the food

Jon has said that the best wedding meal he ever had was at his sister A's wedding. Apparently every single person at the reception was served their meal at the same time and it was warm, cooked well and delicious. So he really wanted a sit-down meal. I really wanted Indian food, which generally consists of a buffet. So we compromised on serving our wedding meal family-style: 18 items laid out on a big square table for 12, so people had plenty of stuff to choose from and didn't have to get up or stand in line.

The place where we held the reception (and the wedding itself) is owned by the restaurant who catered the meal. It's been nearly two months since the wedding and people are still commenting about how much they loved the food. And because people had been telling me for years that the meal is one of the few things guests actually remember about any wedding, that makes me very happy. Especially because the food Jon and I had tasted before making our selections was good, but not phenomenal. However the dishes served to us at the sweetheart table were some of the best Indian food I've ever had outside of my mother's house. We were wondering if our meal was extra scrumptious because it was our wedding day, but hearing everyone's rave reviews, I'm very glad to say it was all very good.

Indian food is not for everyone. Cc's son b enjoyed the Penne Alfredo, and some of Jon's family members who weren't so sure about the ethnic options seemed to like it, too. A family-style meal (when someone else is choosing the selections) is a great place to try it if you haven't had the opportunity. It was the first time for the husband of my coworker who made our phenomenal cake, and he enjoyed it so much that he's asked his wife to start trying out recipes. My mom has been sending some samples home for him with her.

Of course, there's always something that gets lost in translation. The day after the wedding, the boyfriend of a coworker facebookposted this picture of our menu, describing the gulab jamun dessert.

His caption: "@ a wedding and has Golden Fried balls of milk!!! WTF!!"

I commented that I knew how that was going to look when I made the menus, but it's really hard to describe them any other way (there isn't!). She was worried I was offended, but I think it's just as funny. That said, one of my brother's best friends here asked my mom if she would make him the "sweet balls" the next time my brother came to town. Now that he's moved back home, I'm pretty sure she'll be making them all the time. 

I made Jon get up during dinner so we could visit all the tables. But then we got to talking and only made it to about four before it was time to get on with the program. I felt sad about not being able to greet all our our guests personally after not having a receiving line (though my parents did manage to make it to every table; they didn't eat much) before the dancing. If I had known that I wouldn't be able to say hello to every guest, there's a good chance I'd have gotten myself some golden fried balls of milk.