINERY:  In my opinion three wineries is the perfect amount of a day of leisurely wine tasting so end your day with a tasting at Weins Winery then head home for a quick disco nap and freshen up for a dinner out!

Grab Dinner At BLACKBIRD:  During our trip we had a fabulous private dinner catered for us inside Lorimar Winery, but thats probably not a feasible option everytime you head out for a quick weekend get-a-away so make reservations for dinner at Blackbird in downtown Temecula.

Grab Brunch at EAT Marketplace:  Brunch.  You guys.  If you don't have brunch (or some other similarly decadent room service breakfast with champagne) while on vacation then you are doing it wrong.  EAT Marketplace is first of all totally adorable, but second of all they have a huge line up of fresh smoothies AND mimosas.  Get a green juice and a grapefruit mimosa and feel good about your choices in life.  The food is also insanely good, all sourced locally and organic - bonus points!!

Go Shopping at DOWNTOWN TEMECULA;  After overeating enjoying brunch, go a for a walk to nearby downtown Temecula and do a little shopping.  We stopped in this fabulous spice store where I picked up some sriracha salt (for margarita rims of course), this old school candy shop, and this quaint little lavender shop.  My favorite place that we popped into (and you simply cannot miss this one) was the Temecula Olive Oil company.  You can do an olive oil tasting of all of their different oils and vinegars and then take home your favorites!

Here's a few snaps from our trip:

 {image via Lauren}

{image via Sharon}

{image via Sharon}

  {image via Lauren}

 {image via Sharon}

{dress from here,  image via Lauren}

 {image via Sharon}

{image via Sharon}

{party inspiration: bocce + bro-sé}

One day back when we were in Paris, we were sitting around with a few friends of ours and one of our male friends jokingly referring to his glass of rosé wine as "bro-sé" in an attempt to make the pink liquid seem more manly.  We all thought this was hilarious and joked around about for a little bit until it occurred to me that this idea of "bro-sé" could make for a really fun party in the summer.  Since alliteration makes everything sounds better, I thought a little outdoor get together of bocce + brosé would be the perfect party to throw once the weather warms up.  Similar to the cocktails + croquet party inspiration from here this party would be a simple set up of outdoor games, small fresh bites and lots of rosé (this bottle is one of my all time favorites and you can find it at Whole Foods!)

  Ask all your guy friends to round up their most masculine bottle of rosé to share and you'll whip up a batch of these or these for guests to munch on.  Since you will be outdoors, keep the decor simple with colorful blankets and a handful of signs like this one for the game area.  Even though it's a simple outdoor party, I would still want to don a glamorous summer dress like this one!  Also this image would absolutely have to be used somewhere in relation to the party- perhaps on the invite?

{friday cocktail: la vie en rouge}

Today's cocktail could not be more perfect for Valentine's Friday with it's deep red color that comes from Lillet Rouge, a delicious and slightly sweet fortified wine.  I have tried both the Lillet Rose & Lillet Blanc from bottles I located in specialty stores in the US, but I had yet to try their original, Lillet Rouge.  What better place to sample a bottle than in Paris where you can find this spirit in most local grocery stores!  I adapted today's recipe based on this cocktail, but added in honey syrup and subbed orange juice based on availability.  I also upped the amount of gin because that just felt right to me.  Hope you enjoy this or another tasty cocktail with a loved one this evening!

Cheers!

{holiday party idea: blind wine tasting}

A couple years ago, our friends hosted a super fun wine tasting party at their place that I have been dying to recreate.  So when Target asked me to put together a little holiday party inspiration using some of their new products,  I immediately thought the wine tasting idea would be perfect for a quick and easy holiday party!

The way this party works is you will ask each guest or couple to bring a bottle of wine under $25 - you can even specify a varietal like Pinot Noir. When the guests enter have them hand you the bottle so that you can wrap it in kraft paper or a brown bag and then assign their bottle a number without anyone else seeing (as the host you will be the only one who knows all the different bottles and their corresponding numbers).  Ideally you will have one glass per bottle per guest so that guests can try the different wines and refer back to them rather than emptying out their glass.  We have a shocking amount of wine glasses in our house, but if you don't own enough wine glasses to make this possible then you can easily rent some.

Serve appetizers as well as some sweets and let guests mingle while trying the different wines then reporting their thoughts on printed "notes" cards.  Tally up the favorite bottle selections at the end of the night (this bottle of Pinot Noir won the year we did this) and give the guest who brought the winning bottle a nice bottle of wine or another fun gift!  Links to items used for this party are under each photo and the download links to the printables are at the bottom of this post!

{gold Nate Berkus vase, gold prism tray, wine glasses}

 {wine tag printable}

 {wine bottle number printable}

 {gold rimmed decanters}

 {leftover florals from our Thanksgiving dinner which I will be sharing later this week}

 {gold rimmed agate tray, white ceramic trophy vase from older Target collection but find a similar one here, wine notes printables}

 {vintage black milk glass cake stands - find similar here}

 {gold prism tray by Nate Berkus, gold/black wrapping paper from holiday dept at Target}

  {I like the idea of setting up a spot for each guest to keep their glasses so that they aren't trying to roam your party holding 3 or 4 in one hand- I used simple place cards to designate an area for each person}

{free download link for wine tasting party printables}

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Target via Glam Media.  The 

opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of 

the opinions or positions of Target.

{host your own series: wine pairings}

Obviously you don't need to be knowledgeable about wine to enjoy drinking it, but you DO need a little guidance if you are going to find wines whose flavors will be heightened by the food you are serving and vice versa.  So for this installment of our Host Your Own series, I have put together a little wine pairing cheat for you!

For our upcoming lamb dinner party, we plan on starting out with cocktails(obviously!) and champagne to serve alongside our appetizers, but our main course is going to require a good red wine.  This list of red wine pairings will go well with any lamb dish, but I specifically chose wines with our moroccan flavored meal in mind.  While there are many varying opinions on which type of varietal goes best with lamb, one thing that is certain is that the wine needs to be robust and full-bodied to complement the rich flavor of the meat. 

 {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

I wanted to include wines in the under $10 range that are readily available even if you dont have a fancy wine store nearby.  Both of the under $10 wines are from my local Trader Joe's, but you should be able to find them at your local market or Bevmo.  I cannot take all the credit since I had some help selecting the wines in the under $20 & $35 categories from the wonderful team at Buzz Wine Shop which is located just down the street from our loft.  If you live in Los Angeles, you will be able to find the wines in these last two categories at Buzz.  If you live elsewhere, a quick search for these wines on the internet should yield you some options for having these bottles shipped directly.

Now you can stop buying wines based off of how pretty the label is and use this guide when  selecting wine to pair with your next dinner party!

{kale chips + weekend photos}

I finally had a chance to make the kale chips that I mentioned here and they did not disappoint. I followed Smitten Kitchen's very simple and quick recipe here and added a teaspoon of lemon zest. This bowl disappeared in about 3 minutes and we were already brainstorming different ways we want to try using these such as served over mashed potatoes or as a garnish over steak.

This past weekend started with a dinner on Friday night dinner at Bottega Louie followed by a Saturday spent wine tasting in Santa Barbara/Los Olivos.  Sunday started with a relaxed brunch and a shopping trip to find the perfect planter for our citrus tree. Here are some photos from the past few days:

 {tasting board at Dragonette Cellars- Hillard Bruce Pinot Noir is amazing}

 {tasting at Epihany- the Petite Sirah was accompanied by chocolate}

{sunday brunch}

{muji being dramatic}