There’s no possible way to capture a party properly in photos, especially when you are trying to host one… but we’ll do our best here. Thanks to John Biehler for graciously taking some photos during the event… they turned out great! Below you’ll see a mix of my photos and John’s photos. Hope you enjoy!

Photo Credit: John Biehler

As mentioned before, this past Friday, November 13th was my birthday party (on my actual birthday) as well as our (Allan and I) housewarming party. A 2-in-1 party that was a lot of fun to prepare for and host.

I would say that it was a success! Allan and I sat down and did the numbers. Over 230 people attended… a 50L of Granville Island “Island Lager” (approximately 146 bottles of beer… thank you Matty and Granville Island Brewery!) completely tapped, an additional 150 bottles of beer consumed, 4 x 1.75L bottles of Grey Goose, 4 bottles of Zaya rum, 4 boxes of Patron tequila, 4 bottles of Giffard’s Manzana Verde, a bottle of Hennessey XO cognac, Jameson 18 Irish Whiskey, and Glenfiddich 18 Scotch whiskey… completely drained. Not to mention over 40 more full bottles of liquor completely consumed. Phew! I would say we had some heavy drinkers at the party

Not to mention over 100 bottles and cans of mixers drained…

A fridge full of food eaten…

20 portions of cheese…

Even more beer and liquor brought by friends consumed…

4 bushels of mint used in cocktails…

10 pounds of chocolate…

50 homemade chocolate creme brulees…

Hundreds of bamboo plates, cutlery and napkins…

Over 20 sliced french baguettes, served with double creme d’Affinois brie and an assortment of jellies and toppings…

One litre of bocconcini with roasted tomatoes, basil, and flat leaf parsely…

40 boxes of homemade noodles and chicken…

20 beef tenderloin steaks…

50 macaroni and cheese muffins…

Many, many bags of popcorn…

15 homemade pizzas served…

Photo Credit: John Biehler

Over 100 homemade cookies baked on the spot and eaten…

Dozens of petit fours (bought, not made)… and that’s a lot of food!

Photo Credit: John Biehler

We had the outside patio decorated with white lights, dozens of candles and lanterns, and a couple patio heaters to stay warm! Luckily it didn’t rain so we didn’t need to put up the tent!

Photo Credit: John Biehler

And then, there were the drinks…

Freshly made mojitos…

Whiskey sours and whiskey on the rocks…

My signature martini (watermelon, pomegranate juice, apple liqueur, Grey Goose, lime, lemon, and mint… all blended with ice)…

Photo Credit: John Biehler

Photo Credit: John Biehler

Many chocolate martinis served…

A “pom cosmo”…

Rum rita…

Irish coffee served with Jameson 18 whiskey, Italian Bodom-brewed coffee, freshly whipped cream, brown sugar, and topped with Butter vanilla and coffee marshmallows toasted with a torch…

Irish car bombs…

Dark chocolate creme brulees, torched…

The full drink list for the party… (needless to say I spent the entire time behind the bar)

The dress I wore to the party… a pink and purple silk party dress by Meghan Los Angeles. Yes, it’s totally over the top and ridiculous, and definitely a “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To” dress… but I couldn’t resist.

Here’s the back of the dress… I really loved the bow and the low back on it!

Here’s the jewelry I wore… beautiful custom-made handcrafted silver crocheted pink Swarovski jewelry by Isabella Diamond here in Vancouver. The ring even lasted through all the drink mixing, haha.

Photo Credit: John Biehler

I also got to meet some fabulous bloggers in Vancouver for the first time… thanks to Raul, Liv, Greg, Mozy, Aidan, Kimm, Tyler, John, Jerk, Tawcan, and Josh for coming out!

Photo Credit: John Biehler

All in all the party was a lot of fun. We finally finished our apartment (pictures coming soon), and it was great to see all our friends out. Allan and I both had an amazing time. Thanks for reading this huge long post!

Yesterday Allan and I were invited by the wonderful Shelley (Communications Director for Top Table Restaurants) to a sunset party at Vancouver’s Shangri-La Hotel. It was a fun-filled classy evening celebrating the launch of Chef James Walt’s cookbook for the Whistler restaurant Araxi. Yes, of Hell’s Kitchen fame.

Araxi has been one of my favourite restaurants for many, many years now… and we always try to visit a couple times a year. I’d been hearing about this cookbook for months now, and I was so excited to hear that all guests were receiving a signed copy of the cookbook! I absolutely cannot wait to make some recipes from the book. I’ll make sure to post photos when I do.

The party was on the 58th floor in a suite overlooking our beautiful city. Our ears were popping like crazy in the elevator. The Shangri-La is so tall that it really feels like you are looking down on the other high rises.

Not to mention we were treated to a stunning sunset throughout the event.

Guests were served a nice selection of wine, and some delicious canapes prepared by Chef James Walt and the team from Araxi. My favourite was definitely the braised short rib, but Allan sure thinks the tuna was the winner.

There were some beautiful desserts as well… I had my fair share of chocolates that evening.

There was lots of mingling, and it was great to meet some of the food critics, magazine editors, chefs, and other professionals in the food industry. Not to mention getting to finally meet Miss 604 in person, and the lovely Keira-Anne.

At the end of the event, Chef James Walt began signing books for everyone. It was great to talk to him again outside of Araxi and get a photo with him. Excuse my stupid look here, I’m pretty sure I was way too excited to get a picture with him.

He lives in Pemberton (near the farms, on a farm…) and is big on local produce and sustainability as I mentioned in my previous post on Araxi.

We worked up an appetite with all the food teasers, and so we stopped in for a quick bite at the Shangri-La’s Lobby Lounge. We had a couple cocktails, appetizers, and some yummy mains and desserts. Pretty good for bar food!

What a fun night! Thanks to Shelley, Chef James Walt, and Araxi for throwing a fabulous party.