(NEW YORK) Ladies who lunch! Cornelia Guest hosted a luncheon with Quest magazine and Stuart Weitzman to fête her new cookbook, Simple Pleasures. The event was held at Laurent Tourondel‘s Arlington Club and drew the Upper East Side chic set (with a bit of downtown tossed in), like Muffie Potter Aston, Alexandra Lind Rose, Susan Duffy, Nicky Hilton, and Dani Stahl, to name a few.
Many came in their best Stuart Weitzman’s. The most popular pair: at least five chicettes were spotted in the brand’s black knee-high Gladiator sandals. Want a pair? Alas, the shoe, which was featured on Kate Moss in the label’s campaign, has sold out. Guests dined over beefsteak tomato salad over stilton, cavatelli with mushroom ragout, grilled branzino, brussels sprouts, and wild mushrooms. For dessert? Guests were treated to Guest’s uber-popular cruelty free chocolate chip cookies, in addition to an assortment of goodies from the restaurant’s dessert menu.
How did the cookbook come about? “I’m a big foodie, but whenever people come over to my house they always ask me, ‘how did you do this?’ and it’s all vegan and vegetarian cooking.” Guest said she wanted to make a cookbook with easy and affordable recipes. “I’m a cook, but I’m not a chef. If you give me 500 steps for a recipe I’m like, ‘forget it!'” she said. Guest wanted to keep the book down to earth, and despite having learned her cooking skills through the family chef, Guest isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. “I love to be in the garden. My favorite thing is to be in the garden and to go and pick carrots and eat them fresh,” she said.
Guest has been keeping busy with multiple projects under her belt. In addition to her cookie biz and her new cookbook, Guest also has a cruelty-free handbag line, which is made from recycled PVC and she just launched her e-commerce site two weeks ago. Biggest surprise client? “I had someone buy a bag from Australia,” she said. I was like, ‘how did she find us?!’ You wish you could call them up and say, ‘Hi, it’s Cornelia Guest. Can you tell me what you love or don’t love about the bag?” Here’s to hoping that Guest’s recipe for international success extends to her new foodie tome as well.
PAIGE REDDINGER