The last wedding appointment Johnny and I had last weekend was with our Reverend. I found him online with great reviews, and after calling around to talk to a few officiants, I chose him. I love the guy! He's really personable and always cracks me up with a great sense of humor. This was Johnny's first time meeting him and he agreed. While we were walking away he squeezed my hand and told me I made the right choice.
We got in the car to drive away and I realized we should grab some food. I spotted Goldberg's Famous Bagels. There was no question. A Jewish deli making bagels? Can you get better than that!? I chose the everything bagel (BOTH sides were toasty and covered with toppings) with home made cream cheese and chives with Nova. He sliced the Nova fresh off the side of a salmon before putting it on my bagel.
For good measure, I texted my dad a picture with the caption "You jealous!?" It was delicious and makes me wish we had more Jewish people in the south. They just know their stuff.
When I think of wedding planning I think of two things: a nervous girl trying on dresses and an excited couple stuffing their faces with cake samples.
Since I already tried on dresses, I've had the cake tasting to look forward to for months!
Our venue works hand-in-hand with Homestyle Desserts, a local bakery to include the cake with the reception cost. At first I was a little weary because I wasn't sure if it was a good bakery. I read some online reviews and the locals just go ga-ga over them! My nerves were settled!
When we opened the doors to get out of the car in the parking lot, we both nearly fainted from the scent. There were people rushing in and out with huge white boxes full of tasty treats. The display cases were filled top to bottom with every Italian dessert, pastry, and treat you could imagine.
We were ushered behind the counter to a table and given 4 slices to try.
Starting at the top was Chocolate Mousse with chocolate cake and chocolate mousse. Going clockwise, next was Double Temptation, chocolate cake with cheesecake. Next was the Amaretto Cake, vanilla amaretto cake with vanilla and chocolate custard filling. Last was Cannoli Cake, an Italian sponge cake with Cannoli cream and chocolate chips.
In about 4 seconds the plate looked like this. When I looked at the selections back in February I pretty much already made up my mind. The tasting just solidified that choice!
Which one would you pick? Which do you think I picked!?!
If you've wandered over to the Wedding Planning tab, you already know that we're getting married at Bear Mountain State Park in December.
We narrowed down our choice after we learned the chefs are CIA grads and heard several good reviews from people that had eaten at functions there. I have not been a bridezilla about things, but I wanted to make sure our venue had outstanding food.
The paperwork we've had for months features pages of mouth watering selections. When our wedding coordinator said we could do a tasting I jumped at the chance to help narrow down our choices.
We chose 4 hors d'oeuvres to sample (from the left):
crispy pork belly with apricot marmalade on toasted corn bread
beef tenderloin medallion on crostini with goat cheese and oven dried tomato
mini buttermilk biscuit with honey mustard glazed ham and Swiss cheese
twice baked fingerling potato stuffed with bacon and boursin cheese
We also had two entrees to try:
cider-glazed pork loin over braised red cabbage with bacon jus
(Oops! We accidentally dug into this one before I snapped a pic, which messed up it's presentation!)
penne with vodka sauce and peas
Everything was so delicious. We had 2nds and 3rds of the entrees. It was so fun to sit and do a tasting- that's the first time I've done anything like that. I certainly feel very confident that any dish we choose will be ammmaazzzing! I can't wait for December to get here so I can stuff myself!
You guys post about fro yo all the time and I have never been! Sure, I've eaten frozen yogurt in cartons you buy at home, or made my own. But as far as these trendy little by-weight froyo places? Never been.
Until last week. Visiting my God daughter, we went for it after dinner since they ate all of their turkey.
You grabbed your bowl, filled it up with the flavor of your choice (under the spoons), then had fun with the toppings! There was a salad bar area with lots of fresh fruit and candies. Along the wall was a row of gumball machine-like devices for even more toppings like cereals and other crunchies.
The cash register had a scale in front of it, so you put your bowl there and it was .39c per ounce. I got strawberry yogurt, banana yogurt, and put fresh strawberries, blueberries, and crumbled sugar cone on top. It came out to about $3.
Here is my God daughter, Marissa with her bowl. I promise she's not always a blur! I'll have clear pics of her in future posts.
And her little sister, Cecelia, shouting "CHEEEEEEEEEESE" while she poses with her bowl!
Johnny and I went to his friend's wedding on Saturday. I think I look 86 instead of 26 in this pic. That's J's older brother photo bombing us, btw.
The reception food was delicious! We started with bread and had this delicious cream of chicken soup with rice.
Then a salad, and a family style dinner of the above yummies. Finished with a cherry jubilee dessert. Later they served fresh fruit and pastries. Here in the Midwest you take a slice of the wedding cake to go. Weird, huh!?
I thought this was so nice of the couple. They had these signs on each of the tables and around the room. I don't care what those bitchy opinionated brides on The Knot boards say, a donation in lieu of a favor is a really nice thought!
Yesterday we headed to J's parents' for Mother's Day. We got his mom this little greenhouse kit that J's younger brother put together for her. She's starting all of her plants for her big vegetable garden, so it'll come in handy.
She also just got her yearly shipment of baby chicks. (She raises hens for eggs.) It's always my favorite time of year when they arrive! I pick them up and snuggle them, they're so soft! These are about a week old and just fit in your hand.
Also, my dad's back in town. House progress where we left off - the downstairs' shower door is installed.
He grouted the tile floor down there and the cabinet and all electrical stuff (outlets, switches, lights) J installed.
J also swapped out our front door exterior light. The old one was on the house from when it was built in the mid-70s. It was really old, black, rusty, and full of wasp and spider nests. This makes the front look so much more inviting, I think!
And my FAVORITE progress of all -- my dad did this cement treatment on the fireplace. I just can't get over how awesome it looks! I'll have to get a picture of myself standing next to it to show you guys how big this is. It's such an awesome focal point of the room.
Chances are if you've talked to me on the side you know I love Ree and her blog, The Pioneer Woman. I've wanted to meet her for quite some time, but timing has just never worked out for when she's in town.
Earlier today I saw her tweet about being in Naperville, which isn't far from Johnny's work, which isn't too far from our house. So I met him at work and we drove out to the bookstore.
I was really nervous, so I texted Mara and Sophia to get rid of some giddy anxiety and tweeted with a bunch of you to pass the time.
I grew up a piano playing, ballet dancing, straight A kind of a gal, so I haven't led the most exciting life.
My celebrity spottings thus far have included handing Van Cliburn a bouquet of roses at a concert and asking him to blow my mom a kiss (which he did).
I also was in the same building as Joey McIntyre once. (He was Fiyero one of the three times I've seen Wicked.)
I know she's not a movie star (yet), but I kind of think of Ree in celebrity-like status. I've loved her books and her blog and seeing her on TV. I was going to have to walk up to her and talk! Eep!
Anyways- there I was, wearing my holey yoga pants, and the line finally dwindled down. There were 103 tickets and we were #98, so it had really dwindled down.
Ree sang Ethel Merman for the girls in line ahead of us, much to my delight. Then we approached her and I gushed bout loving her blog, and her, and Johnny and I talked about her little son that we find adorable, and then poof! it was over and I survived! She is so down to earth and sweet that I forgot my irrational fears of turning bright red, puking, or bursting into tears, embarrassing myself.
We were starved, so after we headed to a little Italian place just up the street, Rosebud. It was the first time either of us had eaten there, but J's friend highly recommended it.
I started with fried calamari. Hands down the best I've ever had! Delicious!
Then I had fetticine alfredo. (I went with a low-fat, low-cal dish since I have to fit into a wedding dress eventually.)
Johnny had some vodka penne dish. He almost always chooses vodka sauce dishes when we eat Italian. He loves them. And he ate this entire plate to prove it.
Then he had a creme brulee for dessert (I snuck a few spoonfuls of it). I ordered some cannolis to go, which I'll eat tomorrow in my PJs while catching up with 16 & Pregnant online since I watched every Glee episode in existence and now have to wait for new ones.
Sorry the restaurant photos are dim. I just have a point and shoot. Which brings me to a survey:
Ok, so I've been a horrible food blogger the past few weeks!
But, deep in my veins I was still a food blogger at heart. Something in my DNA would make me whip out my iPhone and snap some pics of note-worthy meals I had for you guys.
A slurpee!! Ahh, when was the last time you had one of these? It'd been way, way too long for me!
We went to Ikea one weekend to look at bathroom stuff for the re-do. My dad got Lox.
I got the Swedish meatballs and 3 bars of chocolate that we all split!!
An apple I ate as a snack had a bellybutton!
Dinner out one night featured a not so appetizing sounding drink menu ..
And this past weekend we went into the city to meet with Mara for our engagement photos! She took us to Old Town Social where we drank Prosecco.
And I ate these delicious poached eggs over spinach and artichoke hearts with Hollandaise!
In addition to splitting these sausage and gravy biscuits with Johnny! (He had his own plate of Banana's Foster french toast while Mara let us sneak a taste of her Waffles and Sausage.)
We were serenaded by a Dixieland band because it was brunch! Fun!
I'll post some of the engagement photos soon for you guys to see!
Sunday morning Di (Johnny's sister) and I set off to pick up Jenn. Then we met Mara, Beth, Mel, and Kelly (Johnny and Di's sister-in-law).
We were all at Big Bowl to gab it up and chow down - which is exactly what we did! We definitely need to do this more than once a year! Can you believe September 2009 was the last time I saw Beth and Mara!?
I'd never been to Big Bowl before and to be honest, I was so busy conversing that I really didn't study the menu like I normally would. I opted for a ginger seafood dish, with scallops and shrimp.
It was good, but because I requested no mushrooms, there really wasn't much in terms of veggies - just the green onion bits.
Before we said our goodbyes we got a group shot. Last time we totally forgot to get pictures together!
I left with some goodies too, of course!
Jenn made everybody mini banana muffins with chocolate chips. Forgive the notebook paper background, but I had to get a really quick pic because this was the last one! They were so good, I had all I could do to save one for a shot!
Mel made an awesome white chocolate "bark" with pecans and dried cranberries. This is so creamy and delicious - just my type of dessert! I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, but dark and white chocolate are an exception!!
And Beth was such a sweetheart to get up early and make us all pumpkin scones! I've already gobbled up three four of these!
Thanks girls! Di, Kelly, and I had a blast with you! :)
Johnny took me out to dinner at Big Tuna, a local Japanese restaurant. I'd eaten there once before, but this second time really won my heart!
First thing to hit the table was the edamame.
We started with the usual ginger salad and miso soup. I need to find a recipe for the ginger dressing they always serve at Japanese restaurants. It is so frickin' good. Johnny and I were sitting there trying to think of words to describe it, but eventually gave up and just stuffed our faces.
Johnny's appetizer was their vegetable gyoza. I had one and it was good, but I didn't want to waste any of my precious stomach space on them!
My appetizer was a Godzilla roll. I was going to snap a picture of the description, but I forgot and by the time I remembered she'd already taken the menu! From what I can remember it was spicy tuna, eel, avacado, and cream cheese. Then it was tempura fried and had an eel sauce and this spicy pepper jelly on it. It was one of those "I'm feeling adventurous" kind of orders, so I wasn't sure how much I'd like it - but I loved it! The texture was spot-on and all of the flavors complimented each other so well. Plus the cream cheese created this really nice gooey creamy aspect to it.
Johnny's entree was teriyaki steak. He offered me a bite, but I never took him up on his offer because I was too busy eating everything else!
My entree was the seafood tempura platter. There were two skewers of scallops, two shrimp, two hunks of white fish, and two crab legs, not to mention a boatload of tempura veggies.
Both entrees also came with rice and we were too full for dessert. But they did bring us some fresh honeydew melon cubes to end the meal while our check was being processed.
When we got home and digested a bit we were ready for my birthday request: cheesecake!!!! I'm not a huge fan of cake and I hate frosting. So Johnny made me cheesecake from my dad's recipe he always made for me when I was growing up.
Sorry for the photos in this post! I was in "birthday girl mode" instead of "food blogger mode." So they're darker and more hurried than usual!
I chose the everything bagel (BOTH sides were toasty and covered with toppings) with home made cream cheese and chives with Nova. He sliced the Nova fresh off the side of a salmon before putting it on my bagel.
For good measure, I texted my dad a picture with the caption "You jealous!?" It was delicious and makes me wish we had more Jewish people in the south. They just know their stuff.
