Sometimes a few simple ingredients can be combined to make something wow-worthy — and I totally feel that way about this easy to make summer salad of grilled peaches and arugula. I made this salad for a summer rosé party held by The Urban Grape, and it was a hit — the sweetness of the grilled peaches is a perfect balance for the peppery arugula and tang of reduced balsamic. Check out the recipe below and be sure to click over to Boston.com to read the full article with smart tips from Hadley & TJ of The Urban Grape  to throw your own rosé party!

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Ingredients:

  • 6 Peaches
  • 1 cup of Mozzarella balls
  • 8 cups of Arugula
  • 1/8 cup Pine Nuts
  • 1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Peel peaches and cut into wedges. Heat grill and lightly coat with cooking spray to keep peaches from sticking. Grill peaches until marked on all sides. Set aside to cool. In a small saucepan, heat the Balsamic Vinegar on a medium-high heat, and let it reduce in half, about 5-8 minutes. As the Vinegar is reducing, toast pine nuts lightly in a small pan (be careful not to burn). In a large bowl, assemble arugula, layer mozzarella and peaches on top, and then sprinkle with pine nuts and dress with the balsamic reduction. Toss to serve.

Photography: Brian Samuels Photography

 

I had the pleasure of working with some really creative folks a few weeks ago on a rosé wine tasting party held by The Urban Grape. Helping to style a shoot like this really doesn’t count as work because I got to hang out all day with amazing company, eat a tasty lunch al fresco on a gorgeous wrap around porch, and learn all about (and taste!) delicious rosé wines on a warm summer day. I shared a few of my favorite outtakes from the day here, but click over to Boston.com to read the full article with smart tips from Hadley & TJ of The Urban Grape  to throw your own rosé party.

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Wine: The Urban Grape

Photography: Brian Samuels Photography

Flowers: Boston Pollen

Glassware: Farm & Fable

 

We celebrated our 1-year anniversary a little early with a trip to Napa and San Francisco last weekend — I was traveling for work in the area so we decided to make a mini-vacation out of it! I know most people visit Napa and drink their way through the region, but I think we actually spent more of our time eating our way through. We wandered through Oxbow Public Market and feasted on Hog Island Oysters (paired with a rosé of course) and then made our way to Gott’s Roadside for burgers (paired with a milkshake of course). And we did manage to do tastings at a few vineyards (Robert Sinksey was our favorite, they had  tasty little snacks paired with the wines and the whole place had a laid back atmosphere).  We ended our day strolling through downtown Yountville — I had perhaps the tastiest salad of all time at Redd Wood — an asparagus, bacon, and burrata salad, yum! Before we left to drive down to San Francisco the next day we made an obligatory stop at Bouchon Bakery, where I had a croissant for breakfast and of course couldn’t leave without picking up some macarons for the road!

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The wedding festivities continue: in between seating charts and dress fittings I squeezed in an amazing weekend with my girlfriends in Newport, RI for my bachelorette party. My friends have mastered the planning of a successful girls weekend: we hit up a local winery, toured the vineyards, and had a decadent picnic after a wine tasting. We walked around Newport to do some shopping and take advantage of the preppy wares; and we topped the night off with some dancing and quite a few cocktails. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to go through dozens of pictures to find a few ‘blog-appropriate’ versions to share. But hey, that’s what a bachelorette party is all about, right? Now that I’m nearly recovered from the debauchery we’re in the final countdown: just under 3 weeks ’til we say I do!

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On Friday night we tried a new neighborhood restaurant and I fell in love with it before we even ordered when I saw how fun their cocktail menu was! I played along and settled on a greyhound — it was delicious! Then on Saturday one of my girlfriends hosted a blind wine tasting party — everyone brought a bottle they’d never had before and we got to work sipping and rating our favorites! Aren’t the little cards she designed the cutest? All in all, it was a pretty fine weekend!

 
 
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