This post is, in part, a way to say thank you again to our families and friends for all the incredible help and love that went into our wedding almost four years ago. I still can't get over how so many people jumped in generously and took things on, from decorations to photos to food, and made it a day of beauty, celebration, and fun. When we remember our wedding, we rejoice that in marriage we are not alone; we are part of families, part of family.
Thanks Mom for endless planning; thanks Mary for bringing plumerias vacuum sealed all the way from Maui; thanks Thiesens for grilling pork to perfection; thanks Minis for arranging stunning tropical bouquets; thanks Auntie Loretta for leading the army of aunties in weaving ti-leaf leis; thanks Lia and Cara and Cassandra for the pictures; thanks to Isaac's family who hosted rehearsal dinner and made insanely great salads for the wedding; thanks Maile for the cupcakes; thanks Erica for the perfect mango salsa; thanks bridesmaids and groomsmen for traveling on tight budgets to be there with us...the list goes on! Thanks thanks thanks--I seriously could never express my gratitude enough.
What was so fun about the wedding for us was bringing together our two very different families and their traditions. My family has a more "traditional" American approach, though there's an international flavor to their lives too. Isaac's dad's small family is mostly in Arkansas, and his mom and her nine siblings are concentrated in Hawaii and the West Coast and have big-family, Filipino/Hawaiian traditions that I was still very much adjusting to at that point. All of these differences came together smoothly and the fusion was fun, not to mention delicious, since the food was all made by our families.
It was such a DIY wedding that the groom himself was busy cooking the night before, mixing up a marinade for 40 pounds of shoyu chicken and sealing everything up in Ziplock bags. Fortunately there aren't too many ingredients in this delicious Hawaiian recipe:
Shoyu Chicken
We like to use a recipe from Allrecipes.com:
Ingredients
5 lbs skinless chicken thighs
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
4 cloves minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon oregano
Directions
Whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, water, garlic,
onion, ginger, black pepper, and oregano in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Add the chicken thighs, and toss to
evenly coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and marinate the chicken in the
refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Grill; discard the marinade.
If you're not in the mood for grilling, sauté the garlic and onion in a saucepan, add all the rest of the ingredients plus an extra cup of water and bring everything to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and stew about 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked and tender.
Serve with rice, as any good Hawaiian knows.
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