A Weekend Away

Gabe and I went to a wedding for the weekend. Just the two of us, no kids. Woo!  My mom watched the kiddos and they all survived. Here are a few highlights of our weekend adventure:

The wedding was along the Oregon coast. We went on Friday afternoon, rode a small ferry across the Salmon River to a camp, and stayed through Sunday afternoon.  When we arrived, the grooms were on the beach to greet us (along with their doggie).

As a wedding gift for Chris and Brian, Gabe and I chipped in for a hog to roast for the feast. Gabe worked as an integral member of the pig roasting team.  They hoisted the pig into a special roaster and added...

...fire!  It's amazing what fire can do to transform a pig carcass into a savory feast.  

In serendipitous timing, I'm reading the book, "Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation" by Michael Pollan. (thanks to Donna and Eric who recommended the title and sent me a copy!).  The first part of the book talks about tranforming raw food into cooked food using fire, and the example is a whole-hog barbeque. Pollan writes, "...as much as anything else, grilling meat over a fire today commemorates the transformative power of cooking itself, which never appears so bright or explicit as when wood and fire and flesh are brought together under that aromatic empire of smoke."  

Speaking of feasts... the grooms are ALL about food. Both of them have worked in the catering business and one of them works as the head chef in one of the best restaurants in Corvallis. Gabe and I knew, as soon as we received the invitation, that the food at this wedding would be bar none.  Each meal was a buffet of hand-made, delicious foods, artfully presented. This is a photo of breakfast. I wish I had thought to take a photo of the main dinner but my hands must have been too busy clutching my plate.

 Do I look relaxed?  yea...

On Saturday we hiked up to a bluff that overlooked the coastline. Yowza! What a view. And the weather was outrageously lovely:  70 degrees, no breeze, blue sky and endless sunshine. It hardly felt like Oregon.

Here we are, dressed up for the ceremony, which was held on this beautiful beach. We sat with the sun warming our backs, watching the wedding, the sand and dune grass in the background, and a large, green coastal headland as the backdrop. One of the readings at the wedding was a reading that Gabe and I had at our own wedding--it was touching to hear those words again in that beautiful place and to contemplate our journey these 15+ years.  

Here is that pig again, after 10 hours over hot coals. Transformed. The guys had to spend almost two hours getting it carved up for the feast.  I arranged the serving "platter" which was a huge ash board, adorned with local greenery (salal and ferns) and apples and oranges. The pig head was at one end of the board and the platters of meat lined the length. It was quite a show, just as the grooms had wished. 

After the feast and the toasts and the dancing, people gathered on the beach for a bonfire and fireworks. The stars and planets and the milky way shone above us. Gabe and I haven't seen such great star-viewing conditions in years, so that was a special treat.

All in all, it was a lovely, enchanting event and a most lovely weekend!

LOTS more photos here http://amandaphotographic.com/2013/10/28/brian-chris-wedding-weekend-at-camp-westwind/