Meet The Team / Sarah Christine

When it comes to the end of the wedding, you're faced with the decision of whether or not the wedding favor is worth even picking up to take home. Let's face it: Mints and almonds just don't make the cut anymore. With all the creative and tasty ideas available today, the bar has been raised for increasingly unique favors.

It's safe to say that with me as the bride, my guests will assume they should take home something edible, but what, exactly? So far, the best favors I've come across are miniature milk and cookies, but that can add up quickly.

Back in March I asked you all to send in ideas for local foods in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia that I could use in the welcome baskets for my wedding. After an incredible amount of responses flooded the comments section I decided to go down to D.C. and make a weekend out of sampling all of your suggestions (I know, tough job).

While I couldn't get my hands on everything, I sure did try, and from cupcakes and cookies to root beer and chocolates, each of your suggestions proved uniquely tasty and memorable.

So what made the cut? Delicious pictures are after the jump.

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As traditional wedding activities such as throwing the bouquet and finding the garter come and go in popularity, so too does the traditional wedding cake. Jon and I are not cake people -- we're more the brownie, cookie, doughnut and ice cream types. So when it came time to make the decision of whether of not to have a wedding cake, we initially shrugged it off. Cakes can range anywhere from $100 to thousands of dollars. With flavors ranging from classic chocolate and vanilla to dulce de leche and s'mores, the options have certainly kept up with the times. Yet, even when you do find a great tasting cake, most people don't even touch it once it's sliced and on a plate.

That said -- call me a traditionalist -- part of me still wants to actually feed my new husband on our first wedded day together. We started playing around with options -- cupcakes (been there, done that), bars, mini pies -- we just can't pinpoint what we want.

Did you offer a dessert bar or cake or both at your wedding? Especially if you offered something out of the ordinary, please share your sweet ideas with me in the comment section.



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With thousands of cookbooks lining bookstore shelves (not to mention floating in the online stratosphere), where should a bride start? Many brides-to-be are utter novices in the kitchen.

In my case, I was lucky enough to grow up in a household with a perpetually-cooking mom always sharing her secrets to success, but for those not as lucky, where did you begin? Did you start with a straightforward Rachael Ray book and work your way up? Or did you dive right into Julia Child?

Please share your favorite starter cookbooks for basic culinary knowledge. Even better, those of you who know how to entertain like a pro without breaking a sweat (or bursting into tears), let me know what I can't live without. It seems that sometimes cooking is intimidating because nine times out of 10, we start with the wrong cookbooks.

After reading through your favorites, I'll gather up the best and showcase them on an upcoming Hungry Bride post -- which may include yours!

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'Wichcraft'
Recipes by Tom Colicchio with Sisha Ortuzar
Text by Rhona Silverbush
Photos by Bill Bettencourt
Clarkson Potter -- 2009
Buy it at Amazon

It's not unusual to find one of us standing in the lunch crowd line at the 'wichcraft so conveniently located right downstairs from our office building. Can you blame us? Anyone who's ever tasted a sammie designed by Tom Colicchio and Sisha Ortuzar's knows exactly what we are talking about -- this isn't your ordinary sandwich, it's a sandwich adventure. For those who have wondered, sleepless, how they could replicate those tastes at home, pine no more: This cookbook divulges all the be-'wiching secrets for your munching pleasure.

Takeaway tips: Hoagie-making is taken to a new level by essays that instruct the reader on stocking the ideal pantry and define the architecture of a structurally sound sandwich. We also love the picture-packed "menu" at the beginning of the book that gives snapshots of the rest of the book (so much better than a Table of Contents!). The tome concludes with a source guide including all of the ingredients the shop uses, most of which are available online.

Quality of pictures: Mouthwatering -- some of the most detailed and appealing food porn we've ever seen.

See what we tested and whether it's worth buying -- after the jump.