This weekend is our second anniversary and all the clichés apply concerning time going fast and the first years being both an adjustment and an adventure. Though we know that a wedding is just a day and a marriage is a lifetime, looking back at July 29, 2016, I’m proud of how we planned it—focusing on the experience instead of falling victim to Pinterest-y details and what “should” be done. We did keep many traditions (just ask anyone who sat through our 1.5-hour Filipino Catholic ceremony), including thinking of a special wedding favor for our friends and family to take home. Knowing that cooking and food would always be a passion we’d share, we worked with a fabulous local spice shop to create a custom seasoning to gift our guests. Bonus: we’d actually use the leftovers.
We approached Red Stick Spice in Baton Rouge to blend together spices reflecting our Cajun and Asian heritages. Anne and her team were FANTASTIC to work with! They began by making us a few samples with which we cooked up a mess of dishes. After a few days in our test kitchen, we settled on a final product representing my Cajun-ness with ingredients such as cayenne and chicory and Mark’s Asian heritage coming through with lemongrass and ginger. To complete it, I made stickers matching our invitation suite (which was designed by another fabulous local company, The Little Blue Chair) and we bagged them up for our guests to take home, gifting larger containers to our families and wedding party. Getting updates from our friends doing their own #CajsianCooking made the #GeauxingSilva celebration last longer—and we loved hearing their tips and ideas!
Icing on the wedding cake: Red Stick added it to their inventory! I visit it when replenishing our spice rack. We love it with chicken and pork, though it goes well with many pasta dishes and I’ve been known to sprinkle it on avocados and boiled eggs.
It feels great to support local businesses so if you’re in the Baton Rouge area, check out Red Stick Spice on Jefferson Highway for spices, teas, gifts and extracts. Their website also has some delicious recipes (we tried their Aztec chocolate mousse at an event and I made it for Thanksgiving that year). My mom and I stalk their classes, but they fill up so quickly, I hope to get to one soon.
Happy Anniversary, Silva! Thank you for making my culinary world bigger and my world in general better. xoxo
#CAJSIANCOOKING 