dinner issues

[The Proper Wedding]

I have been doing pretty good lately controlling my wedding stress. Up until a minute ago when my stepdad called me complaining about the woman we have cooking dinner.

First of all...WE'RE ONLY HAVING FLIPPING SPAGHETTI!!!!!!! WHY is this so dang hard!? It was hell trying to get ahold of the lady to do it. Then she was planning to come around 3 (reception at 6) to cook it ahead of time. Now she wants to change the shape of the noodle. Stepdad says no. Then she is going on about how it'll be too starchy and stick together if she starts that early. But she apparently has plans later that night, so she doesn't want to start at 5 and then just continue to make it until it's all made (like make it while we're eating it). But she claims that you can't make it ahead of time because the noodles will soak up the sauce if you do it early and just mix it all together to keep it continually heated in the roasters (cuz you can't heat the noodles by themselves, they'd burn).

1. I have never had problems with reheated spaghetti. I always mix up the leftovers so it's all in 1 bowl, noodles and sauce both. Then I reheat it, and never have an issue. 2. my church has spaghetti dinners all the time and they ALWAYS cook the night before, refrigerate, and them mix up and heat TOGETHER....never any problems there...

Just so pissed off that she's waiting until a week before the wedding to give us flipping issues. If she didn't want to do it, she shoulda said no. We woulda someone else from the start. But we stopped looking b/c she agreed to do it. Now what do we do? My stepdad has had it with her. He wants to get someone else. He feels she's trying to back out.

I think it's perfectly fine to make it ahead of time, mix it with the sauce and then just keep it heated with the roaster things. So he's supposedly calling her back right now as I type this to tell her to do that.

We may or may not have dinner at all at my wedding. :bang_head:

I REALLY thought spaghetti would be the easy way out here. This isn't really what I wanted as my wedding dinner. I settled for it. FH doesn't even really care much for it. He only agreed because it would be so cheap. Had I know we'd have these issues I woulda picked something more expensive.

[gwenshack]

Sorry Whitney! I hope it all gets sorted out and the spaghetti is as quick and painless as it should be. :crossfingers:

[The Proper Wedding]

Thank you Gwen

[ChristineLS]

Devil's advocate:

Have you ever made mass spaghetti for a crowd? Back in my youth days, I was in the marching band at my high school, and our first show was a spaghetti dinner. You wanted to be first in line for it for the reasons she mentioned. Mass spaghetti acts differently than spaghetti for dinner. It's like a mob mentality or something. Get a person alone - they are respectable. Get them in a crowd, they are naked and setting cars on fire. 1 lb of spaghetti leftover is fine. 15 and it's doing everything to be obnoxious.

- it can happen that the sauce gets soaked up, and the pasta would stick together. If you're OK with that, go for it.

-The marching band's solution around this was to add more sauce. It ended up very Chef Boyardee. Which was fine, and tasty, but:

-Some people are picky about pasta's texture. You can't get mass al dente spaghetti. I've been yelled at by my grandfather for that before. Like, doesn't make sense, but there is this bizarre pride with it. Add the word "wedding" to it, and no matter what level of formality you actually are having, some people expect it has to be the absolute gourmet or whatever. I think that might be her stress

-She might be trying to back out if she feels she can't get the precise quality under the time constraints and is worried about getting judged

-Spaghetti, due to it's delightfully fun, long windy shape, can stick and turn into one giant object, cutable only by a knife.

Solutions I would suggest:

1. Coat room in lavender. It helps relaxing for everyone involved.
2. Break the spaghetti in half, so the risk reduces of it winding and knotting
3. Douse the pasta with olive oil, and then add the sauce later.
4. Make sure the sauce is AMAZING. That way gratuitous amounts is a good thing (something the marching band never quite got in their attempt to be cheap).

Whatever happens, I know that the spaghetti will be barely paid attention to, because everyone will be watching how much you and Lukas are GLOWING and happy. :D

But I hope the clearing up process is as painless as possible!

[ChristineLS]

In other news, can you send the card of the lady in charge of your church to my old marching band? Sounds like they could use her expertise :rofl:

[DanDanNoodleBowl]

As for the sauce, like christine mentioned, I would be more then happy to send you my great grandma ( from italy) sauce. it is the BEST. My family still makes it every sunday for dinner.


It really is the best:wub:.

I mean, when I hear jarred sauce, my mouth drops, having tasted the best sauce in existence, i couldnt imagine jarred lol

[SunnyAB]

As for the sauce, like christine mentioned, I would be more then happy to send you my great grandma ( from italy) sauce. it is the BEST. My family still makes it every sunday for dinner.


Post it, post it! PLEASE post it. :D

[The Proper Wedding]

I think I forgot to mention that the lady we hired to make the spaghetti works (owns) at a local Italian restaurant and has spaghetti nights herself. So she can handle it.

And like I said, my church has held spaghetti dinners and have had no problems before. The fill 4 of those large cookers with them no problems at all.

[DanDanNoodleBowl]

Family recipe:

Sauce:
Olive oil
Garlic
Onion
Fresh Basil or Dried
1 can of crushed tomatoes ( feeds 3-4)



Put olive oil in pot- enough to cover the bottom. Add garlic ( make sure it doesnt burn) Add sliced onion and brown. Add crushed tomatoes. Add frsh basil about 4-5 leaves or dried basil( about 1 teaspoon).


Cook on low heat for about 2 hours.


Meatballs:

1 lb. ground beef
Garlic powder ( a few shakes)
One handful grated cheese ( romano)
breadcrumbs to desired texture
raisins


Make into balls. You can either bake in 450 degree oven or brown in olive oil in a pan. Baking is easier. Put on baking sheet that you have coated with Pam spray. Bake at 450 until brown. Add to sauce.




So easyyy!

[Tammy]

Whitney are there any other local places you could call and ask? I'm sorry tou are having these issues so close to the big day!

[SunnyAB]

Thanks for the recipe DanDanNoodleBowl - that is very simple and very close to a sauce I made with fresh tomatoes (and processed/ canned). Always looking for new recipes though! :D

The Proper Wedding - I'm sure she is trying to get out of this, because as you said, its not that hard to do. Even if she did it ahead of time - she 'should' know the tricks to keep it as fresh tasting as possible.

Now I am no expert, but I did this for a bigger group not that long ago. Not that this will help you TPW - but in case others are curious - I cooked my spag the night before, just a wee bit less than al dente, drained and rinsed it a bit, then sprinkled with olive oil to prevent sticking - kept lifting/mixing the spag as I sprinkled the olive oil. I used a fair bit, but you couldn't tell or see it (starch is what makes things sticky, but also grabs the sauce. We were having different kinds of sauces to add, meat sauce, veggie sauce and al fredo - that we kept in crock pots, and everyone added their preference. I decided to rinse the spag anyway, and the sauce 'attached' just fine.) I let it air cool a while, then put it in big bowls, sort of loosely - not packed down, and put in the fridge. The next day I used my large steamer - put the spag in there, boiled a couple of kettles of water just before serving, poured the boiling water over the spag (again lifting and sort of fluffing it up) to reheat; then put back in the bowl, piping hot and fresh as new and ready to serve. Since we didn't have warming dishes or anything, I put some boiling water in a bowl and set the bowl with spag in it over it, again just to keep it warm and flexible. Turned out great!

Anyway TPW - hope you don't mind the minor hijack. I hope this lady quits flaking out on you. Or maybe a couple of your church ladies would pitch in? Good luck!

[The Proper Wedding]

lol that's ok

We got things settled (I think). I think her main problem was that she didn't want to waste the TIME on only $200 (which is what she quoted us for the spaghetti). But we added lasagna to the menu, which now brings our grand total up to $700. She's much happier to do this for us and spend the time actually cooking it there and staying there a bit longer.

[scarymary48]

Glad it's all worked out for you!

[SunnyAB]

That's super! Good for you.