After The Wine

I love flowers just as much as the next person, but it can get pricey keeping fresh flowers all the time. So what is a girl to do when entertaining and she has already spent all her money on food for the scrumptious meal? Well, the picture gives it all away. Yes! Re-use your wine bottles as a centerpiece (that one you polished off last night) and reduce your carbon footprint in the process. It's stylish, elegant and you can say you made it - guests are very impressed by that :)

This works best if you use varying colored wine bottles with slightly different shapes. I imagine it won't be very hard to down amass a few bottles in the name of this crafty cause, but in the event you are not an oenophile, be a problem solver and get some from your wine friends or buy some "three buck chuck" at Trader Joe's ('cuz it doesn't get cheaper than that).

Directions: Remove the labels by submerging the bottles in hot water for a little while; they come off pretty easily after that. Purchase some candle tapers - the thinner, the better (at JoAnns or Hobby Lobby - don't proceed without a 40% off online coupon, BB&Beyond - don't proceed without your ubiquitous 20% off coupon mailer). I found a pack of 6 candles from JoAnns that fit perfectly into each bottle, but in the event your candlesticks are a little too thick to stick in the bottle directly, take a sharp, chef's knife and shave off the bottom inch (all the way around) each taper so it fits into the bottle opening. Press it down into the opening so it's secure and won't topple out. Add some votives around your bottles, light all the candles, and you will have created a lovely ambiance for your evening.

If this project is too daunting, you can always use your leftover wine bottles to hold water. I've seen restaurants do this. About an hour before your guests arrive, put the wine bottle filled with water in the refrigerator to cool down. I actually have a magnum-sized wine bottle that I utilize (can't seem to place where I got it from and therein probably lies the answer) which doesn't require as much refilling.

So after you drink your wine, just as happily re-use your bottles!

Naveen's Cuisine

Ordinarily I love celebrating my birthday, however lately I've been getting a little more uncomfortable with the ever-increasing number. So to combat these adverse feelings, this year I decided my birthday needed a little reboot. Birthday dinners in the past have involved places that are amiable to big groups such as Japonais, Andies Restaurant, Jin Jiu, Folklore or Greek Islands (now just seeing the ethnic food pattern). We always have a fabulous time, but the one thing that I've always disliked is the long table and inability to "really" talk with everyone. Connecting with people is really what this life is all about. After all, how could we get through the highs and lows without our people who surround and support us? But getting to those people, squished against the wall and 20 feet away from you, can create an obstacle toward intimacy.

Naveen's Cuisine on North Avenue helped solve this problem and combined three of my loves on this day - family, friends and cooking. Instead of booking a reservation at a restaurant, I booked a private Indian cooking demonstration at Naveen's. A cooking demonstration is where a chef shows you the ins and outs of making certain dishes - in our case 4 courses: Veggie Tikka Masala, Daal Makhani (lentils), Chicken Boti and salad. (This was not a hands-on cooking class where you make the dishes yourself.)

 

 

This is how it went down. Naveen made everything, we watched in rapt attention, he gave lots of tips, we asked lots of questions and then we ate all the delicious food - every last morsel. Some of his tips were to juice limes or lemons against a sharp knife (see picture above), use a pressure cooker (this is so on my birthday list for next year) to cook the lentils in 25 minutes versus 1 hour plus in a regular pot, employ a dough scraper to scoop up large piles of chopped veggies to transfer them into a bowl or pot instead of the side of a knife (I've totally starting doing this and it is so much more efficient and safer.) Additionally Naveen extended knife cutting techniques and acquainted us with Indian spices. Who knew that I could make my own garam masala and that all the required spices were already in my cabinet?


More pluses to our night. We had plenty of space to mingle and we were not confined to one big long table (as there were several highboy tables throughout the room). It was BYO...cheers! The price was competitive with a normal sit-down dinner and included 4 courses. We came away with all the recipes to attempt at home (made the chicken boti last month and it rocked). But the real gem is Naveen. He was so funny and cracked jokes the entire time. He kept everyone engaged with his great anecdotes and gregarious personality. Everyone kept exclaiming that he should be on TV and how the Food Network should be knocking on his door!

 

So how do you book your next cooking adventure at Naveen's? Simply go to his website and look at his calendar to see regularly scheduled cooking classes or demonstrations. He often offers Thai classes in addition to Indian. So grab a couple friends and make a night at Naveen's - bring an appetite because there will be plenty of food :) If you want a private personal or business event, contact him separately. Naveen also does Grab 'n Go meals too.

 

Birthday = success! It was great in so many ways from the educational and entertaining cooking demo in a relaxing venue to time spent with family and friends. And to top it off, we had fudge chocolate cake from Bittersweet Pastry. Should you ever have it, and I do encourage you to have it, you will never want another cake but this one again. You can and will thank me later. (As an aside, I had a sample of this cake many years ago on their sampler platter. It blew me away. I couldn't stop thinking about it. However, it took me a couple years of trying different chocolate cakes before I found "the one" because they seriously have like 12 different chocolate cakes.)