Tribute to Dads & Recipe of the Month - My Mom's Egg Rolls

By Lu

My Papa...

We sort of skipped Father's Day and didn't really say much about it - not because dads aren't as important as moms for sure; however, because both Ri and have been too busy having fun. I really did not want to just skip it and forget about it. Sure you have heard the line, "Better late than never?" I think it fits this situation!

I'm sure it is as hard to be a father as being a mother. Being a great dad is not an easy job for any men. There are so many world leaders, famous and powerful men that just simply suck at being a father. I think great dads everywhere deserve a huge and thunderous applaud. I myself have a couple I'd like to tell you about!

One of them is my papa of course. My father is a terrific dad and my mom always indoctrinated that idea in our head since we were small. She always said "No dad loves his children more than yours!" I'm sure many would disagree with her, but I happened to believe her, especially now that I am older. He's not the overly emotional type of dad - not the hugging and kissing type; but I have never not felt his love. I always know he loves me and my two sisters. When I call home at times, he would answer the phone and he said.."Oh hi... how is it going? Here's mom!" LOL. But he will be listening to our conversation and chimed in when needed.

The funny thing is - though my dad is not very emotionally expressive with us daily, each time when we had to say another good bye at the airport, he would be the melancholic one. He even cried seeing us leaving home. My mom, I had to pinch her to make her cry. The only thing that makes her cry is Korean soap operas, go figure!

People always say I look a lot like my mom; however, personality wise, I am my dad 100%. I am very expressive however, but it is quite mesmerizing realizing as I get older how my thought process and decisions I made reminded me of my dad. That is something I hold dear to my heart. My dad is always the life of the party. He's known as the comedian elsewhere, but at home he is always the serious patriarch. It was even more so when we were young. When people said.."oh, your dad is so funny!" I rolled my eyes..not my dad he's not! But he's definitely very goofy in nature and was known to be a brat when he was young.

Talking about being a brat, I was definitely a brat and a spoiled one at it. I just realized something too when I was thinking about writing this post. The difference between the spoiled brats you know from Holywood whose dads are millionaires, and me as a spoiled brat: I appreciated my dad spoiling me when I was growing up as he used all his hard earned money to ensure my happiness and success in life. I knew my dad wasn't a Multi-Millionaire, and he worked damn hard for his money. That was probably why I turned out okay and not a screw up like some other spoiled brats. One of my best friends in high school always teased about her dad having a pool of money as they were rich or then she would say that he didn't have a pool of money. My dad is a successful businessman, but we didn't have a pool filled with money for sure. Yet, I still felt like a million bucks. He gave me things he never had. For that, I considered myself lucky and tried my damnest to make him proud. I hope he's proud of me.

I remember when I was young I wanted to marry my dad. When a girl grows up, she will laugh at the notion and then says..gross! You know what, I don't want to marry my dad anymore; however, if I could find a guy who is exactly like him, I know my happiness will be ensured for life.

My Two Dads - Remember that sitcom?

In one of those airport good byes that my dad cried seeing me go; I was leaving home to come to US many many years ago. When I landed in the US of A, I was greeted at the airport by my new American host family, and Dale Cook happened to be my host dad. Boy, did we have our fun back then. He probably thought how "lucky" he was as his kids were all still under the age of 10 at the time and here come a teenage girl! Lucky lucky him!

Because of Dale, I started liking to cook and eventually finding out that I really really love cooking and baking. He's a great cook himself and he has all kinds of crazy cool aprons and kitchen gadgets. Well, his name is Cook! He's really a Cook! He loves to tell stories about my early cooking mishaps like a hard as a rock brownies because I just turned off the oven and did not take it out; the super salty mashed potatoes because I added 2 tablespoons of salt instead of teaspoon, and many many more. However, one of the first things I made was egg rolls that my mom (still) makes regularly back home and this egg roll became an instant favorite in the Cook's house to this day. This egg roll also became famous amongst my friends. What can I say, the egg rolls are just to die for. The cool part of this particular egg roll, it actually has eggs in it! So, you can actually really call it an egg roll.

My American Dad, Dale with his Kecap Bottle

What my dad Dale likes about this Egg Roll is the sweet soy sauce I use. This soy sauce is a well known condiment in Indonesia, almost like a ketchup here. We put it everywhere - for cooking, for dipping, for... mh...that's about it. Dale even used it in making salad dressing. I give him a bottle of this soy sauce every Father's day now as a tradition. The sweet soy sauce is called "Kecap Manis" in Indonesian. Lately I also heard my Malaysian friends called it "Kecap Hitam" or Black Kecap. It is really dark almost black in appearance, thick, and sweet. Some people said it resembles molasses but it didn't have the same taste, not to me anyway.

You can buy this sweet soy sauce in Asian grocery stores or online if you're outside Indonesia. In Indonesia, people have their preference of brands. However, outside Indonesia, if you found one, grab it. Who cares what brand! You can choose whether you want the "Sweet" or "Medium Sweet." I tend to like the Medium Sweet better as it is milder and not overpowering.

If you can't find the sweet soy sauce, you can just use regular soy sauce. You can add sugar to make it a little sweet. My sister, Ri, actually does not like this egg roll sweet, so my mom only uses regular soy sauce to make egg rolls for Ri.

Egg Rolls.....yuuummmm...

So as a tribute to my dad Dale, I am sharing this recipe - the first recipe I actually attempted to make in the kitchen in my whole cooking life. They're not only easy to make, but it doesn't taste like any egg rolls you have ever consumed. It is quite special! I know this is my second egg roll recipes in three months; however, I thought this recipe is very fitting for the event. Believe me, I won't write an egg roll recipe again in awhile! Promise! However, now you know there are all kinds of egg roll styles not just those ones filled with cabbage and more cabbage! Hope you'll try to make it and I hope you will also like it!

INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground chicken (turkey can be a substitute)
1 cup milk
1 package firm or extra firm tofu, diced small and fried
5 eggs
2 shallots, minced
approximately 5 to 6 tablespoons of Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce) or to taste
Splash of cooking wine
salt and pepper to taste
1 package egg roll/spring roll wrappers
Oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

Main ingredients

Okay, so these are the main ingredients. Prep the egg first by scrambling it and then chop them finely. I used to make thin omelettes that I would cut into thin strips. That works too but too much work! Scrambling is fine but you don't want big chunks of eggs, so make sure to chop it into quite small pieces. The tofu needs to be diced and then deep fried until crispy. To people who don't like tofu, do not worry. The tofu here is so fine, and cooked in yummy sauce you wouldn't even know there's tofu unless somebody tell you. My Dad, Dale, doesn't like tofu and he loves this egg roll! Besides, tofu is good for you.

Brown shallots first, then add chicken

In a skillet, sweat the shallot until you can smell its nice aroma. Then, add the ground chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste, and then add a splash of cooking wine to glaze it, and some sweet soy sauce, maybe a couple table spoons (you will have to add more later so don't go overboard here). It is really hard to measure condiment when cooking as there's no set measurement. I gave you the ball park figure and you can adjust accordingly to your liking. You want the end result to be savory and sweet, and if it's bland -  you know to add more. If it's too sweet, then you add too much!

Add tofu, egg, milk, and sweet soy sauce

Once the chicken is cooked and brown, add the egg, tofu, and milk. Mix it well, then a little bit more salt and pepper and then the sweet soy sauce again. Add the sweet soy sauce to your taste. Be moderate. If you add too much, just add a little more milk. Let the milk reduce until it is completely dry (but not burnt).

Cook it down until no more liquid left

You don't want the filling to be wet as you will have problem with the wrappers later when rolling. Wet wrapper tears. So, you don't want that. Once done, cool before rolling. You can get the ready to use wrappers at most grocery store. If you want to know my preference check out my other post on Filipino Fried Lumpia here. This brand, Spring Home Tyj, is my favorite and I always use this one. But any wrappers will do.

To roll, use a clean surface and put one single wrapper in diagonal position. Add filling in the bottom corner, maybe about 2 tablespoons. I suggest to use slotted spoon when adding the filling so if there's still any jus left, it can drain before adding onto the wrapper.

Then, fold that bottom toward the top, and fold each side on top of it so it resembles an open envelope.

Continue rolling the egg roll, until you're almost to the other end of the wrapper. Use water, or if water did not hold it, add some flour to the water to act as glue. Add the glue to the flap of the egg roll envelope to seal it. Roll it to it, and seal.

The end result should look like this. Yes, like any egg rolls you've seen before. Nothing new! Then, at this point you can either freeze them for later consumption, or fry them for instant gratification. To fry, heat up some frying oil in the skillet. Wait until the oil is hot enough for frying. I'm not going to give you a temperature as I doubt any of you will dip a thermometer to the oil! Just wait till you can tell it is ready for frying or splash a little water to it. If it's sizzling, it's ready. Fry egg roll in the hot oil and make sure they are submerged. This egg roll doesn't take a lot of time to fry as they will brown pretty quick. Plus, everything inside is cooked, so you don't have to worry about the inside being done. When it's brown and crispy, take it out of the oil and place in a plate that's been lined with paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Then....enjoy! This egg roll is so savory and sweet at the same time it is already rich in flavor. You really don't need sauce to go with it. If you use sweet and sour sauce with it, you just really going to ruin the taste. However, it is your prerogative! My host dad, Dale, usually dips it in...yes..more Kecap Manis!

Though it is a little late, I still wish dads all around the world the warmest regards. Hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day and was able to spend the day with those you love.

Special warm regards to Dads who touched my life: Yusuf Alam, Donald Moonert, Steve Spiro, my uncle Harry Alam, and Atle Andreassen.

Wonderful 10 Days with My Sister

By Lu

Ri and I at Tea, I know it's blurry!

When my sister told me she would be stopping by in Chicago to see me, I was so happy. We have been trying to squeeze in a visit during her US states trotting trip this past month, and I was really glad it worked out and I was able to see and spend time with my sister. Living so far away from family, I always try to seize every opportunity I get to see any of my family members when I can. What shame if we didn't see each other and we were in the same country. So, yes...I was one happy sister!

My poor sister, Ri, decided to fly on the day where the big thunderstorm happened to pass through Illinois. Her flight was delayed six times that day. She was supposed to arrive at 5:30 pm, and that didn't happen. She finally arrived the next day at 12:30 AM in the morning. Fun fun fun.

But once she was here, the real fun started. If you knew us, you probably can guess the 10 days were filled with food, food, and food. Yeah, that was about right. We also managed to a get a pedicure, and watched X Men First Class three times - well, twice for Ri and three times for me. I must admit that I recently developed an obsession with Michael Fassbender, the actor who played Magneto. What a magnificent specimen of mankind. Mh..mh..mh...nom..nom..nom, like what my friends would say looking at food. In short, he's hot!

Ri, savoring fries at Lake Park Bistro

Ri and I managed to eat really really well in the 10 days she was in town. She was able to experience Mapo Restaurant twice (with CK & Sab, then with our old friends Ivan & Kiki). If you read our previous post about Mapo, the place is really really fantastic. So, since she read it, she wanted to experience it. Then, we had some great sushi at Wild Fish restaurant; not so good Tea experience at the Ritz-Carlton (with Evi); a brunch at Meli's cafe courtesy of Sandrine where we ran into our mayor, Rahm Emanuel; a lunch at Lake Park Bistro in Milwaukee; and her last night here, we had a nice dinner at Roy's with Tina.

However, the highlight of her visit was that I was able to cook and bake with my sister. We haven't had a chance to be in the kitchen  together since we started this blog. It was really cool because though her visit was not planned, I had a planned engagement to bake for a baby shower during her visit. I had been planning to cook and bake for this shower for months with Sandrine. When Sandrine asked me to help her with the food for our friends, Sabrina and Hui Ling's baby shower, I jumped at the opportunity. I always look for an excuse to bake. I just simply love baking and cooking, and it is always more fun baking and cooking for others rather than just for yourself. I don't even need money for it. What makes me happy is hearing people telling me if my food are delicious. I can smile for days and days. That's what motivates me mostly. The only problem is, I just have to always make sure I make something good each time.

The happy parents to be L-R, CK & Sabrina and Hui Ling & Alvin

Sabrina and Hui Ling found out they were expecting within weeks of each other, and that was one of the reasons for the double header shower. They're so cute in their maternity dresses and the glow they wear on their faces in expectation of a bundle of joy that will be coming anytime now. Both are expecting a boy! How fun!

Evi, Ri, Lu, and Sabrina with the food!

Having an accomplished baker assisting me was also in my favor. Ri has been doing really well in the kitchen and I have been admiring her work. When she made salt bagels for her hubby for one of the high holidays, I was so impressed. We had a very small window in preparing the food and I was assigned three things by Sandrine: two types of finger sandwiches and Scones with Lemon Curd. I made Scones and Lemon Curd last year for Sandrine's baby shower and apparently it was a hit. Thus why, she wanted me to make some more. Or, so I thought that was the reason...hehehe. Let's just go with that.

So, I decided to make Cranberry and orange cream scones with lemon curd, Crab egg salad finger sandwiches, and Curried chicken salad with grapes inside a savory Pat a Choux Pastry. Since Ri had some down time while I was at work, I asked her to practice and make the Pat a Choux.

Pat a Choux is a pretty much the outer shell of a Cream Puff or Eclairs. It is made by making a roux made of water, butter, and flour. Then, after the roux was done, you add egg one at a time and the batter will puff when  you bake it in the oven. It is yummy and I thought it would make a great vehicle for the curried chicken salad instead of just another bread. We made variation to the Choux to make it extra savory by adding finely chopped parsley and parmesan cheese.

Pat a Choux filled with Curried Chicken Salad with Grapes

Ri did really well in executing the Choux as they turned out really really good. This pastry can be tricky as you need to know how to gauge the addition of the eggs. Too much eggs, your batter will be too runny. Not enough egg, your batter won't puff. However, we were doing a good job in gauging as well as making sure they baked at the right temperature. When those babies came out from the oven, I was quite happy looking at the results. So was Ri. This one item would be a hit we had a hunch.

Crab Egg Salad Finger Sandwiches

I wasn't too excited about making the Egg salad at first because it didn't really involve baking. However, I was so surprised with what I learned. Turned out, hard boiling an egg is really hard. Yes, of course you can just boil it in water and it will be hard boiled. However, to have it perfectly boiled for the right presentation took skills I didn't have. A perfect hard boiled egg must not have a dark ring around the yolk when you slice it open. The dark ring forms when the egg is overcooked and the iron inside the yolk started to react to the heat. A perfect hard boiled egg is never boiled, but they are simmered.

To make a great looking hard boiled eggs you need to do the following:

• Never use fresh eggs as these will be hard to peel. Use 4-5 day old eggs, and have them in room temperature before boiling.
• Add eggs to a pot and fill it with room temperature water. 
• Place pot on the stove, uncovered, and boil just until water reach a rapid or rolling boil.
• Remove from heat, and cover. Set timer to 17 minutes.
• After 17 minutes, soak water in cold water for at least 10 minutes.
• Peel! Hopefully you won't have ring.

They said this method is fool proof. I didn't find it so. I had to do a couple batches of egg boiling. Some came out perfect and some had the ring though very faint. But, everything worked out, as I used the not so perfect eggs for the Egg salad.

The Scones... oh.. I can make scones in a jiffy. Scones are so easy to make. You just mix everything, cut it and bake. If you want recipe of the perfect scones, check out my old post.

Cranberry and Orange Cream Scones

Because the Choux was so similar to Eclairs, it was crazy if we didn't make some Custard filled Eclairs too. So, we made some sweet ones, filled it with rum laced egg custard, and topped with melted semi-sweet chocolate. Then, I had some oranges which I used the rind for the scones. I thought I needed to re-purpose them fruits, so then I transformed it into fruit salad and added grapes (leftover from the Curried chicken salad), mangoes, grapefruits, kiwis, nectarines, strawberries and blueberries. It looked really nice and fresh.

Mixed Fruit Salad

Eclairs and More Goodies..

The shower was a success. I have never seen or been to one with more food than this one. I thought Sandrine's shower had food that could feed several countries at once. This one had even more food! On top of what Ri and I prepared, there were Kahlua Fruit Dip, Bacon and Dates Tapas, Fruit Tartlets, Angkoo Kuih, and Veggie Crudites courtesy of Sandrine and her mom, Aunty Karen. Then, there were also Beef Noodles, Roasted Chicken, and Stuffed Tofu that Sabrina and CK provided to the guests. Further, Evi and Nate brought some Indonesian specialty: a complete Nasi Tumpeng and its fixing and Es Teler (some type of Indonesian iced drink). Wow! There were also maybe some other stuff that I missed. There were so many of them. Oh, yeah..not to forget the baby shower cakes and cup cakes!

It was a really great time! Not only for eating but I think the expectant moms were really enjoying themselves. I think Ri had tons of fun too eating great food that she missed because of living in Nepal. Who knew we would be eating Tumpeng? Tumpeng is a traditional festive food for Indonesians, and often is used in lieu of a cake. It is usually made with rice that was cooked with coconut milk and turmeric so it has this yellow color, and then molded into a cone/mountain. Around the rice mountain, there will be side dishes usually consist of fried or roast chicken, sliced omelette, eggs cooked in chili, Rendang or beef stewed in coconut milk, etc. Rendang is getting pretty popular now even the new winner of Top Chef Master, Chef Floyd Cardoz, won because of his rendition of Rendang! Man, who knew I could win Top Chef Master as I am sure Indonesian made Rendang will be better than an Indian Chef making it. Hehehe.

Indonesian Nasi (Rice) Tumpeng

Further, we made some new friends who are really really nice people. I was happy Ri was able to meet my friends here and I just really enjoyed myself the last 10 days with her and every one.

On Father's Day Sunday, we all went for Dim Sum in Ming Hin in Chicago China Town. That was awesome and this will be its own post, so stay tuned. We feasted in Chinese breakfast and tea just the day after. CK surprised us by picking up the tab. He said he paid it with the proceed from selling scones. He's full of it! I was so shocked that he paid for everything. Thank you, CK and Sabrina!

That night, Ri begged me to see X Men again and I was hesitant as it would be my third time. So I said to her..sure but she would be paying for it. She said okay as she saved a lot of money as CK kept feeding her. LOL! So true :)

Miso Soup at Roy's

We closed her visit with a nice dinner at Roy's. Roy's is a Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant owned by Chef Roy Yamaguchi. He owns hundreds of restaurants, and I found the service was impeccable. I definitely loved the Edamame they served with special seasonings, and the desserts were to die for. The Chocolate Souffle was worth the 25 minutes wait. I also loved loved their Miso Soup. It was filled with some yummy things in it like mushrooms, shrimps, bok choy, and noodle. Yum!

Then, the next day, she's gone. I took Ri to the airport at 7 AM, and that was good bye for now. She's back in Khatmandu now, looking at the mighty Everest again.

I love seeing my family as I always feel this immense joy whenever I have them around. However, when they're gone, they leave this void in my life, and all of a sudden I feel really alone. It usually takes me a week or two to recover and back to my own routine.

I really really miss you, Ri. Till we see each other again. Love you!

** Baby shower pictures courtesy of Kinzie Chye Photography.

A Wedding Weekend in Kiawah Island

By Crivenica

First of all, I would like to say kudos to my sister who has been writing up a storm this past month to keep this blog up on her own while I was traveling. I must applause her passion for writing and her dedication in ensuring there is always something interesting for our readers to read each week! But now, I am back in writing mode and ready to share back half of the blogging responsibility after an over-a-month hiatus and man, don’t I have a lot to write about!

After a month long trip, here I am now in Chicago visiting Lu. And after spending last Thursday afternoon and evening in Newark Airport because my flight was delayed six hours due to a thunderstorm, I must say sitting here in Lu’s apartment, writing this post, is a pleasant change.  I am so relieved to be away from an airport for at least another week or so. At this point, the sight of an airport makes me nauseous. I have gone through 10 airports in the past month alone and some of them I had to go through more than once. David has it even worse because he had to go back to Kathmandu for two days, to just turn around again to London and then back to NY, then to DC for work. My poor husband doesn’t even know what time zone his body is in right now!

David and I left Kathmandu for the US in the beginning of May for our annual “home-leave”.  I would not necessarily call this a relaxing vacation because our time is usually filled with visiting family and friends, living out of our suitcases and moving from one guest room to another. It can get exhausting especially when you try to see as many people as possible in two weeks. But this time was a little different. We had a month and we managed to see most of our family and friends, attend two weddings and see some other parts of United States while doing that.

The first main stop of our trip was for a wedding of David’s good friend from college, Nathan. I had been looking forward to seeing Nathan again and meeting his fiancee - now his wife - Kimberly. I was also excited because it would be my first time to travel to the Southern part of the East coast. After a 30-something-hour trip from Kathmandu, a short overnight in New York and seven airport stops, you can’t imagine how excited I was to touch down at Atlanta’s humongous Hartsfield-Jackson international airport. That airport is so big, we had to hop on an air train to reach the baggage claim five stops away. But I didn’t complain. I just wanted to grab our luggage, get into our rental car, and start the fun part of the trip.

It was about a five-hour drive from Atlanta to Kiawah Island, South Carolina where the wedding would take place. We could have flown to Charleston, which is only an hour away from the island, but we wanted to meet up with a couple of friends in Atlanta and had a little road trip. We didn’t actually arrive in the island until midday the next day. But when we came near it, as we drove through a beautiful oak-tree lined road toward Kiawah, I finally felt the relaxed “I’m on vacation” vibe.

Kiawah Island is not like any islands in Indonesia that I’m used to. This small island is actually one of the few barrier islands on the coast of South Carolina that are merely separated by rivers and marsh land. They are connected to the mainland through bridges, so there is no need for a boat or a small plane to get there. And as we drove through, I found out that the whole of Kiawah island is actually an upscale private gated real-estate as well as a world class golf resort. I didn't know this. I thought the resort was located in the island, while the rest is a regular island with a little town or something. But, no. Unless you’re a property owner, a guest or an employee at the resort, you pretty much can’t come in. We had to have a special pass displayed on our windshield throughout the wedding weekend.

My first impression when we entered the Kiawah resort was everything looked so perfect - the well maintained landscape, the roads, the houses, and, of course, the golf courses. Kiawah is a golf resort with five award-winning championship South Carolina golf courses; one of them is the home of the 2007 Senior PGA and 2012 PGA championships. I immediately thought my dad would love this place. If he owned a house there, he would wake up so early to get a 5 am tee time every morning. But after that thought, I asked David, “Where’s the beach?” I was on an island, but I had not gotten a glimpse of a beach or the ocean because it was all blocked off by the waterfront properties.

The beach at Kiawah

Eventually, I got to the beach with our group of friends who all came to attend the wedding. There were boardwalks from the residential area leading to the expansive waterfront with big tall sand dunes. Though the beach is open to all residents and guests, I felt robbed of a real island feeling because I couldn’t just see or hear the ocean without having to go through blocks of houses and a patch of golf green. However, I suppose people could tell me to go to a different island if I want a more pristine island because obviously Kiawah was designed for a specific market.

David posing with the bike at a Green

Though I had my reservation about the island, I thought the house we shared with Nathan and David’s other closest friends, Gray, Chris and Kristina was lovely. David and I also had a chance to explore the island a bit on bicycles. The resort did a wonderful job of putting in 30 miles of paved bike trails all through the island. On the bikes, we saw more of the island’s beauty as we rode along the marshland. Kiawah actually has quite an amazing and diverse wildlife that the resort reports any special wildlife sighting. I got excited when a White Egret just stroll along our street and when I saw a Pelican flying nearby or when we spotted an alligator sunbathing.

The highlights of the weekend, though, was not the alligator sighting. Nathan, Kimberly and their parents had planned such a lovely wedding weekend and we had enjoyed it immensely. We were so happy to be a part of this joyous moment in their lives. Apart from the wedding itself, Nathan’s parents hosted an oyster roast on the eve of the wedding. I was very looking forward to this event. First of all, I love oysters and second of all, I was really curious to find out what an oyster roast was really about.

The roasting oysters

I was not disappointed. Held at Mingo Point, a beautiful private open venue by the marsh, it was quite an experience. As we arrived, we were greeted by servers with mugs of John Daly - a mixed drink consisting of lemonade, iced tea and vodka (or in this case, they used lemonade and Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka). There were a few large round standing tables with a big hole in the middle along a circular cement platform of the Point. Plates, forks, lemons, cocktail sauce, crackers and plastic gloves were set at one side of each table. On the other side of the platform, two men in overalls were working over a big wood fire grill, shoveling heaps of roasted oysters directly from the grill and dumped them onto each table top.

I looked at the steaming oysters in front of me and wondered what the hell was I supposed to do with them. These were whole unshucked hot oysters and I was like, “somebody, please, teach me how to shuck an oyster, because I can’t wait to eat these bad boys!” After a couple of demonstrations from a more experienced guest and a few trial and error efforts, I managed to shuck my own oysters without cutting my fingers! And let me tell you, slurping those yummy freshly roasted oysters that I shucked myself was very satisfying. You can tell from my picture below how happy I was. At that point, I didn’t even know where David went. My focus was on the oysters.

I had thought that the roasted oysters were all there was to dinner, but I was wrong. As the sun was setting, we realized that people were heading to a roofed picnic area on the other side of the Point. It turned out that the oysters were just an appetizer, the real dinner spread was waiting there. A buffet line filled with a delicious southern spread of salad, sausage jambalaya, barbecue chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, corn bread, and the main event of a whole pig roast. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you may want to skip the picture - but David and I were definitely excited when we saw it.

I definitely loved the dinner. And it was really fun listening to friends and family of the wedding couple who came up to the stage and gave their little speeches. They gave me a lot of great insights on Nathan and Kimberly. And after spending more time with them two weeks later at another friend’s wedding in Santa Barbara, which I will write about eventually, I can see how great they are together.

The delicious pig roast

The wedding was held at Cassique, a private golf community that is located where Kiawah river meets the Atlantic ocean. The ceremony took place on the lawn of the big handsome clubhouse with the golf course as a backdrop. The setting was beautiful, the groom and groomsmen - David was one of them - were dressed impeccably in khaki colored dress pants, white shirts, blue blazers and Vineyard Vines ties, while the bridesmaids looked breezy in rose pink dresses. The flower girls made the guests go “aww”, while the ring bearer made everybody giggle as he dragged the rings that were attached to a small fishing rod. Nathan is an avid fly fisherman, thus the fishing rod and the men in the wedding party all donned corsages fashioned from fishing flies.

Kimberly and Nathan

But there was nothing fishy when Kimberly walked down the aisle. She looked gorgeous in a simple but stunning white lace wedding gown with a plunging back. I love lace wedding gowns - mine was all lace covered too, though not with the daring back, but if I had Kimberly’s toned back, I would totally bare it, too!

Well, the ceremony was pleasant, the cocktail and hors d'oeuvre were delicious, the dinner of salad, fish, roasted brisket and whipped potatoes were tasty. And I had fun dancing to the songs performed by the great band they hired. Overall, it was a great weekend in Kiawah and an even more wonderful wedding! And even though I had toasted them at their wedding, I will toast Nathan and Kimberly again here and wish them a happy, happy, happy life together!