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It�s a beautiful day in the neighborhood�
Much too beautiful to be sitting in an office building, faxing and writing and mailing and calculating and scheduling and printing and filing, don�t you think?
I went out around 2:30 to get some lunch�today, a hot sesame bagel from Bruegger�s and a wild cherry Slurpee from my local 7-11, because it�s that kind of weather! I stayed outside and ate the bagel, but am still in the process of finishing the slurpee. Can�t drink that too fast�I don�t want to end up with brain freeze!
We met with the second caterer on our list last night, a company called Vinwood in Ipswich. They�d been recommended to us by a slew of different people. We figured there was no way they couldn�t be better than the last guy we talked to.
From the moment we arrived, it was evident just how much better than the last people they were. We were barely through the door when Rick invited us into his office and offered us drinks. He was easygoing but professional, friendly but focused. We were still there for an hour and a half, but we spent the whole time talking about food. I�m waiting right now for him to fax a proposal back to me based on the menu ideas we sent to him earlier, but my guess is that he�s going to be about four thousand dollars less than the other guy, for better food and incredible service. Unless I�m completely off base, or we�re completely wowed beyond belief by the food at Di�s wedding, I think we found a caterer! This is very good news.
So�what are we eating?
We�ll start with a cheese board, complete with several kinds of cheese, crackers, breads, spreads, sausage and veggies. These will be accompanied by passed hors d�oeuvres (we haven�t entirely settled what they�ll be, but we get to choose five. The front runners right now are scallops wrapped in bacon, crabmeat-stuffed mushrooms topped with melted Swiss cheese, teriyaki beef skewers, coconut shrimp and asparagus and brie in puff pastry) through the cocktail hour.
Next comes the stations�a salad station with Caesar salad and spinach salad (spinach, pine nuts, mandarin oranges and mushrooms in a citrus vinaigrette), a pasta station (probably a three-cheese tortellini in pesto sauce, a penne in marinara and a fusilli with Portobello mushrooms with crushed tomatoes, basil and garlic), a chowder station with what Rick boasts is �the best chowder you�ll ever have,� and a saut� station (with, if I get my way, Chicken Grand Marnier�chicken cooked in a grand marnier sauce with mushrooms, along with rice and veggies of some sort). Dessert will be the wedding cake, which my mom still insists she�s planning to make (of course, it�s early yet. I�m not sure she isn�t going to change her mind as the date gets closer), and some kind of cookies, I think.
Now I�ve made myself hungry all over again!
Mom, the Boyfriend and I sat and hammered out a menu at Bertucci�s after we left the catering office. We talked about expenses in general, too. Mom told us that if we paid for the photographer, she would cover the rest of the expenses related to the day (the caterer, the hall fee, the deejay, my dress, the flowers, the invitations, the officiant fee�did I miss anything?). This was more than we expected. We were both a little speechless.
Of course, I�m not stupid. I know what her reasoning is. If she�s the one signing the checks, she gets the final say and the lion�s share of the guest list. She�s not stupid, my mother. How can I argue with her about something I�m not paying for?
Tomorrow, she and I are going to York, ME with the Boyfriend and his mom. We�re headed to the York harvest festival, complete with bean hole beans, kettle corn and an oxen roast. I plan to eat the beans and the kettle corn, but I�ll skip the roasted ox. It�s pretty nasty�charred on the outside, bloody on the inside and chewy beyond belief. The Boyfriend ate some last year. That was enough for me.
I�m not sure how a day with just the four of us is going to go. I do know that I am premenstrual and a little short-tempered, which ought to make the car ride interesting. At least I can walk away from her while we�re out in the open.
Tonight, I�m heading to my mom�s to hide out. I plan to curl up on her bed, pop my videotape of the Gilmore Girls season premiere in their VCR, eat popcorn for dinner and just enjoy the solitude. Giddyup!
I wish it was time to go home right now.
Oh�before I go, thanks, everyone who offered up his/her two cents about Thanksgiving. I talked to the Boyfriend about it last night while we were driving home from Ipswich. I told him two of my three reasons (the space issue and the not-mingling issue�I kept the �doing this for me, not for us� part to myself). He was mostly fine with that. I know he�d rather I did invite them, but he understands why I didn�t and don�t plan to, and he�s not going to push it.
Ah, communication. It�s amazing how well it works when I remember to open my mouth and start talking�
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