what would your city taste like?

Like this design? Create an Evite invitation with this image.

LA is my lady, but vodka may be my best girl. So imagine my delight when I heard that Absolut has launched a vodka for my city. What does Los Angeles taste like? No, not smog and silicone, smartypants. It's a lovely-sounding blend of trendy fruits: pomegranate, blueberry, acai and acerola. Even sweeter, Absolut is donating $250,000 from sales of the voddy to an environmental charity. Très LA.

This is the second US city Absolut has honored with its own flavor. First was New Orleans, a mango and black pepper vodka. Spicy! They're also taking nominations for more cities, which leads me to ask: What would your city taste like?

So, Dallas, Austin, are you thinking jalapeño vodka, or something with grapefruit (your state fruit; yes, I looked it up)? New Yorkers, do you want yours to taste like apples? Miami, will you bring us a key lime vodka with a twist of orange? And Philly, please don't make a cheesesteak-flavored vodka, because I will be tempted to taste it.

shake your pool thing

During the day, a crystal-clear, blue pool is incredibly inviting. But come nightfall, it's all about the light show. This AquaGlow Underwater Light Starship Light Show (pretty much a floating disco ball) looks like just the thing to funk up your laps, add some camp to your cannonballs and turn any evening pool party into a disco inferno.

The Starship boasts ten different light shows with rotating lights and colors. Then all you need is the perfect soundtrack. I'll start you off: "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" by the Gap Band, "Love Rollercoaster" by the Ohio Players, Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" and "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme (A Man After Midnight)" by ABBA.

What's missing? Songs about water, pools or summer. The only water-related disco songs I could find were "It's Raining Men," by the Weather Girls and The Hues Corporation's "Rock the Boat." So ten points to anyone who can find a disco song that works for a pool party and isn't just about gettin' down tonight and lovin' to love you.

here's to beer (part 3)

Beer, glorious beer. Beer sommelier, educator, writer and super-cool beer chick Christina Perozzi is here to tell us all — chicks and non-chicks alike — about the finer points of our favorite fizzy lifting drink.

In the last installment of our three-part interview, find out how to get your friends (or your own taste buds) to embrace beer. Also, be sure to read about Christina's take on beer trends and summer favorites and how to host a beer-pairing dinner.

Why do you think women don't seem to be as into beer as men are?
It's all because of advertising! Beer has just been so masculinized with dancing bikini girls and famous dogs and sparks that women don’t want to be associated with those images. Mass-produced and industrialized breweries have really given beer a bad name for women. But it's really a shame because we’re living in a self-imposed exile, not realizing that beer can taste like apricots and cocoa with banana and clove and lemongrass and coriander!

How do you turn a beer-phobic woman into a convert?
I just give her a beer that debunks her misconceptions about beer. I’ll ask her a couple of questions — usually not about beer at all — to get an understanding of what flavor profile I think she’ll like. And then I’ll give her a great beer she’ll love and that according to her “doesn’t taste like beer at all!” But that’s a compliment, I think.

question of the week: celebrity caterer

I was recently lucky enough to be invited to a dinner party that was catered by the sous chef (who happened to be a good friend of the host's) of a fancy restaurant. Not only was the food delicious, but the guests had so much fun watching the chef cook, picking his brain on his favorite ingredients and marveling at his spectacular knife skills.

It got me thinking: How great would it be if I could get a chef to cater my parties? Or, even better, a celebrity chef? Since watching cooking shows happens to be one of my favorite pastimes, I have a whole list of chefs who I'd love to have in my kitchen — Alton Brown for entertainment value, Tom Colicchio for eye candy, Giada De Laurentiis for delectable Italian food (and, let's face it, some killer fashion and beauty tips), and Nobu Matsuhisa for truly amazing sushi. I could keep going....

Let us know who reigns supreme in your kitchen. If we left your favorite off the list, tell us in the comments.

twiigs.com

veggie platter makeover

Wilted celery sticks, boring baby carrots: To the compost heap with you! It’s time for a crudité revamp. No more foisting predictable snacks on my party guests. Inspired by the recent Bastille Day festival in L.A. (a Parisian waiters' race? French lawn bowling? Whoo hoo!), I thought a more authentic French spread would be très chic and not too heavy in the heat.

Aioli, a garlic mayonnaise, serves as both dip and spread, and perks up everything from the asparagus to crab to plain hunks of bread. The only thing is making a true aioli sort of freaks me out, what with the raw egg yolks and all (plus, my kitchen is currently very hot). So I cheated with a fast mayo-based recipe, which works just fine if you’re short on time.

I invited over a friend and her fiancé for lunch, and it turns out the spread was way more filling than I expected. With the addition of crusty bread and cheese, the recipe here worked as a full lunch for four (with leftovers). Or try it as a grazing platter at a large party.

grownups just want to have fu-un

Eviter Miya asks, “I want to throw a slumber party for my closest girlfriends (keep in mind we are not teenagers; we are all in our late 20s). I could really use some suggestions for themes, favors, games, food, etc. The only thing I have that is concrete so far is a signature drink! ‘Slumberpartini.’ Help!!!”

Oh, my slumber party days of yore! I’ve long wanted to throw a slumber party for my adult girlfriends. Here’s how I’d do it.

bottle it up

A bottle of something tasty is a great stand-by party gift. You can personalize it to the host's taste, spend as much as you like (without the actual price being too obvious), and the host can add it to the party bevvies if supplies run low.

But showing up at a party with an unwrapped bottle or the I-just-stopped-at-the-store-on-the-way-here brown paper bag just doesn't always cut it, so we've compiled some great ways to dress up your drinkable gifts.

• Environmental lifestyle expert Danny Seo created the amazingly crafty way to wrap bottles in newspaper shown above, and he's even nice enough to explain how to re-create it.
• Shelterrific featured a clever, DIY gift tag alternative (print out classic drink recipes featuring the liquor you're giving and attach to the bottle).
• These wine bottle gift bags from CB2 are made from 100% recyclable kraft paper, and feature wine-related messages to get you geared up for the good stuff inside.
• Target sells pewter bottle tags with celebratory messages, like "congrats," "celebrate," "thank you" and "cheers."
• Personalize your bottle with a wine sleeve, matching gift tag and label using this Gift of Wine gift-wrap kit, available at Chronicle Books.

Tip for teetotalers: Spirits are not the only way to show your party spirit. Flavored syrups are a welcome gift for people with a sweet tooth, fresh-squeezed juices are lovely for a brunch, and retro or hard-to-find sodas (Moxie! Tab!) are a fun way to take the sting off of an unwelcome "advanced" birthday. Although some people may need the hard stuff to get through those....

here's to beer (part 2)

Beer. It's what's for dinner, and barbecues, and formal dinners and hot summer days.... Beer sommelier, educator, writer and super-cool beer chick Christina Perozzi is here to tell us all — chicks and non-chicks alike — about the finer points of our favorite fizzy lifting drink.

In this installment of our three-part interview, find out how to put together a beer-pairing dinner. Then stay tuned for a future post on how to turn your favorite beerphobes into beer fans -- and read about Christina's take on beer trends and summer favorites.

How is beer-pairing different from wine-pairing?
It's not really any different. I’m still pairing a beer based on the same principles that people use to pair wine with food. I find ways in which the beer parallels the food, ways that it's similar, or ways that the beer can enhance flavors in the food....

For instance, I did a pairing with a saison (a farmhouse Belgian ale) and a scallop dish. The scallop dish had sour capers, peppery arugula and lemon zest — and the saison had a tart sourness, peppery notes and hoppy citrus notes. So those flavors were all enhancing each other.

I also pair beer in what I call perpendicular ways, in which the beer will cut through the food as well. In the instance that I mentioned, the scallop dish was also very rich and buttery, and the perceived dryness from the hops in the saison cut right through that and really cleaned up the palate after every bite.

Beer pairing is a little different, though, because there are so many more overt flavors and ingredients in beer, that sometimes a beer will make a better pairing with a food than wine, especially for notoriously difficult wine pairings like asparagus, eggplant, artichokes, super spicy foods, chocolate.... I could name five different beer styles that would make great pairings for each of those foods.

question of the week: mid-summer check-in

New Year's Eve may be the official time for resolutions, but summer comes in a close second. As soon as the weather warms up, the promises start. It usually goes a little something like this: "This summer I'm going to eat as many meals outside as I can." "I have to go to the beach this summer." "Before summer is over, I'm going camping/biking/to an outdoor concert."

Sound familiar? If you're anything like me (and good luck to you if you are), you start the summer with big plans and high hopes and then stand around shocked in your sweater come autumn when summer has whizzed by and you haven't done most of the things on your big summer to-do list.

Consider this your friendly mid-summer reminder. July is nearly over, people, and the days aren't getting any longer. So plan your BBQ (here are your invitations and BBQ party guide), make a big container of sun tea, go to a drive-in movie, eat ice cream for lunch, get tickets to an outdoor concert, and enjoy every warm night and cool breeze that comes your way.

twiigs.com

hot sun, cool beauty

For a beauty junkie like me, getting dolled up before a party is half the fun of being invited. But getting ready for a summer barbecue flips the whole process on its ear. Suddenly you have to start worrying about heat, humidity and (gasp!) perspiration. None of the above are conducive to a flawless face, but there are some tricks and products that can help you feel party-ready without having the dreaded makeup meltdown.

• Skip the powder. It's not going to last through your first kiss-hello, so you might as well kiss it good-bye. If going powder-less makes you feel unfinished, grab some blotting sheets. They absorb any shine on the surface to keep you as matte as possible. And they're perfect to throw in your bag for quick touch-ups throughout the day. Powder on damp skin is a big no.
• I get how blush seems a little counterintuitive to this situation: If you're warm enough that you're worried about sweating off your makeup, aren't your cheeks going to be flushed? Most likely, yes. But I'm a blush fanatic. Stain blushes give you that perfect pinched-cheek glow, and these days you can find them in colors to suit every complexion. My beloved Stainiac from TheBalm is simple to use and perfect to dab on lips as well as cheeks.
• It probably goes without saying that this is not the time for smoky eyes. Instead, add a little bit of definition by way of a mascara that simply darkens instead of thickens. Clinique Naturally Glossy Mascara fits the bill — it's like a stain for your lashes.
• Don't fight your natural hair texture, especially if you're dealing with humidity. I'm a big fan of the sunglasses-as-a-headband trick to keep my hair out of my face, but a drop or two of the right product can be even more effective. Kiehl's Creme with Silk Groom is becoming a cult product around the Evite office for taming flyaways and smoothing frizz, and it's loved by curly- and straight-haired girls alike.