Best Tasting Ever

... not that I have anything to compare it to.

Sunday afternoon, once Ryan and I were done registering at Crate and Barrel, we headed down to our reception venue (the Patrick Haley Mansion) for a tasting and to show his mom around.

The ballroom was decorated with fresh flowers, and the tables were set--one for each group.


After reviewing the menu and ordering drinks (is there anything better than chardonnay at noon?), they brought out the first course... hors dourves.


I am a pretty picky eater (and some of the hors dourves sounded weird), so I stuck to the quesadilla and chicken ones...


Everything was pretty good. We will probably only make it to the second half of our cocktail hour, so hopefully there is still some food left at that point!


We don't have to make a selection on the hors dourves because they will all be hand-passed on trays during the cocktail hour. We didn't realize that, so it's nice to have one less thing to worry about.

After hors dourves came the entrees!

Chicken Piquant with baby red potatoes and a vegetable medley

Boneless New York Strip Steak with broccoli floretes and potatoes

Chicken Au Porto with green beans and duchess potatoes

Our first reaction was that we lo-lo-loved the duchess potatoes. I could eat those all day long. So we had one side picked.


We knew we were going to serve the steak as one choice, so now we just had to decide between the two chickens. I personally liked the Chicken Piquant better. It's simmered in california lemons and white zinfandel. The Chicken Au Porto has a mushroom sauce, which isn't my favorite. But they were both quite delicious. I think my mom liked the Chicken Au Porto better, but since she would be eating steak at the wedding, she left the decision solely up to us.

Chicken Piquant it is.


Lastly, we had to choose a second side dish. I hate vegetables (seriously), so I let the three of them fight it out. They were leaning towards broccoli, but my mom chimed in for my absent father and said he hates broccoli. So they picked asparagus (which we didn't even get to to taste... so I hope it's good!).

We were already stuffed at this point, but we still had more food coming. Stay tuned for the cake...