A Stellar Centerpiece

Good Movie and Great Food Network Food Make for Perfect
Centerpiece

In years past, the Santa Barbara
International Film Festival‘s Centerpiece event — which, as
the name implies, marks the middle of the festival — has been a
relatively mellow affair. A little movie, a little wine, and we’d
call it a night. This year, not so much.

The SBIFF outdid themselves yet again. They scored a great film,
Michael Apted‘s Amazing Grace and
appearances by much of the fantastically adorable cast. They
commandeered MacGuyver-style chef
Robert Irvine from the Food Network’s “Dinner:
Impossible” to whip up the grub in a mere eight hours.
And they managed to transform the area
in front of the Arlington from red carpet walkway to swanky
party scene by the time the credits rolled.

Though the food was reportedly quite delicious, snagging any of
it proved difficult — we’d catch rumors of “phyllo-wrapped
asparagus, two o’clock!” and set off, only to be
intercepted by someone, something, or some cocktail crying out for
a little love. My date got a little touchy at the bar,
frustrated when the bartendress didn’t understand that her urgent
demand “Screw me!” meant, “I’d like a screwdriver,
please.” But the situtation was remedied quickly enough, and off we
went, duly screwed, to do a lap, which also proved difficult —
there were just too many fantastic distractions.

Chit-chatting our way around the perimeter, we eventually found
ourselves back at the bar, lucking into the ultimate right-place,
right-time moment, when the chocolate champagne
bottles were busted out, at which point, extricating
ourselves became the only insurmountable obstacle. We finally managed to tear ourselves
away and call it a night (or a morning) in time for a little
much-needed beauty rest, as, impossibly, much more Festilicious fun
still awaits.