Sunday, November 29, 2009

Crickets



I'm back! Lots going on...residency interview process has been going well...five down, one tomorrow, and then five more in January...it has been very busy over here!

I think the hardest part of wedding planning has been the reception. Should it be a sitdown dinner or a buffet? Meat fest or vegetarian fare? How expensive are we willing to go? Restaurant or rent out a venue?
The contenders:
1. Five and Ten www.fiveandten.com
John and I are major fans of this small gem of a restaurant. It is quinessential Athens. You'll see townies (granted, it's pricey so you don't see too many townies), UGA professors, the people of Athens. It's run by a guy who does amazing seasonal cooking with a southern twist. We would like to work in Five and Ten somehow....John and I spent our first Valentines dinner there (I even remember what I wore: a white empire style linen dress with pink cascading ruffle heels), visits back from Augusta. There was a particularly cold, blue winter day I went alone to Five and Ten and a dish of white truffle and cauliflower risotto basically cured my seasonal depression :) We usually do the prix fixe, an amazing deal...3 course meal for $25...every time we go, we love the flavors and the coziness of the place...upside down umbrellas hanging from the ceiling anyone?

2. Farm 255 www.farm255.com
This is another great Athens restaurant. It's run on the premise that they own their own farm and this farm provides most of the materials they use for the menu. Beautiful flavors and a beautiful large venue with an outdoor wooden stage. The weird part was that the lady who runs events at Farm 255 wanted to meet us in physical person before getting into any details....so we made the drive from Augusta to Athens to....only tell her what we wanted for the reception....details that we could have told her over the phone. John thinks that she was just trying to size us up, see how much money we could afford to pay for the reception. Anyhow, her quote was ridiculous and was based on the Food and Drink Minimum manner of doing business. Food and Drink Minimum is based on how many people will be attending and then they tell you, for every 150 people, you HAVE to pay $11,000 (or X amount) and you spend it however you'd like to spend it. So you might end up with plenty of food under $9000 but you still have to fork over the rest of the money. I didn't really like this scheme and I didn't like that she wanted to see us first before getting any details. I like eating at their restaurant, but I don't think we're gonna have them do the reception.

3. Sonnys BBQ
We briefly considered Sonnys BBQ until my parents basically say no in the most diplomatic way possible. hehe


4. Martis at Midday www.martisatmidday.com
This is a weekday lunch stop famous for mint iced tea, sandwiches, and soups, but on weekends, the namesake and business owner does catering for weddings. I had not heard of her until a florist in Athens referred us to her...I never suspected a lunch time cafe would cater a wedding so thankfully we got the hookup! Marti is a no nonsense type of woman that I love...there were sweat stains at the armpits of her shirt and flour on the front of her shirt...for some reason, that really won me over :)