Martinis and Handmade Pasta for Galentines
It’s only mid January, but I’m already looking forward to hosting my second annual Galentines get together as my first event of the year. Last year I dreamed up an intimate night of cocktails, pasta-making, and desserts… it was beyond fun to introduce my friends to each other and many of the girls walked away with new numbers saved to their cell phones, which brings me great joy! We’re doing it again next month and thankfully I have all the designs and plans ready to go this time.
I’ve never cared for commercial holidays (like Valentine’s Day) but I do love an opportunity to bring people together — I know this post title says “Galentines” but I think this type of soireé would work any time of the year! Who doesn’t love a cocktail or two and a chance to make new friends/catch up with old pals? I also rejected the typical pink/red colors of the season and went for one of my classic favorites, olive green — so it really does work whenever the hosting mood strikes.
Tell me in the comments if you’re inspired to throw a little get together for your favorite girls! You can find links for everything I used throughout the post and downloadable/printable artwork on my Etsy.
Printable simple Love Notes Cards
I was inspired to create this night when I went out to a favorite local restaurant with a friend and had an amazing dirty martini + great conversation. I left thinking “how can I re-create that at home?”
That’s honestly the start of many of my themes — I always have an eye out for something that might give me a new idea.
The Elements
MARTINIS & OTHER LIBATIONS
HANDMADE GNOCCHI DINNER
FLORALS
MACARONS
LOVE NOTES
Since the martini was the primary inspiration point, I immediately gravitated towards the gorgeous green of the olives and wanted to base everything around that. I knew I wanted to create a drink station where girls could make their own cocktails! I’d also seen bottles of rosé with labels I loved that said “love you bunches” and definitely wanted to source those (I ended up finding them at Whole Foods).
I ordered a gorgeous green satin ribbon that I could tie on various elements, like wine bottles, notes, flowers, candles, etc. and took that color to apply to digital invitations, menus, and cards.
The next element that came to mind was the pasta. I had made the most amazing fried ricotta gnocchi with a friend who brought over her Forest Feast cookbook back in early January. Sure enough, I was able to find the recipe online (copied below) and began to think of a way I could easily feed eight or so girls without spending all night in the kitchen, since handmade pasta is pretty involved. It occurred to me that it might be a fun activity to just make the pasta all together!
No party is complete without flowers and a particular “mood”, in my opinion — since its still winter and the sun sets pretty early, I decided to work with the natural lighting and go for a cozy, low light vibe with lots of lamps and candles. I’d already treated myself to beautiful, heavily perfumed lilies earlier in the week so I gave them some fresh water and a trim and arranged them throughout the space. Big statement blooms are an easy and last minute trick for a minimal, yet striking look!
For dessert, I asked a dear friend who is mega talented if she’d be willing to make some delicious macarons…thank goodness she said YES! We love a bit of Parisian flair to make things feel extra special and romantic.
Finally, I wanted to create some grown up valentines to encourage all the ladies in my life. I designed love note cards to match the other decor and a friend who agreed to co-host with me helped write them for all the girls in attendance.
SHOP LOVE NOTE PRINTABLE CARD
Bar carts and beverage stations are my favorite to set up as a quick way to get guests involved and having fun as soon as they walk in the door. Having chilled wine ready to be poured and cocktail recipes printed out so they can get to mixing means people aren’t standing around awkwardly, waiting for others to arrive.
I bought this “love you bunches” rosé for the cute labels but it turned out to be delicious with notes of strawberry, but not on the overly sweet side. I served it in my favorite CB2 glasses.
For the Martini Bar, I set out several kinds of my favorite gin (the Botanist and Hendrick’s) straight from the freezer, next to chilled dry vermouth and olives (I don’t do vodka, sorry!). I usually have mix and match glassware so this time I put out my modern martini glasses and some coupes as well. Don’t forget cocktail picks and lots of ice! I designed, printed and framed a classic martini recipe/step by step so guests would know exactly what to do.
MARTINI BAR SHOPPING LIST
Gin (Hendrick’s)
Dry Vermouth
Bitters (optional)
Spanish Olives
Cocktail picks
Lemons (optional)
GNOCCHI SHOPPING LIST
Fresh Ricotta (at least 2 cups)
All-Purpose Flour
(I used King Arthur Gluten Free)
Salt
Eggs
Grated Parmesan
RECIPE FOR FRIED RICOTTA GNOCCHI
adapted from the forest feast blog
2 c (490 g) whole milk ricotta
2 eggs
1 c (100 g) grated parmesan
1 c (125 g) flour (or more if using gluten free)
pinch of pink himalayan salt
Mix all ingredients in a bowl to form a dough. If it feels too sticky to roll into a log, add a bit more flour. (I ended up using almost 2 cups of King Arthur Gluten Free Flour)
Roll the dough into a log & slice into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil & cook the gnocchi in batches until they float (about 3 min). Meanwhile, melt 2 T butter in a pan. Drain the gnocchi, pat them dry, & transfer to the hot pan — making sure to cook until browned on both sides.
Enjoy immediately! You can top with more olive oil, parmesan cheese, salt & pepper, and any herbs you like. We made fresh pesto and burst cherry tomatoes to go on top - YUM.
You may be wondering how eight girls were all cooking together at once in my tiny kitchen. Well, thankfully pasta can be an assembly line process! A few people were on dough making duty, a few were using the gnocchi paddles I ordered to create the ridges on the pasta, one was manning the pot of boiling water, and one was frying while the rest made the toppings. It was chaos but in a super fun way! The atmosphere was perfectly casual for those who didn’t know each other to start chatting as they helped cook.
After dinner was made and served, we passed out the love notes and brought out the macarons — a highlight of the evening for sure. My friend had made two kinds: a raspberry and rosewater mac drizzled with white chocolate and dried rose petals (stunning) and strawberry dipped in dark chocolate. The dessert was sweet and the notes were sweeter! I’m definitely keeping mine close by as a reminder of what amazing friends I have on my side.
And that’s about it for a relatively simple, weeknight get together! I hope you never miss a chance to tell the important people in your life just how much you care about them.
xo, M