Yum!

On Wednesday night we went to the Marriott to sample our wedding menu options. Since I was out of town during the Marriott's official tasting celebration (supposedly they go all out and have the ballroom decorated and set up like an actual reception, I've heard it is really cool.  Kind of disappointed that we had to miss it!), we were able to set up a private tasting opportunity. We brought a tasting crew with us and we knew we were in good hands.

Our tasting committee - Best Man John, FOB John, MOH Emily, Matt and I - excited to try some food!

Matt and I had narrowed the options down to four that we would like to try- one chicken, one fish, one pork and one beef.  Out of those, we had to narrow it down to two options (plus there will be a vegetarian option) and we had to pick one out of two salads.

Caution...the rest of this post contains more details about our food than anyone probably cares to know...

First up was the salad. Matt had already come to terms with the fact that he would have to try the salad, despite his hatred of all things green. He choked down some Caesar salad and then actually enjoyed the spinach salad option! Okay maybe he didn't enjoy it...but he didn't hate it, and that's a big deal for Matt! John and I were voting for Caesar, Emily and Matt voted for spinach, and Dad didn't really have an option. Then John, in a total Foodie moment, decided we should wait and see which entrees we were going to pick and pair them with the appropriate salad. After we all made fun of his sophisticated salad logic, we agreed and moved on.

The first entree was a roasted halibut in a dill cream sauce served with a rice polenta and green beans. Best. Fish. Ever. We had all cleared our plates in a matter of seconds...this could be a hard process if they are all this good!

Mmm...fish

Second option was ribeye with a brandy reduction sauce served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. The ribeye was good...but not outstanding. Matt wasn't a fan of the sauce, and none of us were overwhelmed by the meat, although the potatoes were awesome and I am a huge fan of asparagus.

Matt enjoying his ribeye

Third was chicken picatta served with baby red potatoes and assorted squashes. Although Matt didn't care for the squash, for the most part we were all a big fan of everything on our plates.

Emily and Dad excited about their chicken...

...But not as excited as John was!

And last was pork tenderloin with a kahlua sauce served with sour cream mashed potatoes and asparagus and carrots. Ohhhhh my gosh, this might be the best thing I've ever eaten. I loudly declared, "I don't care about everyone else, but I am eating this at my wedding."  I also asked the chef if he would come to my house and make me kahlua sauce with all my meals. Aaaaamazing. (I apologize if I've now over-hyped this and it lets you down, but it was delicious.)

Yum, I want to eat it again!

We took a vote and unanimously decided on the fish and the pork. Then after a brief discussion, we decided on rice with the fish, and the sour cream potatoes for the pork. And green beans for everyone since we love them. We then asked John, who we had now deemed our salad connoisseur, to determine which salad paired best with our entrees and he went with the spinach.  Done!

Here we are, stuffed, with all of the options from the day!

And then, the friendly people at the Marriott decided that we needed to try their desserts, even though we will be serving cake at the wedding.  Score!

I was a little bit excited...apparently I hadn't eaten enough already!

At the end of the day, Matt decided that he was going to be eating the fish at the wedding and I will be eating the pork. Good thing we got that important decision out of the way!

Practicing holding our wedding meals of choice

We didn't decide on a kids option or vegetarian...we'll leave that for another day.  We all left saying that we couldn't wait for the wedding so we could eat the food again!  Thanks Marriott!!