Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Food Tasting Part 1

By far the best part of wedding planning is food tasting.

On August 22nd, Laure and I did our first food tasting at Squaw Valley and it was amazing. We tried the following dishes:


Chorizo Stuffed Mushrooms
(We might try using Italian sausage for more moisture. We might also add Parmesan cheese between the mushroom and stuffing.)


Crab Bruschetta


Southwest Chicken Tortilla Soup
(This was tasty although a little spicy--bad for the Barreirinhas family--and difficult to eat in a shotglass.)


Lobster Bisque
(Creamy and buttery.)


Tomato Bisque
(Very tasty! We hope to serve it with small triangles of Grilled Cheese.)


Spinach with Feta and Cherry Tomatoes


Pancetta Salad Dressing
(A bit strong for us, but you may like it.)


Shrimp Alfredo Sauce (and Meat Marinara in the background)
(The Shrimp Alfredo is amazing.)


Mushroom Stuffed Chicken (left) and Mushroom & Bell Pepper Stuffed Chicken (right)
(I prefer the former.)


Sauteed Atlantic Salmon w/ Caramelized Shallots and Thyme Served w/ Beurre Blanc Sauce
(This is our favorite dish! You should get this. ;-)


Sauteed Red Snapper, Champagne Basil Sauce and Crispy Leeks
(Not as good as the salmon.)


Potatoes Medley
(The real deal will have bigger pieces.)


We still haven't tasted some other items such as the Brazilian appetizer "coxinha" (using my grandmother's old recipe) and, most importantly, the cakes! But as you can imagine, our current selection is ridiculously out of our budget, so we'll have to make some major cut backs. But until then, we'll eat like kings.

On a last note, I've been trying to cut down on my wine intake, but they had us try about five different wines! Typically I would not partake, but since I needed to make sure our guests will be happy at our reception, I had no choice but to try all variations.