Flavors 518

A couple years ago Revolution Hall stopped being a venue for concerts and became a private events space. Now you can have your wedding there! We went to a wedding reception there last night. There was a totally awesome photo booth the groom and his friend built. Here was the result. We had such a great time! They are such an amazing couple! Also, I still love weddings. I'm the type of girl who wishes there was a Valentine's Day every month. At this moment, I am checking out a "Bridezillas" marathon. I have to admit to still checking out Ruffled and Style Me Pretty when I'm totally bored or stressed. I will also admit to having the impulse to buy a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine once in a while, but resisting the urge. Perhaps I'm meant to be a crafty, low-key, totally personalized wedding planner. I do seem to have kicked the David Tutera habit completely, so that is something. I don't think weddings should be about materialism, weight loss, or...

Hello Internet. I have not typed at you in a while. What have I been up to, you ask? My coworkers and I were in a craft fair . We were proud of our display: My in-laws came to visit, and we checked out Yono's . I thought the food was fabulous, and liked that it felt light in my stomach even though clearly a lot of thought and skill had gone into the preparation. See my amazing lamb with coconut rice:  Husband's red snapper with flageolet beans: We had a great time at the Fresh Grass bluegrass festival at MassMoca where we also really enjoyed the "Oh, Canada" exhibit. We checked out Mezze in Williamstown too, which everyone loved.  I've made use of my bear cake pan I bought at the Confectionery House with my friend Sandy . I made this one for my friend Elizabeth. I went to my cousin's wedding in Michigan, where my sister put the bridesmaid dress she wore for my wedding on me. There was cake we didn't get to eat, and...

Hard to believe we got married already a year ago! J & S Watkins supplied us with a free anniversary cake which was included in the cost of our wedding cake. And Jacqueline Lynch came over to take anniversary photos of us ( check them out on her blog ). She is the best. She strives for creative, interesting photos, and she is much more reasonable that the other options in the area for wedding photos. Check out all her fabulous photos of our wedding here . My sister loved her so much that she wish Jacqueline could go all the way to Michigan for her wedding. Jacqueline said she likes to keep her prices reasonable because she likes the interesting type of bride that attracts. I think she is a great photographer. I read her blog a lot, and like to view all of her different projects. I feel that good photography is worth the price. Sure, it can be expensive, but most photographers are running small businesses and have to keep up with the cost of equipment. Also, if you don...

Today I took a break from dogsitting and went to the Albany Wine & Dine for the Arts , at the Hotel Albany , (formerly the Crowne Plaza) where we had our wedding almost exactly six months ago. In fact, the Grand Tasting was in the very same room where we had our wedding reception. It really made me appreciate our wedding all over again. Sure, there were issues I had with weddings relating to materialism and gender , and it is silly the way people expect weddings to be this "one perfect day" . But going back there and remembering everything - the Prime booth was where our wedding cake sat, the Taste booth was where Erin Harkes performed Adele's "Make You Feel My Love" for our first dance - I thought it actually was about the most perfect of a day as I could ever experience. Wedding planning can be so difficult and require so many different skills that not everybody has, but if you do it right and follow your vision and don't compromise too much, it c...

There are so many things I love about El Mariachi . I've only been to the one on Hamilton Street. From the delicious drinks to the sizzling food and the bright decor it is just all in all a good time. We went there for my bachelorette party in June and it was a blast (as shown above). Did I eat lots of fried salty food two days before my wedding? Yes, yes I did , and I didn't feel bad about it. I first went to El Mariachi with my friend who has now left Albany, and I always associated it with a fun girls' night from that time on. What about chips and salsa and tequila doesn't set the stage for fun gossip? The fajitas actually make noise when they come out. Some dishes are things you would not routinely see at a Mexican restaurant. Also, there's Spanish food on the menu. Actually, our waitress one time came up to us and mentioned that Scott was her professor at Hunter when we lived in New York. Small world! And it turns out that her parents own the place and that o...

I have previously talked about our wedding cake at a couple of times . And I have nothing new to say other than to say again that I loved the red velvet with cream cheese icing, but now we have  the professional photos!  Photos by Jacqueline Lynch Photography Am I the only girl in the world who would put the Mona Lisa on her wedding cake? Yes, I might just be. Another thing we did was make chocolate chip cookies for the favors. The significance of this is that Scott likes when I make him chocolate chip cookies, so cookies for everyone! Spread the love! We used Thomas Keller's recipe from Ad Hoc , which I believe to be the best chocolate chip cookie recipe there is. And thanks to my stellar Matron of Honor and her friend who I had not even met before the previous day, they all got made without any effort from me. For the packaging I used a Martha Stewart idea and slipped the cookies in CD sleeves I had decorated with some paper, stamps, and ribbons. I also bought some n...

We got married over the weekend, and it was pretty much the best thing ever. Here are some tips I can offer to other engaged couples so that they can also have an enjoyable big day. Don't take yourself too seriously . If you want to do goofy dances with the 7 year old flower girl all night, it is your event and you are allowed. Eat. After hearing from too many people that I would not get to eat anything at my own wedding, I made sure to have lunch catered. I compared the menus from a few places. I thought about Bountiful Bread , but it seemed expensive for what it was. I figured if it wasn't going to be cheap I might as well get something I really love. The New World Bistro catering menu was great. They were exactly on time, and they were super nice. We got the Hudson Valley salad, jerk chicken salad wraps, goat cheese, red pepper, and pesto wraps and lime phyllo tarts. I think everyone who got their hair and makeup done appreciated it. Also, if people eat they are less li...

Today we are picking out the food for our wedding next month. While I totally trust the venue , I don't have very high hopes. My lack of high hopes was creating by an essay by Julie Powell in this book . Powell states that: "Hundreds of guests + unreasonable expectations + catering - billions of dollars = rubber chicken. " She also goes on to say: "Very long names for things should have set off the first alarm bells. The long-name thing is something that works for fancy restaurants. But when caterers employ the trick, it's to try to convince you that they are fancy restaurants rather than what they are, which is caterers. Unlike chefs, caterers do not cook to order. Caterers cook great huge batches of things, then pack them into large tin containers and carry them in vans to church basements or the grounds of local art museums, where they reheat the food on chafing dishes. Many foods can be eaten very satisfactorily this way, but these foods usually ...

Today I would like to talk about "Brideorexia" as discussed in this article . According to this book "the way we marry is who we are". And I would like to think as a society we are better than expecting young women who are getting married to completely change themselves in many ways in order to make a commitment of love and unity, and to celebrate the merging of two families. This book makes the argument that modern brides freaking out about losing large amounts of weight is related to the much older traditions of bridal fasting (which can be found in several different religions and cultures), and cleansing , including the Jewish mikveh .  A woman simply has to change her facebook status to "engaged" to get only ads related to losing weight for a year. I am so used to these ads, that once when Scott was logged into facebook I noticed that he had no ads for losing weight, and I was shocked. I am told it is worse when you change your status to "marr...