A 2E's Weekend in NYC

My beloved 2E's joined me in the big city this past weekend to help celebrate the Opening Night of The Irish Curse Off-Broadway and be my self-proclaimed "hot fiancee date" for all things opening-related. I know. I'm blessed. 

The AMNH turned us away because her purse was too hip.

(You can read the AP theatre critic's review here via the Huffington Post, should you be so inclined.)

It was a wild weekend, between theatrical madness and festive dinners and in-law brunches (the MOG, FOG and FOB joined us as well), but we all made it through in one piece. In fact, 2E's and I had enough steam to keep our tasting reservations on Mon. -- one scheduled for noon, the other for 5PM. And despite the lack of sleep, despite the rain, and despite the fact that we were still full from the parental brunch overdose this weekend, we believe we made a decision!

(I say believe because we've learned not to rush into our decision-making. I call that progress, readers.)

For us, the decision-making was more about the person that sat across from us than the food that was presented to us. We knew the food would be good. For 2E's and I, the top priority was personality -- both in the caterer and in the menu they crafted. Not only do we want someone who is approachable, likable and willing to work with us and for us (who doesn't), but we also want a menu that reflects both our personalities and our caterer's unique flair and style.

Leaving the Party Rental Manhattan showroom (where we were surrounded by countless stemware and flatware and Chiavari chair-ware), 2E's and I seemed to be on exactly the same page ... and, of course, it was the caterer who we expected to fall in love with in the first place ... the one who first swept us off our palates with her initial ideas about what she might serve at our wedding, based on one 30-minute phone conversation with my fiancee. So we're going to take what remains of this week to review our options, take a fifteenth look at the menus (our eyes may glaze over permanently), make a final and informed decision, and cross one more damn thing off our endless to-do list.

***One other quick note: after our first tasting, we shared some of our preferred caterer's baked mac & cheese with our Irish Curse writer and producer (they were bowled over) and our producer's brother Keith. Keith's been married for 22 years now and decided to pass on the following when he heard about our engagement (paraphrasing alert):

You already know you're going to get a lot of worthless advice now from anybody who thinks they know anything about being married. When I got married, all of my co-workers were weighing in, and they said, "Here's the thing: you have to lay down the ground rules first thing. First thing. If you want to play 18 rounds of golf three days out of the week, you tell her that that's what you're going to do, and you do it."

And so I asked them, "How often do you play golf these days?" And they all said, "Oh, once or twice a year. If I get out there."

So here's MY worthless advice: everything she says is right. I know, it's hard to imagine at first, and you won't want to admit it. But after about a year or so, you'll realize, "Oh man -- Keith was right -- everything she says is absolutely right. Huh." And that's it. That's the key.