This is a bold statement.

I know this is a bold statement, but Colette at the Sofitel is my new favorite restaurant in the Twin Cities! I, like many people, enjoy trying new restaurants and there have been many that I've fallen in love with... many, not so much. But after spending this past Friday night out to dinner with my hubby, I can honestly say Colette has the most amazingly delicious food!

Even though I grew up in the Twin Cities, I have never been to or eaten at the Sofitel. I was assigned to a TC Signatures shoot for TWIN CITIES LIVE last week at "Colette Bistro & Bar" in the Sofitel, so my photographer and I went to meet with the staff to see how the food is made. Executive Chef Serge Devesa took us into the kitchen to show us how he prepares the Sea Scallops. One bite and I was hooked!

After the shoot, I decided to make dinner reservations for AJ and me at Colette. AJ was running late, so I sat at the bar and ordered a $5 cosmopolitan (happy hour from 4-6pm). My bartender did not "scimp" on the alcohol. A couple sips and I was happy as a clam:) It was very tasty and that one drink held me through dinner (I had to drive).

Although I've never been to France, I imagine this restaurant to be an authentic french experience, right here in the Twin Cities. AJ ordered the scallops (per my recommendation) and I ordered the lamb. But first, we started with the crab cakes. OH... MY... GOSH! From my past experiences, it's very tough to find a good, REAL crab cake in the Twin Cities, but let me tell you... the crab cake at Colette is HEAVENLY! Thinking about it right now makes my mouth water. It has large chunks of crab, so light yet rich at the same time, and the corn salsa accompanying it is sweet and crunchy. I can only describe it as perfection (and it came out HOT too)!

Then came our meal. WOW! First of all, the presentation was impeccable. Every dish we ordered looked like a piece of art. Nothing was served warm... everything tasted like it JUST came off the grill or out of a pan (HOT HOT HOT)! My entree came with 3 large Colorado lamb chops and mashed potatoes. Each chop was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and the meat literally melted in my mouth. AMAZING!

Moving on to the star of the show... the sea scallops! When AJ took his first bite, I may have seen a tear fall from his eye, and he almost didn't share with me. The scallops are pan seared in butter and the three are served on top of truffle yukon mashed potatoes. These are by FAR the best scallops we have ever eaten! The scallops are prepared perfectly... seared on the outside and exquisitely soft and heavenly in the center. The potatoes are unlike anything I've ever eaten before... creamy, buttery, with the wonderful truffle flavor. I wanted to bathe in this dish! Thank you AJ for sharing with me:)

I don't know what it is about Colette, but I can't stop talking about it! Maybe is was the service, maybe it was the atmosphere, or maybe is was the food. You can watch my TC Signatures piece on TCL, Wed, Nov. 3rd between 3-4pm on KSTP (channel 5). I'll tell you how to get a $50 gift card for just $25! Or, if you don't think you can wait and you want to make a reservation today, visit their website: www.sofitelmplsdining.com

Happy dining!

My Beautiful, Fake Lashes

Since my wedding, a few people have asked about my long, luscious lashes. First of all, thank you. Second, they're fake:)

I decided to get semi-permanent lashes for my October 2nd wedding, and I'm happy and very surprised to see that they have stuck around! I had my lashes done the Wednesday before my wedding by Amy Presson at Jett Makeup. She has an amazing studio in Edina, where they do makeup and eyelash extensions. Amy has you lay on a very comfortable bed while she applies the lashes one by one, in a process that takes about two hours (one hour for a fill). I fell asleep during my treatment... it's hard not to because you're so relaxed:) Amy says people fall asleep all the time, and often snore (I hope I wasn't one of those people)!

Once your lashes are applied using a medical grade adhesive bonding agent, Amy goes over some rules to make sure your lashes stay in place. The best part is, you don't need mascara! In fact, mascara is a eyelash extension "no-no". In the last 3 weeks, my lashes have been in the ocean, sun, pool, and they have stayed in place (minus a few that have shed naturally). Amy says the lash extensions will shed naturally with your own eyelashes. If you ask me, they can stick around for as long as they'd like. Amy has made a fan out of this lady:)

The lashes run about $200 for the first application, and then about $100 for a fill. To read more about Jett Makeup's eyelash extensions or to book an appointment, contact Amy at 651-373-1702, or click here: http://www.jettmakeup.com/. Tell her Melissa sent you:)

Xoxo,

Melissa Saigh

It's Mrs. SAIGH to you...

I'm MARRIED! Finally, all the wedding talk is over (kind of), and I am no longer Melissa Specken... it's now Melissa Saigh (pronounced "sigh", rhymes with "thigh"). My husband (hehe) AJ and I were married at St. John's Catholic Church on October 2nd, and our reception was held at Interlachen Country Club in Edina. Everything was amazing!

We did the traditional wedding weekend... rehearsal and dinner on Friday night, wedding on Saturday, gift opening Sunday morning, and we left for our honeymoon Monday morning. I'm going to need a month to catch up on sleep, but it was all worth it. Our 236 guests flew in from all over the country and it was so great to have everyone we love in one room! As a bride, the most difficult thing about your wedding day, is getting around to each and every table to say hello and thank people for coming. In our case, AJ did most of the chatting and I did most of the dancing:)

My girls (6 bridesmaids and 4 personal attendants) and I started our wedding weekend with pedicures, manicures and custom spray tans with Extrados Salon in Wayzata. I am so unbelievably grateful to Miss Amy and her spray tanning talents, and for making myself and my girls bronze goddesses for the wedding! Extrados in Linden Hills was our "home base" on Saturday and I can not thank Leah and her staff enough for making my entire wedding party look like we came out of a bridal magazine. From 8am until noon, the moms, myself and my girls, all hung out at Extrados having our hair and makeup done. Leah was a phenomenal host, and she (and her staff) got all 13 of us ready to go and out the door for photos on time! I absolutely LOVED getting ready with all of my girls in the "bridal suite" at Extrados, and can't wait to see the photos taken by our photographer Brandis Alves.

It's so hard for me to remember details for the actual wedding day. I can honestly say I wasn't stressed (I was actually on Facebook and Twitter all morning) and almost everything went the way I had planned it. The weather was perfect, the fall leaves were starting to change color, and we STAYED ON TIME!!! The one moment I will never forget, is walking down the aisle with my Dad, seeing so many familiar faces... and then... the face of my future husband:) I also remember my cousins, Cavan and Ian Krekelberg, singing "Ave Maria" during our ceremony (I hope to post video or photos of this soon). Their voices were so beautiful and they made our family so proud!

Since my Dad is the fire chief of Hopkins, he had one of the trucks brought to the church for photos. It was something I was happy to do to make our wedding unique. Imagine a wedding party of 24, all dressed up in front of a big red truck! I can't wait to see those photos. After the ceremony and pictures, came the fun of the reception. And man oh man was our reception fun! Instead of having people "clink" glasses to get AJ and I to kiss, we asked people to sing a song with the word "love" in it. Our wedding basically turned into a Broadway production of singing guests. It made dinner interesting:) I also had my uncle Mark Boyle, who is the announcer for the Indiana Pacers, announce our wedding party as we entered the reception! All of the speeches (from my dad, to AJ's best man, to my maids of honor) were so funny, thoughtful, heart-warming and meaningful. To top it all off we showed our guests a 9 minute slide-show (produced by Sarah Sundahl), that did a fantastic job of telling our story in a short period of time. Again, I hope to post this video soon:)

Even our 1 week-long honeymoon in the Dominican (Punta Cana) was wonderful! It was great to just lay by the pool and on the beach with my husband, and not have to think or stress about anything. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort called "The Excellence". Minus the slight musty smell of our honeymoon suite, and the lack of air-flow and air conditioning at the Punta Cana airport, the honeymoon was a blast! We met so many great couples on our honeymoon from all over the world that we hope to stay in touch with:)

As fun as it was to be in wedding "la la land" for almost 2 weeks, it's so great to be back to reality in my safe haven of Minnesota! Lots of love to the Saigh and Specken family for making this whole thing possible:)

Xoxo,

Mrs. Saigh