Wedding Weekend Pics: Rehearsal Lunch at Olio

Our post ceremony rehearsal meal was hosted by the parents Tetreault at Olio in nearby Groton...E and I were fashionably late, and were greeted by my pop, smiling widely at the entrance to the restaurant. I know my parents were very happy with their find, and they were 100% right to be...it was perfect in every way for the occasion. It was within a 10 minute drive of Saltwater Farm, they had some really tasty options during the cocktail hour (mmmm, spicy bloody mary), and the space had the feel that was reminiscent of our style: clean and long lines, but still comfortable and gave you the feeling that you were in for a good meal. The service was very attentive and focused on making sure everyone had what they could possibly want.

I could certainly go on about the decadent 'deconstructed seafood ravioli' (the local Stonington Scallops were perfectly seared and tender) or the panko chicken breast (crunchy, moist, and a monster portion... especially for lunch), but the meal took backseat to what was to happen that day.

The main feature was the flood of heartfelt sentiments that seemed to be endlessly showered over E and me. Really...so many heartfelt words, some hilarious 'remember when' stories, perfectly timed zingers. I pulled out my camera after tinkering with the settings to better shoot in the dim mood lighting, but taking photos was the last thing I wanted to do in those moments. Instead, we just absorbed and felt awash in support by our closest family and friends, which was what all we could ever want from the experience.

I was feeling emotionally drained after the experience, but knowing we were really just starting the weekend...E went off with her ladies for pre-wedding finger and toenail re-energizing stuff, and the guys went to the driving range.

So, the images from my camera were pretty limited of the lunch, so I grabbed a few off Facebook that Meg took...thanks Meg!

A Crapload of Cookies

Let me just say that I truly do enjoy baking.

Now, that being said, I never want to spend a morning baking 150 cookies ever again. My kitchen gets too hot, I will inevitably burn at least one finger, and I end up covering every visible surface in a light dusting of flour because I'm too impatient to add the flour to the wet mixture sloooooowlyyyyyy.

What IS fun, though, is spending a few hours with your girlfriends EATING cookies, drinking wine, and laughing about how ridiculous it is to create 120 cute little bags of homemade cookies.

Last night a bunch of my girlfriends came together to help me finish putting together the wedding favors. I stole the brilliant idea from my bridesmaid Gina, whose mother and mother's friends did the same thing for Gina's wedding last year. What I didn't realize was the difference just one generation makes in executing said idea.

Who knew how long it would take me (and my friend Renee) to measure, cut, and tape the cute little recipe cards I wanted to attach to each bag? I didn't. Who would have thought baking 13 dozen cookies 2 days before I leave for Wedding Weekend might be cutting it a little close? Not me. And who thinks about cold storage for 120 bags full of fresh baked cookies? JC, that's who. Needless to say (although I will), I came home last night super excited that my friends and I pulled off this extravaganza and finished all our personalized wedding favors. We packed up all the bags and left them in Renee's (kinda) cool basement to store for a couple days. Well, JC was more concerned about poisoning all of you than I was because he convinced me to go BACK to Renee's at 10:30p last night to unpack all the boxes, clean out Renee's refridgerator, and jam 120 cute little bags into every available space. Thank goodness she doesn't eat much.

So when you're enjoying your late night bag of delicious, non-toxic cookies...please give thanks to Renee, Gina, Katie W, Katie T, Annmarie, Meg, Rachel, Jen, Aunt Sylvia, and Marsha. Enjoy!

Bachelor Fishin' Weekend

My buds and pop took me down to Newport last weekend for my bachelor party...we rolled in to our rented house Friday night, and went out for a great laid back dinner, hit up 7Eleven for some breakfast staples, and watched the sox game back at the house over a couple beers.

The next AM, some scrambled eggs with a bit of de-seeded crazy bastard jalapeno, bacon and english muffins started the day off right.

Prior to the trip, I had strongly urged the guys to forgo the raunchier options in in lieu of something that had the potential to be a little more vertigo and nausea inducing...so, after breakfast, we left the house at quarter of 7 for the docks, they had chartered day boat for a fishing trip.

We brought a cooler with some ice and some great beers, hoping to swap out the contents with some unlucky marine friends

...and though our captain said our take was pretty light, it was more than enough food for the guys. We hauled a bluefish, a just-over-the-size limit striped bass, and two black sea bass. Pop was hauling 'em up left and right, but mostly smaller stuff. J, Kev and I seemed to all come in behind Pop, but B...poor, poor B. He caught one lonely, measly, itsy, bitsy tiny 3 inch baby scup, despite our constant admonishing for him to catch a real fish.

I'll leave you with some shots from the day, and (WARNING) carnage, and beautiful simple meal that followed.

now, a little food porn...

Started the meal with the above bluefish cakes + quick homemade aoili.

Then on to the crusted striper, pork belly braised (homegrown) blue potato, and grilled summer squash from my pop's garden. What a great meal...

Cake stand from a tree

After looking through quite a few images of how a wedding cake could be displayed, we wanted something that looked relatively natural, but with design elements that really could tie alot of other aspects of the day together. We decided on individual/different cakes displayed separately on wood platforms.

The various cakes would then have piping that mimicked the green branch on our invite stationary, and various other natural floral additions would be made. Not sure if the frosting would be a white, or more of a natural ivory color...probably the latter.

During a trip to Acushnet this past weekend, my dad showed us the cake stands that he and my Uncle Richard created by rough cutting sections of a tree trunk with a chain saw, then planing them to level (very important, though I suppose we could always just shim them, if they are less than perfect).

They still need to dry out a bit next to the dehumidifier in my parent's basement, then we'll take a stiff wire brush to clean off any excess bark and lose material, maybe then lightly sand, and probably spray a coat of poly or maybe just rub w/ a bit of tung or linseed oil. The individual cakes will be on the usual bakery cardboard foundations, so no worries there about cake compatibility.

Esther_loves_figs and JC is a hydrangea Papa

"Oh my God! are those... FIGS?!?"

Esther loves figs.

Specifically, black mission figs. I've actually never seen someone get so excited about figs. Its extremely cute how much energy flows from her eyes, when someone mentions figs. Fresh figs, specifically, but she'll happily take the dried version at the drop of a hat, too. So, you can imagine her excitement when we found last fall that my dad had received a fig tree from someone who was moving away, and wanted to find a good home for it. Someone, like my pop, to give Mr. Fig Tree that good home it deserved so it could continue to produce its figgy goodness.

While Esther was in Connecticut to do some test hair + makeup runs, I went to my hometown to check on a number of things, not the least of which was whether or not Mr. F. Tree has, like the majority of soggy New Englanders at this time, the affliction known Seasonal Affective Disorder, or if it is deciding to look on the sunnier side of photosynthesis, and started to push out some baby figs.

Good news, all.

It has!

..see?

You can make out the wee little green bumps emerging from the base of the stems, near the leaves. In the soon-to-be-here summer heat, these little nubs will mature to plump purpley/black fruits with the sweet creamy pinkish seedy flesh that is on Esther's 'if I could only take one kind of food with me to a desert island' list.

So, this is a very long winded way of saying, 1. you can, in fact, grow the California favored fig tree in Acushnet, Massachusetts, and 2. be on the lookout for figs in the fare lovingly prepared by Gourmet Galley, even if just served fresh during the cocktail hour.

Of course, I took advantage of the trip home today to check on how the hydrangea were dealing with the weather, too. They seem to be a touch 'leggy', meaning that they look just a little stretched out, like they are searching, eagerly stretching for a peak at the sun.

But today, yeah, they are digging days like today. ~80F, a nice breeze, the roots still tucked away in the spring-like cool and moist soil. Though the nearby oak-leaf hydrangea have bees buzzing through their full glory, the flower buds on the PeeGees haven't even been set, but, don't worry they are just biding their time. I can tell. This is actually quite fortunate for us, as that means that they'll be fresher, cleaner and brighter for the late summer cutting for our day on 09.06.09

The mass grouping that me and my pop created last spring from the 5 yr old (or is it 6 years now?) rooted cuttings I started are looking great. I'm feeing very confident that we'll have more than enough for the planned flower arrangements.

Take a look:

...and for no other reason than to cheer up your day, another picture of some bright gloriosa daisies that happily reseed themselves every year in my parents' garden.

Cato Corner Cheese tasting

We brough some samples back from Cato Corner to sample with our friends, who we know would have a vested interest in our ultimate choice. But, to be honest, it would be difficult to make a 'bad choice' when it comes to Cato Corner.

I paired each cheese with Belgian style beers from my 'cellar', which is almost spilling off the shelves. Esther artfully arranged the cheeses on a plate. The beers included selections from California, Belgium, Maine, and New Hampshire. The baguettes were warm from the oven, homemade from dough I started fermenting the night before. I made a nice, simple rustic roasted chicken and root vegetable dinner to follow the cheese and beer pairings.

What a nice way to spend a cold Sunday evening in February.

Cheese & Flowers & Birthday Cake

More quality time in the car today...

Today is my mom's bday (Happy Birthday Mom!) so we decided to multitask and get a little wedding planning accomplished while we were in CT.

We planned to meet w/ Leah, our florist, today for a fun little mockup in Marlborough, CT. Since the stars always seem to be in alignment for JC & I, we had the opportunity to visit nearby Cato Corner Farm for a cheese tasting. Anna, our caterer, recommended Cato Corner for great local cheeses to serve at our cocktail hour. They are a small farm in Colchester, CT with only 40 cows yet they service some of the top restaurants in the country including Daniel, Tocqueville, and Per Se in NYC. (Per Se is owned by Thomas Keller...owner of the ever-impressive The French Laundry in Napa, CA at which we had the luxury of dining this past fall.)

Needless to say, the cheese was amazing. We tasted some young and aged varieties and the complexities and depth of flavor are distinct in the aged cheeses. Delicious. I can pretty much guarantee you'll enjoy!

Next it was on to a couple hours of flowers, and vases, and curly willow...oh my! Leah is so helpful and SO PATIENT when it comes to JC & I. First of all, I have absolutely zero creative vision so, unless you're showing me a full arrangement of florals, I have no idea what you're talking about. Second of all, JC has lots of opinions and ideas so he doesn't do the typical "glazed-over" man thing that florists usually see. End of story, we're a handful. Add in my sister Heidi, MOH, who came along for the ride (and cheese)...Leah had her work cut out for her today. We reviewed the various vessel options, corsages, bouquets, colors, etc. So much detail, but visualizing some of the arrangements and discussing our options gives us more and more confidence that Leah will do a fantastic job for our wedding.


We finished the day at Mohegan Sun, for mom's birthday dinner at Todd English's Tuscany. A little wine, some tasty flatbreads, and fallen chocolate cake w/ my fam made for a relaxing end to a busy day. Then it was back in the car for more quality time...

Finalizing the Menu

I spent 2 1/2 hours last night on the phone w/ Anna, our caterer, finalizing the wedding menu. (Ok, we actually only discussed the menu w/ JC for one hour and then Anna and I chatted about anything and everything for the next 90 minutes...honestly, I love her! My new best friend...)

JC & I had a lot of input into our menu (shocker) since the food is so important to us. I'll leave most of it for a surprise, but expect classic JC & E: Fresh. Local. Seasonal. Delicious. I'm talking fresh off the boat New England seafood (lobster, crab, scallops), local farm cheeses (Cato Corner Farm), artisan breads (no, I'm not letting JC bake the bread because I don't want to be sneezing for our whole wedding), and late summer seasonal fruits and vegetables. My mouth is already watering!

The Caterer

We’ve made our decision and couldn’t be more excited! For anyone who’s ever been “entertained” by us, you probably recognize how important food is to both JC & I so we knew choosing a caterer would be the most difficult part of this process (yes, more important than even my dress!). I think if JC were left to his own devices he would actually attempt to cater our wedding himself. As it is, he’s already making all of the beer. I’m still not sure I’ve talked him out of bartending.

We interviewed the 3 local caterers (who’ve all worked weddings at Saltwater Farm) that the vineyard owner recommended. I had a looooooong phone conversation with each of them before scheduling the tastings. Here’s a little bit of advice: don’t plan 3-course dinner tastings the days before AND after Thanksgiving. I also don’t recommend a 9am dinner tasting, no matter how much you like filet mignon.

Anna, the owner of Gourmet Galley, was the first caterer I spoke to and was really great about fitting us into her schedule the afternoon before Thanksgiving, since JC & I were going to be in Connecticut. She worked w/ her chef to put together our menu on just 3 days notice. We met Anna and her chef at her house, where she has a full catering kitchen built on as an addition. Everything was amazing, but I think we didn’t realize how impressive it was until we had finished the other two tastings. The dishes were all obviously prepared to order for just JC & I, but the other two caterers actually tasted like “catered” food, rather than made-to-order restaurant fare.

It took almost two months (holidays and all) of going back and forth drafting menus and proposals, but we decided to go with Anna and Gourmet Galley because of the quality of the food, their approach to service, and willingness to work with us on the menu. JC has opinions (lots of opinions) about what we’d like to serve and how we’d like the food presented and Anna loves it. I’m really excited to work with her as we get closer to finalizing the menu and JC & I both feel completely comfortable letting her run our big day.

Next up: CAKE TASTING!

Engagement party invites sent out, menu set

First post! so, E and I will be using this blog to accomplish two things...

1. let everyone know about the progress made toward planning for our wedding

2. stay organized

Esther and I made the invites for the

engagement party,

saturday, 22november2008, 6:30PM

featuring our mugs printed on some fancy paper.

oh, and here's the planned menu, hopefully will allow me to not be consumed with cooking the whole night.

bar: homebrew (brown ale, aardsma ale, double IPA, belgian black)

wine, A few mixers, ie. club soda, OJ, cranberry, ginger ale, coke

Apps:6:30-7:30

Couple of cheeseplates w/ fruit, veggies, nuts, italian cured meats

fresh baguettes

Soup:7:30

Butternut squash soup, olive oil, bacon bits, arugula oil

Main, Family style: 7:45/8:00

Mixed greens salad, sliced beets, slivered almonds, pomegranate vinaigrette

Sliced pork tenderloin

with fig, lignonberry, shallot, balsamic chutney or

homemade apple sauce

Chili rubbed tri-tip roast

Chicken tagine

Sides: Roasted small potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips

Dessert: fresh 'out the oven cookies