anatomy of a Chinese wedding reception

Yes, it's been a long time since I last posted. Been kinda busy catching up with non-legal, fiction reading. As I am now waiting for the next book to arrive, I have some spare time to do some blogging. So here it goes.

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The Boy and I spent Labor Day weekend in sunny LA. Part of the reason we were down there was to attend KW's wedding. It was a very packed weekend for us, as we had to squeeze in two of The Boy's fantasy football drafts (one while we were en route from SF to LA, and one on Sunday morning before the wedding ceremony), the LA County Fair and the wedding festivities. Well, The Boy got what he wanted, mostly, with his fantasy football drafts while I did enjoyed some in-room dining while watching TV.

What did I title this post again? Right, the wedding reception. I just want to quickly note that this was one of the quickest church ceremonies I have ever been too. Well done! And the reception was awesome too. Here's a photo lineup of most of the food:

Cold Appetizer Plate - contained seaweed, salad, soy sauce chicken, bbq pork, fried tofu, honey walnuts, and I think that's it. The Boy did not take well to the fried tofu nor the cold bbq pork (which he still doesn't believe is bbq pork).

Egg Drop Soup with Ground Pork

Crispy Duck in Steamed Bun - The duck skin was extra crispy!  The Boy never had Peking Duck before, and he usually doesn't like duck meat either, but he said he really enjoyed this combination.

Chinese Broccoli and Shitake Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce - one of my favorites!

Spicy Beef - This was DELICIOUS! Tender and quite spicy, just the way I like my beef.  I believe this was the favorite at the table.

Steamed Flounder - Fish is not my favorite, but I tried some and it wasn't so bad.

This is also the point where half the people at our table left, so there was quite a bit of food left over.

Fried Rice - Let me just point out that not every table at the reception was served equally. We were sitting at table No. 31.

There were numbers in front of us that had Pineapple Fried Rice that was served in an actual pineapple. We were wondering when we would get that dish at our table. Lo and behold, by the time the fried rice came out, it was just plain old fried rice for Table No. 31. If it wasn't for the fact that this was the 8th dish that came out and I was already stuffed, I might have enjoyed the fried rice.

What I think is Bird's Nest without the bird's nest

Like I said above, other tables were getting the Bird's Nest dish while we just got a plate of veggies. I love the sauce and the mushrooms, so I was quite content anyhow.

The last dish served was the Red Bean Dessert, which I didn't take a picture of because I was in red bean dessert heaven and chowing down on it.  We had been waiting for the dish all night, as the other tables around us had already been served the dish and we just had to sit and watch other people enjoy it.  So by the time the server ladled the dessert into each individual bowl, I quickly slurped up my first bowl.  And since half the people at our table was gone, I quickly slurped up a second bowl. =)

The Wedding Cake - Classic Chinese Sponge Cake with Custard Filling

Hands down, my favorite dish of the night. =)

So, if anyone was keeping track, there were nine dishes served at the reception.  It was a very good night of eating.  The only thing I didn't like about the reception was that there were so many people there (about 400 guests) that I couldn't quite see KW pull off his bride's garter (he's a very reserved and conservative guy, so I wanted to see if he would actually do this.  They kinda cheated in that she had the garter on her ankle...) or KW and his buddies doing some manly dance to the tunes of Michael Jackson.  But, as long as the Bride and Groom are happy with their day, who cares if I can see, right?

CONGRATS to KW and his new wife, MW!