Uniting the New Year's Nation

10 Cities. 4 Timezones. 1 Outrageous Party. New York City entrepreneur Jann Yogman spends the entire year planning and preparing for one night: New Year's Eve. Utilizing cutting edge technology and various consultants in each city, Yogman pulls off a national, live-broadcast event syncing partiers in Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Scottsdale, Seattle and Toronto.

Yogman's background in television working as a production associate for Michael J. Fox's show Spin City likely inspired his passion for parties. Having earned a reputation for hosting legendary cast parties, Yogman got his first break in 1997 marketing a New Years Eve Party for Chelsea Brewing Company. He has hosted a Manhattan New Years Eve Party every year since. In 2006, Yogman decided to expand his New Years party to five cities, but he did not want to host a bunch of different parties - he wanted to host a single party even if it was to be in many different cities and time zones. This year should be the biggest yet for Yogman and his company, New Year's Nation, as he plans to host an expected 10,000 guests in 10 cities.

The Dallas party will be at the new Aloft Hotel in downtown. The sleek decor will lend well to the red-carpet, glamorous feel of the event. Along with the ambiance, music and large screens streaming the New Year's Nation Live Broadcast, guests will enjoy buffet items and passed hors d'oeuvres as well as premium drink choices. Yogman has been consulting for months with EClaire and Lynxx USA, along with other specialized firms, ironing out the countless details associated with hosting a soiree of such proportions.

Of all the New Year's parties taking place in Dallas, THIS one is the can't miss, talk of the town, party of the century, or at least of the decade. Don't miss out!! Get your ticket now! http://dallas.newyearsnation.com

A Special Client Testimonial

One of my dearest friends and clients recently asked me to share her personal testimonial on my blog. Please check out my website, www.eclairecatering.com, for more client testimonials.

"I was one of EClaire's first clients. Emily helped me plan everything, keeping budget in mind. The day before the event, I came down with a virus! Emily arranged everything, food, serving pieces, flowers.. everything! The party went on without a hitch and I had high praise from my guest including the lady I was honoring. It was beautiful and saved! Emily is amazing!!"
~ Cissy Goodson

Here are a couple of pictures from her party:

The Beauty of the Hydrangea

I was recently asked the question: what is your favorite flower? I began to ponder and realized that I could not name a clear favorite, as each flower has its own beauty and purpose. With this post and future related posts I plan to provide some background on a few of my favorite flowers as well as post some pictures of custom arrangements I have made for clients.

Native to Southern and Eastern Asia as well as North and South America, hydrangeas have been popular for centuries. Hydrangea plants produce flowers from early spring to late fall. They are unique in that they are one of the only plants that process aluminum, which is released from acidic soils and forms complexes in the flower giving them their bright color and making them so distinct, desirable and beautiful.

I try to use these versatile flowers whenever I can as they create wonderful arrangements on their own and can be used as filler flowers in larger arrangements. Check out a few of my custom floral arrangements in which I have incorporated hydrangeas:

Lobster Love

Ever find yourself craving some nice, buttery lobster but you don't want to break the bank? I have seen lobster tails for as much as $30 a piece at grocery stores, which is expensive especially when feeding a group or family. Well, go without no longer, I have found your solution: Sam's Club! I have found that the store at Park and Central always has frozen lobster tails for a great price. Just the other day I picked up two 1/2 lb lobster tails for a grand total of $22!! This was such a great buy and they tasted soo delicious. Also, tails are great to work with because they make for a very easy clean-up.

You can prepare lobster tails several different ways, but I either like to boil or grill them. See below for my favorite easy recipes for preparing delicious lobster tails.

Boiled Lobster Tails
2 frozen lobster tails
4 qts boiling water
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried parsley

Add water, spices, oil and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Drop frozen lobster tails in boiling water. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain. With a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, remove the soft shell-like covering on the underside of the tail. Drizzle melted butter over lobster meat.

Serve in shell with melted butter.

Grilled Lobster Tails
2 frozen lobster tails
5 tbsp butter
2 medium lemons
2 wooden or metal skewers

In advance: thaw frozen lobster tails by placing them in a ziploc bag in the fridge over night. If necessary, soak them in cold water to thaw before starting the recipe below.

Bring grill to medium-high heat. Run skewer through the tails for support to prevent them from curling up. Place butter in and squeeze lemon juice directly onto the shells. Place tails on the grill, top of the shell down. Grill covered for 7 minutes or until meat is opaque.

Serve with lemon wedges and melted butter.

Firefly Summer

Well, folks, the school buses are running, the temps are slowly falling off their '09 peaks and the pools will be closing so very soon. This all means one thing: sweet, sweet summer is slipping away once again.

To cling to summer for a few more precious weeks, I have been enjoying a delicious summertime cocktail: Sweet Tea Vodka. Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka is "distilled four times, infused with tea from a plantation 5 miles from the distillery and blended with real Louisiana sugar cane", according to their website. There are a number of brands claiming to make sweet tea vodka, but most of them use artificial flavoring and miss the mark.

If you're a fan of sweet tea, you will love this drink!! Be careful though, they are so delicious they can really sneak up on you! Check them out: www.fireflyvodka.com

The recipe:
1. Mix equal parts water and Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka in your favorite glass over ice
2. Add fresh lemon to taste and as garnish

A Contemporary Venue Idea

Looking for a Hot and Trendy venue? Look no further. The Fashion Industry Gallery, or F.I.G. is located downtown in the Dallas Arts District on Ross Avenue and is easily accessible from Central Expressway or I35.

The Special Venue within the F.I.G. is approximately 25,000 square feet of fashionable, contemporary space. Defining features include the exposed brick walls, concrete floors and miles of customizable track lighting. To further personalize the space, there is a large, blank slate wall that can be splashed with any color to give a more dramatic look. Also available to rent are several contemporary fixtures, such as small, white leather stools and bright orange square couches. This space dresses up perfectly for themes ranging from warehouse industrial to vintage modern with a chic, cozy feeling. It is perfectly suited for casual or formal affairs and can accommodate up to 1,200 guests.

My favorite aspect of this venue is setup. The spacious, open floor plan and attached parlor rooms allow your guests to mingle together in one space while also accommodating guests seeking some refuge from the noise. During shows these parlor rooms are used to showcase an artist's or designer's work. This venue is large enough to hold any size crowd and it is flexible enough to accommodate any type of event.



For celeb fans: the F.I.G. is where Nicole Richie hosted her book-signing party for "The Truth about Diamonds" and where Valentino hosted his famous cocktail party.

I would recommend the F.I.G. to anyone wanting to host the "perfect event". Check them out: www.fasionindustrygallery.com

Big Taste, Bite-Sized

As individuals are becoming more health conscious, a bite-sized trend is emerging. Many restaurants are beginning to serve 'tapas' style food. This is a traditional Spanish way of serving food in small portions, but I have a different take on Bite-sized foods.

To give my family and friends a guilt-free way to exercise their taste buds during a meal, I began taking everyone's favorite foods and shrinking them. From mini chicken fried steaks, topped with a dollop of mashed potatoes and gravy, to smoked salmon phyllo cups, I have miniaturized many of our all time favorites. This helps to control portion and calories, not to mention miniatures always look so cute!

I really hope this trend can become a staple in our diets. I love the freedom of trying an assortment of my favorite dishes without all the guilt.

Snickerdoodles

I would like to share with you today one of my favorite recipes: my aunt's famous Snickerdoodles. If you precisely follow the recipe, you will be rewarded with some amazing cookies!!

Doody's Snickerdoodles
1 cup Canola Oil
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

Roll in:
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix oil, sugar and eggs with wooden spoon. Add cream of tarter, soda and salt to flour and stir. Add flour mixture to egg mixture. Chill dough. Roll into balls and roll in sugar cinnamon mixture twice. Bake at 375° for 7 or 8 minutes or in convection oven at 350° for 7 or 8 minutes.
Eat about 4 or 5 yourself when they come out hot!


E Claire served these Snickerdoodles with some other treats at the Park Cities 4th of July Parade. Give them a try and let us know what you think!

Park Cities 4th of July Parade

Last Saturday, July 4, E Claire was a sponsor for the annual Park Cities 4th of July Parade put on by the Rotary Club. This was an excellent opportunity for us to give back to our community as well as a chance to do some excellent marketing.

Our tent was near the parade let-off point, so we got tons of traffic!! We went through 15-20 gallons of cranberry spritzer, we gave away 400 snicker doodles with cinnamon cream icing, and we treated the kids with 1,000 flavored popsicles. We also received tons of compliments on our large, contemporary flower arrangement.

All and all it was the perfect day. We enjoyed one of the only shaded tent locations, we received a ton of wonderful feedback, we shared our creations with tons of people and we celebrated our nation's independence!! We hope you also had a safe and glorious Independence Day!

Hole in the Wall Greatness

This year for my birthday I decided to give myself a break from the kitchen. Instead of working my own birthday I decided to invite about a dozen of my close friends to meet my husband and I at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican Restaurant, Avila's. I designed some invitations and sent them out with precise directions, since Avila's is tucked away in a little old house on Maple Ave in Dallas, TX. Many guests admitted that they had passed by dozens of times without taking a second look.

Avila's has been around for nearly 30 years, but has only recently enjoyed popularity with the advent of internet search engines and easily accessible restaurant reviews. One bite of one of their famous Brisket Tacos and you will understand why the popularity of this place is spreading like wild fire. With a combination of Tex-Mex and more traditional Mexican menu items, this place is bound to satisfy any tastes. All items fresh and delicious, the salsa is fiery and the queso is creamy. The margaritas are pretty darn good too. If you are craving homemade quality mexican food, check out Avila's... you will not be disappointed.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening full of great friends, great drinks and great food. For dessert, my friend and pastry chef, Vince, whipped up a beautiful chocolate cake decorated in my favorite colors: pink and green!

An Anniversary to Remember

It's Friday and it is finally time to relax and cool off. Literally. Every year I hear horror stories of air conditioners malfunctioning during the balmy, Texas summer. This year it happened to me. On my anniversary.

As you may or may not know, one of my favorite events to manage and celebrate is the wedding anniversary. Don't get me wrong, the wedding is magical and wonderful, but there is something to be said for the intimacy and nostalgia involved in anniversaries.

It is hard for us to believe, but last Tuesday, June 23, my husband and I enjoyed our 2nd wedding anniversary. We went to the Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood concert on our actual anniversary, so we decided a few weeks ago to celebrate our anniversary at home a day early.

The morning of our anniversary celebration I awoke to an unusually warm house. I decided to call the repair man just to make sure, since we had our perfect evening planned - our china and crystal was already set out on our table. My husband, Blake, went out to DFW airport to pick up some lobsters flown in fresh that day. I picked out some flowers and some other things for our 'Cotton Anniversary' flower arrangement. The repair man arrived early in the afternoon and quickly diagnosed the problem: one of our coils had a leak and our air conditioner had leaked 2 lbs of freon. But, he would have to come back Tuesday or Wednesday with the tools to repair it and he advised us to leave the airconditioner off until then so the whole unit wouldn't burn out. We did as we were instructed and the heat moved in immediately; 75, 80, we finally topped out at 85 degrees!! We were determined to make this an intimate, memorable anniversary, so my husband and I enjoyed a candle lit dinner with beautiful flowers, sparkling champagne and fresh lobster in our underwear with 5 fans pointed directly on us. It turned out to be a wonderful night and definitely one that will go down in our history book. The heat just made it extra steamy and romantic.

I am happy to report that the air conditioner is fixed and everything is cool once again.

Welcome to my blog!

Hi, I'm Emily! For years I was everyone's favorite hostess; from sporting events and TV show watch parties to Thanksgiving and Christmas I was the hostess, chef, party planner, bartender, sommelier, concierge and often the designated driver. Recently, I decided to pursue my passion for food, events and flowers and I opened EClaire Events and Catering in Dallas, TX. With this blog I hope to keep my subscribers and readers up to date with current trends in the world of food, events and floral design as well as share my own ideas, opinions, recipes, photos and news.

Let's go ahead and get right to things... I figure my first post should actually have some substance to it, so I have decided to share with you one of my current favorite food websites. The folks at TasteSpotting have really got it going on. It is wonderful for so many reasons: the photography is wonderful, there are links to delicious recipes, recommendations for dining out, tips for new food related products and trends and much more.

Thank you for checking us out! Please check back soon for more delicious treats!!