Yelp Elite: Salty Meets Sweet Soiree

I had been looking forward to the Yelp Elite Salty Meets Sweet Soiree for a number of reasons. I’d get to see my Yelp friends, it was going to be a much smaller gathering than the last Elite event, and I’d get to try two restaurants I hadn’t been to before. Sounds like a win, win, win right?

The event was held at The Dessert Lady. She originally was located downtown, but is now in the Dr. Phillips area. Since I live in Altamonte I rarely EVER hit up this area of town, so I was excited to be able to try both places. The food was provided by The Dessert Lady (of course) and Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine. Guess what? It seems that I like Turkish food!

For Salty part of the evening Bosphorous served us their housemade Babaganoush with pita, White Bean Salad, and Chicken Adana Kebap. Yum, yum, and yum! I found out they have another location in Winter Park and I will definitely be checking it out for a full meal. The food was so flavorful and different. I just loved it.

The Dessert lady of course provided the Sweet part of the evening. She had out trays of “cake bites” in a ton of different flavors. Knowing that I really wanted to try as much as I could, I went light on the “dinner” portion of the meal so that I could try 5 different things. Yup – five. I like dessert, what can I say. It was so hard to pick favorites but I would have to go with the carrot cake (minus the frosting) and the oreo cheesecake. They were both amazing! The desserts are available by the slice (around $8) or you can buy the full cake.

My favorite part of the night was Ena from The Henna Studio who was there to put a little “icing” on us. I’d always been interested in Henna and this was a great opportunity to see what it was all about. As soon as Ena was set up I was the first one in her chair. I decided to go with a traditional design and she got started right away. Within ten minutes I had a incredibly intricate and beautiful design on my hand. The paste dries within 15-20 minutes, but she suggests leaving it one for at least 3-4 hours. At that point you can just pick it off. The longer you can go without getting it wet the longer it will last. I’m sure I looked pretty silly in the shower this morning holding  my left hand over my head the whole time.

A friend recommended coating my hand with EVOO before I went to sleep last night, so I did just that. This morning Ena saw my comment about it and confirmed that its a great thing to do. I also found an article this morning saying to cover it with oil or Vaseline after you shower. Ena said that over the next 2 days the coloring would change. I was shocked at how different it looked from just last night.

Overall it was a great event. I loved being able to try out new foods, new restaurants, and even get some Henna done. A big thank you to all involved for a great night!