Ab Fab!

Spouse & I are big fans of the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, also known as Ab Fab.  I remember when the Logo cable TV network showed the reruns for what seemed like 20 out of 24 hours a day, but they were still funny as hell.

I must admit that there were times when I wasn't sure what they were saying.  Between the accent, the British words that don't mean the same in American English, and the often drunken slurred speech, sometimes I just used the context to figure out what was presumably said, and laughed my ass off.

So its with great expectation that I await the return of my 2 favorite champagne swigging, vodka-soaked divas in "Absolutely Fabulous - The Movie".

The trailer looks quite promising!  The film opens July 22 and I'm really, REALLY hoping my local cineplex will have it then.  This is one we'll definitely want to see in the theatre.

Any other Ab Fab fans out there??

The wedding: food

Although Spouse was convinced he could make the food for the reception, I convinced him not to do it.  "We're going to have enough things to do.  We don't need to add making the food and cleaning up afterward to our list.  Let's have the food made elsewhere.  I'm sure you'll thank me for this later" I told him.

So we ordered the food from a favorite lunch spot near Spouse's office simply named Patty's.  I'd never eaten there but Spouse has eaten there many times and was confident our food would be great. 

We had a trio of meatballs: Greek, Italian, and Thai.  Each came with its own dipping sauce.  The Greek meatballs had chunks of feta in them and were delicious alone, but when dipped in the basil sauce they were my favorite.  The Italian meatballs had a marinara sauce, and the Thai meatballs had a green curry sauce.  Incredible!  We also had marinated chicken skewers which again were terrific on their own, but when dipped in the peanut sauce or the chipotle sauce were out of this world!

We also had a quinoa and french lentil salad (left) with diced onion, tomato, and yellow and zucchini squash with a light vinaigrette, and pasta primavera (right).  Both were amazing.

The 1 element of the reception food Spouse did make (or assemble, if you will) was a Mediterranean platter consisting of hummus with olive oil and pistachios, baby carrots, pita triangles (not in photo), garlic stuffed green olives, and kalamata olives.

Then there was the bar, which consisted of Proseco (Italian champagne or sparkling wine), white and red wines, iced tea, regular and diet sodas, and bottled water.

Spouse had recommended Proseco over champagne because its a little sweeter than dry champagne and has an easy drinkability.  I checked this out with 2 liquor store employees and both recommended the same brand of Proseco which turned out to be delicious.  I can't believe there were no photos taken of me with a champagne flute in my hand because I feel like I had a glass of Proseco in my hand the entire night.  

An Italian's worst fear is that they'll run out of something when hosting a party and Spouse is no exception.  But we had more than enough food and drinks for our guests.

Tomorrow:  the cupcakes.

Bubbles and blooms

Instead of my usual Weekend highlights post, I'm doing something different because all I did was work both days this past weekend and nobody wants to read about that.

Since I worked on Sun I took today off.  I wanted to do some research on some of the elements of our civil union ceremony and reception.

An element I'm excited about is that we're serving champagne!  Well, not actual champagne since that only comes from the Champagne region of France.  Technically everything else is sparkling wine.  So we're serving sparkling wine!  Its celebratory, its bubbly, its fun!  So I went to 2 liquor stores and talked to employees about brands of bubbles.  It was very productive!  Both guys suggested the same brand as a good-tasting, easy-to-drink, moderately priced sparkling wine so the decision is made.

Next I stopped at a local grocery store's floral department for blooms.  The young floral manager Amanda couldn't have been nicer.  We talked about overall look, color scheme, shape, combinations, etc.  Rather than ordering expensive, fussy arrangements, we decided to make our own casual arrangements using the flowers I ordered and some of the multitude of vases we already have.  Of course I'll have to enlist the help of a friend because Spouse & I are both missing the floral arranging gene.  But I know what I like and I know my friends will help us achieve it.

I'm getting excited!