A Wedding and Breakfast

June is off to a great start! I spent the last day of May with AJ, celebrating the marriage of our friends, Tyler and Melissa. It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful day.

We danced and shared a delicious meal with their family and friends. It was touching to see such a loving and devoted couple to be surrounded by all of their loved ones. You could truly see how happy everyone is for them and how supportive and hopeful everyone is for their marriage.

They are a lovely couple who have a blessed future ahead of them! We were so fortunate to be able to share the day with them.

The wedding reception was over by 9 (the happy couple had to be up at 3 am for their honeymoon flight!) so AJ and I went to bed early to rise early on June 1st.

We went to 7:30 mass in the morning at a church in Saugatuck that overlooks the water. After church we swung by Dunkin Donuts. I got a bagel with strawberry cream cheese and an iced French Vanilla coffee—black. AJ got a Coolatta and chicken salad on a croissant. The man loves chicken salad.

I love spending time on the beach, it's such a luxury to have the shore and the Long Island Sound just a five minute drive away. It was before 9 o' clock when we got there so it was still quiet.

We ate and talked about the wedding the night before and about our upcoming wedding. It was a wonderful way to start the day and a great way to start June.

It was an ideal example of what I talked about in yesterday's post. If this morning was any inclination of what June and the rest of the summer holds, I can't wait.

A Bit on Peruvian Food

AJ is Peruvian and it was not until he introduced me to the cuisine of his fine country that I realized just how delicious Peruvian food is. I grew up in Minnesota so I was never introduced to exotic cuisines. Italian food was the usual in our house because we are Italian. Now, I can't get enough Peruvian food and I love eating at AJ's when his parents cook. When we first started dating, I was obsessed with the rice his mother makes. It's just regular white rice, but she uses the perfect amount of oil, salt, and garlic. I think she thought I was a little odd because for a while, all I wanted was rice!

So, AJ also introduced me to what is now one of my favorite restaurants, Fiesta Limeña, a Peruvian place near his house. The food is consistently delicious, the portions are almost too generous, and it's a nice, simple place that is no fuss and so easy to go to. A few years ago we were going too often and AJ had to impose a once-a-month rule on how often we could frequent Fiesta!

The food is the real deal, Peruvian food and I always have AJ order for me since the staff speaks Spanish. We always get anticuchos for our appetizer (beef hearts) and we either order a chaufa or lomo saltado for our entrees. Sometimes we'll get this drink called chicha morada that is made from purple corn!

There are three different Fiesta restaurants in Fairfield County, and I bought us a Groupon to one in Stamford. We went the other night and were so disappointed by the terrible service and waist staff that the moment we sat down, it was clear we will never again stray from our Fiesta restaurant.

But just to give you an idea of how delicious Peruvian food is and how big the servings are, here's a photo from our dinner the other night:

Huge, right?! AJ got the chaufa de mariscos, it's the Peruvian version of fried rice made with seafood. You can also order it with just shrimp, chicken, or beef. 

I got a dish I had never tried before called tallarines verdes because AJ's sister gets it all the time and loves it. It's the Peruvian version of pasta with pesto sauce but you can taste there's a difference between their pesto and Italian pesto. It was so tasty! And it also came with a huge portion of pepper steak which I had to share with AJ. I didn't finish all of my pasta either so I left it in the fridge at AJ's house—hopefully his sister will find it and eat it!

And because I can't resist, this is AJ's 'don't take a photo of me' face. Dinner was a disaster but the food was perfect and that is what matters the most. Also, we were both able to laugh off the ridiculousness of the experience and have fun anyway and I'm so glad we could do that. 

Plus! We also ended up ordering dessert which we never do at our Fiesta. We got a big slice of flan and an alfajor, which I still can't say correctly. 

Because Peruvian food is so delicious and there are so many different types of dishes—all of which I have loved so far—I'm sure I'll be posting about it many more times to share all of the interesting, yummy foods from AJ's home country!

I Graduated!

Ok, so I really graduated in January but on May 18th, 2014 I walked across the terrace of Bellarmine Hall at Fairfield University whilst my name was read into a microphone and I shook the hand of our school's president, Father Von Arx.



I wasn't sure if I was going to walk because I had already graduated and I've been away from school for so long anyway, but it was important to my mom and grandmother and it was actually important to me, as well. It's a big life moment and it really is an experience. It is something to be savored and recognized. College was hard work and it is nice to have it be celebrated.



I LOVED my time at Fairfield. I transferred there at the beginning of the second semester of freshman year and I was a commuter student. Because of these factors, I don't feel like I was a huge part of the Fairfield community. I was only on campus for my classes and occasional lectures throughout the semester. I didn't go to parties or live in the dorm but I still loved my college experience, it was the perfect fit for me. I can not even describe all that I learned while at Fairfield. I read Dante, Shakespeare, Joyce, Woolf, Dickens, and the Bible. I was introduced to ideas and thoughts and practices that I was never privy to before. I owe a lot to my education at Fairfield. I had wonderful professors who really love their area of expertise and who you could tell love teaching. I had so many experiences that are priceless and will aid me in my future as a student, as a writer, and as an academic.