Valentine's Day: A Tribute to D.

Ah, Valentine's Day. D. and I aren't huge fans of it. The expense, the crowds, the horrific jewelry store commercials all add up to something that feels very forced to us. As D. pointed out once upon a time, it's important to cherish each other the other 364 days, too.

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Anniversaries

Lots to celebrate here at AoaAF.

One year ago, I married my best friend and the best teammate one could ask for. He's still putting up with me, so something's going right.

Three years ago, I decided that I should write about what I eat. I'm floored that there are people out there who read the swill I post and for that, I thank you all.

One year ago, Bear passed his Canine Good Citizen test, proving that old dogs can learn new tricks and that a little faith can bring one back from the brink.

One year ago, I had no idea I'd dig up the cajones (finally!) to take the MCAT and (finally!) apply to medical school.

One year ago, I was on my way to the most beautiful place on Earth.

A lot happens in a year and it's been one hell of a ride.

Our celebratory dinner was steak frites with maître d'hôtel butter from the Bouchon cookbook. Fries from a newly acquired trick. Corn from the Hillcrest farmers' market.

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Domesticity

One of our wedding gifts: gorgeous new sheet/duvet set.

We love 'em, but apparently Bear felt the need to assert his thoughts. The sheets are a winner.

Our first tasting

Ah, I love food. When looking at so-called wedding porn... no, that's not meant literally. I'm not talking about the increasingly-popular trend of pre-wedding boudoir shots, but rather photographs of decor and details. Like the fabulous (FABULOUS! I can't help myself...) photos on Abby Larson's Style Me Pretty. Even my cold, un-girly heart thaws slightly at these photos. Anyhoo, when I'm ogling the wedding porn, I usually end up drooling over gorgeous place settings. Generally, there aren't a lot of food shots. However, there are great shots of tables and settings with the occasional speck of food.

Well, it's going to be different with us. I hope. I want some shots of the food and I especially want the food to be fabulous. D. and I will actually try to take some time to actually eat the meal we planned. The WIC (Wedding Industrial Complex) demands that we have a "theme" to the whole affair. Fine. The theme is: THE BEST DAMN DINNER PARTY EV-AR. How's that?

With that said, we had our first tasting today. We weren't expecting much... small portions, mediocre food, etc. Since our expectations were so low, we were blown away by what we were served. For one thing, it was a full-sized 4-course meal. Secondly, it was good food. Quite good. Much better than I expected. Lastly, they surprised me with their take on bouillabaisse.

First up, the appetizers: satay chicken, bacon and cheese on new potatoes, and potstickers. With D., it wouldn't be a wedding without his beloved potstickers.

Satay chicken fell flat... no seasoning, but the chicken was moist. The potatoes were great and I loved that they were bite-sized. It's a great amuse bouche. The potstickers were deep-fried, which I don't like, but D. was satisfied and that's all that matters.

D.'s steak frites. We're actually going to re-taste this, because the steak was near-inedible. For some reason, it was really tough and tendon-y, so they'll make it again with a better portion of beef.

The fries were insanely perfect. Those are definitely on the menu. The mushroom-based demi-glace was fine.

One of the vegetarian station options was risotto, so we opted to taste it. The risotto is served plain, with pesto or saffron-infused cheese as mixers. For "toppings," there were asparagus, roasted peppers, and olives with blue cheese. It was really good... I'm worried it would be a little plain for the vegetarians, so I'd appreciate some feedback from the vegetarians out there in the interweb... would this appeal to you? Or does it seem like yet another carnivore's attempt to turn a side dish into your meal?

Lastly, the fabled bouillabaisse. Somewhere in Paris, in Port d'Orleans (I think.), there's a little mom-and-pop restaurant that forever ruined me by serving the perfect bouillabaisse. Hearty and home-cooked, bouillabaisse brings me back to Paris. It reminds me of my mother, who spent years there. I've never tasted an American version as good and I still haven't, but this dish was a damned good attempt.

Why attempt to include it in the menu? Well, D. and I first wanted a menu that reflected both Chinese and American. Unfortunately, to many companies, it meant some horrible bastardization of Chinese food. Instead of risking sub-par food just to fit our "vision," we scrapped the idea in favor of French-bistro cooking. Figuring it would play along with our engagement, it would be simple and hearty food that had the best chance of pleasing the majority of our guests. Furthering the inspiration was our first-choice caterer, which happens to be owned by a Frenchman. I wasn't sure what to expect when I suggested bouillabaisse, which wasn't on the menu, but hopefully the owner/chef knew how to make it. He did and it was nicely done.

The broth was deliciously rich and infused with a hint of saffron. There was a smidge too much white wine in it, but not so much that it affected the product. There were huge scallops, shrimp, and green mussels in it. It was really good. Served with a crusty baguette, it would make a great meal, especially during a cool evening.

I really hope this translates well when prepared for 100+ people. Whew! Talk about my dream wedding. Hehe.

Wah-dings: Gardens, Caterers, and DIY

I'm running a little low on material, so I thought I'd write a post about wah-ding planning. I'm using "wah-ding" because my original post about planning was picked up by blog scrapers and posted on bot-run blogs. Ick.

We've settled on a site, the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. Venue selection wasn't too bad. We visited, we chatted with site coordinators, we took pictures, and we griped about how every site we saw didn't match up to the JFG. Other places had time restrictions (many said the party had to end by 9pm or 10pm, due to their location in a residential area) that we weren't sure we could work with. What do we do? Chase people out at 9pm? Oy. We were suckers for the JFG's gorgeous mix of outdoorsy and elegant, so we're very happy to finalize a site.

Other venues we loved:

The Darlington House

Water Conservation Garden

Caterer selection, on the other hand, was frustrating. Some don't return calls or emails. They're only available during weekday business hours, which is understandable because many events occur during the weekend. Everything, from phone calls to emails to meetings, have to be done during the workday. Hey, we happen to have full-time jobs, too. It still continues, as we're starting our tastings.

I'll post more about catering when the tastings are over, but for now, a recap of the most appalling conversation in this whole search:

One rep actually had the bloody gall to imply that we were out for a free meal when I inquired about pre-signing tastings. After I incredulously asked her how she could expect us to even consider her company without tasting the food, she confidently (or delusionally) told me that they are so good and their events are so exclusively customized that tastings are unnecessary and they only take place at the end of the timeframe. That is, you taste your wedding meal not long before your guests do. Then, she haughtily told me that that's the way it's done.

No, ma'am, people research before they buy things. If you tell me that I have to blindly sign a contract without any inkling of how the product will turn out, I'm running in the other direction. She was also rudely condescending of our decent-sized budget, basically telling me there was no way we could have a wedding on that amount.

I was also asked by another rep who was financing the party, us or the parental units. What?! What bearing does it have on anything?

Rant over. Now, we're headed to the fun stuff...

Budget-wise, we're putting the huge majority of our budget into food and drink. The way we're looking at it, people are going to be traveling quite a distance to celebrate with us and there is absolutely no question that we will provide a delicious meal and some good booze.

To save money, we're doing a lot on our own, like invitations, flowers, and centerpieces. The JFG was already pretty booked up for 2009 when we contacted them, so our choices were May, early June, or August. In the end, we chose August, which gives us 15 months to plan this sucker. We're hoping to lock in our major contracts (venue, catering, photographer) ASAP, then focus on smaller things. In other words, I will indulge my wannabe-crafty self with lots of DIY projects.

Some ideas:

These trees are great, but instead of place cards, I was hoping to display photos of friends and family like this couple did. For us, however, it won't be limited to married people only.

I can't wait to cobble this guestbook together post-wahding. We're hoping to put cameras with the cards, so hopefully we will have photos of most of our guests to go with the messages. Taking it one step further, everything will be pasted into a scrapbook.

I'd have to say that this wedding is inspiring. It's outdoorsy and elegant in its simplicity, which is what we really want. I love the dress. My mom does, too, and it's a shame she doesn't know Oscar de la Renta (like the bride's mom) so he could design something similar for me. Hehe.

All right, all right, I'm gushing a bit. Hey, while I'm offended by the broad assumption that every engaged female wants to be a princess bride, it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate elegant details. I'm hoping that those DIY projects turn out as lovely as they look on the blogs.

Moo Moment: Wedding Planning Snarkfest

I'll be interspersing my adventures in food with a few posts on my adventures in wedding planning. Mostly, it'll still be about food, mixed with tongue-in-cheek commentary on the ridiculous (and ridiculously expensive!) comings and goings of planning what the industry calls "MYYYYY DAAAAYYY". Like it's a national holiday or something.

It's only been a week or so, but D. and I are wading tentatively into the chaos known as wedding planning. Here's what I've learned so far from wedding websites:

• I'm engaged, therefore I'm supposed to morph into a super-girly, pink-loving, frill-adoring, squealy-OMG-he-loves-me, uber-party-planner. I missed the memo on that one.
  
• Feeding guests good food? Not as big of a priority as the dress or the flowers. That hurts me.
  
• Did you know that on the big day, the guests are supposed to be "gazing at me" the entire time? The entire time. Really. And there's not supposed to have anything to keep them from gazing at me. No, I'm serious... I read an article that said something like, "If you have a great cake, it'll be a focal point for guests when they're not gazing at you." What?! I want a party, not an audience.
  
• Brides plan weddings. Their partners are merely props. That's upsetting, because I don't want to do this shit by myself.
  
• Wedding pictures: some of my family, some of the wedding party, some of his family, and a whole lot more of me. I'm the most photogenically-challenged mo-fo on this planet. Hell, it's probably not even the camera... I just look that bad. I will be in enough pictures to prove that I was present on that day. Nothing more.
  
• I'm supposed to be happy all. of. the. time. I've worked 12-hour days for most of this week and worked through the weekend... that doesn't leave a lot of time for squealing and staring at the ring.
• We're supposed to plan a unique event and be ourselves. Bwahahaha! Right. All the photos I've seen look the same. Plus, the industry assumes all women are the same (see first bullet). It seems the only unique way to have a wedding is to not have one at all. Even the ones that take place on the bridge of the Enterprise (you can do it at the Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek Experience) often feature someone wearing a white dress. Maybe I should ask Indira to dress up as a Klingon warrior. She can be Lursa. Kirkleton can be B'Etor.
• If I don't do all of this just right, I've failed as a female. Wait, I think I already did when I was six and was forced to wear a dress and makeup for the school's "fashion show". It was, arguably, one of the most traumatic experiences of my life.

I'm sure there will be some less bitchy posts, but I find myself laughing hysterically and being utterly dismayed at what I've seen so far.