Weekend Update: Eliasof-Karasik Wedding

I don't know how interesting this will be to the random stumbler upon BillyBlog, but part of the mission statement of this endeavor is to serve as journal and chronicle of the personal. Nonetheless, I'll try and keep it short and sweet.

It is a matter of public record that Stefanie Eliasof and Gregg Karasik were married this past weekend in Tarrytown. Although their nuptials were not reported in the New York Times' "Vows" column, I'm sure that somewhere their marriage will be reported as news.

Ms. Eliasof is cousin to my dear wife, Melanie, thus making me the bride's cousin-in-law. We were invited to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night at Blu blū Riverfront Bar and Bistro, in the town of Hastings-on-Hudson. Here was a view of the sunset while we mingled prior to the meal:


One of what I considered the highlights of the evening, as we hung out with the cousins et al., was Melanie's collaboration with her kin on re-constructing a family tree, of sorts:


I strongly recommend this as a useful exercise at any large family function.

I enjoyed the Wild Mushroom Raviolis with sage cream sauce & white truffle oil as an appetizer, with the orecchiette pasta, sweet Italian sausage, broccoli rabe & roasted tomatoes as the entree. For dessert I had the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate & caramel sauces.

The following day was full of excitement, even before we left for the wedding. Our eldest, Jolee, received her acceptance letter into I.S. 187, which many consider the best junior high school in Brooklyn. If you are going by the highest percentage of students that pass the state exams, it's certainly at the top of the heap (read a review here). Here are the citywide averages:

I.S. 187, which is grades 6-8, have percentages of 98% (grade 6), 99% (grade 7), and 96% (grade 8). BillyBlog often celebrates the younger athlete in the family, but is just as proud of the older spawn as well.

So after dropping the kids off at their cousins, we headed off to the wedding locale, Tarrytown House in, you guessed it, Tarrytown, NY.

It was a lovely wedding and the weather was delightful. Here are some pictures:

The three fl

The table centerpieces were magnificent, towering over the guests:


It may be difficult to see, but the following morning, one of the trees was wearing several wayward kippot:

After brunch on Sunday, Shayna headed off with Grandpa Barry to see the Yankees continue to unravel in the Bronx.

Meanwhile, Jolee, Melanie and I wandered around the Westchester Mall, which had numerous leather couches on which to doze while the ladies shopped and caught a movie at the City Center 15, Cinema De Lux:


The movie was enjoyed by all, although it was my least favorite of the Shreks.

After Shayna and Grandpa returned from the game, we joined Jolee's godmother Brenda for dinner at P.F. Chang's China Bistro.

Then we drove back to Brooklyn to begin to recover from the weekend. Barry grabbed us some cheesecake from our favorite baker, Paneantico.

But wait! There was still more weekend! On Memorial Day, the girls and I went early to the park with Grandpa to hit the ball around.

Then we caught the Kings County Memorial Day Parade in Bay Ridge. In its 140th year, this is the longest-running Memorial Day Parade in the United States.