"CHEERS, SPRING" COFFEE AND CHAMPAGNE'S VERY FIRST EVENT
Consider this "Cheers, Spring" event, an ode to Spring, life, friends and fun! It's my way of breaking people free of the endless Winter we've been having. I for one have been tired of calling Manhattan a "Winter Wonderland" to try and make myself feel better about the heaps of snow I have to climb over with a puddle soaked shoe filled with gray slush. I've heard one or two birds chirp, I've seen Spring produce pop up in my local grocery stores, officially, the calendar now reads "Spring"—that's good enough for me!
"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!'"—Robin Williams
So, celebrate we did! The invitations went out, the RSVPs came rolling in, amazing vendors jumped on board. And in two-and-a-half weeks, my event went from an idea to a sold out success! From friends that have supported me in and out while building my company, to the faces behind some of those blogs and Instagram accounts I've been avidly following, every person in the room was interesting and exciting to talk to.
It was immediately clear to me that I wasn't the only one that has grown accustomed to eating my food at room temperature. Dining with my fellow food lovers who also appreciate the beauty of food, have that same desire to channel their inner artist and capture each dish at it's most gluttonous angle, and then ultimately go and share their food glamour shot with their social media families—let's just say, every dish had some serious modeling to do. Of course, I had a feeling this was going to be the case, so, yes, I made it worse (hehe).
In my toast, I welcomed people to take photos with the bonus that I planned to publish the ones that best highlighted the event in this very article. Really though, this is my fun way of saying, I admire all of your work and want you to be an even bigger part of my Coffee & Champagne community. That said, many of these photos were taken by my party's guests and are taken directly from the hashtags #CheersSpring and #CoffeeAndChampagne from Instagram.
Let me not get too far ahead of myself. Let's talk details from behind the scenes that made, well, the in front of the scenes (?!?!) .
My sponsors were absolutely amazing! I'll paint a picture.
As you round the corner of to enter the floral clad Hotel Chantelle event space, you pass what feels like a coffee shop. My friends, Anu and Suyog of Drift Away Coffee set up such a beautiful coffee station with calligraphy signage, paper cups, cozies with their logos stamped on them and pouches of their thoughtfully designed and packaged coffee flavors.
"All our coffee is single-origin, specialty grade, sourced from amazing coffee farms around the world. For every coffee, we go through a rigorous process of selection, sample roasting & tasting to develop the right roast profile." — Drift Away Coffee
Suyog stood behind the station, meticulously making pour over coffee to order—each batch was carefully weighed to make sure that it was brewed to absolute perfection. Making certain that every cup of coffee is catered to your personal liking in terms of both flavor and brewing is exactly what Drift Away Coffee is all about!
"We don’t send you any coffee – we only send you coffee you like"—Drift Away Coffee
As you, a guest, enter the event, you grab your perfectly brewed coffee "to-go" and begin caffeinating and mingling with other guests.
As you go to sit down, you are slightly surprised to see a red ballot styled sign on your seat. "Hmm, what is this?" you think to yourself. You need not fear, I explain that in my toast as well. You see, my event's next wonderful sponsor is Drizly.
"Your favorite beer, wine, or liquor delivered within an hour"—Drizly
Drizly is the fun-loving company that makes buying your alcohol the simplest possible process with directions like "Tell us where you are", to "Order and pay", to "Enjoy." I mean it doesn't get much easier than that!
Well, with the motto, "Get the door. It's the liquor store" —Drizly We had to show off the ease of this delivery service. Simply raise that red ballot any time your mimosa topped with grenadine is low and my friend Doug from Drizly or a Hotel Chantelle server will come and deliver you a refill. Love that! Better yet, cheers to that!
With endless coffee and champagne in hand, my gorgeous guests sat down to what felt like endless food served family style. After the appetizers, there were multiple comments like "wait, there's more food". Oh yes, Hotel Chantelle, knows how to feed people right! What a fantastic menu!
The first course was comprised of four delicious dishes.
Berry Compote, Yogurt & Granola with macerated fruit conserve, greek plain style yogurt, granola
Egg White Quiche with egg whites, wild mushrooms, white cheddar cheese
Avocado Toast toasted brioche topped with avocado purée, diced tomato, sliced avocado, onions, chili flakes
Kale Caesar Salad kale, shaved parmesan, garlic bread croutons, classic Caesar dressing
The second course held the fan favorite dish. *drum roll please* The Stuffed French Toast. (holy wow!)
Stuffed French Toast stuffed brioche with maple-infused mascarpone and ricotta, crusted in frosted flakes, maple syrup
Burger Bash Sliders made of three applewood smoked bacon-crusted burgers, stuffed with Maytag blue cheese, topped with tomato & house sauce
Scrambled Egg Crostini soft French style scrambled eggs served over our toasted crostini, vine ripe tomatoes, hollandaise drizzle
Ooh, and there were sides. Really really yummy sides!
Maple Glazed Applewood Smoked Bacon
Truffle Tater Tots
Pomme Frites
Right at the moment, when even food bloggers felt like there were no more flavors to enjoy, out paraded the servers carrying white trays filled with Baked By Melissa's new Spring cupcake flavors, Strawberry Cream, Chocolate Graham and Cotton Candy.
More specifically, their groundbreaking, wow-factor "cupcarons"—a combination of their beloved cupcakes and macarons! Knowing they were coming, I was even excited at their entrance!
Phones in hands, a fury of sound effect smartphone camera snaps filled the room. A minute ago, overly full, somehow, everyone had all the room in the world to gobble these delicious treats up!
Let's just say, by the end of the event, food bloggers and friends alike were happily stuffed, excited about the idea of my next event, and content to grab another coffee and roll on home.
En route out the door, were goodie bags! Hand-stamped and written by moi, goodie bags! I don't know, perhaps it's my inner child but any party where I get a present makes it an even better party! So, of course, I couldn't let my awesome guests leave empty-handed—a sentiment my sponsors entirely agreed with!
Inside was an extra Baked By Melissa cupcaron, a discount card for future Drizly orders, a postcard where you are gifted and delivered four free bags of coffee from Drift Away Coffee and a thoughtful "thank you" note from lil ol' me.
With that, I say, Cheers, Spring! And, I can't wait to toast Summer with you all!
