Wedding Blog

On Saturday Mr. Pumpkin and I went to our reception meal tasting and it was yummy! We were choosing between two different salads and two different meals. The salads were a caesar salad that the restaurant said was their unique take on a caesar but it was like every other caesar salad I have ever tasted, and a mixed greens salad with red onion, goat cheese and a Saskatoon berry vinaigrette. Now I know that most of you will have never heard of a Saskatoon berry but let me assure you that they do in fact exist and they are delicious! They are a small deep pink/purple round berry (like a blueberry) and have a sweet, tart but yummy taste. The green salad was delicious and the caesar was pretty ordinary so that choice was easy.

Our next decision was between a filet mignon meal and a pork tenderloin meal. We started with the filet and it was delicious! It was a juicy steak cooked just the way I like it (medium rare) with a tarragon compound butter melting on top, fresh asparagus and roasted baby potatoes. The next meal was the pork tenderloin with garlic mashed potatoes and salt and pepper leek. But let me tell you - this was no ordinary pork tenderloin! This pork was topped with the most delicious scotch caramel sauce that you have ever tasted! The mashed potatoes were fantastic and, much to my surprise, I also really liked the leek. As soon as I tasted that pork I knew that it had my vote but Mr. Pumpkin was on the fence. In the end I think it was much more of a leek v. asparagus decision rather than the filet v. pork decision for him. The leek and the pork won out and I think that is the right decision, not only because the pork was delicious but because not everyone likes steak medium rare and I wouldn’t want anyone to not be able to enjoy the meal!

Our biggest decision is the dessert. We tried 4 of them on Saturday, a chocolate ganache cake, a black forest cheesecake, an apple rhubarb pie with fresh made ice cream, and a chocolate porter (beer) ice cream cake. They were all so delicious but they also all seemed so wintery to me. So, I talked with our caterer and he is going to see if they can come up with something a little lighter with more fresh fruit. If they can’t come up with anything then I think we will go with the apple rhubarb pie. I am worried that with the Saskatoon berries in the salad, the caramel scotch sauce on the pork and the mashed potatoes, serving something as sweet and as heavy as the black forest cheesecake for dessert would be overload. At least with the pie the apples and rhubarb are sort of tart and the ice cream is not too sweet.

We also started the meal with an amuse bouche, which I think is hilarious because it always makes me think of that episode of Friends where Monica cooks for a very stoned Jon Lovitz! The amuse bouche was a small piece of lamb, a small bite of artichoke heart and olive paste on two small pieces of foccacia bread. It was absolutely delicious but in the end we opted to skip it. I am just not sure that it is worth it as we already have so much food being served throughout the day and night; I think it might be an unnecessary expense.

We are having juice and tartlets served after the ceremony (another thing that reminds me of that Friends episode! Remember Lovitz keeps saying that word - “Tartlets!” “Tartlets!” “Tartlets!” - so funny!), the meal at the reception, a candy buffet and then a late lunch and wedding cake as well so there will be no shortage of food. Mr. Pumpkin really loved the amuse bouche though so negotiations are still taking place. As you may remember, nothing is final until we shake on it, and this meal has yet to be shook upon.

The experience was great overall (I am kicking myself for forgetting my camera!) and I am still so happy that we decided to splurge on the Willows on Wascana as our venue. All of the food was fantastic and the two gentlemen (Dave and Shaadie) who have been working with us on the wedding have been so wonderful to us. I would highly recommend the venue to anyone who asks!

What do you think? Is the amuse bouche as useless as I think it is? What should we serve for dessert?