Starters

I shall end the "wedding menu" series with the starters. No recipes here. I think bacon-wrapped sausages, prunes stuffed with foie gras wrapped with thin slices of dried duck magret and yogurt balls rolled in mixed peppercorns pretty much speak for themselves. Once again, I was too ambitious and got carried away. We made way too many canapes and the pastry parcels were too fiddly to do for such a large group of people. I, however, liked the wide variety of starters we had.

Ever since our first trip to Spain about 10 years ago, and its tapas bars, I have been fascinated by these one-bite (or two, if you take small bites like me) munchies served on slices of bread or on skewers. Tapas are Spanish appetizers but you easily can make a meal out of them. I remember tapas bar hopping in San Sebastian savouring the different tapas each had to offer. And there was such variety! Marinated vegetables, grilled seafood, cheese, chorizo, tortillas... We just walked in, ate as much as we wanted, paid, and went on to the next. It was a cheap and filling dinner, not to mention the unique experience. Coming to France, I came across more appetizers, often served during l'apero. Simple aperos consisted of just crisps or saucisson sec or olives, more elaborate ones involved some sort of cooking, baking or at least skewering two or more ingredients onto a toothpick. Suddenly all the rage is the apero dinatoire, same concept as a tapas dinner, basically a meal of appetizers.

Inspired, I decided to have a very large appetizer platter. As a result, the greatest amount of cooking time was spent on the appetizers (desserts came a close second). All that wrapping, skewering, twisting, baking, frying...

As I reminiscently write up this last wedding post, I wish to thank again everyone who had helped in the preparations. I can't help thinking that if I had the chance I'd do it all over again. I can already hear Aunty Lina and Joanne shouting in protest. *grin* Will you come to our silver wedding anniversary?