Part of me still can't believe he's all grown up and moved out! My dad told a really funny story at the reception, about how Tommy never wanted to get married and move out when he grew up (despite how much I beat up on him, haha). But Tiffany looked gorgeous (in both her white and red dresses!), the church was beautiful, the reception at Ming's was delicious, and we had a wonderful time catching up with friends and family.
Want more pictures?
A couple other momentous events happened this weekend too, independent of my brother:
- We took my cousin Kasandra to an In-N-Out for the first time! Seems like it's famous, even in Georgia.
- Chris and his dad installed the projector on our ceiling! SOO AWESOME! Apparently our stud-finder had been making up lies, which Brian cleverly saw through.
- We hosted PEOPLE at our condo for the first time! Chris and I (mostly Chris) grilled up a spectacular feast for eight (our parents, plus Ayi and Kasandra). I think my parents in particular were impressed that we knew how to cook. :-)
Flatteringly, we got lots of requests for recipes, so I figured I would share them here! Most of them are pretty simple, but really yummy when there's fresh summer fruits and vegetables around.
Salads. We made two salads, both from Mark Bittman's 101 Simple Salads for the Season, published in the New York Times. We made the first two recipes:
1. Cube watermelon and combine with tomato chunks, basil and basic vinaigrette. You can substitute peach for the watermelon or the tomato (but not both, O.K.?). You can also add bacon or feta, but there goes the vegan-ness.
2. Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing.
The only detail that we changed was that we used fresh heirloom tomatoes instead of normal ones.
Shrimp. Chris's mom bought us our first cookbook when we first moved in together in Seattle. It's called How to Cook Everything: The Basics, also by Mark Bittman, and one of our favorite recipes is "Shrimp, My Way":
Makes 4 servingsTime: 20 minutes, plus time to preheat the grillBe forewarned: This is the kind of dish that makes people eat more than they should. Make extra; I always do.
- 1 large clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon coarse salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1½ to 2 pounds shrimp, in the 20 to 30 per pound range, peeled, rinsed, and dried
- Lemon wedges
Start a charcoal or gas grill or preheat the broiler; in any case, make the fire as hot as it will get and adjust the rack so that it is as close to the heat source as possible.Mince the garlic with the salt; mix it with the cayenne and paprika, then make it into a paste with the olive oil and lemon juice. Smear the paste all over the shrimp. Grill or broil the shrimp, 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning once. Serve immediately or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.Preparation Tip: You might want to skewer these (or other) shrimp before grilling, either for appearance or ease of handling. Metal skewers, which get quite hot, are reusable. Wooden skewers, which are a little easier to handle and can be discarded after use, should be soaked in water to cover for at least 15 minutes before using, to inhibit burning.
Apparently even Kasandra, who hates seafood, liked these!
Wings. Chris says he "winged" the spice mix for the wings (yuk yuk yuk), and just threw together a mix of the following spices without measuring too carefully:
- cumin
- cayenne pepper
- black pepper
- minced onion
- paprika
- salt
- ground ginger
- ground mustard
- garlic powder
- habanero powder
We also threw some peppers, onions, zucchinis, and portobella mushrooms, on the grill, and made some tube-ready crescent rolls, but I doubt any of you need the recipes for those!
Later in the weekend, we went for a nice hike in the Portola Redwoods State Park with Chris's parents, which was great except for the mosquitos, who apparently have a "feeding frenzy" in the summer. Yeah, we should have read that bit before we drove out there without any bug spray, haha. But luckily, since bugs LOOOVE my sweet blood, I was effectively everyone else's bug repellent.
We're really happy that the weekend went so well, and congratulations again to Tommy and Tiffany!
3 comments:
Thanks for the recipes!!!
I already made the salad dish and it was a huge hit! As usual, Kasandra ate the most!
Auntie May
Hahah, the stud finder lies! :P Tiffany and I have already started using the recipe book, it's a pretty fun read, and tasty as well. We'll have to try out the ones you mentioned. :)
Many thanks to you and Chris and the family. That was a great weekend indeed!
Nice!!!!
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