Blog interview from Judy Lee of Iridescence Bridal Couture

We had the opportunity to work with Judy Lee, owner of Iridescence Bridal Couture and creative director of an all-occasion bridesmaid dress collection called ju.lee for The Free Pamper Yourself special event earlier this year.

She did a mini-interview with me afterwards, just thought you may like to read all about it here.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Downtown Napa staycation - Part II

Usually, a highlight of any of my vacations is trying out great restaurants. This time, my hubby and I got to try 2 great ones; Bottega and Redd, both in Yountville.

Bottega is owned by Michael Chiarello, well-known for his TV shows on Food Network and Top Chef Masters shows. At Bottega, the cuisine is defined as "micro-regional Italian cuisine"; selecting the best dishes from across Italy and anchoring them with artisanal, heritage, or house-made ingredients.

We even caught a glimpse of the famous chef himself in the parking lot! We were trying to find a parking spot and lo and behold, we saw this man in chef whites walking towards the restaurant. Could it be? Yes, it was him alright! As we drove closer to him, I quickly rolled down my passenger-side window and shouted out to him "Hi chef!". He turned around and looked at us, trying to see if he recognizes us. Then I said "We're big fans and are trying your restaurant out for the first time." He was very gracious and wished us a good time inside. I wish I had taken a quick photo of him but I think it would have been weird and honestly, I was too star-struck to even think about it at that time...

On to our dinner, we decided to go with the following dishes:

Pecorino cheese pudding with crispy soft-boiled egg and forno roasted rapini

Polenta Under Glass, caramelized wild mushrooms with balsamic game sauce

Smoked Pasta with porcini mushrooms (One of the specials that day)

Adriatic Seafood Brodetto monkfish, mussels, rock cod and fresh Monterey calamari, forno-confit tomato broth, olive oil-crouton, paprika-saffron rouille

Vanilla Goat’s Milk Panna Cotta with saffron kumquat marmelleta and passionfruit citrus gelee

My favorites were the polenta and pasta dishes. The polenta was creamy and with the balsamic game sauce, it was the perfect comfort food. The pasta was just very earthy with all the mushrooms and I never had pasta that was smoked before so that added an interesting nuance to the dish. Needless to say, we were happily stuffed and rolled on our way back to our hotel.

The next day, we returned to Yountville for lunch at Redd. Redd is the complete opposite of Bottega, both in terms of the decor inside and the cuisine. Where Bottega evokes a warm and cozy feel in its dining room, Redd offers a more contemporary and casual feel in its open layout. Their cuisine is an "updated interpretation of wine country cuisine with influences from Asia, Europe, and Mexico in a relaxed yet elegant environment."

We were quite full from dinner last night but still wanted to try their specialties so we had the following:

Glazed pork belly, apple purée, burdock, soy caramel

Sashimi of hamachi, sticky rice, edamame, lime ginger sauce

Steamed pork buns, hoisin, vegetable salad

Dark chocolate pot de creme, hazelnut mousse, warm beignets

My favorites this time were the pork belly and dessert. I am a sucker for pork belly, and am drawn to any kind of pork belly dish on a menu. The ones here were so soft and tender that again, it's like comfort food to me. And for the dessert, the combination of the dark chocolate sauce and hazelnut mousse was what did it for me, it was so good that I did not need the beignets, just give me another glass of that and a spoon and I'm good!

If you think all we did in Napa was eat, that's not entirely true... We did visit a couple of wineries in the area and I am going to leave you with this picture that summarizes what the wine country means to me.

Bella Bridesmaids: Jenny Yoo August Sale

Jenny Yoo is offering a Perfect Sale for the Perfect Dress! For the month of August take an additional 15% off any Jenny Yoo Collection orders. This sale includes all bridal, bridesmaid, flower girl and junior bridesmaid dresses! Don't miss this amazing event at Bella Bridesmaid!

To schedule an appointment:
Call (408)399-4649 or email losgatos@bellabridesmaid.com

Address: 465 N. Santa Cruz Ave. Suite A, Los Gatos, CA, 95030

Downtown Napa staycation - Part I

A few weeks ago, my husband and I took off to Napa Valley for a mini vacation. It is nice to take little breaks like this just to take in new surroundings and rejuvenate yourself. We have been to Napa Valley before and each time, we try to go to different areas, this time, we are focusing on downtown Napa.

We stayed at this new boutique hotel in downtown Napa called AVIA. I like that it has a contemporary yet warm feel to it; the color palette in the guest rooms consists of various shades of brown, chocolate with accents of moss green. On their website, they describe it as "rustically elegant". I love the bathroom too! It is big and bright as they use Eastern White marble over the entire bathroom, including the oversized walk-in shower. Bathrooms in hotels are very important to me, if it's too small or outdated-looking, that can break the deal for me.

As it was lunchtime soon after checking in, we decided to take a stroll through downtown Napa to get to the Oxbow Public Market, a smaller market kind of like the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco.

After walking around the entire market, we decided to have lunch at Pica Pica Maize Kitchen. This place serves up Venezuelan cuisine and favorites such as the arepa; a grilled corn flour cake, the cachapa; a sweet corn pancake and the maize'wich; a sweet corn bread. Basically, you choose one of the three breads and then one of the many different stuffings available to make a sandwich.

We chose to have the chorizo capacha (left) and the pulled pork maize'wich (right) with a side of yucca fries (middle).

Both sandwiches were pretty good, I like how the sweetness of the corn contrast with the savory-ness of the meats. I did not try the yucca fries but my husband said that they were good!

In the evening, we went to the Chef's Market that was taking place just a block away from our hotel. For a Thursday night, we were quite surprised at how many people actually showed up at this outdoor event. It is like a farmer's market with live entertainment and cooking demonstrations. We tried the cherries at different stands, wine-infused jams and preserves and sat through a cooking demonstration of ahi tuna tartare salad. At the end of the demonstration, they gave out samplings of the dish and even complimentary sauvignon blanc to go with the dish! This is Napa after all...

Stay tuned for the second part of my recap as we visited Michael Chiarello's Bottega Restaurant and Redd in Yountville!

Wedding Jewelry Giveaway From One World Designs

Bonnie Harper from One World Designs is an amazing jewelry and wedding accessories designer. I had a chance to work with her on The Free Pamper Yourself Event earlier this year and was blown away by her beautiful work and warm personality.

Starting today through next Thursday, July 2nd, she is having a 'Wedding Jewelry Giveaway', where she will be gifting two $150 gift vouchers toward the purchase of any of her jewelry and accessories! Check out this blog on details on how to enter for the drawing.

Good luck!

Destination Weddings at Silicon Valley NACE May Meeting

The other continuing education event I attended last month was held by the Silicon Valley NACE chapter at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose. I was really looking forward to this event as there was going to be a panel of wedding industry professionals who were going to talk about destination weddings and high-end celebrations.

The theme of the event was Alice in Wonderland and it was perfectly conceptualized in the main ballroom of Silver Creek Valley Country Club, where we spent the main portion of our time that evening.

Check out the centerpieces!

Dinner at Silver Creek Valley Country Club never disappoints; for salad, we had mixed baby greens, artichokes, tomatoes and carrot curls with balsamic dressing.

For the entree, we had petit filet mignon, roasted shallots with Merlot reduction sauce, garlic herb potato au gratin and fresh seasonal vegetables.

For dessert, we had yummy mini cupcakes from Jen's Cakes.

After dinner, we awaited excitedly to hear from the panel of speakers; planner Sasha Souza of Sasha Souza Events; videographer Andrew Hsu, of Studio MSV; baker Jen Kwapinski, of Jen's Cakes; and photographer Brook Todd, of Alisha + Brook Photographers. They shared valuable information regarding what issues to watch out for in planning and coordinating destination weddings. Do you know that you have to pay customs tax for flowers you bring into certain countries? Do you know what kind of wedding professionals you should hire locally and whom you should hire from where you are located? That is definitely useful information to know beforehand!

I think this event has been very informative and it's nice to see how other wedding professionals work with destination weddings.

Lula Kate Trunk Show at Bella Bridesmaid Los Gatos

You're invited to see the latest in bridesmaid dresses from Lula Kate at Bella Bridesmaid Los Gatos!

Start Time: Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 10:00am
End Time: Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 6:00pm

Address: 465 N. Santa Cruz Ave. Suite A, Los Gatos, CA, 95030

Sip complimentary champagne cocktails and enjoy:
- 10% off orders placed by June 30th, 2010

To reserve an appointment:
Call (408)399-4649 or email losgatos@bellabridesmaid.com

For more information, please visit Bella Bridesmaid.