A Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party

Summer is finally here, and let me tell you, we are ready. We've been packing our calendars full with plans for outdoor movies and concerts, lazy days at the beach, and lots of dining al fresco. If you ask us, fresh-air dining need not be limited to barbecue lunches and dinners, either - you may not be surprised to learn that we’re big proponents of taking brunch outside, too. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anything more lovely than spending a warm summer morning in the backyard, sipping mimosas with friends... except, perhaps, if there was an entire mimosa bar, full of bright, fresh juices, crisp Prosecco, and plenty of colorful, in-season fruit. I ask you (as rhetorically as Ina Garten might), is there anything more delightfully summery than that?

Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party, featuring Mionetto Prosecco - Brunchographers

For our recent Mimosa Bar party, we knew we wanted to mix things up and offer a fun twist on the traditional mimosa (plain old orange juice and Champagne is just so expected, isn’t it?). To start, we turned to Mionetto’s Prosecco as the base for our bubbly bar (or should we say... #MioMosa bar? FYI, Mio in Italian means “My,” and that’s what MioMosa is all about – My Mionetto Miomosa is a personalized creation made entirely your way). And yes, we love the crisp, dry bubbly on its own, but it’s truly special when paired with a splash of fresh, tangy fruit juice and some colorful fruit garnish. And while we couldn’t in good conscience skip the old-standby OJ entirely, we knew we wanted to offer a variety of juices for our guests to choose from when concocting their cocktails - so we created a rainbow of juice around the orange with carafes of cranberry, grapefruit, and mango-orange juices. To round out the offerings, we stocked our little bar with a full spectrum of berries and citrus fruits. The cocktail-crafting possibilities were endless!

Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party, featuring Mionetto Prosecco - Brunchographers

Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party, featuring Mionetto Prosecco - Brunchographers

And because no responsible brunch host would serve only Mimosas, we made sure to stock our bar with some snacks and treats as well, sticking steadfastly to our rainbow theme. We plucked pretty little macarons from a local bakery, set out some delicious and not-too-sweet raspberry rugelach, and piled cake stands high with donuts from our favorite neighborhood shop (Donut Hut in Burbank, if you were curious). Did we have a sugar high afterward? Yes we did. Did we care? Decidedly not.

Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party, featuring Mionetto Prosecco - Brunchographers

Are you hoping to throw a MioMosa party of your own this summer? Here's a bit of our best advice for building your very own beautiful (and delicious) Mimosa bar:

1. Start with the good stuff. Find a bubbly wine that you’d enjoy just as much when sipped on its own, and that’s not so sweet that it couldn’t stand up to a little added juice. For us, that was Mionetto Prosecco - Johnna’s favorite is the Rosé Extra Dry, while Veronica prefers the DOC Treviso Brut. Find your favorite and introduce it to your friends!

Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party, featuring Mionetto Prosecco - Brunchographers

Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party, featuring Mionetto Prosecco - Brunchographers

2. Get creative with mixers. Whether you take inspiration from classic cocktail combinations (cranberry + lime, anyone?), seasonal fruits and veggies, or a juice from your favorite juice bar, remember to think outside the classic mimosa! There’s a whole world of flavor combinations to choose from, and your guests will appreciate an opportunity to show their creativity.

3. Pick a color theme. Any party table will look best when a color theme is kept in mind, especially if you can carry that theme all the way through the food and drink you serve! We knew our Prosecco bottles would be orange and pink, so we chose a rainbow theme that emphasized yellow, orange, and pink.

Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party, featuring Mionetto Prosecco - Brunchographers

Build-Your-Own-Mimosa Bar Party, featuring Mionetto Prosecco - Brunchographers

4. Add some pretty details. Finally, for those who are crafting-inclined, consider tying your party spread together with a few charming, handmade touches. For this party, Johnna lent her calligraphy skills to create a gorgeous chalkboard sign, while Veronica got crafty with some colorful floral arrangements. And to help guests tell whose glass was whose, we made some quick little tassel charms in our color scheme and attached them to the champagne flutes. For us, these little projects were just the right level of Martha-ness - try spending a few minutes on Pinterest to find the perfect project for you!

This post was graciously sponsored by Mionetto USA. As always, all opinions are our own!

A French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch with Blason Louis

There is a timeless, undeniably romantic quality to all things French - the way they live, the way they eat, the way they drink their wine. As a lover of food, it's especially easy to be a Francophile (and after reading and re-reading the charming diaries of Peter Mayle's culinary adventures in the French countryside, who wouldn't harbor secret dreams to retire there?). So when Blason Louis, a wine company that imports all its wines directly from independent vineyards in France, reached out to us to collaborate, we leapt at the chance to host an oh-so-French wine tasting brunch for some of our dear friends. 

Setting the Table for Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Blason Louis Wine - Buckwheat Crêpe Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Buckwheat Crêpe Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Setting the table for Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Blason Louis Wine Tasting Flaçons - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Blason Louis offers wine lovers a fun, new way to taste wines at home through their beautiful tasting kits. Inside each sleek black box are two flaçons of wine, each amounting to about one glass - a perfect way to test out a high-quality wine before committing to a full bottle. Or, for the more socially inclined, the little kits could be your very own wine tasting party in a box. We chose to design a brunch menu around our wine samples, using the helpful guides included with each pack that offer details and characteristics for each selection. We were also lucky enough to have a little help from Blason Louis' in-house sommelier (how cool is it that they have their own sommelier?), who offered us some further food-and-wine pairing suggestions.  

Blason Louis Tasting Box with Guides - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Pouring the Blason Louis Santenay - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Buckwheat Crêpe Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Cheese and Charcuterie Board - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

We kicked off the meal with a sprawling cheese board, an obvious crowd-pleaser for a wine tasting brunch (or any gathering for that matter). Because every good board begins with a good cheese monger, we stopped by Wheel House Cheese & Wine in Culver City for guidance on what to serve. The shop's helpful staff set us up with a delightful selection of charcuterie, cheese, and fun accompaniments, each somehow more delicious than they were beautiful. For some color and variety, we included plenty of fresh fruit and veggies, some crunchy marcona almonds and pecans, and a bit of chocolate for something sweet. To accompany the spread, we sipped on Blason Louis' Santenay White. Strong and full of fruit, this wine picked up on the bright notes of citrus and berries, and offered a pleasant complement to the cheese and charcuterie. 

Cheese and Charcuterie Board - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Buckwheat Crêpe Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Pouring the Blason Louis - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Sharing tasting notes - Buckwheat Crêpe Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Wild Mushroom and Emmenthal Quiche - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

For a filling main course, we turned to one of our absolute favorite French imports: the quiche. To match the peppery Haut-Médoc Red, we turned to an old favorite recipe for Wild Mushroom Quiche. In this dish, fluffy, cheesy, eggy filling is cradled in a crisp and buttery crust, and is dotted with earthy mushrooms and shallots - it's truly a divine way to start your day. To make the dish feel just a little more French, we swapped out the Fontina cheese for an old favorite, Emmenthal. The light sweetness that this mild and fragrant cheese offered was a lovely contrast for the salty, earthy mushrooms. 

A simple salad, because we always eat our greens - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

A slice of quiche, anyone? - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Buckwheat Crêpe Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

The French would surely agree that one of the most delightful things about le brunch is its ability to straddle the line between breakfast and dessert. And in France, there may be no better example of this balance than the sweet crêpe. Traditionally filled and then either rolled or folded, crêpes can be dressed up as either savory or sweet. And while we've never been known to pass up a savory crêpe stuffed with cheese and eggs, the sweet-style crepe is, in our opinion, the crème de la crème - especially when formed into the jaw-droppingly beautiful tower that is the crêpe cake. Sure, it takes hours to create (I kid you not), but at the end of the exercise, you'll not only have something that looks effortlessly gorgeous on your hands, but you'll also be a newly-minted crêpe-flipping expert. For our cake, we began with a hearty base of nutty buckwheat crêpes, and topped each one with a layer of whipped and lightly sweetened cream cheese, a sprinkling of chopped walnuts and orange zest, and a drizzle of honey. On top, a mound of fluffy whipped cream offered a light and airy sweetness to each bite. Alongside, a glass of Blason Louis' Sancerre 2015 Sauvignon Blanc was absolute heaven. 

Buckwheat Crêpe Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Those Layers Though... Buckwheat Crêpe Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Blason Louis Champagne, a perfect ending to our brunch - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Blason Louis Champagne - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Homemade Pain Au Chocolat - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Cheers to champagne! Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

To end the meal, we turned to a French party classic: champagne. Blason Louis' Grand Cru bubbly was bright, fruity, and slightly sweet. We sipped it alongside some simple miniature homemade pain au chocolat - bite-sized treats that offered just the right amount of buttery, chocolatey, crispness - and some perfect macarons from a local bakery in the loveliest spring colors. A perfect treat as we relaxed and enjoyed the company of our good friends! 

Macarons - Cheese and Charcuterie Board - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Blason Louis Wine Tasting Kit - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

In case you're interested in having your own little French wine tasting party at home, the kind folks at Blason Louis put together a special offer for Brunchographers readers - one free month of their wine tasting program! That's 20 bucks of free wine - who could argue with that? To access this deal, click here, and enter "brunchographers" under "who invited you?" Happy drinking! 

Cheers to good wine shared with good friends! - Brunchographers' French-Inspired Wine Tasting Brunch

Special thanks to Blason Louis for providing the wine for this event! As always, all opinions are our own. 

The Lazy Girl's Brunch

It's true: we love throwing beautiful, over-the-top brunches for our friends. All those hours spent flipping through the glossy pages of Martha Stewart Living are probably to blame; we are forever enchanted by idyllic soirées in which everything - from the napkin rings to the croquembouche - is handmade. But as wonderful as a picturesque Martha-worthy brunch can be, sometimes, you need to keep it simple and hang out on the couch in your yoga pants. And so, The Lazy Girl's Brunch was born. 

There is only one rule for throwing a Lazy Girl's Brunch: keep the effort to a minimum, for all parties involved. Invitations must be web-based (don't you dare use a stamp); a text message chain is even better. Friends should roll out of bed and wander over to the party makeup-free and with hungry tummies, ready for some late-morning relaxation. The host shouldn't do much more than a quick vacuum or tidy, and can acceptably use (compostable) paper plates and utensils to avoid doing extra dishes. As for the food, the less cooking, the better - and bonus points for ordering online and having groceries delivered to your doorstep.

For our brunch groceries, we turned to Milk & Eggs, a local service that delivers all of our favorite products (including the natural and organic stuff that we usually have to go to specialty stores to find). The website is packed with goodies both from local farms and suppliers and from big-name health food brands - it feels kind of like what would happen if you married a farmers market with a natural grocery store. Truthfully, the process could not have been smoother - we placed our order online, chose a delivery date, and woke up that morning with the carefully packaged order waiting at our front door. 

To keep with our lazy theme, we chose brunch items that would require very little preparation: plenty of seasonal fresh fruit, cups of yogurt with granola, a bagel bar with all the fixings, and a loaf of banana bread for a little something sweet. For drinks, we chose Califia Farms' orange juice and Black & White Cold Brew (not only the easiest way to serve cold brew, but also the most delicious - I'm hooked for life). 

Friends could choose to dress up their bagels as either sweet or savory (or, in most cases, one of each). Some went for the classic cream cheese, smoked salmon, pickled onions, and capers combination, while others turned their bagels into circular avocado toast topped with egg and tomato. An adventurous friend layered her bagel first with cream cheese, then with Justin's peanut butter, banana slices, and honey - a combination so surprisingly delicious that we wouldn't be mad if it became the new toast trend. 

Using organic Greek yogurt and Kesson's Kitchen's delicious, grain-free granola, some guests made pretty parfaits topped with sliced fresh fruit. Or, for something a bit sweeter, we sliced into Bread Lounge's banana bread with chocolate chips and pecans - smeared with yogurt and a little honey, this was a filling and scrumptious treat.

With all the impending holiday hubbub, we can't think of a better way to kick back and relax than with a Lazy Girl's Brunch - it's the perfect marriage of all the best parts of brunch: leisurely time spent with friends over coffee and delicious food, without ever having to change out of your comfy clothes.

This post was created in collaboration with Milk & Eggs, who graciously provided the groceries for our brunch. All opinions are our own. 

A Picnic Brunch with Friends

Summer is in full swing, and we are smitten. Even on the hottest days, sunny Southern California weather does not disappoint, and we find ourselves drawn to spend long, leisurely afternoons at the beach or by the pool. Farmers markets are alive with color and activity, their stands piled high with ripe produce, inspiring vibrant, vegetable-centered feasts best enjoyed al fresco. Friends gather to enjoy music or movies in the great outdoors, families ride their bikes along winding beach paths, the sun sets late. Sunscreen is required, but shoes are definitely not. This can only be described as summer bliss, and it deserves to be celebrated - ideally, with brunch served outside. So naturally, on a sunny summer Sunday, we packed up some brunch in our baskets and headed to the park for an afternoon with friends. 

In true summer spirit, we wanted our brunch picnic to reflect all the vibrant flavors of the season without requiring that we spend too much time in the kitchen. We focused on simple, easy-to-transport mains, backed up by plenty of shareable, hand-held snacks and treats. A fresh, fruity cocktail was a must, as were heaps of fresh summer berries, cherries, and grapes. 

To drink, some refreshing cocktails made with fresh pureed watermelon, tequila, blueberries, mint, and lime juice. These are oh-so-delicious, and taste like summer in liquid form - even the watermelon-fearful among our group fell in love with them. The recipe is easily made a few hours ahead of time, and it's easy enough to transport as long as you've got a leakproof container and a cooler. We topped off each glass with a touch of La Croix to add a bit of sparkle. You could use plain old sparkling water, but why would you? La Croix is too much fun. 

All good brunch includes a little something sweet to start, so we kicked off ours with some adorable coffee cake muffins using a recipe from Joy the Baker's beautiful brunch book, Over Easy. Joy's recipe is for big-kid sized muffins, but since we knew we'd be taking our treats outside, we decided to make 'em tiny - because, you know, tiny things are cuter. And also easier to eat. These are downright addictive little things - they've got a lovely toasty brown butter flavor and a perfect balance of sweet and salty, and they're topped off with a generous amount of sweet, buttery crumble and crunchy nuts. 

Sandwiches are perhaps the most essential picnic food, so we whipped up two sandwich variations for ours. First, a grilled chicken sandwich with sundried tomato spread, spinach, and mozzarella. The spread was super flavorful and added a bright, tangy flavor that complimented the hearty chicken and creamy mozzarella perfectly. Of course, bread is perhaps the most important factor in a good sandwich, and must be carefully considered during construction. Before the picnic, we dropped by one of our favorite spots, Lodge Bread, to pick up one of their amazing naturally-leavened whole wheat loaves. Its nuttiness and tang add a really nice element to this delicious combo. 

For the vegetarians of the group, we put together some pretty Green Goddess Sandwiches - pleasing not just to the eyes, but to the belly! We were inspired by two recipes for these: Joy the Baker's version, again from Over Easy, and also a version by The Bojon Gourmet that employs fresh mozzarella. These start with a base of seeded sourdough from a vendor at our local farmers market, Bakeshack, which is toasted and then slathered with some homemade herby, garlicky mayo. Next, layers of sliced zebra-striped green heirloom tomatoes, fresh daikon sprouts, tender butter lettuce, creamy avocado, and luscious fresh mozzarella. For a few special diets in the group, we even made a vegan, gluten-free variation of this sandwich - for the bread, we picked up a loaf of gluten-free sourdough from Honey Hi (one of our favorite healthy spots on the Eastside), and used Kite Hill's delicious soft fresh almond milk cheese in place of mozzarella. 

For a protein-packed side dish, we made a quick quinoa tabbouleh with tons of parsley and mint, heirloom cherry tomatoes from the farmers market, and a generous drizzle of lemon and olive oil. This is the sort of thing we make without a recipe - its composition is defined more by muscle memory and whatever's currently in our fridge than by any strict rules - but here's a good one if you're in need. On top, we sprinkled some crunchy chickpeas tossed in za'atar, which are completely addictive and add depth to pretty much anything you put them on. That's assuming, of course, you don't eat them all the moment they come out of the oven. 

No good picnic is complete without some chips, so when Johnna discovered this simple recipe for homemade salt and vinegar chips, we knew we had to try them for ourselves. There's something so satisfying about a chip that's homemade, and this one is especially appealing with a generous sprinkling of salt and just a kiss of vinegar flavor. To simplify portioning them out (and let's be real, to keep us from eating most of the batch before we even got to our picnic spot), we put them in simple parchment bags from the grocery store, which also made for a very pretty effect. 

For dessert, we turned once again to Joy's wonderful Over Easy for inspiration, and created a riff on her Peaches & Cream with Honeyed Cornflakes recipe. Peaches are abundant in our farmers market these days, so we chose some sweet white peaches with a delicate floral flavor and grilled them quickly to add a nice touch of caramelization. In cute little picnic-friendly jars, we combined them with creamy whipped mascarpone cheese and blueberries, and sprinkled them with Joy's lovely honeyed cornflakes for some crunch and added sweetness. 

With heaps of seasonal produce, this picnic spread was a celebration of summer abundance - and with a little advance preparation, truly wasn't all that difficult to whip up. We can't think of a more delicious way to celebrate the warm summer months than an al fresco brunch with our friends, and we hope we've inspired you to throw one of your own! 

A Yuletide Brunch with Friends: Drinks & Décor

With just a little over a week away until Christmas, it feels like magic is in the air! Lines at the post office are out the door and around the block. Neighbor's doorsteps are stacked high with Amazon packages. A once drab, familiar street now glows bright with thousands of tiny twinkle lights, and the She & Him holiday album is playing in pretty much every store you go in to. 

Cranberry Mimosa

A guest helps light the candles

Festive holiday table setting for our Yuletide Brunch!

This year, we learned that holiday decorating doesn't have to be expensive to be pretty. In fact, for our recent Yuletide Brunch, we did most of our decorating using office supplies, found and pre-owned objects, and a few key pieces from the Dollar Store (yeah, you heard me!) - and the end result was just as impactful as if we had spent hundreds at a high end store! 

Cocktails and new friends at our Yuletide Brunch

Rosemary wreath place settings 

We wanted our decorating scheme to reflect the overall theme of the brunch - simplicity. We chose a few straightforward, handmade tasks to take on, and got crafty with how we used some inexpensive, festive storebought additions. For our color palette, we kept it bright: mostly white in the form of paper snowflakes, twinkle lights, and taper candles, with hints of the most classic holiday colors, green and red. 

To begin, we started with a base layer of existing Christmas decorations: a tree decked out in white lights and a mish-mash of ornaments amassed over many years, a faux pine garland and knit stockings above the fireplace, and a set of white-and-silver snowflake pillows and a throw blanket from Target. 

Paper snowflakes hanging in the windows

Next, we added the most time-intensive of our decorating endeavours: the paper snowflakes. For a few weeks before the party, we kept a stack of printer paper and a pair of scissors nearby so we could craft a snowflake or two whenever a free moment appeared. The first ones looked a lot like the ones you may remember making as a kid - skinny lines of not-quite-round holes intersecting each other with a scalloped edge and a lot of white space. But after some practice, the snowflakes became more and more intricate and interesting. They are actually a lot of fun to make, and can leave you feeling like a Picasso when unfolding each tiny masterpiece.

Guests relax with a Cranberry Mimosa

Paper snowflakes in the windows

To attach the snowflakes to the windows, we employed some scotch tape and fishing line, and very simply strung them in rows of four. It would be even lovelier to make double the amount, and create more of a blanket of snowflakes, like this beautiful tutorial we saw. Goals for next time! 

Candles and greenery

Festive table setting for our Yuletide Brunch

Finally, we added some inexpensive finishing touches. For napkins, we repurposed white and red placemats we picked up in the bargain section at Target. As a charming place setting, Johnna created little Christmas wreaths out of rosemary sprigs tied into a loop with twine. 

Little wreaths made from rosemary and twine 

Lighting the candles 

Festive table setting for our Yuletide Brunch

To add a natural, rustic feel, we picked up some cut greenery and pinecones and laid them down the middle of the table. We had a mix of different types of pine, holly, and greens with red berries for a pop of color. To add a some height and a warm glow, we mix-and-matched candle holders from the dollar store and our local craft store, and arranged them throughout the greenery. The end result was a bright, festive, and welcoming space that was perfect for celebrating the season! 

Festive table setting for our Yuletide Brunch

Also helpful for celebrating the season? A nice brunch cocktail. We wanted to go with something lively, fresh, and bright, with a holiday twist - a Cranberry Mimosa was the perfect solution!

Adding the Prosecco to the Cranberry Mimosa

This vibrant, fizzy tipple is layered with orange juice, real cranberry juice (not the sweetened "cocktail" stuff), and prosecco, and is garnished with sliced oranges, pomegranate seeds, and whole cranberries. How festive and beautiful is that? We especially loved how gorgeous it looked before we stirred it to combine - almost like a sunset!

Pitcher of Cranberry Mimosas

For a little extra "something," we made some pretty snowflake ice cubes using a molded tray, and added pomegranate seeds and a touch of cranberry juice to the water before freezing. This kept our drinks cool and added a bit more visual interest in the wide champagne coupe glasses. 

Snowflake Ice Cubes with Pomegranate Seeds

Pouring the Cranberry Mimosa

The measurements for this drink are flexible, so you can adjust it to your own taste. We used approximately 1 part orange juice, 1 part cranberry juice, and 2 parts prosecco. Garnish with as much fruit as you like, and stir gently before serving. 

Pouring the Cranberry Mimosa

Cranberry Mimosa

We hope these suggestions offer some inspiration for your next holiday event! We learned that even just a little bit of holiday cheer can go a long way, and you don't have to spend big bucks to bring a some holiday magic into your home. And, simple can be beautiful! 

Drippy wax on our candlesticks as we savor some delicious brunch!

Happy Holidays, Brunchers! We wish you a wonderful holiday season, full of friends, family, and lots of delicious food!