Welcome back to Wednesday Links!
I have to thank all of you for the outpouring of gluten free recipes and resources in the comments and in my inbox. My partner all says thank you; the biggest thing they’re struggling with is quick and easy stuff, like ordering takeout requires more thought and consideration.
Also, it’s officially wedding season! Two of my friends got married this month and we have three weddings to attend in June, including my brother’s! My partner and I are so happy to celebrate with all of our friends and family for their special days, but this also reinforces our decision to not have a wedding because wow…it looks exhausting. (Personal aside that we plan to elope, buy a house, and start a family in the next three years and a wedding ceremony seems like a good budget cut.) If any of you eloped, I’d love to hear your elopement story!
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Thanks to EC Spurlock for this link! Fantasy romance often takes inspiration from fairy tales and Reactor has a great piece on the pros and cons of this.
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I stumbled across this antique salesman trying vintage recipes. So far, he’s only tried two but I hope more are on the way.
View this post on Instagram
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In the SBTB Patreon Discord, I was talking about the Electric Callboy concert I attended recently and their new collab with BABYMETAL and the wonderful Kate showed me this article that really encapsulates how goofy and fun the vibes were at this metal show.
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Sometimes, we wind up on the weird side of YouTube and that’s how I found this silly ASMR video.
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
That tuna jello mold ranks up there as one of the most disgusting mid-century recipes I’ve ever seen, topped only by the other one he did of the bologna mold with the smashed peas! On the other hand, he’s adorable. I was feeling a bit grim today, and those vids definitely lifted my mood.
I’m not married, but my entire immediate family eloped: parents to Vegas and brother to an Undisclosed Location on an Undisclosed Date in the wilds of their state with only a friend licensed to perform weddings, someone to do my SIL’s hair, and the dog. I am a firm believer and would absolutely continue the family tradition in the unlikely circumstance that I ever get married.
Married back in the Dark Ages when matching bridesmaid dresses and shoes were de rigueur. Run away, elope and have a fabulous time. Weddings are exhausting, usually expensive and … ugh. Yeah, run.
If you love Alyssa Cole, Cat Sebastian, Rebekah Weatherspoon, Dominic Lim, or LGBTQ+ romance in general, you’ll want to check out this virtual panel, “Romancing the Rainbow”, moderated by SBTB contributor Tara! Register in advance to get the Zoom link. It’s on Wednesday, June 12th, at 6:30 EST.
https://www.wake.gov/events/romancing-rainbow-june-12th-2024-0630pm
Not married, but if I ever get married, it will so very simple and low key (and cheap). Not eloping, because you can’t do that and have an Islamically valid wedding if you’re a woman who has never been married – gotta have that wali present. The thought of anything more complicated than a super-simple masjid wedding with nikkah contract signing and then going to the fabulous Indian buffet after for the “reception” meal makes me want to crawl under a rock. I don’t know how anyone shells out all that money or spends a year+ planning without melting down from the stress. I agree that putting that money down on a house seems WAY more fiscally responsible.
I eloped with a person my family had not met. Thirty years later, I’m still happily married and don’t regret it. Though you don’t get any gifts and your family is annoyed, the only thing I would change would be to take more pictures. Fun fact, our families still have not met each other. They’re all nice people. It just seemed stressful.
Great selection today! I totally recommend eloping. My husband and I got married in the foothills of Albuquerque, with two friends as witnesses, an officiant, and her boyfriend asked photographer. He wasn’t a very good photographer, but otherwise it was incredible. Then we went for lunch at an Indian buffet. The whole thing cost us about $300. Much better than spending a fortune and all the stress of planning a wedding and dealing with guests!
As someone who also has a GF partner, Mexican and Indian restaurants are your friend, as many dishes are naturally GF! Thai and Vietnamese are usually good options, too. (Though watch out for soy sauce, as most varieties use wheat as a thickener.)
Rather than try to convert recipes or find gluten substitutions, we primarily went the route of finding dishes that never call for wheat or gluten in the first place. It’s worked out pretty well, but means that we don’t have many recipes to share when friends/family come asking.
(However, I will say that if you really want to try GF baking, do yourself a favor and pick up some xanthan gum. It’s expensive, you’ll ask yourself “How important can it really be?” but the truth is it really helps with structure. GF baking can be great fun, but it’s definitely its own specific beast, separate from regular baking. On that note, if you need a quick dessert, King Arthur’s GF brownie mix is AMAZING. Better than most regular brownie mixes, imo, and you can change the 2 Tbsp water to 2 Tbsp coffee or Grand Marnier or whatever, if you want a hint of another flavor!)
I tried to elope but my hairdresser turned me in (he was also my sister’s hairdresser and way too gossipy.) I did put my foot down and had a very limited guest list, bought my and my bridesmaid’s dresses off the rack, and got married in a 300-year-old country inn which also provided the reception dinner and our wedding night accommodations. The only thing we spent serious money on was the rings, because they were the only thing that was going to last more than one day; we had them custom made by a jeweler we met at a craft fair, and they actually still cost less than if we’d bought them at a conventional jeweler. My parents never forgave me for not having a big Italian wedding, but all our friends said it was the nicest wedding they had ever been to.
We went to the courthouse on New Year’s Eve because that’s when we met. We had two friends as witnesses because they’re required. I called my mom from dinner after. He told his folks 3 months later. ♀️ (not my parents not my problem) He also really enjoyed handing a judge a bunch of cash (that’s how you pay for the ceremony)
We had a reception at a state park beach in July (no booze allowed – yay) with catered barbecue, chocolate death cakes from Costco, and friends and family. And presents. After so many years of gift buying, I wasn’t missing that opportunity.
We also had a plate/tray from one of those paint your own pottery places that we had everyone sign instead of a guests book. We took it back to get to glazed and use it at parties and it’s such a fun memory. ❤️
One brother lives in Pennsylvania, and because it’s a common law state, it has a unique wedding option–a Quaker wedding, which is akin to a handfasting. He’s not religious at all, and you don’t have to be. You do have to have a license.
here’s a good description: https://www.phillymag.com/philadelphia-wedding/quaker-wedding-ceremonies-phladelphia/
I think they just had both sets of parents. I wasn’t invited–not offended–and send him a gift anyway.
My other brother had a small wedding at home with a friend officiating. It was a second wedding for both.
If you elope, go ahead and send out announcements. A lot of people in your life will celebrate you and send you a gift because they love you.
If the couple invites both families on a shared vacation, then announces “we were thinking we’d get married this weekend” and has a small ceremony, does that count as elopement? That’s what my sister did, and although it wasn’t exactly a surprise (hmmm, I wonder why we’re vacationing with sis’s fiancé’s family, how mysterious…), I totally get why they would want to avoid an expensive, possibly dramatic party and was just happy to be included. They were able to get a photographer at the last minute, but otherwise there were no plans or trappings and we just cooked dinner afterward. Seemed like a pretty great mix of both worlds.
I was never interested in a wedding, not even a little bit, so my husband and I eloped in 1993. I think you are making an excellent choice! We live in New Jersey, but we eloped to Vermont. We picked Vermont because I love it there, and also you can get married without a blood test or a waiting period. I don’t know if blood tests are still a thing, but they were back in the day.
My parents did throw us a barbeque in their backyard a couple months later, with family and just a few close friends.
Babymetal! I love their video for “Gimme Chocolate”. https://youtu.be/WIKqgE4BwAY?si=Gg-oO8UYa6WlwNkO
I don’t have an elopement story, but the 2 best weddings I’ve attended were both low-key backyard ones.
We didn’t elope, but just had a civil ceremony at the courthouse. Then a couple of weeks later we had a big(ish) party at a local park. Table decorations were bubbles and squirt guns. Bought mismatched cloth napkins and white sheets for table cloths from a thrift store. We still use those napkins. Food was a couple of ginormous sandwiches from Safeway. The only splurge was a fancy cake adjacent thing from a French restaurant/bakery we loved. I think the whole thing came in under $500.