appetizer tasting

I guess it seems like all we do lately is eat and drink, in preparation for the big day. Actually, that’s sort of the truth. Two weekends ago, we invited some friends over to try out some of the appetizers that we are considering serving for the wedding.

We hadn’t intended on preparing our own food; in fact, we tried to organize both a catered affair and an offsite dinner with poor results. We’ve contacted four caterers, none of whom are interested in s 30ish person gathering on Memorial Day weekend. I guess we are the small fish in town, so to speak. So, we decided that we could do some of the legwork ourselves and get tasty things from local stores. We started out at our local warehouse store, where you can buy nearly anything frozen and wrapped in puff pastry. But the choices weren’t exciting and, once you add in the $50 membership fee, the prices really aren’t that swell either.

Our next stop was the yuppie standby: Trader Joe’s. We love TJs for everything from frozen food to unusual boxed goods. It’s less stressful than the real grocery store and can get you over the midweek hump with just a few quick dinners. So, we scavenged the frozen food section and came up with six possible appetizers.

* Pastry Bites: Ham & Cheese Puff Pastry
* Pastry Bites: Feta & Caramelized Onion
* Raspberry & Brie Phyllo
* Chicken Won Tons
* Onion/Carrot Tempura Nests
* Lemongrass Chicken Stix

We asked each of our tasters to rate these items on a scale of 1 (awful) to 5 (super great!) for each of the following criteria:

* Appearance,
* Crispness,
* Savoriness, and
* Overall tastiness.

Our chef also rated them on ease of preparation. Finally, we evaluated the cost per piece (number of pieces in the package divided by the total cost). After much eating and talking, the clear winners and the appetizers we will be serving are the Raspberry & Brie Phyllo and the Feta & Caramelized Onion Pastry Bites. The brie was hands-down the clear winner, with the highest marks in 3 of the 5 categories. These results were surprising, because from the looks of the items on the package we thought that we were going to love the tempura nests (“mushy”) and the lemongrass chicken sticks (one taster said these “tasted like Lemon Pledge”).

Here’s the chart of our overall results. Special thanks to our volunteer tasters!

the shoe nightmare, continued

After about an hour of shopping online, I have three possible shoe candidates. These are NOT one of them, but I just had to share so others could experience the insanity. Really, who pays $549 for sandals?

http://couture.zappos.com/n/p/dp/49382250/c/180887/g/women/s/13.html

the shoe nightmare

It appears that I am now on the quest for something impossible. We are having our wedding outdoors, and all I really want is a pair of fancy flip flops. Nothing crazy. They need to be flat – heels are too difficult on the lawn – and I’d like something with just a little bling. Since the stores are bursting with spring shoes, I thought this would be a cinch. Yet I have now officially been to literally every shoe store in my mall (and it’s a pretty big mall), Target, Kohl’s, Rack Room, Maurice’s, Famous Footware, and a smattering of boutiques, all with no luck. I’ve found regular old beach sandals, about seven thousand styles of gladiator sandals (ew), strappy high heels, wedges, plain thongs, sports slides …. well, you get the picture. The one store that I thought might work for me doesn’t carry shoes in size 11. Of course.

So, the search continues. I think I will now try my friends at Zappos.com, an online shoe store with free shipping on all orders and also free shipping on returns. If you have any leads here, let me know!

dessert tasting, part 4

Finally, finally, I think we have narrowed it down to three delectable bite-size desserts to supplement the cake at our wedding. Good thing, because it’s only 5 weeks away now. We’ve gone round and round and tasted many things, but in the end our final three choices are: mini fruit tarts, mini chocolate mousse cups (these are Jen’s favorite) and mini cheesecakes, all from Whole Foods. Don’t they look yummy?


For the sake of simplicity, we are also going to order a few other appetizer trays from the same place so it’s easy to pick them up the day before. Whole Foods does a great job – most of their stuff looks like it’s been professionally catered – so hopefully it won’t be too obvious. My plan is to ply people with champagne first, then serve the food … because, by then, who will care?

the invites

We are making progress! Tonight, we ordered our invitations. Even though we went through a GLBT site (www.gayweddings.com), we were surprised to find that every step of the ordering process was totally, totally hetero. We even had to specify which line the bride’s and groom’s name were on. The site did have a disclaimer that the vendor they use had “typical” wedding wording, but we just thought that they could have done better. After all, we really try to spend our money with vendors that support our community.

Overall, we really thought that outvite.com had the best choices, but they were just so expensive that we went with the first site. Even so, who knew that 25 invitations would set you back $250? (And that’s half the price at outvite!) It appears that quantity is the key here – the more you buy, the less they are. Well, that’s what we get for wanting an intimate ceremony. We pay for the big boondoggle anyway.

Speaking of invitations, let me tell you that writing them is hard. First, you have to page through nearly a hundred font choices, ranging from ones that look like they have been written in crayon to fonts used by King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Then, you have to figure out what to say. And let me tell you, there are some truly abhorrent choices out there. Check these out:

The end of this millennium is only the start
of a lifetime of sharing the love in our hearts!
We invite you to be with us as we begin our new life together ….

- OR -

Pressing the vision into our hearts, the day we no longer live apart.
One love to share, a dream come true, the day we vow to say "I do"
You're invited to the wedding of ….

- OR -

A perfect shell is a gift from the sea
as beautiful and unique
as our love is meant to be
Please join us ….

-- and my personal favorite –

His love is the sunshine that keeps me warm
To me, she's the rainbow after the storm
His love gave me wings it has set me free
And wherever she is that's where I want to be

We invite you to be with us as we begin our new life together ….

Yuck! Are people really using these horrible verses?

PS

next post: champagne tasting!

the fitting

Several people have noted – and rightfully so – that I have fallen behind on my blogging in the last several weeks. Sorry, loyal followers! I’ve been on the road a bit for work and also on a painful family vacation, but now that I am home it’s time to buckle down on both the planning and the writing.

Last week, I took myself to our local bridal shop to have my dress altered. It’s sort of strange to walk into a bridal shop with a black dress that you bought on the internet; no one understands that YOU are actually the bride. But the elderly Italian seamstress that did my fitting was actually very nice. I must note: never in my life have I EVER had to have anything either a) shortened or b) taken in in the chest. But this dress needs to be both, so away to the bridal shop I went.

Not having spent much time in bridal shops, I have to say that this was not an experience that I would look forward to. While I was waiting for the seamstress to be ready, I browsed the racks of dresses and noticed that nearly all of them were stocked in the same two sizes: 6 and 8. What’s a non-six-or-eight to do? Guestimate? They did have a limited selection of plus-sized dresses in the back of the store, but most of those were stocked in a 16. I guess only three sizes of women shop for wedding dresses? Seems like a misogynistic joke to me. I am SO GLAD that I went the internet route.

The fitting, by the way, was relatively uneventful – though I did get a little nervous when she pulled out the scissors and started cutting the hem. Maybe that’s normal; I really don’t know. My dress wasn’t a huge investment but I could definitely see that you might freak out if you’d just dropped a grand or more on a dress and someone started cutting it right in front of your eyes. I bet she has some interesting stories to tell.