I've back in Livermore this weekend for my cousin's wedding. In fact, I just got back from the wedding and dinner a few minutes ago. I have some pictures, but (again) they'll have to wait. Maybe I'll be able to download them off of my camera tomorrow night (if I remember and am not lazy). Keri and Rob have known each other for quite a while. I met Rob when I moved down to San Diego and was living with Keri. He's been very good to her over the years and has taken good care of her when she has needed it, and I think they'll be a good couple.
The wedding was nice. It was held at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose, which provided a very lovely backdrop to the ceremony. Unfortunately, the JFG is also across the street from a football stadium (maybe a local college or something), so during the ceremony there was some marching band music in the distance. But it was fine. After the ceremony, we had a Chinese-style lunch that consisted of several types of meat (I took a picture of the menu and I've already explained the picture situation). My favorite was (and probably always will be) the deep fried crunchy pork skin. I think duck skin is tastier, but you usually don't get that at the buffet-style lunch.
Instead of the traditional dance, there was DDR. There's a story behind this one. Basically, Keri and Rob started to bond over this game. Not because Rob played it, but because he let Keri share her excitement about the game with him. Eventually, he did start to play and all. So the first couple's dance was a DDR, then the parents got involved. It was fun to watch. It was also different, but neither Keri nor Rob are particularly driven by tradition... plus there wasn't space in the reception area for a dance floor without having to move a bunch of tables around. So perhaps it's a good compromise.
The groom's side of the family hosted a dinner in the evening. It took the place of what would normally be the rehersal dinner, but I guess it was hard because several people were coming in from out of town and they didn't want to exclude a bunch of people... or something like that. Being an out of town family, I was invited along even though I didn't do much at the wedding. It was a little odd because my older brother (who played the violin) was invited, but my younger brother wasn't. Dinner was tasty. I had a prime rib dinner that was quite large (didn't quite finish it) and a dessert that I'm still trying to deconstruct in my head.
At the bottom of the dessert was a thin sponge cake round. On top of this was a layer of some sort of cooked apple, sort of the texture of a good apple pie filling. Then there was another sponge cake round. Then there was a cooked-custardy type layer. It looked like a cheesecake, but didn't taste like it at all. In fact, I couldn't decipher any particular flavors from that layer. It was just a little creamy in taste with a light cheesecake texture. The whole deal was wrapped in a white chocolate tube and topped with honey (at least, I thought it was honey... some others at the table said they tasted cinnamon, but I didn't... It could have been a cinnamon-honey combination, I suppose).
In between the two events, there was a few hours of down time, so Justin, Janet, and I went to see "The Kingdom." It was an okay movie. Nothing spectacular about it to mention. The kids sitting behind us were kind of annoying, but not quite to the point that I felt like doing anything about it.
One last thing to note: I've been letting people try out my experimental beef jerky. (Have I mentioned this yet? I'll have to go back and look.) Anyway, it seems to be going over pretty well. Next time, however, I need to not use brisket and use a leaner (probably more expensive) cut.
Is it bad that I went to my cousin's wedding, but most of the blog is about the food? Hmmmmmm.....
