Patrick Bartlett: Mood Mingle with Hayden, Fred, Mitch, and Emmanuel

At our first Mood Wine Club event in Palm Springs, Hayden John Brown won a wine dinner for four. He and his gang opted to have it at the LOFT...

Table Ready

Hayden arrived first bearing a gift...

VODKA

Needless to say this got the party going.

This is the menu for the evening... it was fun planning it out with Hayden...

For more pics of friends and food and Mood Mingling... JUMP!

Hayden and Fred invited two of their good friends... Mitch and Emmanuel - the funny coincidence is Hayden works out at the gym we go to and Emmanuel is in the group fitness class we take (G-Force), but I didn't know he was the one coming...

L-R Mitch, Emmanuel, Hyden

Mitch and Emmanuel also brought a bottle of bubbly and Chardonnay... YAY!

Last to arrive was Mr Cool himself - Fred...

Fred looking all cool and relaxed

We started out with a cheese board, and our cocktails and had a nice chat...

Emmanuel and Mitch

Notice the professional technique Hayden uses holding his Vodka Martini.

Raptly listening to something... probably me prattling

Sadly I had to excuse myself in order to keep the food preparations going...

Pan Searing Portabellas

Added this pic cuz I think it's pretty...

Portabellas

Time to gather for the first course...

READY

This salad turned out so pretty... I was originally going to stack the roasted beets, but I found mini yellow and red beats, so I roasted, and quartered them instead...

Roasted Beet Salad

And it paired fantastically with this beautiful Hart Winery Blanc d' Franc...

Hart 2010 Blanc d' Franc

I'm going to try and get some of this for our Mood Wine Store!

I always have such a great time with these dinners... it's fun to serve friends that love good food and wine like these guys do...

Fill er up!

An added bonus: Emmanuel is studying culinary arts in school right now... I'm going to be getting some beautiful TAJ Farms humanely raised veal chops... I'm hoping Emmanuel will play in the kitchen with me when I get them.... that should be a fun post!

Contemplating the Bread Sticks

And now back to the food - Main course was one of my deconstructed Lasagna creations... but I made the mistake of buying fresh lasagna sheets from a gourmet market... then when I went to cook them (should have been a simple three minute job) they were stuck together and when trying to separate them they tore! ARRRGGGHHH.

But I loved the way it turned out, and flavors all worked well and SANG with the Woodworth Pinot Noir - you should check out our shopping site and order some... YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED - Join Mood Wine and get a 25% discount off a case!