Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I wanted to give an extra shout-out to the lovely Lauren De Vine of  Lauren De Vine Beverages   for these Prêt-à-Fête cocktail starters. I ordered two four-packs from her CSLDV last week to take with me to the redwoods for Jake's 40th birthday party. I adore having creative friends. Love it! I love that Lauren's creations come pre-portioned in mason jars for easy transport and easy serving! This week, the flavors were Spring-y and bright. Perfect for ringing in a new decade. I received the strawberry fennel shrub with lime juice and zest. Lauren wrote that it would be "great with tequila" and it was. We also had the tangerine, lavender, and Big Sur citrus blossom. I poured in some prosecco and it was an instant hit. We sipped, shared, toasted, and enjoyed. My only regret: I should have ordered more. Next time...

Most Friday evenings all I want to do is come home from work, slip into comfy clothes, whip up a filling dinner, and lounge with my boys, playing games or watching a movie. But every now and then, Jake and I ditch the kids for uninterrupted conversation and a little romance. After seventeen years, I now know the formula for the perfect Friday night: art, libations, and food. And it fell into my lap when I saw the announcement for  Carmel Belle 's Pop-Up dinner at the  Monterey Museum of Art , La Mirada. One week late for a Valentines' celebration...but, hey, romance happens all year long, right? No need to stick to February 14th. And thank goodness I didn't hesitate, the tickets sold out in less than a day for this inaugural event. So, along with 58 other people, we lined up, checked in, and were ushered down the corridor to a cocktail reception with drinks from the elegantly effervescent and lovely Lauren of Lauren De Vine Beverages . I had seen her post on facebo...

After going to the Inaugural Commonwealth Wednesday at Carmel Belle - and meeting the creative drink maven Lauren De Vine - I've been meaning to order from her CSLDV. That's 'Community Supported Lauren De Vine'! Well, I finally did order. Woo hoo. Woo hoo. Last Friday, before leaving for Palo Alto so the kids could attend Stanford Splash! , Lauren brought me a quart of her cucumber, rose, lemon, thyme spirit base and a quart of her Fall Stone Fruit Sour - a local spiced stone fruit shrub, citrus, sage. I carried them with us and brought sparkling water for the kiddos and a sparkling wine for me and Jake. Look at her adorable packaging: yellow stattice and handwritten labels. As if I needed more reasons to love her. I appreciate that Lauren provides serving suggestions and alcohol and non-alcohol pairings. We tested both bases and were wildly impressed with the depth of flavor in the bases. The flavors melded together effortlessly yet wer...

You can read the post I wrote for Edible Monterey Bay 's blog about  Carmel Belle 's Commonwealth Wednesday: here . It hit their website on Tuesday and also went out in their newsletter that same day. So, last night, while Jake juggled the boys and took R to his mandolin lesson, I ducked over to Carmel Belle for their inaugural event featuring Lauren De Vine of Lauren De Vine Beverage . Lauren set up a table with colorful carafes and mason jars filled with vibrant fruits. I was instantly intrigued. Lauren talked for about 30 minutes while we devoured special Small Bites plates that Chef Kyle had created for the event. Here's the roasted summer squash with smoked salmon plate I ordered. It was fresh, seasonal, and the flavors danced on your palate. That brings me to Lauren's presentation. She talked about her journey through music and being a CEO of a start up to this venture, Lauren De Vine Beverage.  She queried: why is beverage-development and ...