National Event Producer Lawson Roberts offers some creative ideas for Host Gifts

Well it’s official: The holiday party season has arrived
You know what that means?
It means that the holiday party invites are going to start rolling in any minute.  And if you're anything like me, you’re probably swamped with business and commitments so figuring out what the heck to bring along for the host or hostess is the last thing you need to add to that endless list of to do’s.
Have no fear though; I've done the creative work for you.

 Here’s a fun  list of spruced up holiday host gifts that will knock their socks off or stockings as the case may be.

Something Festive  - fill a decorative glass jar with a homemade trail mix (make it different- craisins, mini assorted chocolate chips, coconut, almonds granola and tie a big, beautiful ribbon around it.  Imagine how pretty it would look.  And the fact that the contents are totally shelve-able means that your hostess wouldn't feel obligated to serve it at the party.
Something Frivolous -  head over to World Market or Pier 1 and pick up a set or two of elegant unique cocktail stirrers. There are plenty of options this time of year.  Next stop: the  liquor store.  Choose a nice bottle of liquor (Chambord, Godiva, Baileys) to present with the stirrers.  Again, a big, beautiful bow would go a long way to add wow factor to a relatively simple gift.

Something Sinful -  think chocolate.  This time of year you can easily find decadent goodies on every end-cap of every specialty store.  There are peppermint barks, gourmet marshmallows, truffles and toffees. Sweets are always a sinful treat for your host to enjoy.

Something Portable -  I like the idea of a nice quality travel mug presented with an assortment of holiday flavored teas and chai.  They have such great flavors available this time of year.  Arrange the mug alongside the teas and chai in a basket with a candy cane and you've saved your hostess a trip to Starbucks!

Something Personalized - pick up a pair of plain martini glasses and a glass painting kit from your local craft store.  Let your creative juices flow.  Painting initials, snowflakes, shapes  or stripes on the glasses would make them instantly unique.  Tie some ribbons around the stems and present them with some chic cocktail napkins.

Something Practical - If the host is throwing a big holiday shindig, chances are she won't feel up to making breakfast the following morning.  A pound of  pre-ground holiday blend coffee, a dozen fresh bagels (or muffins or croissants) from a local bakery along with flavored cream cheese (or jams) will always be much appreciated.

Something Fragrant -  why not get an assortment of  tea light candles with those scented pine cones that start popping up all around town about this time of year.  You can buy a mesh bagful of them at the grocery store very inexpensively.  You pour those pine cones into a decorative basket with the tea lights, adorn a metallic ribbon on them, and you have created a fabulous gift.

Something Traditional -  and what's more traditional than wine? You truly can put a spin on even the most traditional of host gifts.  Consider purchasing a wine that is produced in the recipient's home state.  And present it with a decorative bottle stopper.

Something Signature -  stop in to one of your local stationary shops, odds are they have some very cool monogrammed items that will inevitably have the last name initial that you are looking for. Some fun ideas would be hand towels, coasters, linen coctail napkins etc...
Remember, when at all possible, buy local. Keep that hard earned money right in your neck of the woods.

Happy Entertaining!!!!

L.

National Event Producer Lawson Roberts Offers Experts' Tips in Holiday Party Etiquette

So you're at the company holiday party and you see someone double dipping in the cocktail sauce. . YUCK! It happens all the time.  Ever  wonder what to wear to an event. . what is a must for Black Tie? What kind of host gifts should you bring with you to a dinner party? What about a cocktail party? Ever wonder how late is fashionably late?  This is something that has always fascinated me. I have decided to bring in 2 nationally acclaimed experts to discuss this plus everything else under the sun when it comes to tastefully living and proper style. It will all be on your brunch show: The Sunday Morning Mimosa this Sunday from 11-1. In the Charleston Market you can tune in at 98.9 Chick FM. It's also up on my website at http://www.lawsonroberts.com/. Joining us on the show this week:

K. Cooper Ray: 

K. Cooper Ray was born in Montgomery and is a thirteenth generation Southerner and a seventh generation Alabaman.  He served as Vice President of Bottega Veneta and Ambassador of Dom Perignon before launching  SocialPrimer.com in 2008 and has been featured in Vanity Fair, GQ, Town & Country, Elle, Marie Claire, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times as well as a recurring etiquette segment on The KTLA Morning Show. Cooper has lived in New York City, Milan, Italy, Cape Cod, Los Angeles and now Charleston, South Carolina. He is a bow tie designer (Social Primer for Brooks Brothers), sailor (2006 regatta winner), Tavern & Music Hall proprietor (Eighth & Rail) and was recently chosen one of Angeleno Magazines’ Top Ten Men of Style. He is the author of the Manhattan society satire Last Night at Moomba and is an established fixture on the social scenes in Los Angeles and New York.

Cindy Grosso:

Cynthia R. Grosso is a corporate etiquette expert. She has been a speaker, teacher and consultant in this arena for more than 15 years. She is the founder of the Charleston School of Protocol and Etiquette. Prior to her current business, she owned a prominent international modeling and finishing school.
In addition to being an award winning speaker and a business columnist, Ms. Grosso has appeared as an etiquette expert on the Dr. Phil Show, Oprah, Faking It and Perfect Proposal reality shows on TLC, written about in Woman's Day Magazine, Marie Claire Magazine, The New York Times, Esquire Magazine, BusinessWeek Magazine, Golf Digest, Working Woman Magazine, Women's World Magazine as well as many others. She is the host of Your Manners Matter radio show.

Fun Recipes and New Thanksgiving Traditions!

  I grew up just like so many American's, eating the same ol' same ol' for Thanksgiving. 
It was always wonderful but never anything that made your taste buds sit up and take notice!  Thanksgiving is all about tradition and to many people that means eating the same exact meal year after year.  That's fine! But, why not take your Grandma's Green Bean Casserole and spice it up a bit?  Why not add some fun to everyone’s favorites with Sweet Potato Balls? And how about stopping that fight over the crispy layer on the stuffing, make Southern Stuffin Muffins, so everyone has a crispy bite or two.  Make your family appreciate what is going in their mouths and really give thanks this year! Try a mixture of traditional dishes and new twists on family classics. So why not serve that traditional turkey, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes  with a few new twists for the holiday. Shake it up a bit and create some new family classics and traditions!

Fungi Green Bean Casserole
1 pound fresh green beans
4 quarts water
4 Tablespoons salt
2 oz by weight of dried mushrooms ( Porcinis and Morels)
½ cup hot water
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 pound sliced mushrooms                                                                                                               (mix of wild mushrooms suggested- but plain button mushrooms will do)
3/4 cup marsala wine
2/3 cup vegetable stock
1/3 cup chicken stock

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste
  
1 can fried onions
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Bring salted water to a boil and blanch green beans for 3 - 5 minutes, then refresh in iced water and set aside.
Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes.
Melt butter and saute the sliced mushrooms. Deglaze with marsala wine, scraping off the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the softened dried mushrooms and the soaking liquid. Reduce until most of the liquid has evaporated. Make a slurry with the cornstarch and veggie/chicken stock. Add to the mushrooms and heat until thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Toss the mushroom "gravy" with the green beans and place in a casserole dish. Top with the fried onions and bake until browned on top and green beans are heated through.
SWEET POTATO BALLS
Ingredients:
4   large sweet potatoes
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups shredded coconut, sweetened                                                                                            
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1   large marshmallow per potato ball
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
Bake the potatoes until tender, then peel and mash them. Stir in the brown sugar, orange juice, zest and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, toss the coconut with the sugar and cinnamon. Press mashed potatoes around each marshmallow, creating a 2 to 3-inch diameter ball. Roll the balls in the coconut mixture. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Watch carefully for the last few minutes of cooking; the expanding marshmallows can cause the potato balls to burst open. 
SOUTHERN STUFFING MUFFINS
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 stick butter, softened 
2 ribs celery and greens, from the heart, chopped
1 rib of rhubarb, chopped
1 medium to large sweet vidalia onion, chopped
1 McIntosh apple and 1 Granny Smith Apple cored, quartered and chopped
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
8 cups cubed stuffing mix 
2 to 3 cups chicken stock
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil to skillet and 4 tablespoons butter. When butter melts,  add the vegetables as you chop them, celery, rhubarb, onions then apples. Sprinkle the vegetables and apples with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Cook 5 to 6 minutes to begin to soften vegetables and apples then add parsley and stuffing cubes to the pan and combine. Moisten the stuffing with chicken broth until all of the bread is soft but not wet.
Butter 12 muffin cups, 2 tins, liberally with remaining butter. Use an ice cream scoop to fill and mound up the stuffing in muffin tins. Bake until set and crisp on top, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove stuffin' muffins to a platter and serve hot or room temperature

10 days and counting. . THANKSGIVING. . . Food Coma?

Every year about this time I think to myself. . .here we go again. It's the down fall of my life. It's the Holidays. You know that day that starts it too! Thanksgiving is the culprit. From there, inevitably, every holiday party we go to has some amazing charcuterie display, foie gras, amazing carving station, gnocchi in a magnificent cream sauce and the list goes on and on and on. I called our celebrity trainer JD Porcelli who has offered me some tips that I will be happy to share with you to handle Man VS. Food. His first tip that he shared is to make sure to drink at least 2 glasses of water before you go into the event. This will help curb the appetite and therefore hopefully not tempt you as much. Next on the agenda is to simply pick the battle and end the war! By this, try and stay away from the tempting sweets table and maybe just a nibble of your charcuterie. I know what you're thinking this is near impossible. He also said a smart thing to do would be to eat a full balanced meal prior to your holiday events so you won't be as hungry. No matter what we do Thanksgiving is always there. It is so easy to do that great 2:00 lunch and then by 4:30 you're making turkey sandwiches right? Well again, one day did not make or break us. Just make a point to take a nice walk or jog the next morning before you start your black Friday shopping. It is the most wonderful time of the year. Let's keep it that way! For more details on weight watching tips, JD is back on the Sunday Mimosa show with us next Sunday from 11-1.

Farm to table Nirvana

ON a some what rainy and cold Thursday night my assistant Adam and I were invited to enjoy dinner at one of Charleston's newest restaurants as part of a soft opening. Husk is located on Queen Street in the historic district. The concept is one that I have absolutely fallen in love with. It is the complete farm to table ideology. The big thing is every ingredient served with every dish is found only in a southern state.

We started off with some amazing snacks including local crab claws with a brilliant dipping sauce, also an amazing array of various hams and a house made sweet and spicy mustard.

Our appetizers were out of this world:

OK I will admit, I have not always been a big quail fan. I would have to say mainly because of its gamey nature. Well Chef Sean Brock has hit one out of the park. he stuffs his quail with a house made bologna and cheddar cheese!! It was described to me as his take on the cheddar stuffed hot dog in his own style. It was so cool because it totally had no gamey flavor at all.

Let's move into entrees: i ordered the duck because my friend and food critic Holly Herrick told me I would be in for a surprise. Adam ordered the Trigger Fish. OK so Duck first: prepared flawlessly. . topped with granola!!!! You heard me correct granola! a big old butter nut squash piece, sauteed cabbage was perfect. The trigger fish was beyond incredible with his rich and flavorful whipped potatoes, local shrimp. .divine!

Desserts came with french press coffee and were really fun. Chef's play on a Little Debbie oatmeal cake was mind blowing.

The design and flow of the room was really well done. Lighting flowed well, noise level as generally is an issue was not at all. Look for the wonderful use of heirloom tomatoes all over the down stairs.

Service in all of my years was executed better on night 3 than anywhere I have ever seen all over the world.

Husk is settling in for what seems to be a long and enjoyable run.

Congrats and thanks to all!!

Dinner Party Must Have

What do you do after the dessert and coffee course at a dinner party? After dinner cocktails and cordials of course. From our style file: it is considered approrpriate to adjourn from the dinner table and offer cigars and after dinner drinks in an adjoining room to the dining room. Some fun after dinner cocktail ideas would be:

1oz apricot brandy
1oz triple sec
lime

shake virgorously serve over the rocks and garnish with a lime wedge. Perfect palate cleanser.

National Event Planners and Producers at Lawson Roberts offers latest in wedding trends

So, one of the largest challenges for destination weddings is what to do with the kids! There is the always dreaded children's table which promises some sort of distraction during the reception. One of the coolest ideas that we have done is to set up a craft corner where the kids can get their caricature done, make some really fun take away items or even take place in a group project like the chains of love concept. This is where each child puts a message on a construction paper chain and they are attached and presented to the couple at the end of the reception. It really is all about keeping the kids busy with something fun to do. We suggest that you don't be so conerned with design and decor for this area rather have some really fun things to do.

Just another night in the city

Hanging out with Maury Povich

Maestro David Stahl Passes

I am so sorry to tell you that we lost an inspirational person in my life. . an industry colleague and more over a friend this evening. the CSO's Maestro David Stahl passed away after a long battle with cancer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family during this difficult time.

Happy weekend to you!

We start a grand tour of our city!