Valentine's day Archives - Good For Spooning

Does your sweetheart love good cocktails? Are you looking for something fun, different and exciting to do for Valentine’s Day in Vegas? Would you like to give to a charity AND attend a stellar event with the love of your life? I have a great idea for you!

The gorgeous Skyfall Lounge at The Delano offers jaw dropping views of Vegas

For the Love of Cocktails, produced by Back Bar USA, is a jam packed three day cocktail extravaganza culminating on Friday February 12^th with the Grand Gala at Skyfall Lounge at The Delano, presented by MGM Resorts International. Imagine attending a swank Happy Hour at 5 pm at the Franklin in the lobby of The Delano. Then soar 64 floors to the top of Las Vegas to the Skyfall Lounge for even more festivities. Stunning views of the Las Vegas Strip, delectable food created specifically for this event by acclaimed chef Alain Ducasse and 25 Master Mixologists crafting cocktails all in one evening? Where do I sign up?!

Your Favorite Mixologists serve up your favorite brands in exciting new Cocktails

For the Love of Cocktails Mixologists

Live music and entertainment form a backdrop to the tinkling of ice cubes. Mixologists from all over the country entertain as well with stories and info on the cocktails they are serving. You can expect every possible flavor profile to be present – sweet, spicy, savory, sour, smoky and more. Look for Las Vegas based cocktail professionals from your favorite cocktail lounges on the strip as well as brand ambassadors from all over the world. Of course your favorite premium spirits and bubbles will be featured – Knob Creek, Tito’s, Veuve Clicquot, Hendrick’s, Campari, Avión and more than a dozen others.

A mixologist appears at For The Love Of Cocktails’ Grand Gala at the Delano Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Friday, February 13, 2015, in Las Vegas. (Photo by David Becker)

General Admission tickets for the Grand Gala are still available at $150 and more than half of that price goes to the Helen David Relief Fund (HDRF). Founded by world renowned Master Mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim to honor his cousin Helen David (famed Brass Rail Bar Maven of Port Huron, Michigan) the HDRF provides assistance to women in the bar industry in their fight against breast cancer.* Helen David beat breast cancer twice and the fund in her name helps provide financial assistance with screening and treatment to women in the bar industry all over the country. This is a heart tug for me because my sister is a breast cancer fighter and survivor. Could this event get any better? If you really want to WOW! your Valentine, a limited number of VIP tickets are still available for $375 giving you all access passes to all the events for three full days with half of that going to the HDRF.

For the Love of Cocktails – Tony Abou- Ganim and friends.

What to wear? For the Grand Gala, semi-formal cocktail attire is suggested. For complete details on the events, check out the website.

*The HDRF is administered by the United States Bartenders’ Guild (USBG) and is a 501c3 organization.

Bar Back USA is the leading beverage marketing force in Las Vegas. Back Bar USA provides creative, cutting-edge, marketing and promotional campaigns for the nation’s leading suppliers, wholesalers and retailers. Back Bar USA produces For The Love Of Cocktails in association with MGM Resorts International, Downtown Project, Caesars Entertainment, and the Las Vegas Visitors & Convention Authority.

All photos in this piece are courtesy of Bar Back USA used with permission

Many people call New Year’s Eve “amateur night”, but not in this house. Here Valentine’s Day is for amateurs.

I know there are lots of people out there that think a romantic dinner out on the town on VDay is the way to go, but other than last year’s trip to San Francisco and eating at RN74, we haven’t dined out on VDay in ages. There are a LOT of reasons for that, but basically it’s because I don’t want to deal with the crowds and all the OTHER people. (Moment of Truth – On most days I can’t stand OTHER people, I only like MY people, especially when OTHER people are driving…). Because this has been a trend in my house for more than 10 years, I was really happy to see that Bon Appetit jumped on my bandwagon in their February issue this year with an entire section starting on page 17 about staying home and cooking together.

Each year I have made a surprise dinner for John (and Jack when he was home). It was always something we don’t normally eat at home, or something extravagant I had never cooked before. Lobster Thermidor was the biggie. When you are used to simply steaming or grilling a lobster, this seemed to take all damn day! Now I know why it is so expensive when you order it in a restaurant. This year, because VDay falls on a Saturday, there is even MORE reason to dine at home if you live in a big tourist city like Vegas. We set a fancy table, with crazy napkin folds and one year I even MADE the table runner and napkins. We’ll be using them again this year.

Panettone French Toast with Strawberries. Don’t judge, the pic was taken with my old camera.

Because John will be home and there is little or no way to really surprise him, I enlisted his help. As you know, if you have been following along, we love craft beer here at Casa Nota and to this end, I gave John the menu items and asked him to create a beer pairing to go with each course. Here are the courses, and yes, if I remember pics will be posted to Instagram:

Braised Oxtail Tortelloni (bigger than tortellini) served en brodo and yes, I am making my own pasta
Mixed green salad with Lemon Vinaigrette (and maybe a poached egg)
THIS Oyster and Scallop Pan Roast stew from Andrew Zimmern
Cajun seasoned Duck Breast with Andouille gravy and dirty rice
Salted Caramel Budino

Yes, it’s rich. Yes, it seems a little like overkill, but this is the only day of the year when I cook to this level of extravagance. Keep in mind those recipes will be cut in half and we’ll have some leftovers.

What beers would you choose? Skip the wine suggestions – John doesn’t enjoy it and I can’t enjoy it (sulfites dammit!).

Wanna see what and where I am eating? Follow me on Instagram or Twitter. And while we’re on the subject of Valentine’s Day, I LOVE it when you share my blog and share my page on Facebook. FYI – that’s a pretty broad hint to do both! In fact, invite your friends to follow along and subscribe to this blog – you’ll get a once a week email with ALL the posts from the previous week in one digestible mailing.

Happy Valentine’s Day – may everything you eat be spectacular!