Allow Me, If You Will, To Cross-Post.

As many of you know, Bec (aka Future Bride, aka Shivery McPickles) also writes a food blog, Chronicles of a Stomach Grumble. And yesterday, she posted a little nugget about the wedding. Actually it's mostly about the food that will on hand. This may be WAY prettier than anything we've got, but you never know.

You can find her piece here: Chronicles of a Stomach Grumble.

Latest Poll Results and Some Secrets Revealed...

Alright food junkies, latest poll just came to an end and the results are overwhelmingly food-centric. I know, shocking.

Beach scored 2 votes. Perhaps I should have put "Nude Beach" for more interest. And yes, there is one in North Truro. And no, I don't know where. But you best believe that by this time next week, we'll possess that knowledge.

Bec delights at the thought of nude beaches.

Witnessing the Hitching and Lawn Games Bonanza also scored 2 votes each. Fair enough. Sometimes food and dancing is more important than bocce and we're ok with that. As for the ceremony part, let's be honest, it's usually not the part about the wedding that gets us going. Which is why Dr. B will be performing our ceremony. And we do mean performing. Prepare yourselves for a good time with a few surprises.

Dancing Your Faces Off came up with 4, and I can promise you, this will be happening. The "must play" list just went out and we've made some good plays. Also, it wouldn't matter if we did. This dude mashes up soul, funk, hip hop, indie rock and pretty much everything else on our respective iPods. It shouldn't disappoint.

We'll just go by Kennedy now, thanks.

Finally, Food and Drink Madness scored the win, pulling in 7 votes. So this is where I tell you the food should be pretty delightful. For the rehearsal dinner, we locked down a taco bar, which will be improved upon by some homemade guacamole and a margarita station run by Jack Gardner himself.

For the wedding, of course there need to be surprises, but I can let you know that we'll be having a grilled cheese and soup bar for dinner. There will be several types of each, stuff you've never heard of in a grilled cheese. And bar snacks to accompany these bad boys (those will remain secret, something has to, right?).

Future Wife. At least for another 12 days.

If it helps, think of it as a dinner at our house. In other words, tons of snacks, and then when you're too full for dinner, you eat it anyway. Add a signature Sean cocktail to that (Bec's personal fave of mine) and we'll be having some inebriated good times on full stomachs. See you guys in...

LESS THAN TWO EFFING WEEKS!

Holy Crap!

Guys! Did you notice, August is here! How and when did that happen?

We spend the past weekend in Cape Cod, closing out some final details for the wedding. But don't worry, they were all fun.

Lawn games were purchased. And yeesh, ladderball is so on! That game was fun enough that we didn't play bocce one time. It's serious, dudes.

Interesting tidbit: I was told by my aunt, who lives in Florida, that this game is affectionately known as Redneck Horseshoes. However, when I did a Google search for such term, I was met with this rather disturbing photo:

So clearly there are some terminology discrepancies regarding this game. Toilet seat horseshoes, however, hmm...

Oh, by the way, I also came up with Testicle Toss as another term for ladderball. Adorable.

And now, back to this blog post.

Details were finalized. By that we mean we bought some stuff. Should I tell you what it was? It's not particularly exciting, but all part of the day, so I'll hold off.

Wine was imbibed. For real. We had a family wine tasting, several of each white, sparkling and red. I think we decided on quality stuff, but we were pretty buzzed by the end of it and ladderball was calling our names, so hopefully they were wise decisions.

Finally, we met with the Officiant. And discussed the ceremony. Which is gonna be amazeballs. And pretty quick, we promise. No one wants to sit through an hour-long thing, let's get to the food and booze already, #amiright?

Oh, and speaking of food. Here's a hint.

Word.

About That Rehearsal Dinner...

In line with the rest of this event, the rehearsal dinner is going to be a hangout. It's an "if you're in town on Friday the 27th, come over for some grilling in the yard" type of event. 

No big to do. 

Shorts. Tees. Sundresses with pockets. Flip flops and floppy socks (not literally, it's a poor choice).

We'll make a bunch of food, play some games, break in the house and yard for the wedding the next evening.

There's a good chance we'll be spending a portion of that day at the beach by the house, so come over early if you want to go with us.

Food will be served around 7:00, so come a bit early if you want to get some sunning and beering in. Veggies will be taken care of as well, so no stress for the non-meaters in the mix.

New Poll! Drink Up.

Hey there. How was that weekend? Mine was great, thanks.

There's a new poll up. This one is about cocktails. We all like those, right?

 

Anyway, I will be making two drinks for the cocktail hour (which pair exceptionally well with the lawn games, of course) and was wondering what the preferences are out there. If you've ever been over, you know I have certain tendencies for my cocktail making. But I'm willing to play along with the group if I get overwhelming responses one way or another.

So vote away and help me make up my mind!

Cheers!

So, About That Poll.

UPDATE: The poll closed this weekend and it looks like bocce and gun fighting tied for first place with 9 votes each! It was pointed out that having gun fighting during the cocktail hour would cut down on catering needs, so we'll be sure to factor this in.

Second place was a tie between croquet and cornhole with 3 each. And horseshoes is the sad last place finisher with 2. We also had a write-in for badminton. Which, if it had been on there, obviously would have shut down all others. Badminton is maybe the greatest sport known to man. At least of those where you can hold a drink in one hand yet also perform vague exercise-like activities. Sorry bocce.

Anywho, the next poll is up and concerns booze. You would do well to vote on this sucker.

If you've been on here recently, you've noticed the new poll.

No, not the one about Phil Collins and Rod Stewart (which might have been a trick, but you passed it witgh flying Rods), but rather, the one querying your lawn game preferences.

There will be lawn games. That much you can count on. Since the poll will be changing to something new soon, here's what we had listed: bocce (obvs), croquet, horseshoes, cornhole (heads out of the gutter, it's the beanbag toss game [again, heads out of the gutter!]) and gun fighting.

If there is something you feel we missed, or worse, something so offensive that you'll vom at the sight of it, please let us know.

Oh, btw, prepare yourselves:

That is all.

Photo by Sean Gardner

Make This! Vol. III

This one is off the books, since I just made it up. Or didn't. It might exist somewhere and is called "Dark and Blah Blah Blah", but I didn't use The Google, so we'll never know.

1 1/2 oz. dark rum (Rhum Barbancourt is perfect)
3/4 oz. grapefruit
1/2 oz. Applejack*
3 dashes Angostura bitters (Go get some, the shortage is over!)

*Applejack is really something special. While I've mostly moved on to Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy (100 proof, suckers! Plus, it's maybe my favorite bottle ever, see below), Applejack holds a spot near and dear to my heart. It's a crucial component to the mighty Jack Rose, a cocktail that Rachel Maddow has a crush on. And since we have a crush on her, enjoy:



Anywho, she also goes for the boozy version. But the 80 proof Applejack works wonderfully and will keep you hanging on a bit longer during an evening of drinking.

Talk about a digression!

Back to that thing I made. I don't know what it's called, but it's great (I would know, I'm sipping it right now). So go make it and stop taking my word for it.


Yeah, I know. It's hot.

Make This! Vol. II

Cocktail #2: The Brooklyn.

What could be more fitting? Or upset our friend Byhoff more than me talking about our hood yet again? In drink form this time!

Anywho, it's delicious and fairly simple to make. The key here is the maraschino liqueur, which is not only an amazing booze culled from cherries (not those disgusting neon red things, it's actually Dalmation Marasca cherries plus their pits, stems and seeds all crushed up, creating a delightful clear liqueur), but the bottle for the Luxardo brand is stunning. Don't trust me?

See? Told you. No need to apologize.

Get some of this for your bar. You won't regret it. Not only does it taste amazing in the Brooklyn, but it's also a necessary component in the Hemingway Daiquiri, not to mention The Aviation (which, simply put, is one of the best cocktails in history).

Ok, enough about other drinks. Make this!

1 1/2 oz. rye (nothing fancy, Old Overholt works just fine)

1/2 oz. dry vermouth

1/4 oz. Amer Picon

1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur

Stir together in a mixing glass and strain into a coupe.

Also, I have a book that has the recipe totally wrong, yet it's still delicious. So I figure I'll mention it, especially since you might not have Amer Picon.

1 1/2 oz. rye

1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (as if they're just interchangeable...)

1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur

Stir together in a mixing glass and strain into a coupe. Garnish with lemon twist.

Don't stress the details. Sure, they're remarkably different (easy to do when the latter is just plain wrong), but they're both amazing. So make one and pour it down your gullet.

Cheers.

Candlepin Bowling.

That's right.

Looking for something delicious to do on a rainy day? Ever heard of Candlepin?


According to Wikipedia, "Candlepin bowling was developed in 1880 in Worcester (Woo-stah), Massachusetts by a local bowling center owner, Justin White. The main differences between candlepin bowling and the predominant ten-pin bowling style are that each player uses three balls per frame, the balls are much smaller (11.43 cm, or 4.5" diameter) and do not have holes, the downed pins (known as 'wood') are not cleared away between balls during a player's turn, and the pins are thinner, and thus harder to knock down. Because of these differences, scoring points is considerably more difficult than in ten-pin bowling, and the highest officially sanctioned score ever recorded is 245 out of a possible 300 points."

Good, now you know about it. So go do it.


Orleans, a few towns south of Truro (about a 20-25 minute drive) offers this activity at the Orleans Bowling Center (A stunning 2-star Yelp review lets you know it's good. That's mostly for a lack of booze, but have we heard of flasks? We're modern people, for heaven's sake). We know all our Brooklyn friends will be excited fanboys about this news, and anyone else that enjoys a night of moderately competitive "sports" should get down on this. For real. We did it a few years back and had a blast. And that would have been the case with or without the multiple pitchers of beer we indulged* in. But hey, it's bowling. Stop it with the judging.

*Drowned.

Make This! Vol. I

Cocktail #1: The Jungle Bird.

When I "The Google" this drink, I get:

Which makes me think of Best Man extraordinaire Matt Gardner's 2009 Halloween costume:

Sorry ladies, he's taken.

Yeah, that just happened. Anywho, The Jungle Bird is a drink. And a lovely one at that. The link there will give you the traditional beverage, but I prefer my version, which cuts the sugar completely and adds a bit more lime. How else you gonna fight off the scurvy? 

To make one, get out a shaker and some ice cubes. Add:

1 1/2 oz. dark rum (I use Rhum Barbancourt)

3/4 oz. Campari (Don't like it? Try it in this. Trust, fool.)

4 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice (the stuff in the can is unsweetened)

3/4 oz. lime juice

Shake, shake, shake it like a bottle of ketchup. Or that other thing.

Pour into a loaded rocks glass. It's like a boozy, exotic latte. Or a less sweet Mai Tai. And there's not a damn thing wrong with that, is there? 

There is? Fine.

For those argumentative folks among us, I present you with this Jungle Bird.

Needed: One lady to wear this hotness. Must love mustaches, chest hair, Detroit Tigers, British sidekicks, Ferraris and inquisitive men.