It's 3:30 am on the day of......

my baby daughter's wedding.

I cannot sleep.

I will look tired and weak in the eyes....but.....it's not about me, is it?   I do hope that the bride will be well-rested!

Because the groom's family all live out of state, and there hasn't been the time or the opportunity for the parents to meet before, we first laid eyes on them at the church. It's rather hard to get to know someone under those circumstances, but we gave it a try.  The rehearsal went very smoothly and we left to go to the rehearsal dinner at Winston's Grille, where a room for 24 was reserved; with terrific dinner choices and a wonderful dessert. 

Despite being stuffed with a Mexican dinner the night before and beef tenderloin with all the trimmings the night before that - "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" ** (as the man in the 1970's commercial stated.) I chose London Broil with mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes, garden salad and the dessert was ice cream with a cookie topping and hot fudge sauce dripping down the sides and pooling on the plate! The rolls were delicious too. 

I'll be very busy tomorrow.....so you might not see me for a while....but I promise to post photos (eventually) and let you know how it went.


** Google that commercial:  I can't believe I ate the whole thing. I tried to make an active link for you, but I couldn't get it to work.

Olive Oils: Who Knew?

Midtown Olive Press is a business in our area (North Hills) that sells wonderful flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegar, among other items, such as aprons, pottery and oil dispensers.

A group of women from our neighborhood went there Tuesday evening; we listened to a talk about extra-virgin olive oils and how they differ from the kind of oils you might purchase from a grocery or shopping club. You might be amazed to hear how different the good quality oils are.

For a fee of $10 per person, we were treated to a wonderful bevy of appetizers, all of which had been made with various types/flavors of olive oils. Our group had planned to go out to dinner after the talk and sampling, but we ate so many appetizers that we opted to go home instead. We had a tasty salad with flavored oil, grilled shrimp with blood orange olive oil  (I bought some!), bruschetta with another type of oil, prosciutto and cheese, and fresh berries with a drizzle of flavored oil and chocolate cream. I could have eaten much more, but I didn't because I thought we were going to dinner.

One of the perks of booking the talk was that we were given a 10% discount on any purchases on that night. I recommend booking a talk for your group. The owner also owns another Olive Press in Greensboro, NC, but I understand that there are similar businesses throughout the country. You may want to investigate one in your city. Check out the link at the top of the post; there are recipes there.

A Perfect Sunday Afternoon

As many of you are aware, one of my employers, Mel, bought a house in early 2011. Since then, he has had some reconstruction work done, pulled off loads of icky old wallpaper and old carpet, had floors replaced and some newly carpeted,  and re-painted every room in the house, save one bathroom. He has been a very busy man! Considering that he has been running a wedding flower business during its most busy time of the year and doing all the painting, etc. I can't imagine how he has enough energy to be walking around!

I saw the house before any of the reconstruction was done, and today, we got to see the almost finished product. He had a family dinner (and luckily, my family is included in his now) to celebrate his mother's and his sister-in-law's birthday (and mine too.) It was also the introduction of the house to some of them, as well as us (mr. kenju, me and our younger daughter), about 20 in all.

Suffice it to say that if any of you ever need a color consultant (or a painter/decorator), Mel's your man. His home is so warm and welcoming, and beautifully put together with such expertise and love that it is a very pleasant place to spend a few hours (or more) on a beautiful sunny, Sunday afternoon. He is also very good at re-purposing furniture and decor, and adapting it to new surroundings.

A bonus:  food was included!  He had a wonderful buffet, with London broil, mac and cheese, broccoli casserole, yam/squash casserole, chicken casserole, wonderful potato salad,  a side dish with peas, a marinated carrot dish, salad, rolls - I can't remember everything!  Desserts were excellent too; chocolate cake, red-velvet cupcakes and a coconut pie made by one sister-in-law that was truly to die for. The sweet tea was great too. We came home with leftovers, plus some stew that his brother had bought at their church. I can't wait to try it!

On the way home from Mel's, I drove mr. kenju through downtown Raleigh, and snapped this photo of Sir Walter Raleigh, all dressed up for the Junior League Shopping Spree, held this weekend. Doesn't he look spiffy?