Sunday, February 22, 2009

Cocktails With Sandra Lee @ The Standard


Probably one of the calmest, nicest events of the festival. You can't really go wrong with sunset at the Standard. The hotel's spacious bayfront patio was practically designed for cocktails hours like these. Semi-homemade cooking star and sunny blonde Sandra Lee was in the house, addressing the crowd informally by getting up on a plastic ottoman and apologizing for the lack of music "Apparently it's not aloud here," she said. Must be a Venetian Islands thing. She didn't make reference to the event's puzzling design element - dozens of models decked out in metallic paint perched on plastic cubes, a strange choice for the homemaker-appealing, pink-loving host.
Good thing the cocktails were abundant. Lots of semi-homemade-inspired bites made the rounds like cherry tomatoes stuffed with blue cheese, raspberry chicken skewers, and platters of smoked ribs. The Standard's chef Mark Zeitouni was also on hand to provide some of his Mediterranean bites like flatbread with hummus and feta, cheese-filled phyllo batons and carrot juice with ginger tapioca balls. Best in show was the toasted baguette topped with cream cheese and poached (or canned pears), made with stuff you could probably find in your pantry in time for last-minute guests.

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