Paul (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fremantlebiz) wrote,@ 2008-05-13 08:44:00 |
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The American wedding of the year
I haven't seen the name of the former Australian PM Mr Howard mentioned as one of the guests at the wedding for President Bush's beautiful daughter Jenna last weekend. This is strange because it was only last year that John and George were still great mates. Peas-in-a-pod in the socio/political sense. Mr Howard and his wife had even been guests at the Bush family ranch in Crawford, Texas. Rumour is that Mr Bush had a sign made up to place on the door of the guest bedroom, "John H. slept here." Zzzzzz!
They were heady days. I think the former British PM Mr Blair and his wife also tested the same facility. If the recent reports of Mrs Blair's memoiric revelations about her guestly visits to the Queen's residence at Balmoral are anything to go by, Mr Bush might have had to order a sign to read, "Tony B didn't get any sleep here."
We've seen some nice official photos of the Bush/Hager wedding. It appeared to be a very civilised affair, fully catered of course. Nice people, nice clothes, nice weather, nice food. Well of course they had nice food, not prairie dog stew either
What do wealthy Texans get to eat at exclusive weddings? It seems that the bride wanted to keep the menu secret. Outsiders might not have understand her craving for fillet of armadillo served up on a compote of cactus. Probably the guests wouldn't either, that's why it was eventually deleted from the menu.
But I've done a bit of serious research and discovered a few hints of what might have really been served up at the wedding breakfast.
All good weddings have a rehearsal. These can be a pain in the old saddle department. However the Bush rehearsal also included a meal tryout at a place called The Range Restaurant.
Presumably the name related to the famous Texas cowboy song, Home on the range. "Oh give me a home, where the buffaloes roam, and the skies are not cloudy or grey..." By now any American readers will be starting to appreciate that I know quite a lot about American foklore.
The Range Restaurant looks like it was a good choice - not a hint of prairie dogs or armadillos on the menu. I don't know what chicken empenadas or quessadillas are, but as long as they're not a colloquial name for barbecued chicken feet, I reckon I could eat them until the Texan cows came home. Whatever, it sounds like there's no need to send in Scottish TV chef, "effing" Gordon Ramsay to give them a few pointers.
So what was on the rehearsal menu? How about lemon-crusted rainbow trout and grilled pork tenderloin over roasted corn pudding. It was the Henry the groom's 30th birthday, so he was also served a lemon-vanilla cake. I suppose this menu was something a bit different from the real breakfast. They wouldn't have wanted the same thing twice so close together, unless it was fricasseed armadillo. Another thought just occurred. Do they call wedding feasts in Texas breakfasts, or simply eats? "Hey everybody, lets eat." "Yahoo!"
I've read the Mr Bush is a fast eater. A case of wham bam, thank you ma'am. When he eats everyone eats, when he finishes everyone finishes, when he pays... It's good to be a king - or president.
There's actually is a photo on the Whitehouse website of one of the courses. It's obviously one which the guests ate with their fingers because there were no forks provided. The official description doesn't say what it is, but it looks like jellied rhubarb layered with rich-crab mousse and a slice of guava on top. "Hot diggetty dog!" (That's Texan speak too.)
Now every decent wedding has a decent wedding cake. The Bush cake was decent and a bigun' at that. Four tiers - a Texas cake no less. But there was something else about it which caught my eye. The top tier was lopsided. My guess is that some goon from the Whitehouse security detail had done a close inspection for a booby trap and had an accident. Oops! He may be on his way to Iraq by now.
© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.
Click here to visit 'dogandcatwatcher', my YouTube website.
Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.
About the writer
Click here to see our backyard.
Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!
I haven't seen the name of the former Australian PM Mr Howard mentioned as one of the guests at the wedding for President Bush's beautiful daughter Jenna last weekend. This is strange because it was only last year that John and George were still great mates. Peas-in-a-pod in the socio/political sense. Mr Howard and his wife had even been guests at the Bush family ranch in Crawford, Texas. Rumour is that Mr Bush had a sign made up to place on the door of the guest bedroom, "John H. slept here." Zzzzzz!
They were heady days. I think the former British PM Mr Blair and his wife also tested the same facility. If the recent reports of Mrs Blair's memoiric revelations about her guestly visits to the Queen's residence at Balmoral are anything to go by, Mr Bush might have had to order a sign to read, "Tony B didn't get any sleep here."
We've seen some nice official photos of the Bush/Hager wedding. It appeared to be a very civilised affair, fully catered of course. Nice people, nice clothes, nice weather, nice food. Well of course they had nice food, not prairie dog stew either
What do wealthy Texans get to eat at exclusive weddings? It seems that the bride wanted to keep the menu secret. Outsiders might not have understand her craving for fillet of armadillo served up on a compote of cactus. Probably the guests wouldn't either, that's why it was eventually deleted from the menu.
But I've done a bit of serious research and discovered a few hints of what might have really been served up at the wedding breakfast.
All good weddings have a rehearsal. These can be a pain in the old saddle department. However the Bush rehearsal also included a meal tryout at a place called The Range Restaurant.
Presumably the name related to the famous Texas cowboy song, Home on the range. "Oh give me a home, where the buffaloes roam, and the skies are not cloudy or grey..." By now any American readers will be starting to appreciate that I know quite a lot about American foklore.
The Range Restaurant looks like it was a good choice - not a hint of prairie dogs or armadillos on the menu. I don't know what chicken empenadas or quessadillas are, but as long as they're not a colloquial name for barbecued chicken feet, I reckon I could eat them until the Texan cows came home. Whatever, it sounds like there's no need to send in Scottish TV chef, "effing" Gordon Ramsay to give them a few pointers.
So what was on the rehearsal menu? How about lemon-crusted rainbow trout and grilled pork tenderloin over roasted corn pudding. It was the Henry the groom's 30th birthday, so he was also served a lemon-vanilla cake. I suppose this menu was something a bit different from the real breakfast. They wouldn't have wanted the same thing twice so close together, unless it was fricasseed armadillo. Another thought just occurred. Do they call wedding feasts in Texas breakfasts, or simply eats? "Hey everybody, lets eat." "Yahoo!"
I've read the Mr Bush is a fast eater. A case of wham bam, thank you ma'am. When he eats everyone eats, when he finishes everyone finishes, when he pays... It's good to be a king - or president.
There's actually is a photo on the Whitehouse website of one of the courses. It's obviously one which the guests ate with their fingers because there were no forks provided. The official description doesn't say what it is, but it looks like jellied rhubarb layered with rich-crab mousse and a slice of guava on top. "Hot diggetty dog!" (That's Texan speak too.)
Now every decent wedding has a decent wedding cake. The Bush cake was decent and a bigun' at that. Four tiers - a Texas cake no less. But there was something else about it which caught my eye. The top tier was lopsided. My guess is that some goon from the Whitehouse security detail had done a close inspection for a booby trap and had an accident. Oops! He may be on his way to Iraq by now.
© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.
Click here to visit 'dogandcatwatcher', my YouTube website.
Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.
About the writer
Click here to see our backyard.
Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!
