Summer Lunch with Friends: Trattoria Amici at The Americana at Brand

A few weeks ago I hosted an early summer lunch for some of my dearest friends. I'm so excited to share the photos today! Not only had it been ages since we'd all had a meal together, the opportunity to slip away from our computers for some midday food, conversation, and plenty of bubbly was simply too good to pass up. The scene of our revelry? Trattoria Amici, a delicious Italian restaurant at The Americana at Brand.

Now, I love me some pasta as much as the next girl. However, for the last several months many of my friends and I have been avoiding certain foods—and pasta is one of them. The task of creating an appetizing Italian menu for twelve that didn't include pasta seemed daunting, but the staff at Trattoria Amici helped me assemble a list of colorful salads, fresh cheeses, and flavorful meats and sides that more than made up for the absense of noodles on the table. I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy everything without a second thought, and that's exactly what happened!

The fun part of getting bloggers together is that we don't have to hide our smartphone addictions. I even came up with the hashtag #conAmici (it means 'with friends' in Italian!) so we could Instagram between bites. (You know you're a social media nerd when you pun with hashtags and restaurant names in a foreign language…) After a few hours spent catching up over Prosecco in the sunshine, we all wandered home with full bellies and the intention of getting some work done. I cannot speak for the rest of the group, but I stayed in an Italian mood and took a nap instead! 

Thank you to Caroline and Jayden of Woodnote Photography for shooting these photos! And of course thanks to all my guests for joining me: Danielle and Kevin of The Why We Love, Jen of The Effortless Chic, Jennifer of JChong Studio, Jessica and Jonathan of Disregarden, Jessie of Sweet Thing Blog, Kelly Lee of Kelly Go Lightly, Kristin of The Cuisinerd.