30 yr-old banker in NYC. I love to cook and eat but can't always find for cooking. Luckily, my husband loves to cook as well and is a fantastic cook. So for now, I'm sticking with eating! We love to travel and trying new ingredients or cuisines.
My accomplishments are homemade ice cream, spicy kimchee fried rice, and one pot clam bake. I would love to learn how to make pasta from scratch.
I second the Pimm's Cup. Definitey with cucumber and apple slices.
I agree with LauraMac - people would priortize whatever is important to them in their wedding planning. Obviously, this group, the Serious Eaters, would have the food on the top of their priority list.
Having great food was very important for my husband and me. We got married in Hawaii and only had our immediate family there. We spoiled them and ourselves with five course meal. Everything was fantastic.
Once we returned, we threw a weekend-long celebration party for our closest friends and family. We also had some BBQ delivered from South Carolina for one of the nights. Some of our friends from overseas hadn't had the real BBQ until then so they really enjoyed it.
For our main event, we focused on local ingredients and simply prepared dishes. We discussed what we want wiith our caterer and her chef prior to the tasting and tweaked a few things based on the tasting. I think everything turned out great and exceeded our expectations because we were able to stay on the same page with our caterer.
I can tell you that we didn't have any flowers except for my bouquet. We had fruits on the tables as a center piece instead. They looked beautiful and were eaten later on.
There is a small sushi bar called Kai tucked inside of the Ritz Carlton on Maui. I had the best omakase there. If your group is small enough (there were just two of us), you can definitely sit at the sushi bar and be the center of the chef's attention.
As we get into the blue crab season in the Mid-Atlantic, I'm taking a road trip down to Maryland for some crabs!
I know you said that there's no budget issue. I recommend any kind of ssam at Momofuku Ssam Bar in East Village. It's reasonable and cafeteria style during the day but the burritos are awesome. Too bad that you're not free for dinner. Momofuku offers great dishes for dinner.
SamTheButcher - it sounds like your former boss and my parents shared the same philosophy. Growing up, I knew that dinner is whatever my mom cooked for that night (thank goodness, she's a fantastic cook!). My brother, who is a very picky eater until today, and I never complained or requested any special meals. We knew that if we didn't eat whatever my mom gave us, there won't be any snack or other special meals to substitute. Perhaps this has something to do with Korean culture and how Koreans raise children, i.e. children must respect their parents and elders, etc.
Also, I think if eating veggies aren't made into a big deal, kids tend not to resist eating them. My nephew who is three eats pretty much everything. When my brother and his wife introduce new food to him, they don't make a big deal out of it (no rewarding him for trying it, etc.). And they eat it with him.
Winny - any Indonesian dishes you can recommend that are likely to be on a restaurant menu? I'd like to give it another try and having some idea beforehand wouldn't hurt. I'm thinking my tast buds might have not been 'fully developed' when I was 15 yrs old.
Lenaliu - you must be refering to Kimchi, which is fermented cabbage...
I second Indonesian. I spent few summers in Indonesia when I was a teenager. At least in Indonesia (never had Indonesian outside of Indonesia), it seems like they like to fry EVERYTHING. Nothing was fresh. Even if the ingredient was fresh, it would be cooked or altered so it would lose the freshness. I was told that it was because food spoils quickly due to the climate and the lack of refrigeration.
Plus, I haven't found any good Indonesian places in New York to give it another try.
I tried it in London at my friend's flat. She travels to eastern Europe frequently for work and brings a bottle back from time to time.
It has very strong taste I didn't care for. I don't quite remember all of the details but I think this is how she prepared it. She had a spoon with sugar resting on the top of a glass. I think there was some water in the glass. She poured absinthe over the spoon and lit the spoon on fire to burn off the alcohol a bit (despite that, it still tasted too strong for me). You then stirred the spoon (absinthe and sugar mixture) in the glass. There wasn't anything that great about this that I will try again.
I'll stick with my wine and martinis.
My awful wedding food experience is a good lesson for all!
I went for a tasting about 2 months before the wedding. We were married a restaurant renowned for good food, because good food was a must for us!
Anyways, a week before the wedding the managers changed. I met with the new person, who was nice enough. We went over the menu and costs and all was good.
The day of the way, our food was half the size as what it was on the night of the tasting and one of the items was totally different (and not as good) as what we requested. People ended up ordering food from the restaurant. It was horrid!!!
I assumed the chef was the same, but, I guess not.
So, if anything changes with your caterers or planners DEMAND a new tasting - free of charge of course!
48 yr old accountant for a large non profit org. Love food and have really started to enjoy the process and preparation as much as the results.
Oh, I so second the cheese! I guess because I'm a total snacker... And you can seriously make a meal out of it.
just don't settle! a good caterer, no matter how simple or inexpensive the food is, will be able to impress. if the venu restricts you to use their cater, try their food and if not acceptable, look further. everything about your wedding should be memorable, even the food.
Ooh, summertime beverages...
*Caipirinhas
*Vodka Lemonade
*Arnold Palmers
*Watermelon Martinis
Limeade concentrate and lime seltzer, and lots of ice.
Nice cold bottle of Coke (Mexican, natch) or a gin and tonic with Tanqueray, lots of lime and Whole Foods brand tonic.
lemongrass Iced tea. steep some lemongrass in water, boil and use the water to make iced tea. No sugar for me.
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