Oysters and Chocolate at the Love'n Spoonful Cafe: Cookin No. 26

The wedding was gorgeous. Kim and Brian looked wonderful, and the rain held out for them to have the ceremony outside.

Saturday I headed into the city pretty early, because it was raining so hard here in Bethlehem and it looked like it might start to flood, I thought I would have a ton of traffic. I was wrong. I flew down 78, strait into the city. The only traffic I hit was by the Lincoln tunnel, but there is always traffic by the tunnels. Getting to the hotel and finding parking was a piece of cake, I thought there was something wrong, because I was right by park avenue, there is never parking around there. But all was clear. So I got to the hotel Roger Williams around 1, and I wasn’t meeting everyone until 3. So I took a stroll around the area, found a star bucks, got a pumpkin spice latte and settled down into my book. The guy who took my order must have been living in the city for too long, because he was genuinely confused as to why I was polite and smiling. He even asked me “why are you smiling” he thought I was strange. That’s kind of sad, that people wonder what’s wrong with a person who smiles. Anyway, I met up with Kim, Tara and Rene, we checked into the hotel and headed out for some manicure goodness. This was my first manicure, and wow, the woman massaged my hands. I was putty after that. After we met up with Brian, my brother, and Diana, and headed to a dinner party at Develin’s apartment; which happened to by my brother’s first apartment in the city, I had forgotten how small it was. The bathroom is raised, and really tiny, and there is a window that goes to nowhere. And the shower is in the kitchen! I guess that’s the city for you.

The girls and I got back to the room around 12:30, and got ready for bed. I couldn’t sleep, so I read and stared at the ceiling until 4 or 5. The morning of the big day came, and we got ready. The hair dresser and the makeup artist came, did everyone up, except me, I did my own hair and makeup. Mainly because my hair is so short, there is no style that can be done to it other than the style that already is. Around 2:00 we headed to the Bronx and pulled into the NY Botanical gardens. It was gorgeous! We got dressed, did Kim up, and got ready for the big event.

When it was time for me to walk down the isle I ran, it was so nerve wracking to have all these people staring at me, I was glad that I wasn’t the bride. Then the service happened, the vows were said, and because Kim is Jewish Brian broke the glass. Then I started to cry. I never cried at a wedding before, but I was almost bawling. First it was beautiful, and Brian and Kim are perfect for each other. They are the greatest couple, aside from my parents, that I have seen together. They are perfect for each other. And I am glad that Kim is my sister-in-law, she is a wonderful person. Her whole family is great, I am happy that they are part of my family now. Her sister, Tara, is fun and easy going, a good quality, her mother, Rene is a fun high spirited woman, Jeff her father is a great guy, who gives awesome hugs, and Izzy her step-father is such a kind person with a cool demeanor. How could you not like anyone in this family?

The Dads

My cousin Carolyn and her daughter Cassidy

The reception: Awesome food! Abigail Kirsch was the caterer, and my god, I hope I could be that talented and successful. The menu:

Lobster and Corn Soufflé

Salad of Baby Greens

Tournedo of Beef Champignon
Or
Truffled Black Cod

Chocolate Banana Beggars Purse

Wedding Cake

The lobster soufflé was so delicate, and perfect. I chose the Tournedo Beef, it came on a bed of risotto that had fava beans in it. The fava beans were cooked to perfection, and there was a hint of licorice in the risotto, maybe she used star anis, or a touch of pernod. The beggars purse, was fabulous! Chocolate oozed out when you crunched into it, and… it was… just perfect.

I danced to almost every song with my little cousin Cassidy, who was the flower girl. She’s such a fun kid, and wanted me to spin her around all the time. She had some good moves too. To entertain her at the table, I showed her how to blow flower peddles into the air, she really enjoyed that. I sat with my whole family, my Aunt Kay and her husband, my cousin’s Carolyn and Debbie with Ritchie, Debbie’s husband, my grandfather, and Mr. Kugamyer with his wife, he was the husband of Brian’s art teacher in high school. After she died, Brian kept in touch with Mr. Kugamyer because he and his wife were really instrumental in helping Brian develop his talents. They even took him to Italy. We had a great time.

I left the party around 1 and didn’t get home until 3, took a shower and went to bed at 3:30, then had to wake up for school at 6:30. Boy was I crabby. I usually do fine on no sleep, but I my body was exhausted. Mentally I was functioning, but my mussels were pissed off. So for the first day of baking class, I was a wreck. I kept dropping things, and making stupid mistakes like spilling egg wash everywhere while I was trying to whip it. We made Baguettes, garlic bread and knot rolls. I took some baguette to my parents, and they were impressed. Then I took them to the airport, and now they are in Italy, with out me. *sniff sniff*

I also got my grades back for Product ID. I got a 98 on the written final, and 100 on my costing final. I was impressed. And my final grade for the class is a 99! I am an A student. Heh, no one has seen me do this good in school since grade school.

Today, the second day of baking went well. My group worked really well together. We made, Challah bread, whole wheat knot rolls, honey whole wheat rolls, and pita bread. They all came out great. I am really happy with this class. The only thing that was throwing me off is the balance scales. We have to weigh out everything, and the first day we had a tough scale, it wouldn’t balance at 0, but at 8 ½, so we had to do more math than usual to balance everything. Oui. Tomorrow we are making cookies and cinnamon rolls. Mmmm. I did something stupid today though, Chef Susan took my group’s Challah bread out of the oven, and I wanted to show one of my group members our bread, so I went to pull the baking sheet out of the cooling rack, completely forgetting that it just came out of the oven. So I got a nice burn on three fingers. I’m good at forgetting things are hot, this isn’t the first time that I have done something like this. Thank god I have silvadine cream from the last time I made the same mistake.