i love you much photography

(or so I hope)

Last week, we did the whole picking-a-definite-menu thing with our caterer. In our last meeting which was, ah, like forever ago, we gave him about eleventy-billion ideas and options. I was afraid that all of the ideas we had thrown out would just end up in some giant ramshackle mush of a menu. Thankfully, he made sense of our madness and after a few tweaks, we have ended up with a pretty amazing spread. (I’ll go over logistics and layout later– this is just a noms-time post).

*ahem* Here goes nothin’…

Cocktail Hour Yums

For the cocktail hour, we’ll be having two passed appetizers along with, well, cocktails. (Or cocktail, rather, since we’re doing one cocktail, beer, and wine).

1. Caprese-Kabobs: This is just what I call ‘em, but they’re something I’ve made about 100,000 times for guests, dinner parties, bringing-stuff-along-to-a-party, etc., and they’ve always been a hit. I love Caprese, because c’mon, what beats cheese, tomatoes, and basil? Nothing. These kabob guys are so handy because you hold them! (Ar har har… I’m so punny). They consist of alternating basil, little buffalo mozzarella balls, and grape tomatoes skewered, then drizzled with balsamic, olive oil, and kosher salt for good measure. Delicious, colorful, and portable.
2. Shrimp Things: Ok, I don’t know what this is going to be called, but they’ll take big ol’ flat-bottomed Asian soup spoons, put a bit cocktail sauce in the bottom, and top it with a ginormous shrimp. I’ll have to be restrained in order to stop me from shoving 5 of those in my mouth at once.

Dinner Noms

As we had planned, the dinner will be sort-of an It’s-a-Small-World-meets-tapas-style-meets-bar-food-meets-the-dang-mini-food-trend-meets-awesome. Whew, that’s a whole lot of things meeting. This food-orgy will consist of four categories– German, American, Italian, and Chinese-ish. (I say “Chinese-ish” because I doubt it’s very authentic. Let’s think of it more as Chinese take-out, shall we?)

For the German part…

{ This is the later-mentioned currywurst // source }

1. Brats mit Brötchen: Contrary to how Johnsonville commercials show brats, they are not traditionally served in white-bread hot dog buns, but instead with little hard rolls. Brats are much more delicious this way, trust me. Also, I hope to have some curry powder in a salt shaker so that I might be able to hit up some currywurst. (Curry powder+ ketchup+ brat= !!!! in your mouf. Try it).
2. White Asparagus: Spargel. Delicious. Pretty big deal in Deutschland.
3. Big Smushy Pretzels: I don’t know how many times JP asked for these guys, but it has paid off, because we’re getting ‘em. I’m in it for the yummy carb-factor.

For the US foods…

1. Cheese Sliders: If I have time to eat, I hope I’ll be able to shove a few of these down. I am a sucker for a tiny burger, and especially one with CHEESE. (True story: This also makes me sing the “Cheesy Blasters” jingle over and over in my head, hence the video).
2. A More Dressed-Up Potato Salad: I call this “more-dressed up” because I requested we nixed the mayo-smushed-egg-based potato salad. I’m not really a fan of mayonnaise-based salads, especially in the summer. This will be a vinaigrette-based salad with red skin potatoes. Yummsky.
3. Fruit: I really wanted this because 1- I’m boring and 2- I wanted it, and it got lumped into this category. At present, it looks like we’ll be having strawberries, honeydew, grapes, watermelon, and pineapple segregated from the rest of the colony, as JP detests it. (I adore fresh pineapple, so pfft).
4. I think I’m forgetting one more thing here. We’ll just leave this as a mystery for now.

For the Italian section…

{ source }

1. Bruschetta: This was a natural because we adore it, and I make the best bruschetta on the planet. True story. We always anxiously await good-tomato-season so that we can bathe in this stuff. (Ok, not bathe, but eat a whole heckuvalot of it). I believe we’re using my recipe? That was supposed to end in a question mark? Because I’m not 100% sure?
2. Arista: This is Tuscan-style pork tenderloin. It’s stuffed with rosemary, garlic, and deliciousness. We make make it with a beef tenderloin every Christmas, and it’s always the first to go.
3. Penne in Individual Ramekins: Hola, cheese. Please get in my belly. Individual servings of cheesy pasta goodness? Yes, please.

The Chinese-take-out part-ola…

{ source }

1. Take-Out Boxes with Fried Rice: Hokay, so, this is a part that I am crazy excited about just on cuteness-factor alone. We’re having Chinese take-out boxes filled up halfway with fried rice, and then peeps will be able to add in the next two things. I did so many excited dances for this.
2. Veggie Stir-Fry: Broccoli, onions, red peppers, snow peaz, garlic, and magic. For best results, lots should be consumed in the adorable take-out boxes.
3. Chicken Stir-Fry: Chicken stir-fry, for adding to the other delicious stuff or eating alone.
4. Fortune Cookies: I’m going to have a whole post devoted to fortune cookies, because they’re one of my thangs. I don’t want to go into to much detail now, but yeah, they are my thang.

Dessert-y Goodness

The only thing in this category is CAKE, because tbh, that’s the only reason I go to weddings. Probably not the only reason, but CAKE is a huge factor. Notice how I have to write it in all-caps– that’s because it’s so exciting. I’m yelling it every time.

1. Wedding CAKE: White, buttercream, no wet fillings, RAINBOW DOTTED ZOMG INSIDE, crazy sparkles outside. Almondy-vanilla-y goodness. We ordered on the too-much-CAKE side just because I want leftovers. I plan to subsist on sunblock, the horizontal mambo, and copious amounts of CAKE during our honeymoon. (Coincidentally, “cake” was/is our code-word for hay-rolls. So it’s only appropriate that I want lots of CAKE… and cake… during our honeymooning).
2. Groom’s CAKE: We originally were going to have this in the shape of one of JP’s robots, but then I realized that it would end up looking like a big gray blob. We’re sticking to chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. Decorationing TBD.

Whew, so there you have our actual food for this wedding that is coming up in, oh, almost 100 days. This thing is happening, people, and it seems like it’s going to be pretty dang delicious.

Who else went with a “To hell with convention!” sort of menu and just did, well, EVERYTHING? Did you go above, beyond, or just plain overboard? What do you think about our spread? Also, please let there be someone who knows the deliciousness of currywurst so I don’t feel like a weirdo out here.