Renew Our Vows?

Brian and I were married in July of 2001 and had our own version of a fairy tale wedding. Really, it was wonderful and I feel no need to recreate it or redo anything about it.

I've kind of poo-poohed people renewing their vows, because to us, the vows we took are forever. No need to renew. The idea of renewing implies that they're stale or old.

However...
While I was a the Disney Social Media Moms celebration, I learned about a new special promotion that Disney Fairy Tale Weddings has rolled out for their 20th anniversary. All this year, they're offering a special vow-renewal package for $1,991 ~ in honor of the year they started in 1991.
         "In honor of the platinum year, Disney has also created a specially priced wedding package perfect for vow renewals: the Memories Collection. Throughout the 20-month celebration, couples are invited to create new memories through intimate ceremonies at Walt Disney World Resort. The Memories Collection includes up to six guests, including the couple, a floral bouquet for the bride, solo violinist, transportation (three-hour limousine charter) and a professional photographer for one hour.

Ceremony locations include: Conch Key Marina at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Narcoossee’s Landing at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, and Luau Beach at Disney’s Polynesian Resort."

Who wouldn't want a ride in Cinderella's carriage? ©Disney

Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings Pavilion adjacent to the Grand Floridian resort on the Seven Seas Lagoon. ©Disney

I wonder if I could talk Brian into a return trip?

I attended the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, the conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, the conference and meals for me, several amazing meals for our entire family, park hopper passes for each of us, and some pretty incredible swag items to take home. Disney did not ask me to write about this event, and all opinions are my own.

Princess Wedding Dresses, a la Disney

Last week, I was treated to a Disney Fairy Tale Weddings Platinum Soirée at Walt Disney World which TOTALLY made me want to renew my wedding vows there. The Fairy Tale Weddings Pavilion at the Grand Floridian is so beautiful and magical, and Disney's attention to detail and guest experience management have made me a believer.

Disney and Alfred Angelo unveiled a series of seven Princess-inspired wedding gowns last fall, and they were available in stores in February of 2011. They're really beautiful, and I love that they each tell a little story about the personality or style of the muse princess. My favorite is Snow White... probably because of the nature motifs!

Here's the original Cinderella dress, which I think is just dreamy. Why can't wearing wedding dresses be an accepted practice for old married ladies like me?

One of the treats of the event was getting to see an exclusive preview of the "Cinderella Platinum Anniversary Gown" created by Alfred Angelo in honor of the 20th Anniversary of Disney Weddings.

You know what is totally silly and embarrassing? When the model walked down the aisle wearing this dress, I actually got all misty-eyed. Seriously. It's not even a real wedding, and I've never met this person. I can't help it, I'm a sap.
I don't have a good picture of the dress in person (probably because I was all silly sappy), but Disney Go To Girl has a great one on her site here. 

I attended the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, the conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, the conference and meals for me, several amazing meals for our entire family, park hopper passes for each of us, and some pretty incredible swag items to take home. Disney did not ask me to write about this event, and all opinions are my own.

The Girlchild's Birthday Dinner

My mom always asked my brothers and me what we wanted for our birthday dinners. It was so fun to get to choose, but I always chose the same thing: Beef Stroganof. My mom makes the most amazing Beef Stroganof. One year, I wanted a pink party, so she made strawberry cake, served strawberry ice cream, and for the meal we had ham and pink mashed potatoes. My mom inspires me in so many ways!

For her birthday, the Girl said she wanted "Birthday Soup" and "Pink Noodles," so I stole a page from Mom's book.

Toast!

When questioned, she explained that Birthday Soup is made with chicken broth, potatoes and tomatoes. Easy enough! I have a template* for soup that works for me every time.

ANNA'S BIRTHDAY SOUP

Saute in a dutch oven with a little olive oil:

1 medium onion, peeled & diced

4-5 potatoes, peeled & diced (I used a couple Yukon golds mixed in with baking potatoes. Baking potatoes are best, but I was running low. Yukons aren't my first choice for this because they get a little rubbery when mashed, but they worked fine mixed in the soup.

sea salt & Penzey's India Tellicherry black pepper (my fave)

When softened a bit, add 

3 cloves of minced garlic

14 oz (1 can) stewed tomatoes

28 oz (1 large can) crushed or diced tomatoes

2 quarts of organic chicken broth

About a tablespoon total of dried parsley & basil

Simmer gently for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are all the way soft.

Turn off heat, puree using an immersion blender, and season to taste.

At this point, I added a touch of cream, which does not follow my usual soup format. Jeanie wisely also added a four-pepper blend, which really was perfect.

Serve with freshly grated parmigiano Reggiano and crusty bread.

OK, so Birthday Soup... Check.

Anna & AmmaKee with Birthday Soup. It's kind of pink, anyway.

"Pink Noodles" were a little more tricky. At first I thought about pureeing beet or tomato into my pasta dough, but that wouldn't really be pink enough, and it would take a long time to roast the beets. So I settled on food coloring. Fortunately, I have several different colors of the Wilton cake-decorating colors and was able to add enough blue to balance out the orange-ness of hot pink added to eggs. Also fortunately, I had my sister-in-law Tammy there to help me figure it out.

I use Giada De Laurentiis's fresh pasta recipe, FYI.

The result was a delightfully off-putting hot pink pasta. 

But what to serve over the Pink Noodles? What else is pink and delicious? I'll tell what is pink and delicious. Shrimp and pancetta, that's what. Here's what I did:

Saute chopped pancetta and sliced crimini mushrooms until mushrooms are about halfway softened. Add a little butter to get the rendering started, as well as a tiny bit of salt (not too much since the pancetta is salty) and some fresh ground pepper.

Pour in about 2 cups of dry white wine, and reduce a bit until the alcohol is mostly cooked off.

Add one pound of bay scallops and 20 oz (2 bags in this case) of medium-sized raw shrimp. Bubble gently until the scallops and shrimp are just cooked, and pour over the pasta.

Pink Noodles, with Shrimp & Bay Scallops. I know it looks nasty, but it was actually quite delicious.

 Here are a few more pics from the dinner party:

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake Marbled with Pureed Strawberry

Two Papas. Note Mike's t-shirt: Anna as a newborn!

Festive, girly-girl table

Sorry to take pictures of you all eating...

Jeanie & me

Some Litwins: Brian, Mike & Tammy

Do you have a favorite Birthday Meal?

What do you think of Anna's Pink Noodles?

Let me know!

*Soup template: Instead of tomatoes, any veggies will do. Any flavor of broth will do. Instead of potatoes, sweet potatoes or squash.

Wordless Wednesday: Spooooooky

Anna as Ladybug Girl, in front of our house (w/all our spooky décor):

Here are the neighbor kids, after chili & snacks, ready for trick-or-treating!

We had about 24 or so people over (haven't actually counted) for pre-trick-or-treating dinner. I love this neighborhood SO MUCH! I feel so blessed to have such great neighbors that we want to hang out with.

I didn't go out last night

Man, I hate missing costume opportunities. Last night, I didn't go to a witches party. Arguably the best idea EVER: a bunch of moms dressed witchy, descending on a karaoke bar. I went last year and it was a BLAST. I also didn't go to Equity Foundation's fundraiser -- an over-the-top costume party with amazing entertainment, all to support a good cause.

After being gone at work all day I realized my kids needed me at home. So the Daddy Man made grilled cheese sandwiches, and we made ghost candles. I had some feelings of longing when I started seeing the facebook posts from all the parties. I almost experienced a little regret, until I reminded myself how much fun my kids were having. I can't say it was the easiest decision. I'm glad I made the choice I did, but I a little bit feel like I missed out on some super fun last night.

I don't have any glamorous photos of amazing parties, but I do have these awesome ghost candles that we made last night!

 Here's my silly Girl Child, wearing an infant-size pumpkin costume:

 More ghosts...

 And a few of the jack-o-lantern candles we made last week:

Happy Halloween!