Monday, February 25, 2008

Oopa!

Um, to my two faithful readers...sorry? Wedding, honeymoon, sickness, laziness, blah blah blah, I haven't posted, whatevs.

I am fully revved up to be a somewhat faithful blogger once again, for really real.

First, here's bridesmaid, bride-to-be, and eater extrordinaire, Haley, to tell you a little bit about our pre-wedding rehearsal dinner!



SPG is now SPP! But I could not do the wedding blogging-justice, and I would be sitting here crying my eyes out if I had to write about how happy and lovey the whole evening was. So the rehearsal dinner it is …

To get to the private room in the back of Symposium Greek Restaurant on 113th street between Amsterdam and Broadway, you walk through the dining room and then the kitchen. You emerge from the narrow kitchen into what feels like an outside patio. Trees shoot through the ceiling and leaves dangle overhead. Strung lights add to the outdoorsy feeling.



The tables were set with carafes of red and white wine and pitchers of sangria. Before being seated everyone roamed, grabbing a drink to take along. The sangria was a hit.





Once we sat down, the waiters brought out plates of family style appetizers and baskets of warm pita. We grabbed and passed the stuffed grape leaves, olives, yogurt sauce, eggplant dip, feta cheese and veggies. Delicious!



I had a little love affair with what came next. A huge shout of oopa! introduced bowls of flaming cheese. Dishes of perfectly browned, flaming cheese. It’s my new favorite food.



A squeeze of lemon puts out the fire before you can dip in with some pita or your fork.



The main course was a choice between moussaka, spinach pie, chicken kebabs and a lamb dish. My fork made the rounds and everything was great. But we had one thing on our minds. So Andrea worked her magic and scored us an extra flaming cheese. Oopa!



Father of the Bride: happily oopa’ing or in awe of our extra flaming cheese?



A strong Greek coffee and sweet and yummy baklava-type dessert followed. And then SPP gave her bridesmaids warm cuddly robes.



Stuffed and happy, there was more mingling and no one wanted to leave the cozy garden.



Way fun and total yummers.