Jeckin and Pinal's Big Fat Indian Wedding

Great times.

Great food.

Great people.

Happy family.

Happy friends.

Happy lives.

The Time Wee Married The Shredder

Once upon a time,

this past Saturday,

in the land of PoPo's house,

Ayee found The Shredder

hanging out somewhere.

She brought him to the table we were all hanging around,

and like the squirrel from Chinese New Year,

he was quite mischievous.

At the time, we weren't sure

what he wanted with those flowers,

but surely enough,

his intentions became extremely clear.

Now if only he could figure out how to get the flower through the hole,

he'd be golden and his plan would be set into motion.

With flowers at his side and a ring in his hand,

he proposed to Wee,

kneeling among the orange slices and donuts.

He was so nervous that he was stepping on his cape!

But to his and everyone viewing's relief,

she said . . .

YES!

Wait, let me just say it like all the kids on facebook nowadays do:

I got on one knee with a ring,

and she said yes!

Status: Engaged

He had a little trouble putting the ring on her finger

since it was so heavy for him.

He has a forty pack of muscles on his torso,

but the multicarat ring was a little hard for him to manage.

Anyway, things couldn't be done fast enough!

Wee put on our heirloom cheong sam,

the one our PoPo, aunt, mom, and I wore for our weddings,

along with some other family and family friends,

and she and The Shredder just got hitched!

She's adoring and thinking about The Shredder.

Is he thinking about me?

I wonder if he'll think I'm pretty.

She called everyone she knew to tell them to good news!

She sang for him.

Chris had no clue what had transpired

with his fiancee or The Shredder.

Anyway, they lived happily ever after!

Swing Tree by Discovery

I heard this song on Pandora the other day.

(Sorry, guys, Spotify just doesn't know what songs I might like!

I need something that guesses right most of the time in my life.)

The song was so summery,

and it had the dubby beats that's

nearly the same as the Electric Slide,

which I associate with my Italian side's weddings/celebrations of all sorts.

And it's just fun and awesome--both Swing Tree and the Electric Slide.

This photo was an August sunset over the great state of NJ.

I miss sitting by the river and watching those like whoa.

The Best Toast: "I hope you don't have any issues."

My family doesn't really drink.

We buy liquor for our guests when we have them over

for a special occasion,

but that's about it.

Around Christmas they sometimes get booze from customers/coworkers.

This one time when I was twelve,

I thought my dad's plastic circus cup

had cranberry juice in it,

so I took a big gulp,

but it was red wine.

So I spat it all over the floor.

So when Wee and Chris got engaged,

we were all at a loss of sparkling beverages.

We found a bottle of this over twenty-year-old blueberry champagne

from my dad's cousin's wedding.

That wedding was on LBI,

and we all have weird memories about how we got there

and what we wore.

I swear Wee and I wore our matching acid-wash denim outfits

that either our aunt or dad's cousin got for us.

My skirt had a few ruffles.

We looked cool.

That bottle's cork didn't pop.

It smelled like vinegar.

So he poured it down the drain.

He and my mom tried a Korbel gift too,

which promptly went down the drain.

We opened a bottle of Martinelli's,

which was fresh,

though I felt it tasted a little off.

And to top everyone off,

a bottle of Trader Joe's sparkling grape juice.

My mom's toast can be easily summed up in the most ineloquent part of it:

"I hope you don't have any issues."

It was funny, practical, and well meaning.

She has to work on some synonyms though.

She swears that she gets buzz from sparkling juices,

but we think that the bubbles just go to her head.

Jon found this speech hilarious--see above.

And he toasted my dad for his birthday with:

"I hope you don't have any issues."

Cheers!

Kampai!

Wee Is Engaged!

The best news all year?

Wee and Chris are engaged!!!

Finally.

So I gave her a couple of days,

then I barraged her with a bundle of all my wedding blogs,

the blogs I wrote,

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2010/01/wedding-advice-i.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2010/01/wedding-advice-ii.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2010/01/wedding-advice-iii.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2010/01/wedding-advice-iv.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2010/01/wedding-advice-v.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2010/01/wedding-advice-vi.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2011/07/wedding-advice-vii.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2011/07/wedding-advice-viii.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2011/07/wedding-advice-ix.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2011/07/wedding-advice-x.html

http://everylifeeveryfun.blogspot.com/2011/10/wedding-advice-xi.html

the wedlicio.us domain,

our wedding guest spreadsheet,

and a bunch of sites to get her started.

She's been a little cranky about the deluge of information,

but that's just Wee.

*Chris's photo of Wee's hand and engagement ring!

Hollywood!

In late September/early October,

I went to LA for my third cousin's wedding.

I couldn't believe that LA was as bad

as a lot of people said it was,

but it was--even with Jon.

Other than layovers, the last time I was there I was a junior in high school.

The band performed at Disneyland,

and we went to the San Diego Zoo.

We had the worst turbulence coming back home,

and I felt so sleep-deprived from that trip

that I was pretty suicidal when I got home.

It was a weird time.

The time before that

I was about twelve or thirteen, 

and I went with my brother and dad.

(My mom and sister went to China on a gymnastics trip.)

We flew in to LA and drove up to SF,

then flew to Oahu and Maui.

It was a really awesome trip,

yet odd because I was at that age where

I hated my body,

and I was really introverted and thought I was being very philosophical.

I had a uniform of

traditional low-top black/white Converses,

indigo jeans, men's tank undershirt (or the light blue girl's one),

and a blue and navy cardigan from Esprit,

and the alternative was jean shorts and polo shirts.

When I wanted to feel girly,

I had a striped polo dress.

I wore everything with my Cons.

 I had to tell myself to stop living in my head

and start experiencing life.

I wrote a lot of terrible poetry then,

if only to get my thoughts out of my head.

When I first landed in LA,

I was in awe of the palm trees.

Actual, real-life palm trees, like on TV and the movies,

existed in LA.

My dad rented a car, 

and we drove north on the PCH highway 

until he got too sleepy to drive further.

I remember eating a lot of salami and pizza (AWESOME!)

and getting car sick from the twists and turns (not awesome at all) on that trip.

When we drove through Malibu, I thought that it was

the scariest place on earth.

There were so many HUGE houses--like mini castles--on top of sprawling hills.

The people crossing to the beaches were so tan and built and blond.

It looked like Baywatch.

Totally unreal.

The first night we stayed at a hotel that was so booked up that

we had to sleep in one of the really fancy suites.

It was so fancy that you had to use your elevator key to get to that floor

AND it had a free buffet breakfast in the special suites' floor lobby area.

I hated eating in public and didn't want to be judged by all those snooty families

that had planned to stay in those suites (not landed there because there were

no vacancies otherwise), so I didn't really take advantage of it like I should have.

The bed was so big that it fit me, my brother, and dad with

no overlapping issues.

We went to Monterrey Bay and SF.

It was awesome fun.

And Hawaii was even better.

I remember being so enthralled with the rolling hills and valleys and mountains of CA,

thinking about how when I'm old enough,

I was going to live in each state for at least two years of my life

to really see the USA. And then I thought some states suck,

so I didn't have to live in all of them--just the cool ones.

Now that I'm old enough to know better,

the only states worth living in are NJ or NY,

and I can spend weeks at a time in any other city in the world.

Oh, young Christina.

In any case, here's the Hollywood sign as taken from the top floor 

of one of the buildings at the LACMA.

I think it connotes a lot of different things for everyone.

My Husband Is Very Corny; Me, Not So Much

As we made our way to Jon's cousin's wedding on Labor Day,

we passed by a farmer's market with the coolest corn statue.

It was about two p.m.,

and we needed to still get changed

for the wedding that started at two thirty p.m.

There was plenty of time. . . .

I was starving,

but I was trying to save my appetite for cocktail hour.

The bride and groom

went to culinary school,

so their wedding food had to be tasty.

Jon got a roasted corn that a dude 

at the back of the farm

was selling.

Jon didn't like the corn very much.

He said it was too late in the season for good corn.

To put Jon's love of corn in perspective,

earlier this summer,

we bought corn from D'Agostino,

which in the scheme of life isn't a good market for produce.

However, it was really awesome corn.

To his chagrin, they didn't have corn for a while after,

so he bought a ton of corn from Fresh Direct.

When he got that corn that weekend,

he toted around with us,

in case we landed somewhere

(my sister's house was a huge possibility)

for him to cook and enjoy it.

He was so paranoid about sharing it though

that we ended back home

so he can eat it all himself.

I like corn.

Creamed-canned corn was my favorite.

I thought it was God's nectar

when I was a kid.

Sweet, salty, creamy goodness.

As a finger food that needs to be gnawed

(see: ribs, wings, etc.)

corn on the cob falls into a love/hate category.

Still, the lack of fresh corn on the cob

in the fall and winter and spring

just illustrates why fall and winter and spring

suck.

On a side note,

the farmer's market was selling fifty pound bags of potatoes

for only $12.99!

That's cheaper than some cocktails!

Eleven Madison Park: Third Wedding Anniversary Dinner

Our reservation at Eleven Madison Park was a few days after our wedding anniversary and at 9:30 p.m. We drove down and parked in the lot nearby, though as we walked over, we saw a bunch of street parking. Lot parking was cheaper than taking a cab round trip though, so it wasn't a huge deal. Plus after viewing the Louie episode about the NYC parking signs and having gotten an $80 ticket in that area before, it just made sense to park it in a lot even if we're slightly unsure about the parking rules on that block.


Anyway, we arrived, and instead of being ignored like we're some lost street urchins like some restaurants have done, we're greeted immediately and very warmly by a host. While we waited for our table, I went to check out the bathroom. (We've been there twice previously--once in college for restaurant week with an old chef when it was nothing spectacular, and once for brunch with our families to celebrate our engagement and start talking strategy--but I've never had to use the bathroom, and I wanted to see how it compared to the other top ten restaurants in the world.) The bathroom is big and has multiple stalls and a few sinks. I've been looking out for another bathroom like Le Bernadin that carries feminine supplies in case you forgot yours or need to stock up on some. At least that's how that bathroom was in 2009. I've tried to grow the mythology of the feminine supplies so far as that it's Ripert branded and has his face on the wrapping. It'd be awesome if a chef did that. Just saying. . . . As far as how it stacks up against Noma and Can Roca and Per Se (I don't remember visiting the Arzak or Alinea bathrooms), it's a little old fashion, but nice. It fits in the art deco building and has the nice almond soap that Jon and I love.





We sat a a lovely table facing the center of the room. Jon overheard that the reason they had so many Riedel decanters all over the place was because the Riedel people really enjoyed dining here. Makes sense. And the chairs were comfortable.


Since we were eating so late, and it was such a hot day, my appetite was a bit suppressed. And when the waitress said that the chef's tasting could take about three to four hours, I was totally not prepared to stay awake past midnight. But then Jon put on his sad face, and we decided to just go for it after we confirmed with our server that it wouldn't be too late to start the chef's tasting menu. And I'm really glad we did because it was overall my favorite dinner in awhile in New York. It was reminiscent of our honeymoon dinners at Per Se and Jean Georges, but it didn't seem to try as hard to please as those restaurants. It felt relaxed, which was a really nice change of pace for NYC dining. Their effortless cool made me really appreciate the meal even more.


So, first, before I forget, Jon got two drinks with the meal: a cocktail and a beer that he can tell you more about if you ask him. The sommelier guy was very jovial. I overheard him speak to an old man who had been dining by himself (from Houston) about how tonight was his last night and that he was moving to Puerto Rico.



So what'd we eat? Jon took these notes and then somehow erased them, so this is just based on memory, but I think it's a good idea of what we ate with my notes after the semicolon:


Appetizers--they're like one or two bites (for real; not like some chefs that lie and you're full before the courses even start):
1: Black and white cookie with truffle and cheese; think of a Ritz cheese bite.
2: Tomato tea with lemon-thyme parmesan lavash; the tomato tea was the most amazing thing I've consumed in the past few months--I'd like a whole pot of this to drink daily, thanks.
3: Scallop on a scallop-chip with daikon and sesame; this will make you go "ohh, so fresh!"
4: Mackerel and horseradish mustard; this will make you go "mmm, so fresh!"
5: Greek yogurt pop (made on an antigridddle) with cumin; this was refreshing and delicious.
6: Chickpea panisse, trout roe, watermelon snow, basil leaves, yuzu, some lactic flavor; watermelon snow!


Main Course 1: Clambake: summer succotash, clam, scallops, zucchini-corn bread grilled in a corn husk, corn soup; this looked like it would a Japanese-inspired dish because it was set up with tea cups and a teapot, but it wasn't. The teapot was surrounded with seaweed, and the server did something so that we got some impressive seaweed-scented steam happening on our table. This was reminiscent of Alinea where each dish was inspired by something from the chef's memories. But it was more to celebrate a NY summer, with fresh seafood from Long Island. Everything about this course was delicious and thoughtful. This is a dish could totally stand on its own with its bread, soup, and main components.


Bread: Butter brioche with a choice of goat butter and cow butter and a little bowl of Long Island sea salt; think the best Grands biscuit you've ever had. The goat butter was so good, and anyone who's ever had it will tell you that it's amazing. It's like a very light and creamy goat cheese. The cow butter was good, but the brioche was so buttery already, that the goat cheese paired incredibly well to provide contrast to the buttery flaky bread.


Main Course 2: Melon with smoked couscous, yogurt, tomato confit; smoked couscous was a bit of a revelation. I want to try it, but I need to figure out how to smoke things without burning down my apartment.

Main Course 3: Rye/caraway gnocchi with whey and spring leaves; it wasn't my favorite, but it was very similar to ALL the rye dishes in Denmark, and I, with my American palate, preferred it to the stuff they were serving in the motherland of rye-tasting grains.

Main Course 4: Foie gras with black sesame and pickled strawberries, duck prosciutto, and pickled lettuce; hello, perfect bite! The components alone were great, but a little bit of each piece made for a delicious explosion of goodness in my mouth. (The whole perfect bite philosophy reminded me of how to best enjoy the old menu at wd~50.) What really impressed me was that the (cold) foie was rolled up like a baloney slice. It was really cool and unexpected presentation.

Main Course 5: Lobster tail, black seafood sauce, charred leek, charred bits, and lemon rind; this is the most traditional dish, but was executed wonderfully.

Main Course 6: Lamb with artichokes and green tomatoes and freekeh; the lamb medallion was the perfect size. At this point I was getting full and swearing that if another protein appeared, I'd probably need to throw in the towel and ask to get it wrapped, but it was as big as the circumference of my thumb and pointer finger: the perfect size. And the green tomatoes added a beautiful freshness that made me hungrier as I ate the dish. The lamb was perfectly cooked too--not overdone at all. And not gamey. It was a great dish to end dinner with.


Dessert:
1: Egg cream: orange oil, cocoa cream, real seltzer; I don't love egg creams, but this was tasty and I love how it was made table side. It was interesting that the cocoa cream wasn't chocolate-y brown.
2: Goat cheese: one fresh, one aged two weeks; a server showed us the little wheels in a box--the older one looking slightly smaller and dehydrated--and told us about it. The servings were also perfect--where you had a taste to contemplate the goatiness. The fresh cheese was very goaty while the aged goat cheese felt like it had some time to mature, which it obviously did. My point is that this looked exactly how you thought it'd be and better. But what was nice about the thin slices too was that it was easy to consume and tasty--you didn't feel like you need anything to cut the goat flavor.
3: Cheesecake, chamomile, and raspberry jelly; this was good, and the chamomile was a nice soothing note for the dish.
4: Chocolate mousse and soil and lavender bits; tasty, but a bit too much soil, I think. Maybe replace with fruit instead? Chocolate seems heavy for heatwave weather.

 
Petitfours
Peanut butter cookies; think Ritz cracker peanut butter cookies.
Traditional black and white cookies; the perfect snack for the following day.

Gosh, cell phones need to be made to take better pictures in the dark. As our take-home gift, we got a jar of granola that we need to mix with some yogurt or something.

The couple that sat next to us got some chocolate bonbons to take home for celebrating their anniversary there, but Jon never said that we were visiting for our anniversary, so we just got the standard granola. If you like free stuff, tell the restaurant you're celebrating something. (On our honeymoon we got bonbons and extra desserts at most places, but that just made us superstuffed though the sentiment was really nice.)

Most of the people were celebrating birthdays, so there were desserts with candles coming out. The servers didn't sing happy birthday, but they did smile, which I thought was classy.

The couple that sat next to us after that anniversary couple had left were superweird tourists. They didn't know what a beet or hamachi or foie gras was. The woman had ordered hot chocolate or something ridiculous. (It was 90 degrees that night--90--and the restaurant wasn't cold at all since I didn't once need to put on my cardigan. It was comfortable.) The man didn't eat anything, and the waiter and manager let them leave their dinner with just paying for the wine--which the man had offered to do. I think the woman ate her food though. When they asked the manager to get them a cab, they were officially the dumbest people who ever went to a restaurant EVER in my book.

Bottom line though is that Jon and I had a great time and a great meal, and hopefully we'll be back during another season to try all that's fresh around NY then. Eleven Madison Park (EMP--as the cool kids call it) was definitely a solid NYC restaurant without being incredibly boring or stodgy or pretentious.

That Time We Celebrated Our Third Wedding Anniversary

Prettily wrapped . . .

flowers!

Gladiolas!

Jon appealed to my superthrifty side

by saying that he'd hope the other buds

bloomed.

Some really low alcohol (5%)

sparkling red wine

that opened up throughout the evening.

At first it tasted like medicine:

sweet then like medicine.

But then it tasted really good:

like raspberry jam plus sparkling water good.

Mmm!

Our vegetable for the evening.

My steak . . .

cooked in butter.

Jon cooked it to medium-rare perfection.

He cooked his pretty rare.

Our cheese from the cheese place in Paris

that nearly was thrown out by Paris TSA

because it looked like a bomb in Jon's bag.

It's just cheese! 

I kept this red balloon from my birthday party

to put it up for special occasions.

It was a pretty awesome anniversary.

And we're going to Eleven Madison Park on Saturday!