Anniversary Dinner

Before you say anything, I realize it's too soon for Phil and I to be celebrating an anniversary. This weekend I celebrated my sister and brother-in-law's wedding anniversary. Phil headed out to the city to hang out with some friends, so I spent most of the morning with my mom preparing food before we headed over to Mandy's place in Bridgewater.

My mom made salad. I know it's just salad, but she made it look so pretty! She even cut the little ridges in the cucumbers like they do at restaurants. She's so funny.


I made my signature 7 layer bean dip (which I actually stole from Mandy...), but minus the meat and the green onions. So I guess it was more of a 5 layer bean dip...Beans (I opted for honey baked instead of refried to make it a little sweet), salsa, sour cream, guacamole and cheese. It still tasted good though!

Mandy and Tam had some of their friends over to celebrate as well, and they brought even more food. One couple brought over homemade mac and cheese, and it was delicious.

And, since the weather was nice, Tam was able to use his grill again to grill up some steak. Isn't this steak huge?! It was easily twice the size of my face.

It must have taken Tam forever to cut all that steak. Mandy helped supervise and entertain the guests.

After most of the food was gone and people had time to digest it was time for cake! The venue where the wedding took place actually wrapped up the top layer of their original wedding cake. Apparently it's tradition (American tradition?) to save the top layer of your wedding cake, freeze it, and then eat it during your first anniversary. Nobody was brave enough to actually try a piece (although Mandy said she would eat some with Tam later) - who knows what 1 year's worth of freezer burn could do to a cake? But I have to say the wedding place did an excellent job of wrapping the cake. Even the little leaves sticking off the side of the cake were in tact!

But we were not without cake. Mandy and Tam had stopped by the same bakery that had done their original wedding cake to pick up an anniversary cake. The cake was obviously smaller and not the same design, but it was the same flavor as the original wedding cake - Maui Wowi. Isn't it pretty?

Here's the happy 1-year-wed couple. All togheter now - Awwww! ^__^

And, group photo! (Eunice, Dae, Cal, Jennifer, Mike, mom, Tam, Mandy and me - hopefully I spelled all those names right...) Aren't we a good looking bunch? ^__~

Happy Anniversary Mandy and Tam! <3