Monday, June 12, 2006

a tale of two showers

when it rains, it pours.* at least vis-à-vis bridal showers of late.
this past weekend i had the shower of Liz, the (once) little girl for whom i used to babysit (cue the Sunrise, Sunset music right about now) and the weekend before that was Mags' shower. (Mags and her fiancé can be credited with introducing me to Thurston). both showers had a couple of things in common: great food, fun people and lovely brides-to-be. aside from that, they differed greatly and i definitely will plumb both for any ideas to coopt.
in order of appearance:

Shower de Magnolia
Mags' shower was at the apartment of her sister-in-law-to-be. this was excellent for two reasons: a) it was close to my apartment and b) it was a rainy, rainy day. (those two perks may be unique to me but, hey, it's my blog. what did you expect? perspective? ha!)

although i initially fell for the clever ruse of Magnolia's mom, the food was not actually all home-cooked by her, but was from Trader Joe's. the spread included the following:

  • appetizers: crudité, hummus, another dip (maybe chipotle, maybe crab), coconut shrimp, hot chicken wraps, and probably other things that i am forgetting.
  • mains: mini-meatballs, sushi, cous-cous with cranberries, sesame noodles
  • desserts: spice cake with lemon frosting (actually made by Mags' mom) and a trifle with brownies, pudding, heath bars and a whole lot of awesome (made by the hostess).

the shower was low-key and sans bridal games, except for a cute idea that i'd never seen before. as Magnolia opened a gift, the gift giver had to pick a little scroll from a bowl. the scroll contained a question about Scott, her fiancé, and before she could open the gift she had to answer the question correctly. as a bonus, two of the scrolls contained the word "gift" meaning, shockingly, that whomever picked that one got a little gift from the hostess. the questions were insanely tough and had i been asked them about T, i would have gotten maybe 10% right. (happily, ignorance is bliss, so i guess that means the less i know about him, the happier we'll be. or something...)

Shower de Elizabeth

although it's still hard for me to accept**, Liz is actually a grown-up now and about to be a bride. the shower, thrown by Liz's two aunts, was a tea at Café Opaline in the Dahesh Museum. not only did the shower coincide with the timing of the Puerto Rican day parade, but the location was just a block East of the festivities.



despite the proximity, neither J.Lo nor parade grand marshal Marc Anthony stopped by the shower. too bad for them, because they missed:
  • mini tea sandwiches: salmon napoleon, lobster sausage, mint and yogurt rolls, sesame chicken wraps, grilled cheeses, cucumber cream cheese and maybe a couple of others
  • petit fours: mocha éclair, chocolate squares, carrot cake, fruit cream tarts
  • scones, clotted cream and jam

this shower also had one game, and that was one where the mom of the bride-to-be (and the woman under whom i have a subsidiary Costco membership, so big ups to her) asked if you had something in your purse (i.e. thread, food, a train ticket) and then whoever answered first received a book that thematically related to the thing asked for. because i am so utterly charming, i was able to win the book How to Disagree without Being Disagreeable, since i was able to raise my hand for the "who has had an argument today?" question.*** i probably will not read this book, since i rather enjoy being disagreeable and fear that, were i to abandon that trait, my own family might think i'd been taken over by pod people and have to exterminate me in order to save the human race. i mean, probably.

anyway, another shower perk was the favor they gave out:

a little box of two Teuscher champagne truffles. so freaking good!
and, they came in a little decorative box, which you can actually create with a custom color box/ribbon combination.

if my guests are extra lucky, i may well try to incorporate these as favors for some aspect of my wedding events. because they really taste a lot like what i imagine heaven would taste like if it were an edible bonbon.


* ok, yes, "when it rains, it pours" is a lame expressions, but i'm talking about "showers" here, so if the rain expression is going to work anywhere, this is really my best use of it.

** interesting (to me, anyway) aside: when i used to babysit Liz and her siblings, Michael and Andee, i would make them this
Orville Redenbacher caramel popcorn, which had just then been invented (thgis was in the late 1980's). anyway, the popcorn was your basic microwave popcorn, except with a twist--it came with this slab/block of caramel that you would put in the bag just after it had finished popping in the microwave, and shake around so that the caramel would melt and coat the popcorn. for some reason, perhaps due to the brown chunky nature of the caramel, the kids all called it "doody popcorn." and to this day, i still think of poop whenever i encounter caramel popcorn.

*** surprisingly, my argument had nothing to do with PR parade hijinx, but rather with the antics of a museum patron who went into the revolving door at the same time as me and then stopped to talk to her husband who was still outside on the street, holding the revolving door still while she chatted and trapping me in my compartment. i had to give her a "jesus, lady, let go of the door and chit-chat on your own time" [edited for content]. she tried to throw me a hard look, but i threw a harder one and she backed off. wisely.

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