still alive - be thankful!

I know other bloggers have gone far longer than a week without a post, but I am not normally among them so it feels like forever.  I hope you'll excuse my absence, considering how busy I've been preparing for Thanksgiving and Black Friday - or I should say it like this:

1. the first Thanksgiving (or holiday at all) that I've hosted in my own home!
2. the first Black Friday I've worked retail in fifteen years.

Fortunately, both went off pretty well, yet both were fairly stressful in the days leading up to them.  Additionally, I just haven't felt like I had anything interesting to say.  I realized recently that one of the reasons I've found blogging to be so much fun and so fulfilling in the first two years of this little blog was because I was still learning how to cook new and interesting things, so I was always trying to make something I hadn't made yet so I could come up with a unique post.  Over the last several months, I've found myself perfectly happy to repeat "favorites" from the last few years, and although I only rotate recipes every few months, I still didn't have anything interesting to say about making "this" dish again.

Here is a quick recap of my Celebrate Vegan mini-menu:

The two pasta dishes (Pasta with Shallots and Chard and Pasta with Red Peppers and Basil) were just like I remembered them - relatively easy with a ton of flavor.  Neither of them made as much as I thought I remembered, but believe me, with Thanksgiving coming up, there was no place in our fridge for leftovers anyway.

I made one new recipe from the book I wasn't able to make before because it needed tweaking for Mister's intestinal safety, the Jambalaya and it was quite tasty and fake-meat-alicious!

So let's switch gears.

There's a lovely song by Josh Groban (which you can hear a beautiful cover of here) with the following lyrics:

Some days we forget to look around us.

Some days we can't see the joy that surrounds us.

So caught up inside ourselves, we take when we should give,

So for tonight, we pray for what we know can be,

And on this day we hope for what we still can't see.  

It's up to us to be the change,

And even though we all can still do more...

There's so much to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for a great many things, not the least of which being how well my first Thanksgiving as the cook and hostess turned out!  Here was our menu:

When my parents arrived, we set out mixed olives, veggie crudites with Muhammara (from Celebrate Vegan) and store-bought dill dip (thanks, Mister), and Spanakopita (from The Accidental Vegan).  The main course was a Torfurky Roast which Mister has wanted since his first non-meat-eating Thanksgiving and I was thrilled to be able to give it to him.  Alongside the Tofurky was mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, and my mom's becoming-famous salad, then dessert was Apple Pie with Vanilla "ice cream" by So Delicious.  Dad brought two delightful bottles of my favorite wines - Apothic Red and the 2009 vintage of Georges deBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages, as well as a four-pack of mini-champagnes "for after work."

Oh?  You wanted a picture parade?  Okay!

I began my preparations on Monday or Tuesday night, starting with the Muhammara dip since it would taste the best after sitting in the fridge for a few days.  I figured it was best to make it the same night we had Pasta with Shallots and Chard since my home already stank of an onion sibling (and since I already had the book out).  After simmering three chopped red peppers with a chopped onion and sliced garlic for an hour, I dry-toasted some walnuts,

And then placed everything in the blending machine...

and pureed it until it was mostly smooth and homogenously orange.

After it cooled a little, I scooped it into a "tupperware" and stuck it in the fridge, to be forgotten until Thursday.

Wednesday night, I intended to make the spanakopita because I've found that it sticks together better if it's made the night before it's eaten.  So I chopped up a shallot to substitute for the revolting onion in the recipe and sauteed the onion and spinach while the lentils cooked.

Added the brown lentils (I'm not actually sure why, either)

and then a big heap of crumbled feta tofu,

and stirred it all together.

This is where it gets fun.  By the time I started making this, I'd only worked one eight-hour day at work (the others went long in preparation for Black Friday) and after that 8-hour day (of being one half of the sales force, since one person got sent home with an eye infection) I had a 2.5 hour hair appointment (oh, how I missed you, Candi KaBoom!), so I really wasn't on my most... "with it" behavior.

I realized after all the work of assembling the spanakopita, including gluing sheets of phyllo together with olive oil while listening to the darkly angelic voice of Amy Lee through my earbuds, that I had missed one step of the two-step process required to preheat my ancient oven.  So, finding (at 2am) that my oven was still cold after it was "preheating" for 30 minutes, I covered the spanakopita with plastic, put it in the fridge and went to bed.

It came out just fine when I baked it the next morning.

Then came the piece de resistance.

Mister's long-awaited Tofurky Roast, complete with wild rice stuffing.

I put it in a little Corningware casserole dish and surrounded it with quartered potatoes and carrots, then poured half of the sage marinade over it and stuck that puppy in the oven.

It's not a real puppy, by the way.

appetizers - from the top: Muhammara, Dill dip, olives

more apps: Spanakopita, crudites

The Torfurky, all basted and roasted and ready to eat!

Sides: mashterpaters, roasted broccoli, and the canned
cranberry "sauce" Mister insisted we needed

I realized in a panic a few days before Thanksgiving (and a few days after I constructed the menu) that I had completely neglected to get/make gravy.  In an incredible (and incredibly fortunate) coincidence, my dear Mama Pea posted this recipe to save my butt.  It was good and easy to make in a pinch, but a little too thick to become a regular occurrence in our home, so next year we'll think ahead and find something a little more pourable.

Next year?

That's right!  It seems my parents enjoyed themselves enough to consider sharing the holidays - with any luck, that means I will always host Thanksgiving and they can have Christmas :)  In any case, thanks to my hard-working dishwasher and helpful husband, it didn't take all that long to clean up after dinner, allowing me to get to bed by nine(ish) since I had to be up at 3am to go to work.

In case you were wondering, Philadelphia is incredibly quiet and peaceful (and dark) at 5am.

pale september

Pale September... I wore the time like a dress that year.  The autumn days swung soft around me, like cotton on my skin.  But as embers of the summer lost their breath and disappeared, ....all my armor falling down in a pile at my feet,and my winter giving way to warm...

Yes, it is finally September.  As the nighttime temps seem to be habitually landing in the mid- to low 60s, I turn my face happily toward Autumn - my favorite season.  A season when Mister's allergies finally get a small bit of reprieve, a season full of beautiful colors, incredible scents (they already have the cinnamon pine cones at Superfresh!) and shorter days through which to squint.  A season when the spiders in my basement, theoretically anyway, should leave me to do my laundry in peace, rather than sending Mister down to make sure they're not waiting to eat me and then freaking out halfway through loading the second load into the washer because a new, not-dead, spindly spider is creeping up the wall only a couple of vulnerable feet away.  If you'll wait a moment, I need to go ask Mister to switch the loads now...

Anyway, to celebrate the new month, we met up with my parents for lunch today.  Okay, actually, it was completely coincidental that they were in town today and it just happened to be the first of September.  Regardless, we met them at Cooperage, outside the Curtis Center, and I finally got to sit at the wood veneer tables in those neat black wicker booth benches with orange cushions.  Normally, the orange and black combination makes me think of Halloween, but for some reason, with this place it just makes me think of manly men who drink bourbon and how masculine I fancy myself sometimes.  I'm probably going to regret writing that.

I got a veggie burger with sweet potato fries - yes, sweet potato fries!  This was a very exciting moment for me.  Unfortunately, they were not nearly as tasty as the ones I've had out west.  At this point, it may be a power of suggestion kind of thing.  The veggie patty was okay, but since Mister's squooshed out in every direction, I just ate mine with a fork.  Not very manly of me, I'll admit.  Then again, neither is this drink:

That's my Bumboo Punch and it had something like 5 different fruit nectars in it.  It was strong, though - despite the many competing fruit juices, I could taste the rum quite distinctly.  It was a fun lunch - our water was served in mason jars with handles and our sandwiches came in shallow metal pails.  I'm not totally sure what that was about, but it definitely added to the whole Early 20th Century vibe the place had going on (which was exactly why I chose it).

Nevertheless, after sitting in the sun for about an hour and drinking that tall, fruity, rummy drink, I was ready for a serious nap when we got home.  Instead, Mister and I had a pot of coffee.

Isn't that pretty?  Mister bought me that tea-cup a few years ago and his mom got me the saucer for my bridal shower.  Normally, I just display all of my antique tea-cups (and saucers, of course!) on my china cabinet shelves, but I thought to myself today, "What's the use in having pretty things if I don't occasionally use them?"  So I pulled that pair off the shelf, rinsed them off and had my coffee in pretty china.  That made Mister smile at me.

This makes me smile.  Actually, it makes me smile and giggle a little, too.  It never stops being funny to me how I can make Leftover Molds.  I told Mister I didn't want to make Lasagna tonight because we still had so much Jambalaya leftover, so I heated up the three pounds of leftovers for dinner tonight.  It didn't taste any different than the first time, but it sure was more amusing, slipping out of the Gladware and holding its shape like a little Cajun Bundt cake made with rice, vegetables, and seitan.

eat, drink, and be merry

...for tomorrow, we die.  Or go back to work.  Same thing.

All kidding aside (who's kidding?), I had such a delightful weekend, I am both dwelling on each moment and regretting that it all ends when I go to sleep tonight.  Each day has adventures of its own, so we'll keep a positive outlook, shall we?  Probably the best way to guide you through my fabulous weekend is another picture parade, with me popping in from time to time to share a fun story.  Let the good times commence!

There has been a lot of good eating going on lately.  I snapped the above picture while having a surprise lunch with my dad.  I surprised him by being in center city mid-day on Thursday, so we went to Farmicia for a nice little lunch.  Although I was tempted by the Hummus and Avocado Sandwich, I ended up getting the Tres Tamales, which was three (no, really?) perfectly sized tamales, stuffed with their vegan chorizo and "vegetables" (which appeared to actually just be diced chili peppers).  I love how the tamales came in a Tv Dinner-like tray-plate.  In the leftmost top were scrumptious refried black beans.  In the middle was a very spicy salsa roja, and on the right was a pickled cactus salad.  Being an adult, I tried the pickled cactus, even though every cell in my body was saying, "No...I don't think that's a good idea..."  It wasn't, but I chewed up one piece and swallowed, satisfying my need to be adult and classy.  Then I chased it with a nice swig from my celebratory peach fizz (peach nectar + cava).  Dad enjoyed a Crab Cake on Brioche that was thick enough he decided it would be in better taste and manners to make it a fork-n-knife sandwich, rather than trying to unsacrimoniously shovel it all into his mouth.

This bit of my breakfast was part of a super-awesome discovery just before I left the produce section of Whole Foods last week: Mango Nectarines.  Interesting flavor - they look like a champagne mango with their yellow-pale green skin, but they taste more like a nectarine.

Speaking of Whole Foods, I think I'm falling in love with Trader Joe's.  We'll recall that the logistics of my first journey out there were probably not ideal for making me put it on my list of places that I regularly shop.  However, yesterday, I got done teaching a bit later than I wanted to and in order to redeem the day (because teaching someone how to make music isn't fulfilling enough :P), I decided to get off the train at Suburban Station instead of Market East.  Trader Joe's is just a few short blocks from the stairway from subterranean to the city surface, so I decided to take my chances on the buses running more frequently on a Saturday (they do).

I got all these veggies for only $19.95:

• 2 zucchini 
• a cucumber 
• 3 shallots 
• 2 garlics 
• 2 limes 
• 1 lb bag of lemons 
• 7oz arugula 
• a bag of snow peas 
• a bag of broccoli florets 
• a bag of shredded cabbage 
• a red pepper 
• an orange pepper 
• and a quart of vegetable broth

as a result, I saved about $15 total for this week's grocery bill, which is pretty significant considering this menu has seven dinners, not 5 or 6 like normal.  Also, this came in handy when I went to Superfresh and discovered that ThePowersThatBe have decided that consumers were getting their canned beans for a steal, so in the one week between the last time I shopped there and yesterday, they felt justified in increasing the price of beans 32 cents.  

When you're talking about beans, that's a serious number.   I mean, really - $1.19 for a 15oz can of chickpeas?  I guess it could be worse... they're still 80 cents more expensive than that at Whole Foods.  

Anyway, I ended up making the least expensive meal last night, primarily because I wanted to use up my Tofurky sausage and leftover Coconut Rice before something bad conspired between them in the fridge. The only thing I needed to buy for Stewed Lentils with Soy Sausage from Vegan Express was a can of tomatoes.

I heated up the leftover Coconut Rice from our Jerk Seitan the other night, but there really wasn't quite enough leftover to match the volume of the stewed lentils.  In the future, I think we'll need twice as much rice and I probably could have used more than 1 cup of diced tomatoes, too.  The 2 sausages instead of four, though, was right on.

After dinner, since it was Saturday and all, I made myself a little cocktail:

Pineapple Malibu Rum + 100% Papaya nectar + Lime Perrier

Speaking of fruity cocktails, Mister and I had brunch with my parents today (this appears to be turning into a monthly event) and while Mister and Mom stuck to French press coffee, Dad and I decided to celebrate the true nature of brunch: an excuse to drink frilly cocktails way too early in the day.

Closer to the camera is my beverage, April in Paris (st. germaine elderflower liquer + white wine + champagne).  I felt a little silly ordering it, with all that flowery name and whatnot, but I needn't have felt that way since my dad followed up by ordering a Ruby Slipper (absolut ruby red vodka + lime juice + triple sec + cranberry juice + champagne) which is the pretty pink drink further from the camera (and close to my father).

The menu at Valanni is pretty diverse and full of tasty-looking things beyond their fruitilicious cocktails (now might be a good - or damning - moment to point out that Valanni is a fabulously trendy hotspot in the heart of Philadelphia's "gayborhood").  I decided to get Cinnamon French Toast with a citrus glaze and vanilla-maple syrup, sprinkled with pecans and dried curants.  I had no idea how thick the bread would be!

For my savory side, I also ordered Roasted Potatoes which required me to ask our [very nice] server for salt - apparently the cook isn't a fan.  Roasted anything should always involve salt.  I guess you have to play it safe, though, when you're cooking for a bunch of strangers who may or may not have hypertension.

The purpose of my parents' visit was to bring me gifts from afar - Arizona, to be more specific.  The last time we had brunch with them was right before they left to visit my sister, so today was the "now we're home and we have presents" phase of brunch.  Oh, and also because we love each other.

Anyway, there were two big special presents that provoked the visit.  The first is this amazing handmade bowl:

The creator is Michael Nowack, a now-local artisan.  To my surprise, it is both microwave- and dishwasher-safe!  Add that to gorgeous and we have a winner!

Because my parents love my husband more than me, they also gave us two hot sauces and a grill spice mix that contains not just one kind of hot pepper - no, there are five chilies in that mix.  The pain they are clearly trying to inflict upon me, though, was balanced out by the sweetness of the other special gift.

This is Mesquite Flour.  I saw some in Essene yesterday, so it's comforting to know where I can get more if I need it, but this is "special" mesquite flour.  My sister, apparently an earth mother, plucked the pods from her very own mesquite tree and pounded them into this flour all by herself.

You know what they say: You can take the girl out of Africa, but you can't take Africa out of the girl.

Once we'd digested brunch and finished up any last-minute errands that needed running on the weekend, I made dinner.

This image just brings joy to my heart in that welling-over kind of way.  Doesn't that look tasty?  Hearty? Savory?  It doesn't hurt that it's also an attractive color combination, but anticipating the taste makes me want to drool even now.

I served up Pasta E Fagioli from Veganomicon with a delightful mixture of olives and the last of my Apothic Red.  I'm finishing the wine with a few squares of my dark Belgian chocolate from Trader Joe's (and kicking myself a little for not picking up another three bar set while I was there yesterday).

Farewell, Weekend, until we meet again!

on a lighter note...

Why don't we talk about food tonight?  Food so good that it can't possibly stir up controversy since it can be unanimously agreed upon that good food can also be tasty food (and pretty food - let's not neglect the food porn).  Why don't we do it like this: first we'll have a picture parade (to make up for last night's dearth), then we'll talk about the new menu.  Ready?  Let's go.

Last night, before I got all caught up in reading Mama Pea's post and answering some of the commenters with my own thoughts, leading to my novel-post because I had to get all those thoughts swimming around my head out in some kind of semi-coherent way, I made Rice Island Casserole from Vegan on the Cheap.  This is another one of those "baked" recipes that I have turned into a stovetop simmer recipe, because brown rice and my baking skills just do not get along.  I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but in my world, rice does not cook in the oven but rather on top of it.

It's such a good dinner - I never have trouble clearing my plate.

Or bowl.  Whatever.  The one thing I'm a little sad about is purely aesthetic - the kidney beans are pale.  Mister was kind enough to accompany me to both stores last weekend, enabling me to shop faster (he was just following me around with the baskets) and buy a little more (since he was there to help carry - he's such a handsome little pack-mule).  When we were at Superfresh, he made a comment on the absurdly high price of beans.

Beans are supposed to be cheap, right?  I mean, isn't that the punchline - "we were so poor growing up that mom ate beans because there was only enough 'real food' for us kids" right?  Actually, I know someone who did eat beans so her children could have more substantial food.  Anyway, I haven't been paying attention really, because beans are just one of those "essential" items that I pick up every single time I'm at the store.  It wouldn't really matter if they had tripled in price - I would still buy them and just be surprised at my higher bill.  His initial impetus to exclaiming his disbelief was that he wanted to pick up a can or two of refried beans but they were "way too expensive."  We happened to be having this conversation as I was picking out the whole beans and I noticed a huge difference in price between the dark and light kidney beans.  I don't actually know, besides color, what the difference is between them (logic would dictate the darker beans would be higher in antioxidants, but that's just a guess), so I decided we didn't need the more-expensive dark kidney beans.

They are much prettier, though.

Speaking of pretty (I'm getting so good at these segues), how about these cherries?

Every week, Whole Foods reduces the price by $1, but I really don't think they'll go much lower than $5/lb, so I decided this was the magical week we could have some.  If I'm wrong, well, I guess we'll have to get some more when they're a lower price, won't we?  I wouldn't mind - they were as sweet, juicy, and ripe as they are beautiful.  Cherry red is one of my very favorite colors (you might have guessed that from the placemats).

I actually got up early enough today to go to the Headhouse Farmers Market.  Well, to be honest, I frequently get up early enough to go to the farmers market but end up missing it because I'd rather spend the time waking up slowly and watching Evanescence or P!nk videos on YouTube.  Today I actually went...and was disappointed.  I guess it would have been okay if I didn't have a specific list of items in mind and if I was willing to pay more to support local agriculture that may or may not use genetically modified seeds.  I will probably return in the future, because there were a lot of fun booths that had stuff I would buy if I weren't on a budget, but I tried really hard to be frugal this week since there are a lot of beginning-of-the-month expenses to wipe out the paycheck I just got. 

After playing at the farmers market, Mister and I met up with my parents for a little brunch at Farmicia in Olde City.  We went there almost exactly 2 months ago with them and they enjoyed it so much they specifically requested returning there, so I made the reservations and off we went.  There was a deflating baby and a squeaking fan, but as always the food was delicious and the cocktails inventive.

I had the same thing I had last time, but this time I actually remembered my camera.  This is the Scrambled Tofu with Vegan Chorizo.  Obviously, that's on the right.  In the back were sopapillas (kind of like Mexican pita) to scoop up various parts of the meal.  On the left is a crisp tortilla with a generous lump of avocado-tomato salsa.  The tofu could have had a little more flavor, but its relative blandness helped to even out the spicy kick of the chorizo.  The sopapillas are pillow-soft and delightfully chewy and did a great job delivering the big chunks of avocado, dotted with crisp tomatoes, to my mouth.  In the back right, you may observe a slightly cloudy-looking drink.  That was my Little Miss Sunshine.  I ordered it because the name is hilarious and because it sounded fun - strawberry-flavored vodka with fresh lemonade.  It was very easy to drink and if I didn't keep reminding myself it had alcohol in it, I probably could have knocked back two with minimal effort.

Before they left, my mother gave me a delightfully fragrant, hydroponic basil plant.

Let's see how long it takes either for me to kill it or Angst to eat it.  Mister and I are fairly confident that he would be repulsed into stopping his nibbles after only one bite (which would confirm that it is most definitely not spinach), but I'm hoping that he can smell that it's not spinach and just stays away from it.  It looks so pretty in its Classico jar (bonus: if Angst does decide to eat it and knocks over the jar, at least I won't have lost another vase).

Since I had all day, pretty much, to prep for dinner, I saved the most time-consuming recipe on the menu for last - Orzo Pilaf from Vegan on the Cheap with Tofeta from How It All Vegan.  As I mentioned in the menu, VotC has its own tofeta recipe, but I like the one in HIAV better.

I needed a new dress for Cousin's wedding this weekend.  Okay.  I didn't need one, but I can only wear the same dresses so many times before people start wondering if I do laundry.  Besides, the last time I bought a dress, it was for my wedding, so I think it's okay to get another one after 4 years.  Anyway, before I headed out to Greene Street Consignment, I put the tofu in my handy-dandy Tofu Xpress to press while I shopped.  When I returned, with a dress, I diced it and put it back in the box along with the marinade to which I accidentally added twice as much basil as the recipe prescribed, then let it marinate for an hour in the fridge while I did other stuff.

building a base of greens

mmm....so tasty

I really like the crunch and varied texture provided by the lettuce leaves.  I've made this before and did not serve it as a salad and it was just fine, but I think this is a better way for the future.

Finally, the new menu.  More than half of it comes from a cookbook I have pretty well neglected since we moved: The Complete Vegan Cookbook.  That's a shame - it has a lot of good recipes.  So I started my recipe search there and nearly concluded it there as well, except that I had at least one recipe I knew I wanted to make from Vegan on the Cheap (will I ever get tired of this cookbook?).

1. Curried Cauliflower, Garbanzo, and Tomato Salad from CVC because cauliflower is awesome, but curried cauliflower = Mister in heaven.

2. Pasta Puttanesca with Artichokes, also from CVC.  I really like puttanesca sauces - they are so flavorful as to be nearly overwhelming.  I am curious about the combination of what I consider two fairly different tastes (and I might be doing it wrong, so I guess we'll see).  Puttanesca sauce is salty and kind of dark tasting, whereas I consider artichokes a little tangy from the brine they usually soak in during storage.  I'm supposed to be using frozen artichokes, though, but I couldn't find any.

3. Bulgur and Red Lentil Pilaf with Kale and Olives, also from CVC.  I love this dish.  That's all.

4. Provencal Black-Eyed Peas with Asparagus, also from CVC.  When we were first dating, Mister and I worked very close to one another, so we would sometimes take a short break for ice cream or other little treats.  A few times, I stopped at Baskin-Robbins on the way to meet him and I would call and ask what he wanted - his answer was normally, "whatever's weird."  In the spirit of that, I chose this dish - it's definitely weird: Black-Eyed Peas definitely have their place in Cajun/Creole cooking, and that cuisine is certainly influenced by Provence, but I think we're taking a mighty big leap here.  And then there's the asparagus.  That just doesn't make any sense to me.

5. Farfalle with White Beans and Cabbage from VotC.  I bought a big head of red cabbage for one of last week's salads and only used a very small amount.  The recipe calls for green cabbage, but we're just going to improvise a little.

6. Coconut Curry Rice also from VotC, except I forgot to pick up more curry powder.  Looks like a mid-week trip to Whole Foods is in my future...

Friday (the 13th), I'm in love

I'm kind of obsessing over this whole Judgment Day thing - picking it apart from every angle and examining every facet to the "story."  This may be a relatively unpopular sentiment, but at the moment, I feel simple sadness for these people.  They truly believe the events their prophet has foretold will come to pass.  A slightly cynical side of me wants to be standing there with them, holding vigil from 6pm (when the great earthquake hits that signifies that God is closing the door to heaven) through to the next day when everyone is still here and safe.  It's supposed to be gorgeous this weekend.  Bright, sunny, happy weather.  Not exactly Endtimes weather.  A more compassionate side of me is genuinely sad for the heartbreak and feelings of loss these people have been set up for (or, have set themselves up for, to be fair).  Can you imagine feeling so certain of something that you base your entire existence around it for not just the few days that it has captured the attention of the general public but for years leading up to now?  Can you imagine being so sure of the future that you would rid yourself of all earthly belongings and separate yourself from your job?  Can you even fathom what would happen, how you would feel, the day after all these things were supposed to happen, when you're sitting in sunshine in an undestroyed field somewhere, not glorified?

It's devastating, really.

For our part, Mister and I started the countdown with Pasta e Fagioli from Veganomicon, although I forgot the roasted asparagus.  Pity - I guess we'll have to eat that up before 6pm Saturday...just in case we're wrong.

I actually found and purchased pennette this time around, but honestly, in these pictures, it doesn't look that different from the version I made with grown-up penne.  Regardless, it's one tasty beans-n-pasta dish and my Apothic Red (which I may rename Apocalypse Red) completed the meal perfectly.

I've rambled enough about this Pasta e Fagioli in previous posts.  Additionally, you may be wondering just what the heck Friday the 13th and Love have to do with anything I've said so far.

Nothing, actually.  But I didn't want to spend my whole post exploring my myriad conflicting feelings about Saturday, so I decided tonight was as good a time as any to fill you in on what Mister and I did on Friday the 13th.

My husband's family is a little strange sometimes.  I love them for it.  So, when my brother-in-law and his fiancee selected May 13th as their wedding date, explaining that it was the only Friday the 13th in 2011, not too many people were surprised.  What was surprising was that he managed to get my husband to wear a shiny lavender vest and tie.  Greeks should not wear lavender - it is NEVER their color.

Lavender accessories aside, my Mister, the Best Man, was very handsome all dressed up in grown-up clothes.

Apparently, varying shades of purple made up the wedding theme, as my mother-in-law and I laughed about the two lavender-clad Greek men matching very masculine things like....

The cake.  It's fun, isn't it?  White with purple flowers "blooming" off of toffee branches?  As you can see, the stuffiness of the reception hall prior to proper adjustment of the climate control made some of the blossoms jump ship, but the cake was returned to an appropriate temperature and fixed up before the reception started.  I feel kind of bad, now, about photographing it before the ceremony...

However, Mister and I were running out of ways to entertain ourselves, since we arrived 30 minutes before his parents and grandmother and 45 minutes before the bride and groom and wedding party.  No, we were not very early.  They were all very late.  Still, I got the chance to photograph one of the tables once it was set up...all in purple and lavender to match the wedding party.

Due to unforeseen occurrences (a superstitious person might even say "bad luck"), the ceremony actually ended up starting about the time it would have been finished.  Nevertheless, it was a lovely outdoor ceremony, which concluded just as twilight was setting in.

My little angelbaby (AKA, the bride and groom's daughter) was an adorable flower girl, wearing a poofy purple dress that might have been a size too big for her and definitely a lot of dress for a little girl.  In the picture above, you can see her 14-year-old sister, also in lavender to match the men, holding up the back of angelbaby's dress so she doesn't step on it.

This is the only picture in existence (as far as I know) of my husband holding hands with a child.  It was actually quite adorable.  The ringbearer (AKA, the bride's son) has a great amount of love and admiration for Mister, who once fixed a toy for him.  His whole face lit up when he arrived and saw Mister, so when he made his way down the aisle with his little sister, as soon as he was safely beside Mister he just slipped his tiny hand inside Mister's.

Believe me, I was not going to miss that photo op.  Speaking of which, I told Mister I was going to take a ton of pictures of him because "I don't ever want to see you in that color again but I don't ever want to forget this day, either."  I'm such a little devil sometimes. 

It was wonderful to see BIL so happy.  The reception was very nice.  My MIL and I opened the bar (we figured we'd been waiting the longest, so it was fair), and there were a ton of appetizers I could (and did) eat.  I love butlered hors d'oeuvres and regret that we did not get to partake of any at our own wedding.  We had hors d'oeuvres, the same ones as our guests, but ours were set out on trays in the "special room" we all hid in during cocktail hour so we could make our grand entrances to "Get This Party Started" (by P!nk) and the Imperial Death March (from Star Wars).  'Cause that's how me and Mister roll.

I'd never heard the song the bride and groom danced their first dance to, but it was pretty and clearly had meaning to them as they were singing it to one another while they danced.  The groom also danced with his mother to Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up," while I successfully prevented Mister from ruining it for me by complaining about how much he hates Josh Groban's voice.  Mister gave a very nice and slightly impish toast, followed by the Maid of Honor, the bride's daughter, who burst into tears about one sentence in.  Happy tears, don't worry.  Another fun, touching, and somewhat unconventional part of the evening was when, in lieu of the bride-father dance, the bride's 18-year-old son asked her to dance with him to Boyz II Men's "Mama."  I have to admit, I've never seen that before.

I had a ball, dancing the night away with my sisters-in-law and cousins, even a couple of aunts and of course, plenty of nieces.  One niece and one nephew in particular were very excited to see Aunt Natalie, which always makes ya feel good.  The food was very nice and the open bar was certainly welcome - the champagne was surprisingly tasty and MIL and I took care of the "leftover" glasses at our table.

Best of all, we get to do this all over again (as long as no one gets swept up to heaven on Saturday and the venue doesn't get eaten by a big earthquake) in a few weeks for a cousin's wedding!  Fortunately for Mister, he's not in the wedding this time, so he can wear black, not pastels.

That was truly amazing.