Registry

Scott and I attended a special wedding registry event at Crate & Barrel this Sunday. I saw it advertised in Martha Stewart Weddings, so called and RSVP-ed to register at 10am. We arrived at Crate & Barrel, signed in, and were put on a short wating list of a scanner. In the meantime, we wandered the store with free mimosas. In addition to the mimosas, there was a pannini station, chocolate fondue, bloody marys (although they were sans vodka and looked like a smoothie..we did not try them), and passed treats like quiches and eclairs. We passed on the food, but stocked up on the mimosas. Soon, they called our name for a scanner, and we began our registry. An hour later we were done, and now our registry is up and running on crateandbarrel.com. Upon leaving, we received a lovely heart-shaped glass bowl and a cute picture of us in the store. Then we were off to Macys to register again. Macys had no "event" and the lady there got a little snippity when Scott started to play with the scanner (no, you cannot scan a person with them). So now we are officially registered at Macys and Crate and Barrel. I will add this to our wedding site with links soon.

Po'boys, Dirty Rice & King Cake

Friday was Scott's mom's (Linda) birthday. We planned to cook her a fancy meal, but she requested a traditional New Orleans meal (she's from there), so we made Po'boys, dirty rice, shrimp appetizers, and king cake.
Shrimp appetizers are an interesting concoction that I thought was exclusive to Scott's family, but apparently it is widespread in New Orleans. It is not really an appetizer, but we served it that way. Traditionally, when New Orleanians peel & eat shrimp, some of them like to take the shrimp and put it atop a buttered Ritz cracker, and top it off with a squirt of ketchup. Fancy, I know, but it really is tasty.
Dinner was Po'boys, a New Orlean sandwich of fried seafood and lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mayo and ketchup, on a sourdough baquette. We planned on having crawfish po'boys, but the crawfish Scott ordered came already cooked, so we couldn't use it. Instead, we fried shrimp and oysters. Caroline (his brother's girlfriend) found a partially formed pearl in one of her oysters. With the po'boys we served dirty rice. The dirty part of the rice is chicken livers, which are cooked down with bell pepper, green onions, celery, and cayenne pepper, and then mixed with the rice. Linda said it tasted exactly like she remembers it.
Dessert was the gem of the meal. A king cake is a Mardi Gras cake sold only in New Orleans. Scott and his family are addicted to this cake, and if you didn't grow up with it, you don't quite understand what the big deal is. It is basically a ring of cinnamon cake that tastes like a dry cinnamon roll. It is topped with GOBS of white icing and DRENCHED with purple, green & gold sugar (mardi gras colors). There is a plastic baby hidden somewhere in the cake, and whoever gets the baby in their piece is responsable for throwing the next party. This is something Scott won't even attempt to re-create, so we ordered it from Haydel's Bakery in New Orleans, and they overnight it to us. The funny thing is Scott ordered on online Wednesday night, but the order screen said there was an error and did not go through. The next morning Scott called the bakery and ordered the cake, but then that afternoon we had one at our door. Apparently the online order did go through, so we ended up with 2 king cakes. Scott was super excited as king cake is his weakness, and has been known to eat a whole cake by himself in one day.
The 2 cakes! They come with mardi gras beads, chicory coffee, a jazz cd, and a mardi gras magazine.
Linda blowing out her candles. Notice the festive beads. Mike (next to her) got the baby in the cake!

Happy Birthday Katherine!

Happy Birthday Katherine...hope you have a great day!!

Wedding website

Its finally here...the wedding site is up and running! The link is under my picture on the right. Check it out now, and then again later as I will be adding to it.

Sunny Southern CA

It was a beautiful winter weekend in Southern CA. Both days were sunny and today hit 80 degrees. It was a welcomed change from the past few weeks of gloom and rain we have had. Scott and I decided to take advantage of the weather and planned some outdoor fun. On Saturday we drove south on Pacific Coast Highway, meandering our way through the coastal towns of Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, Monarch Beach, and San Clemente. We drove through a few patches of fog on the way, but San Clemente was crystal clear, so we stopped at the pier for lunch at The Fisherman. We dined on the deck, me with a bloody mary with celery, olives, lemon & lime (it was like a salad in my drink), and Scott with a Fat Tire. After ordering our food, the fog rolled in and we could hardly see the ocean that was about 10 feet from us. The fog stayed while we feasted on king crab cocktail, fisherman's chowder, and a bucket of steamed clams. It felt like we were in San Fransisco (good feeling for someone who misses the bay).
Me enjoying the lovely weather.
On Sunday we planned a hike in Rancho Santa Margarita, in an area called Live Oak Canyon. I have a little book that I think Lara bought about hiking in Orange County, and this hike was straight out of the book. I was the hike navigator. The hike was through a meadow and then up the canyon, passing a monastery (in the OC?) and then up up up, ending at a vista point overlooking the ocean and Catalina. We were going to picnic at the vista point, but when we got up there the wind was hurricane strength, so back down down down we went and picnic-ed at the trailhead instead.
It seems that even though the weather is sunny and nice, it still is winter, and even sunny socal can't escape the fog and wind...I hope everyone else is surviving their respective winters..its tough here in the OC =)

Here's a real post...wedding update

Sorry about the asterik post, I'm not sure exactly how that happened, and I am suprised by how many people commented on it!
It's my first day back at work after 2 weeks off (gotta love the school calendar), and I am already stressed! I'm trying to reschedule all my tutoring to fit into my new school schedule, and it is a mess...especially since I am trying really hard to reserve more time for kickboxing before the wedding. I might have to drop some tutoring clients and cross my fingers that Scott gets more catering parties lined up.
Wedding plans are coming along quickly now. We just reserved the DJ, canceled the florist (or rather she dropped us for not wanting to work within our budget), and are finalizing invitation choices. My mom has taken on a new job as centerpiece designer, and the search for a florist to make the bouquets is on. The wedding party is chosen, dresses are ordered, and honeymoon is booked (a special thank you to Scott's siblings for our xmas present of 2 oceanfront massages at the Maui Four Seasons). I am in the process of creating a wedding website and will post the link as soon as I am finished.
My lucky bridesmaids are Carla Hitchcock (maid of honor, high school friend), Devon Nunes (college friend), and Kelly McCarthy (future sister-in-law). After a grueling round of tasks and elimination ceremonies, these 3 girls reigned supreme and have accepted the job of assisting my every want and need for the next 6 months...haha...just kidding girls =)
Anyway, here they are, and each one is under the influence of margaritas, wine, or champagne...
Carla
devon
Kelly

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