Dinner #9: Icing on the (Wedding) Cake

Menu
April 7, 2018

Appetizers
Sushi Rolls
Caprese 3.0

Course One
Koh Soy (Northern Thai Noodle Soup)

Course Two
Sous Vide Steak with Dinner Rolls and Roasted Rainbow Carrots

Course Three
Rosemary Lavender Cake

Beverages
Whisky Bolan
Sage Brown Derby
Sparkling Wine

As I mentioned, John and I aren't just co-founders of AJRB, we are in a relationship (you all know where this is going from the title but bear with me). We had been living together for six months now, and on our two-year dating anniversary, John popped out of bed and got our day started by making me breakfast in bed and giving me a note. It said something along the lines of we would be getting engaged later that day...after I enjoyed a little scavenger hunt. He had me revisit many of the places that had played significant parts in our relationship, slowly picking up friends and family on the way, until we all ended up in Temecula at an olive grove where he asked me if I would marry him and I said yes. 

In planning our wedding, we assembled a kick-ass wedding party, and wanted to get them together to meet one another, and experience AJRB as many of them lived out of state and heard a lot about it. Our menu was unlike any other we had created - like the scavenger hunt that John had crafted - our menu was meant to tell the story of our relationship to our friends and family we had selected to play important roles in our wedding. Appetizers started, like our relationship did, with sushi and caprese salads. Sushi was a callback to our first official date as a couple, and caprese salad was a thing John (and I) iterated one regularly. For Course One we moved onto our trip to Thailand with Koh Soy - John's absolutely favorite Thai dish - that is a Northern Thai Noodle Soup. Course Two was a John showstopper - something where he could shine, and he selected a Sous Vide Steak with Dinner Rolls and Roasted Rainbow Carrots. Course Three was where I got to show off a bit - I decided on a Rosemary Lavender Cake - I am one of those bakers who loves to use herbs in their baking. 

So that was the menu. 

What we had never done was cook a menu like this while hosting. You would have thought we learned, but we never do. We thought that with a much lighter course load, and with fewer guests, we wouldn't need as much prep time. So I had a wedding dress appointment to try on dresses for the first time (!!!) that morning, lunch to debrief after, and then everyone else went back to the AirBnB to decompress while I began cooking - so I think I got started at around 1PM. Keep in mind, guests are arriving at 5PM. Oh, and I had finished baking my cake the night before - so it would really just be about making the frosting, assembling, and setting up the room. John on the other hand....

John got back at 2PM and he had to make sushi, steak, koh soy, and caprese salads. 

Safe to say, things didn't really work out 100% (aka we were scrambling) but man, was it a fun time. The food wasn't our finest, given the time restraints that we had put on ourselves, but this was the first time we were able to do one big table and we took advantage of it. It felt like a group that had known each other for ages - and after dinner was cleared, and bridesmaids and groomsmen boxes were opened, games were played for the first time ever! 

I think it might be cheating to say this is one of my favorite AJRBs ever but how could it not be?