Kiss the Cook

Finally! A blog!!! I am truly sorry for all my faithful readers that have been waiting for the details of Bachelorette Party #2 and some pictures!!! It was a somewhat scandalous night, but I tried to take it easy on the pictures as to not embarrass anyone (mwahahaha!). So let's get started!!!

We started out the evening at a cooking workshop place in Paoli named...well, I don't know what it was named. This is probably a good thing given that the guy directing our cooking appeared to hate me. But nevertheless, we had a good time! Mean cooking instructors be damned!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the night because I look super happy standing over a big bowl of broccoli rabe. Broccoli rabe is one of my favorite things in the world (as Bridesmaids Mrs. Smith and Melissa knew and, thus, requested!).

This is the adorable apron I was given to kick the night off. I LOVE this apron. As you can see Mrs. Hoey is embroidered on it (and a cute little Soon-to-be sticker was on there for the evening). I've actually worn this apron every night since I've been back in Atlanta. I love it!!!

Some of the lovely ladies that attended the party: Bridesmaid Mrs. Smith, Gen, then me (as denoted by the apron), Theresa, Jim's girlfriend Mary (I always have to say 'Jim's girlfriend Mary' when I'm speaking of her), and Bridesmaid Melissa.

And some more lovely ladies!!! Mrs. B., Mrs. Adams, Aunt Claire, myself, the M.O.B., and Cousin Rita.

Let's get to the fun. On the menu, the aforementioned broccoli rabe, a grilled Margherita pizza (we were making our own dough in the pictures to the left and below!), chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, and olives served over pasta, and a big delicious salad with italian vinegarette. Am I making you hungry yet? Well, for dessert - Chocolate-Walnut Biscotti.

So yes, Jim's girlfriend Mary and I are attempting to revive the dough that I managed to kill somehow as Bridesmaid Melissa looks on...

While Theresa and Gen's dough is perfect...

Hey, I've never made my own dough before. But I can tear a heart of romaine like no one's business. It was about this time that I mentioned I usually cut my lettuce. "YOU SHOULD NEVER DO THAT!" I was told. "What difference does it make?" I asked. "You break the cell walls when you slice the lettuce with a knife," the Mean Cooking Man told me.

I'm actually not quite sure what difference this makes, to be honest. But it's been driving me crazy enough to want to look it up. Are cell walls beneficial to me in some way? Are they compromised when they're broken? (They are going to get broken down in my body anyways...so what gives? I'll keep you posted when I find the answer.)

While I was doing a good job tearing the lettuce (in my opinion), I also enjoyed slicing a tomato. Truth be told, I just wanted to put this in here since it's a gratuitous ring shot. I love it. I usually don't even wear my ring when I cook, but it looks great (in my humble opinion)!

I think this was the part where the man told me something regarding "if you ever really got serious about cooking...". Was he kidding? Oh, thank God there was wine.

The result of our hard work? A gorgeous salad (with a vinegarette that we made with me at the controls of an immersion blender - a nifty little device).

So onto the pasta...did you know fresh pasta is really hard to make? It'd absolutely delicious and maybe if I'm really bored one day I'll do it, but otherwise, I can't see this labor being worth it. Needless to say, Gen and Cousin Rita did a great job!

Me - not so much. Here I am transferring a deformed pizza onto the grill. Hey, it doesn't matter what it looks like as long as it tastes good!!

Bridesmaid Mrs. Smith and her Mom. The only two the Mean Cooking Man wasn't yelling at.

Theresa pitted the olives and had an awesome time doing it!!

What a great picture of Aunt Claire and Bridesmaid Melissa!!

Did you know you can make vanilla using vodka? Not vanilla vodka - but actual vanilla that you would cook with. I don't remember how to do it (I wasn't taking notes, I was trying to gulp a sufficient amount of Pinot Grigio in between getting corrected on everything), but I was fascinated nevertheless. (And I completely just accidentally deleted a picture of me with the bottle, but it wasn't that great a picture and frankly, I don't have the energy to re-do the whole blog to insert the picture. So if you're dying to watch me hold up a bottle of vodka, I'll bring one to the rehearsal dinner, ok?)

I like this picture because Gen is making a face like, "Are we still doing this pasta thing??" But the M.O.B. and Cousin Rita are on it!

Here I was thoroughly amused by Jim's girlfriend Mary and the mixer. She thought she was finished creaming the sugar and butter for our Chocolate-Walnut Biscotti, but 'NOT SO!' said the Mean Cooking Man!!!

But we got it together and the result was a delicious dough (I know, cause I was eating that too) and some great biscotti!! Take that, Mean Cooking Man! (Although a side note, Jim's girlfriend Mary and I were told that "people like us" are better bakers than we are cooks. I don't know what exactly "people like us" means, but I'm guessing this man seriously thought we were cooking-deficient.

The Mean Cooking Man allowed Mrs. A to grind some pepper into the chicken while I tended to the sauteeing of the chicken. My critique? Mrs. A did a great job. Mean Cooking Man overcrowded the pan. I watch The Food Network, MCM! You never put that much chicken in at once!

Yum! Back at the M.O.B.'s house, Bridesmaid Melissa had brought over some delicious treats!!! She and my brother (can I now call my brother the B.O.B. (brother of the bride)?...I love it!) decorated the house earlier in the day with some...interesting things. I won't go into detail, but I know I mentioned in the last blog that parts of the male anatomy were on display.

If the idea of the B.O.B. and Bridesmaid Melissa putting genitalia in my parents' living room wasn't disturbing enough, stay tuned!!!

To the left is the poster that was going to allow us to "Pin the Macho on the Man". The B.O.B. came up with the idea to stick Bryan's face on the guy...I don't know what's more disturbing - Bryan's face looking like it's got zinc-oxide on it from the obvious differences in skin color or my brother suggesting placing Bryan's face on a naked man's body...these are the things I think about.

And the finale...presenting Marco!!! He did show up after all!! And he was...about 20 years older than I expected!!

Poor Marco, he was a good sport. We were a bit of a rough room due to a serious lack of alcohol intake (for me, I was so nervous during the cooking because of the MCM that I returned home sober!). Case in point, if you are sober while a man strips down to purple tie-dye leggings with tears in them....um, I've got nothing to follow that up with. Needless to say, I had never chugged wine in my life before, until Marco showed up.

I can't tell if below, the M.O.B. is trying to punch Marco or say, "Good job, pal." But either way, it's funny and she looks happy.

After a rousing game of the limbo with Marco, Jim (as in Jim's girlfriend Mary) came to pick several of us up that were ready to go to Duke's Tavern!!! Springfield knows how to party. There were a good 35 people in there or so and at 12:45, the fact that we were a Bachelorette Party actually got a decent response. I was even called up to the stage to try to sing a song by one of my favorite bands (The Black Crowes). It didn't sound good (I'm sure of this), but the place shockingly didn't clear (as it did in Pittsburgh when for some reason I sang "Don't Speak" in a bar).

It was a great night. Awesome conversations, lots of laughs, DEFINITELY tons of entertainment!! The night's finale was at home around 2 a.m. when I got ahold of the Spinach Dip the M.O.B. had made and proceeded to eat all of it while sitting around the table with the B.O.B., the M.O.B., and Bridesmaid Melissa. We chatted til 3 a.m. and off to bed for me it was for a solid...3 hours. I returned to Atlanta the next day (surprisingly) not feeling too terrible at all! Just tired.

It's been a really busy week, so I'm sorry about the lack of blogging. This will all calm down after next week, I promise! I can't relax yet. I've been juggling both jobs everyday (5 hours at one, 5 hours at the other with an hour commute in between each place, plus I've gotta work at the tutoring center on Saturday!) and trying to get to the gym super-early in the morning. Finally, I managed to find time to pick up our wedding invitations today, so M.O.H. Nicole and I are getting started on assembly tomorrow. Ooh, and I touched base with our possible officiant. I will try to update more this weekend, but for now, it's off to PetSmart for me and Maggie to get her some birthday presents!!