Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

On Saturday, The Gryphon and I took a step towards planning our honeymoon. We've been talking about it for a while and decided to go to Orlando, where we can see Disney World, Epcot Center, Universal Studios and other attractions.

My AAA premium membership could save us some money and trouble, so we thought we'd do our planning through them. We drove to our local AAA office, only to find out they were moving to a new office, which wouldn't open until Monday.

Fortunately, the man supervising the move gave us very good directions to the next closest AAA office. But since we were in the neighborhood of the local Men's Warehouse, we stopped there first. We wanted to find out how soon The Gryphon needed to make an appointment with his groomsmen to start work on getting tuxedos. The salesperson recommended coming in as soon as possible, which is about what our wedding planner book says.

While we were there, a sales assistant showed us a book of tuxedos to talk about styles. We'd already visited their online site and had a good idea of what we wanted. The Gryphon likes the black fly-front tuxedo paired with a shirt with a banded collar, which will give the men a very 60s look and should also be flattering on everyone.

The Gryphon had been set against a vest before, but when he was looking through the samples in the book, he decided he might like one, so we talked about the possibilities. One of my favorites was a black and white striped vest, which is very Mod, because it's reminiscent of Op Art.

I told him that when he goes in, I'll provide him with a folder including pictures of the bridal gown, bridesmaids dresses, our wedding colors, and a swatch of material matching the bridesmaids dresses.

Then we drove to the AAA office. We didn't have to wait in line, as an agent was already available, and she greeted us cheerily. Oddly enough, she looks a lot like our event coordinator for the wedding ceremony and reception site. We told her about the trip we wanted to plan, and she came up with a package, staying as close as possible to the budget we'd set.

We told her we'd take a little more time to think about it before putting down a deposit and locking into it, probably next weekend.

After that, we had a little time to relax at home before our evening plans, to celebrate a belated Valentine's Day. We couldn't celebrate during the week, because I work in the evenings. Besides, that was also the day the bad winter storm hit, so it would have been a disappointment anyway, as we might have had to cancel our plans.

The Gryphon had made reservations at a place called Valanni, a Medi-Latin restaurant in Center City. We didn't want to have to worry about parking when we came home, so we took the El. Many times on the weekends, it's really hard to find a parking space, since people have overnight guests. But now, since many people have done a terrible job of shoveling, it might have been even worse.

A lot of people must have had the same idea, because the El was packed.

We arrived just a few minutes late for our reservation. They seated us at a table in the front section. The Gryphon had heard about this restaurant and wanted to try some of their food. Our server asked us if we were going to a show, since a lot of people stop in to eat before seeing a play. She was relieved to find out we were celebrating Valentine's Day, since she wouldn't have to rush to get us out the door by a specific time.

Since we were celebrating, we splurged a bit, starting with a nice bottle of Zinfandel by Cline Winery in California. It was a very complicated wine, with all sorts of tastes, including oak and spice.

We split an appetizer of SPICY PULLED CHICKEN EMPANADAS, served with warm manchego, cilantro, chipotle horseradish aioli. They were very tasty, a great comfort food.

As we waited for our main courses, we engaged in fun conversation, talking about the wine and the appetizer and the decor of the restaurant, which is very up-to-date. I wasn't surprised later to discover it was only opened in 2000.

For my main course, I had the CRISPY SKIN RED SNAPPER, served with lobster pea risotto, lump crab & shaved fennel salad. The Gryphon had the CLASSIC PAELLA, which includes shellfish, chorizo sausage, ancho chicken, squid, saffron rice.

We were both really pleased. I especially thought the fennel salad added a fresh, crisp taste to the red snapper, balanced by the creamy risotto.

Our conversation drifted into pop culture, such as a long discussion about The Muppets. After first guessing Kermit, I correctly guessed that The Gryphon's favorite Muppet is Beaker. Mine has changed over the years, but Fozzie the Bear is a perpetual favorite.

A server arrived to remove our plates just as I asserted, "Miss Piggy was such a queen." I burst into laughter.

For dessert, we shared the OREO BEIGNETS, served with vanilla bean ice cream, warm caramel and crumbled Oreos. They are absolutely delicious. The beignets, or doughnuts, are served hot on top of crumbled Oreos and caramel. They serve as a nice contrast to the ice cream. Since we were sharing it, it wasn't even much of a guilty pleasure. More of an exotic taste treat.

We followed that up with some MOLITERNO cheese, a semi-aged sheep's milk cheese from Sicily injected with black truffles and served with grioche cherries. Again, a remarkable blend of tastes, with the sharp cheese counterpointed by the rich earthy taste of the truffles and the syrupy sweet grioche cherries.

Paired with dessert, we enjoyed French press coffee with Frangelico.

On our way home, The Gryphon was very much the gentleman, helping me over the slushy puddles at the corners. Fortunately, I'd opted not to wear the cream and gold slingbacks I just bought but, instead, wore my knee-high black stiletto boots. They did surprisingly well over the packed down snow, although I wouldn't want to trudge through fresh snow and ice in them.

While we wouldn't visit a place like Valanni every week, we had a great time celebrating Valentine's Day there.

More on Alyce's wedding planning:

Musings on Alyce's Wedding

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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