Another Wedding Post

We have a wedding next door tomorrow. Because some of my blog posts are being held up by my Samtredia-based inability to upload videos, I'm gonna have to write up another lame wedding post. However, since the general themes won't change much ("The bride and groom arrived... and then they DANCED!"), this post will focus on anything and everything that sets this wedding apart from others.

1) They made Jello.


Our fridge, which is plugged in for the first time in months, is full of large trays of Jello made from scratch. I didn't want to get my hopes up when I saw it; I told myself it was the icky jelly stuff that they use in making sandwich cookies, which turns out something like a vanilla-jelly-vomit Oreo. But no-- this is Jello. Made of gelatin. Sure wish I'd known they had that here... though what I would have done with that information is uncertain. Introduced them to Jigglers, perhaps.

2) The kitchen is full of cake.


When I came downstairs yesterday evening after reading issue upon back issue of Newsweek (provided free to volunteers), there was cake everywhere. Cake covering the sink, the washing machine, the counter space, the woodstove, and the fridge. I count 24 layers in all, and considering that a) There's only enough space in the oven to make one layer at a time, and b) They don't have baking powder here so they have to churn air and fluffiness into every batch of batter with raw arm strength. Few expressions stick in my mind like the stare of intense concentration and strain on my host aunt's sweat-beaded face as she mixed cake batter for New Year's.

3) They made creative use of power tools.


Someone had the inspiration to jam a blender fork into a drill. Since it was clearly jammed in and not part of some new line of culinary power drill accessories, I steered clear, but my host mom took the opportunity to drill her cake icing like nobody's business. Then the drill-blender punched a hole through the bowl in this picture a few minutes later.

4) There was a lot of food.




I guess that's nothing new. And it's not unrealistic to expect that 250 wedding guests will eat a lot of food (repeated question of the evening: "Do Americans have wedding supras like this?"). There's not much else I can say about that, but here's a few pictures. What world food crisis?





























5) My host sister was the maid of honor.