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| The Dining Room Table Groaning with Food |
I remember from looking at this picture that Donald made cupcakes, Dimitri dolmades, Shawn a seviche that everyone raved about, and Bill melanzane. Sorry everyone else, I don't recall. Thank you nonetheless.
My involvement with the food was limited to beverages and to the "cake" itself. As far as the wine went, I got three cases of Crémant de Bourgogne, one each of blanc de blancs, blanc de noirs, and rosé. As everyone arrived, I poured each guest a glass. After that, they were on their own. I noted that guests came well armed; the center island seemed to be overflowing with bottles of wine. I hate it when that happens! The recycling bin was certainly overflowing the next day!
Now for the cake, Ann and I had discussed it many times prior to the wedding and we had pretty much thought that stacking several cheeses one on top of the other in the form of a tiered wedding cake would be just our style. And when you have a bunch of foodies and winos to the house for a party, cheese is a much better option than cake!
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| Our Wedding "Cake" |
Donald had expressed to me over the years that he wanted to do our wedding cake, meticulous pastry chef that he is. I knew the whole cheese thing wasn't going to sit too well with him, so I broke the news to him about the cheeses and asked him to be in charge of decorating them. I supplied him with a huge platter, grape leaves, the tiny Corinth grapes marketed as Champagne grapes, lavender blooms, marinated grilled fennel, and fresh figs. He brought ceramic cheese labels and a gold pen. And what you see here is the result of his labors. Gorgeous.
Note the beautiful cake topper flowers to the left of the cake, perched upon the candlestick. My mother and aunt Susan made this to go on the cake, but by the time that they had arrived, Donald had already adorned the top of the cake with figs. Graciously not wanting to upset the applecart (Did I mention Donald is a PASTRY chef?), they assented to displaying the flowers next to the cake.
Selecting the cheeses was a bit of a process, but fortunately, I had a great ally in Karen Dee of International Gourmet Foods, cheese supplier to the restaurant. God bless her: she was an awesome co-conspirator in the wedding caper. She went into her warehouse and stacked selections of cheeses that she thought would work well together and emailed me photos of her suggestions. After emailing back and forth, we arrived at the final combination and she tagged the cheeses for me, for delivery just before the wedding.
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| We Had a Lot of Cheese Left Over! |
Ann knew nothing about the cake until she saw it. In response to her repeated questions about the cake in the two weeks leading up to the wedding, I merely told her that I was taking care of it. Now she knows I am not a pastry chef, so she may well have had her suspicions, but I guarantee she was surprised to see the gorgeous tower of cheeses that Donald assembled from all the bits I collected for him.
Top tier: Green Hill Brie-like cheese from
Sweet Grass Dairy from Thomasville in way southern Georgia. This wasn't one of Karen's suggestions. I just happened to have this cheese in the cooler and thought it would make a great topper for the cake.
Second tier: representing the goat world, a Spanish Garrotxa named after the county in Catalonia. This is a firm cheese with white paste and a grey mold on the rind.
Third tier, second to bottom: an outstanding cow's milk contribution again from Sweet Grass Dairy named Thomasville Tomme. This is a medium-firm cheese with a golden paste with a great, beefy flavor. This is the cheese that put Sweet Grass on America's radar and with good reason: you'll be hard pressed to find a better cheese of its style. Ann went ape for this cheese.
Bottom tier: from Wisconsin and representing sheep's milk, Marisa from
Carr Valley Cheese Company where Sid Cook keeps raising the bar for every other artisanal cheesemaker in the country. This is a sweet mellow cheese with a medium paste that we keep in the cooler almost all year because it is so delicious and versatile.
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| My Mother and Aunt Brought a Little Mouse for the Cake |
Flowers run deep on my mother's side of the family. It seems that everyone on her side of the family can arrange flowers better than most commercial florists. And when my mom asked what she could do for the wedding, I knew she was asking to do the flowers. So I told her that Ann loves sunflowers and asked her to keep it simple, knowing full well that she and her sister Susan would not. But this kind of help, born of love, you can't refuse.
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