How I spent last weekend.

Blogging has been light for a while owing to the fact that the Free-Ride family was in transit to the wilds of New Jersey in order to celebrate Uncle Fishy and RMD getting hitched.

Amazingly, not only did we arrive in time, but the various airlines seemed to deliver all the other guests without mishap, too.
There was a good bit of snow on the ground, which the Free-Ride offspring loved. The grown-ups … well, we were more concerned with the hazards it introduced as far as driving and walking. (By our count, in our party there were five falls on the ice. Only a couple required medical treatment and pain medications, though.)
Not to mention the toll that snow, ice, slush, and salt might exact on our shoes.

Paging Dr. Isis for a shoe consult! I don’t know if these count as hot on an absolute scale, but for me they’re pretty dressed up. Also, extremely comfortable.
Uncle Fishy and RMD are foodies, so the food was really good. We actually eased in to the three days of eating with a rehearsal luncheon at Aldo’s. Who doesn’t like cheesy garlic bread, fried zucchini, bruschetta, and stuffed eggplant? (There were various sorts of meat, shellfish, and cephalopods, too, but as a vegetarian, I wasn’t really paying attention to them.)
The reception dinner itself was at Blue Hill at Stone Barn. The food was really fresh and really, really yummy. The kids have made a list of foods for me to reverse engineer and create for them at home. At the top of that list are two of the appetizers, risotto balls and beet burgers.
Then, there was the brunch the morning after, featuring bagels, Uncle Fishy’s homemade gravlax, Aunt Molly’s cookies, and Joanna’s chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and raspberry filling topped with chocolate ganache. If you’re anywhere near Montpelier, Vermont, you should try to get your hands on one of these cakes (maybe at the Langdon Street Café). The experience of eating a slice was life-changing — I don’t think I’ve ever had anything as tasty in my mouth.
Major props to the Borough of Ringwood for sending the plows out Sunday morning so that RMD’s peeps could get to the festivities without recourse to sled dogs.
La familia Free-Ride is now ensconced at Duke and Super Sally’s, so posting ought to pick up again. There are a bunch of book reviews in the pipeline, just in case you get book store gift cards and need some ideas for how to use them.