Tina and Brad are married

I don't think there's much to be written here. Two weeks back, on a day that ended with enough sunshine to make an outdoor wedding by a small lake altogether wonderful, our friends and former swim teammates Tina and Brad were married. The Smelts, of course, claim credit for setting them up, and well we should. Just look at them:



A fine, handsome, happy couple. Smelts, well done!

Many things we loved about that day:

Tina was gorgeous. She has such a lovely trim figure, it's small wonder she was a matchless bride in her dress. How beautiful she was coming down the aisle with her father. I truly choked up a little.

The ceremony itself.
I liked what the officiant said, and I thought the speakers and the music (including bell players led by Tina's mother) were all enjoyable, not overly serious.

Other librarians!

Chocolate cake slices greeting us all at our table - a shared pre-dinner dessert we muchly enjoyed.

A fun reception with the traditional speeches and cutting of the cake but none of the clanging of silverware on glasses to make the couple kiss. I rather hate that inane custom.



Friends from the team - Ron and Carrie shown here.

This man. Actually danced with me a few times. Only the second time in our 8 years together - Allison's wedding last year being the maiden run at that activity. Something about weddings, I guess.

Oh, and did I mention that Tina was gorgeous? Because it truly bears re-mentioning. Stunning.


They may be back from their New Zealand honeymoon by now, and by back, we mean to their lives in Colorado. We miss them from the team, though, and we hope they come back and see us soon. Many happy wishes to them for a long, loving life together.

Smelts anniversary

Reaching back almost two weeks here, but I've got a quietish evening wherein I do not care to do housework. Conrad will be home in about 8 hours - I hope he can sleep on the flight. Me? I'll blog a bit, read a bit, and head to bed.

Two Sundays ago the Smelts had their annual Thanksgiving banquet. This year has been the 20th anniversary of the swim team, so the night had a special feel. It certainly was reflected in the food. I missed last year's potluck, so this was my first team potluck since 2000 - intervening years we dined at Ann Sather instead.

This year we secured a bigger space at the Center on Halsted, and a good crowd turned up. Nice to see some older faces we haven't seen in a while, too. Liz did her usual fabulous job of coaches' awards to the swimmers (Tim wasn't there to get his team MVP award - a shame since I think he deserves a lot of credit for his fast swimming and for his deep sense of team spirit). The team bestowed on the five of us coaches some generous thank you gifts as well - I'm always floored by the generosity, and I promise that I will have IMMENSE fun spending the gift cards!

For almost two-dozen of us, the evening continued across the street at Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club. $5 martinis - YAY! Nope, I didn't get up at 4:45 the next morning for a swim, I must admit.

The Smelts are so vital to our social life - did you know that Conrad and I met on the swim team? I'm sorry he missed the meal, but I'm ever so glad that we have all our friends on the team.

The banquet:

Ron and Carrie - a wonderful couple, and Carrie is one of the fastest swimmers in her age group in the country.

Tina, of Tina and Brad. Soon to be a former teammate, alas, but we hope to see her in NZ next year.

Brian, another soon to be former teammate. At least we'll have Vancouver. Fast guy, great technique.

Adam, another coach, a very fast swimmer, and reportedly a great massage therapist. Great guy - hey, we share a birthday, so how could it be otherwise?

Heidi - wow, I've frontloaded all the kick-ass swimmers. Do not race this woman at a long distance or in open water. She will take you down. Also a super teammate and our new registrar/treasurer.

Just a small peek at the abundance of food that night.

Hilary. One of Conrad's lane mates, and one of three women in lane one who are an absolute pleasure to coach. So good, they got an award for it!

Doug, a former team president and one of the few friends I have here in the US who actually kind of keeps track of what's going on in Canada. Great guy, and a bloody fast sprinter.

Presentations by two of the coaches: Liz, in the hat (Conrad and I love her to bits, and her husband is my totally excellent dentist, in case you need a recommendation), and Chris (Saturday mornings, and loved by EVERYONE - I can't stress that enough), in white on the right.

Long time Smelt Paul, cutting the cake. Oh, so much cake!

People begin digging in to the cakes.

Jeremy, Lisa, and Carrie discuss dessert, I think. Lisa, by the way, ran her first marathon this year. I'm so proud of her, what an accomplishment.

Stuart, another coach, mugging for the camera.

Romel - super Smelts party host - and Carrie.

John, our little twinkie (and I say that with affection). Also an award winner that night, but a joking award given for his penchant for taking breaks and not quite finishing a set let alone a full practice.


Kit Kat:

With Daniel - he's such good company even if he inexplicably does not like chocolate.

Max (the new co-president), Scot (who works harder than most anyone in the pool to improve his speed, endurance, and technique), and Jani (who I don't know well, alas, but she gave good advice on martinis that night!).

Daniel and me

Some of the group.

Adam and Jeremy, Adam's roommate (former roommate?) and someone I don't see often enough because we swim different nights.

Brian, again.

Brad and Tina dinner

Oh man, am I ever feeling overfed (and probably over-indulged on the wine) from last night. It's not even entirely pleasant to think about food right now. But blog I must, especially since I've been lazy about doing so lately. Besides, Conrad's not even out of bed yet, and it's too early for us to wander downtown as we've been meaning to do.

Two teammates, Brad and Tina, came for dinner last night. It was an intimate get-together intended so that Conrad and I could toast their engagement - the two met on a gay swim team, and, if anything, the team actively pushed them into coupledom - from earlier this summer, so that we could see their photos of a September trip to Finland, and so that Conrad and I could show them New Zealand photos. The New Year, alas, will bring a great loss to the Smelts: Brad and Tina will move to New Zealand for at least some while. Happily, Conrad and I will be able to visit them when we're there next year.

The New Zealand thread ran through the wines last night. We started off toasting them with a sparkling wine from Winslow in Martinborough. I think it was the last of the bottles Conrad and I had shipped back last year, and it was quite lovely. A 2004 vintage, it had mellowed out a little, I think. Nice with the cheeses, little toasts, olives, and nuts. Tina and Brad, meanwhile, had brought over two bottles, the Mud House Sauvignon Blanc and the Maven Pinot Noir. Both we good with dinner, though, Tina and I both said we preferred the white to the red. Later, as we looked at photos, we polished off a bottle of Stoneleigh Pinot Noir. In hindsight, I'm gad we didn't open anything else - that might have made for an especially tough morning today.

As for food, well, I didn't photograph much. Sorry. We dined in the kitchen, so I caught shots of the table set and of the salads set out before I called them in.

After that, however, it was about the conversation with each other, and I kept the camera tucked away. The salads were from a recipe we used to use at Don Diego's, the spicy Caesar salad from a Bobby Flay cookbook. I hadn't made it in years. Tina caught the distinctive saltiness of the anchovies in the dressing, but Brad didn't - Ha! I snuck some fish by him! Dinner was also another old friend from my restaurant days: South Miami Cuban Stew, from a Paul Prudhomme book. It's a deliciously seasoned mix of beef, chorizo, and ham. A meat-lovers' meal. Dessert was Tina's responsibility, and she came through with a moist chocolate cake. Conrad, of course went back for more, and Tina was happy (and relieved) that I shared some with him. I tossed a pan of cookies in the oven as well, and that completed an evening of food.

We haven't entertained in ages, and we should do it a little more - it forces us to clean up the place effectively. A good thing for us that we have two more people coming next weekend. I wonder if I should warn them that they'll be decorating the tree with us in exchange for their dinner....

dinner, wherein we laugh in the face of "low-fat"

It's a sort of zen question, isn't it? Or something like that. What kind of a vegetarian dinner is it if you make vegetarian food but the vegetarian calls to cancel?

In our case, the correct response is, "deep-fried goodness, highly caloric, screw the notion of low fat".

I mean, come on, look at Brad and Tina. Fellow teammates, a lovely couple. Disgustingly in shape (Brad competes internationally in triathlons). Both of them can withstand an onslaught of rich fried, cheesy, creamy foods. And so they did.

As noted, Tim couldn't come for dinner because of tornado warnings for the area between Chicago and Indianapolis, where he lives. Brad and Tina had only a half mile stroll through the neighbourhood, so they showed up, and we fed them. A good evening, and they were troopers for putting up with lots of photos at the end of the night.

The food:

Empanadas filled with summer squash, sweet peppers, and feta.I set a platter of these out on the balcony table along with a bowl of tomato salsa. We sipped an Argentinean white wine, and enjoyed the warm evening.

A simple romaine salad with a toasted pumpkinseed dressing.

Chile relleno, refried black beans, sweet corn and tomatillo salsa.I haven't made these in ages, and with good reason. Frying is messy, and good as these are (make no mistake, chiles rellenos are perfect food in my opinion), you'd get mighty unhealthy eating them regularly. A real treat. Conrad captures the plating process in stages.



Lemon-glazed pistachio genoise with toasted pistachio ice cream and quince poached in a spiced syrup.I love working with quinces. So fragrant, and people never guess what they are. Tina thought it was apple, a good guess, but quince is so much more fragrant. Wonderful fruit, though not for eating raw, of course. As for the cakes, well, this was attempt #2. I had made on large cake round and intended to do something with a chocolate ganache. I made a mistake, however, in the batter for the cake and misread 6 Tbsp of butter as 6 oz. Big difference. The result was tasty but oozing butteriness. I chucked it out in the end and started over, this time making individual cakes in ramekins. This also gave me time to think about my concept. The ice cream was made, and I was still thinking chocolate, but seeing the quinces at Whole Foods sent me in a different direction entirely.

We finished the fat-laden dinner with a wedge of a brie-style goat cheese that had a ripple of blue down the center. Mmmmm.

Brad and Tina left late, and once Conrad gets up out of bed again (we were already swimming this morning), we'll finish the silverware and last few dishes. And then I may need a nap to prepare myself for another big dinner night tonight, this one at a fine restaurant instead.