Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude: Cheese, Glorious CHEESE.

Note: Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude is a weekly feature about food, food and more FOOD. No, I do not necessarily want to be a food blogger, but I do LOVE to talk about food prep, cooking food, eating food and making sweet love to food. Okay, maybe not the "sweet love" part. After all, this is not meant to be an homage to 9 1/2 Weeks.

***********
This is the last post of Wedding Week at Rancid Raves. (See Also: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Behold, the Cauldron of CHEESE.


My sister Jill and I have a long history with cheese.  We LOVE cheese.  Cheap, mass-produced cheese. Expensive cheese crafted lovingly by an artisan. Goat cheese.  Cow cheese. Smelly cheese.  Not-smelly cheese.

We... Don't.... Care.

We simply love CHEESE.  Before we had kids, one of our favorite quickie meals when we would get together would be a plate of fruit and cheese.  In fact, one of my favorite meals at the Freestate Brewery in Lawrence, KS is their fruit and cheese plate.  Then, we had kids and for some reason, children require actual meals rather than scraps of fermented milk and bits of fruit.

Jerks.

And fruit.  I loved this shot of picture-perfect Alaina eating a messy cherry with juice dribbling on her fancy dress.  Also, that gorgeous bouffant?  Screamed for a 1960s Picnik effect.



Since Jill and I raised our daughters RIGHT, they love cheese, too.  Lactose intolerant kids need not apply for membership in our family.

Move along, kiddo.  You'll need to find another family to support you and your lame-ass digestive system.

Cheese?  Is serious business, folks.

Literally Literary: Henna For the Heartbroken and a Killer Library Room

I have decided to write separate posts regarding books and I am calling this feature "Literally Literary". Why am I going to such bother? My hope is the post title will provide a subtle hint that I am posting about BOOKS. For those of you where the topic of books results in narcoleptic fits thereby causing you to faceplant onto your keyboard, this will allow you to just click away from the horror that is the written word. Also, I simply adore the word "literally", it is literally my favorite adverb. Bonus points if pronounced with a Rob Lowe/Parks n' Recreation affectation.

Special Note: All posts contain non-affiliate links - I do not have an Amazonian Fancy Pants Affiliate Thingie.
*******

Yesterday, I began reading author Sharell Cook's Henna for the Broken-Hearted (I bought my copy through Amazon, Sharell offers other options here - with it being a non-US publication, it's a little dicey to get a hard copy right now)  Sharell, who writes the blog Diary of a White Indian Housewife, currently lives in Mumbai with her Indian husband. However, Sharell is from Australia and Henna for the Broken-Hearted is the story of how she ended up in India.  We both belong to a few Pardesi groups that I affectionately refer to as my groups for "Brown Boys and the White Girls Who Love Them".  For me, reading Sharell's account of how she came to settle in India is fascinating.  And I thought it worth mentioning here.

As I've mentioned, this is Wedding Week at Rancid Raves (See Also: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).  My sister Maureen's wedding was SO much fun, that I knew a single post wouldn't capture it all.  The wedding and reception was held at Williams House in Lawrence, Kansas.  The house was simply gorgeous and held so much beauty, interest and charm.  Also, the entire house was full of books - stacks of books adorned every table, dresser.  Piles of books were in every room. I could have spent hours just sifting through the titles.

In particular, I fell in love with the library room:


My pictures do not do this room justice.

However, these shots will simply have to suffice when I build my Dream House and I hand these snaps over the architect so that he or she can recreate the entire damned thing.

Including the corner step-ladder, which will be a requirement in the Library Room of My Dreams.

Sniff.

Love Scene (Version 6)

Pink Floyd, Zabriskie Point (Extended 1997 Release)

It's Wedding Week here at Rancid Raves! (Part 1 is here)

By the end of the day, Arun had collected a snail, more than one caterpillar and a myriad of leaves, pods and seeds.  Thank the little baby Zeus for Oxyclean.

I just loved this shot of my dad dancing with Anjali and Alaina.  I know some folks get snarky and nasty with the entire "wearing a kilt" thing, but my dad did the research into our family to get the appropriate tartan.  He loves wearing the kilt and feels completely comfortable doing so.


Furthermore, he looks quite handsome.

All the naysayers can bite me.

Double-fisting the drink.  We were so proud.


We did get the long-awaited cousin shot that my dad has spent years asking for..  This was the best snap of the bunch.

Better luck next wedding?  Sigh.

Nobody got tagged the entire day by the tire swing.  Folks, that is what you call a goddamned miracle.

Love Scene (Version 4)

Pink Floyd, Zabriskie Point (Extended 1997 Release)


Welcome to Wedding Week at Rancid Raves....

My sister Maureen got married this past weekend.

It was such a lovely, fun wedding full of laughter, tears, wine, music and rain.

Let me rephrase that - it was such a lovely, fun OUTDOOR wedding full of laughter, tears, wine, music and rain.

RAIN.

Team Chaos was stylin' and profilin'.  When Arun tried on his tux for the first time, he exclaimed, "I look like a DAD!!!!!!"


The wedding was held at the Williams House in Lawrence KS.    A gorgeous location.


It started to pour rain just as Maureen and my dad started to walk down the path.  The entire ceremony was conducted in the rain.  However, we Oliver Sisters just don't sweat weddings and Maureen had such a sweet, positive attitude.  She didn't let it ruin her day, that's for sure.  And the reception was mostly under a tent.  Which helped.


As did the Oliver wine.

Arun got to spend an entire day with his favorite cousin Brendan.  An ENTIRE DAY.  He was on Cloud 9, folks.

A lobbyist wearing a pin-striped seersucker apparently did a Marty McFly from 1850 Louisiana in order to join us present-day  Seriously, LOVE THE SUIT.

The mad scientist from Jurassic Park took a break from wrangling dinosaurs to join us.  The guy in the kilt double-fisting drinks?  None other than MY DAD.  Clan Frasier, represent!  And yes, there is a bone-handled knife tucked into his sock.  In case we are attacked by a roving band of wild-turkeys.  Or Democrats..

Lookin' good, Mr. Kotter!

Anjali has obsessed about this wedding the entire year.  The cake had purple flowers, per her "instructions" but there was no ice sculpture as she had so hoped there would be.

Alaina and Anjali gained a new cousin-in-law this weekend.  We gained a new brother-in-law (a brother-in-law who dated Maureen long enough to know what it means to be marrying an Oliver.  No excuses, Brian.)

And we couldn't be happier.

Congratulations, Maureen and Brian.  May your basement always be filled with potatoes.