Monday, May 12, 2014

Lobster de Mayo With My Ladies & Cooking Tips From Katie Lee

This Saturday in NYC was the first annual Lobster De Mayo, which is basically my dining dream come true. The event featured 18 of the city's best restaurants creating lobster dishes for tasting as well as Patron tequila cocktails and pairings. My roommates and I were in culinary and cocktail heaven sampling all of the deliciousness during the fest at Capitale.
My favorite dishes were the poached lobster from Betony, the mini lobster rolls and lobster mac and cheese from Catch and the truffled lobster and salmon sushi from The General
Foodie supermodel Chrissy Teigen attended the event, which was hosted by The Food Network's Katie Lee, who shared some of her summer cooking tips. While many of the dishes there were super elaborate, when it comes to cooking crustaceans yourself, she says to keep it simple. 
"I usually just steam them and I'll put down a bunch of newspaper on the table and let everyone have at it. We always eat outside and have corn on the cob, potatoes and cole slaw," she said.  If lobster's not necessarily your thing, Katie suggests summer salads when entertaining at cookouts. "If I'm having people for a barbecue, I make all my salads ahead of time and then all I have to do is grill the meat," Katie says. 

But salad doesn't have to mean strictly lettuce as a base. "I do a lot of grain salads, like quinoa or farro, and I'll put some fresh veggies in there with some light vinaigrette," she explains. If you're clueless about what to marinate your meat in, Katie recommends chili powder, lime juice, garlic and olive oil. "If it's chicken, let it marinate at least an hour," she suggests. "And don't be afraid to salt your meat!"

Katie also said she'll be spending a lot of her summer in the Hamptons, and so will I. Our Montauk house starts Memorial Day weekend and I'll be doing some freelancing out there for Hamptons publications, so it should be a great summer. What's your favorite summer go to dish to make (or eat)?

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

The Met Gala, Mother's Day and My Sister's Single

So in case you were living under a very unstylish rock, the annual Met Gala was last night here in NYC and basically every celebrity in the world was there to show off their fiercest fashion. My best dressed awards go to Emma Stone wearing Thakoon and Rihanna rocking Stella McCartney. These ladies were killing it in their crop tops.
How did we all feel about Beyonce's face net and plunging studded sheer dress? I kinda love it. Golf claps for Jay-Z, who suited up nicely for the occasion in his white tuxedo jacket. Despite his hit "Tom Ford," Jay's dapper look is not by the designer. Both Bey and Jay wore Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci for the Costume Institute Gala and they win my best dressed couple award (sorry, KimYe).
Worst dressed of the night has to be Katie Holmes in this Marchesa mess. I love yellow but this gown is awful. Leave this look to Belle from Beauty and the Beast, girlfriend.
Lupita Nyong'o was another fashion fail in this Prada number, which totally says "Flapper on an acid trip." 
Who's look did you love and hate from the Met Gala? 
Mother's Day is this Sunday and if you haven't gotten your mom a gift yet, there's still time to get shopping! On Sunday, I did a gift guide for Fox & Friends if you need some inspiration.
Check out the segment here for some ideas. As a surprise for my own mom, I put pictures of her in the Pottery Barn frame thinking she'd get a kick of out of having a cameo in the segment, but you couldn't really see them on camera. It's the thought that counts though, right? Love ya, Mom! I wore a Vineyard Vines Derby dress that day, which you can see better in the pic below. Shout out to my roomie Lindsay for waking up bright and early with me at 5:45 a.m. and coming along to help out! After I finished with work, I went to meet my sister Erica for brunch at Agave, who was in town for a meeting about her new song.
My sister is a music teacher as well as a singer/songwriter and her single "Take Me Over" with Tim White is out on iTunes today! Listen to it below and go buy it here...super catchy. Congratulations!