One of my childhood friends got married on December 2nd and we got to celebrate with her. 🎉 The wedding was on a Saturday afternoon in Tulsa (only a 2 hour drive), so we could have just went and came back... but why waste a chance to take a mini vacation and eat out as much as we can??!?
My friend, Chinh, and I met as alter-boys (are they called alter-persons now?) at St. Patrick Catholic church in middle school. (She's a bit younger than I am so I think I was in high school and she was in middle school... regardless it was a loooong time ago). I haven't talked to her in ages so I was pretty surprised when I got the wedding invitation from Zola. I was so surprised that I texted my mom to make sure she also got an invitation, and to make sure that it wasn't spam. LOL My mom texted Chinh's mom and confirmed that yes, we are all invited to celebrate this happy day. 👰
Our first meal in Tulsa was dinner at Zogam Café, a Malaysian restaurant. The restaurant was a tiny spot in a shopping center. It was really hard to find since their sign was unlit and we came when it was already dark. This was my first time having Malaysian food and it was really good. 🥘My favorite part was the runny egg on top of my fried rice. (Wes said he would have preferred his egg fried.) I also liked the bits of anchovy mixed into my rice. The only thing I didn't like too much was that the sweet & sour sauce for the tofu was way too garlicy, but I'm not a huge garlic fan so that's on me and not the restaurant. The restaurant had pictures of Malaysian landscape hung on the walls. One of the pictures showed two men looking off into the mountains, it didn't show their faces but I swear one of the men in the pictures was our waiter. 🌄
We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Daily Grill, the next morning. About the hotel - we stayed at the Hyatt downtown and the valet service was superb. 🚗 Like, seriously the best! The Grinch musical was performing at the BOK center when we arrived, and there was some sort of professional bull riding/rodeo convention going on at the hotel that same night. Regardless of how busy it was, we were still checked in super fast and my car was parked right away. And it was brought right back out as soon as we needed it. We came and went a lot so we got to know both the day and night valet drivers. Both were excellent. 👍 Anyway, back to breakfast. We originally were going to walk to Dily Diner. It was only about a 10 minute walk but it was 37℉, and I only packed a hoodie (silly me forgot my jacket in our haste to leave the house). I got an everything lox bagel and Wes got the steak and eggs. He said the skirt steak was marinated really well. I liked my bagel but I think the restaurant was pricier than the tastiness of the food.
We had some time between breakfast and the wedding ceremony so we went to the German Christkindlmarkt. 🎄🎅 It is an annual tradition at the German Association events center. The events center is very small and the market is very large. I've been a vendor at events that try to cram in as many vendors as possible and it is NOT an enjoyable experience. All the shoppers are funneled through like cattle since there is literally no aisle space and you don't really get to interact with anyone. I did not enjoy the Christkindlmarkt at all because there was zero room to browse & shop. I'm sure the building was 5-10 times over capacity and we'd all be in danger if there was a fire or any other sort of emergency. There were a few booths I would have liked to look in but I couldn't get near them because of the crowds. It was awful. Even so, we still managed to support a few local vendors. We bought honey butter, Wes bought a bookmark, and I bought Christmas ornament (pen pal gift). One of the German association members collects nativity figurines which she displayed in a tiny room (probably a broom closet) called Bethlehem village. She had so much stuff!! All the figurines were laid out in a cityscape on a table.
Now onto the wedding of Chinh & Steve. 💗 This is by far the nicest and most elaborate wedding I have ever attended. Chinh was flanked by 3 photographers and a videographer everywhere she went. She also had a drone circling overhead for the outdoor events. The ceremony was held at Holy Family Cathedral and the Bishop of the Tulsa & northeastern Oklahoma diocese presided. ⛪ It was a traditional Catholic wedding with a full mass. No cell phones were allowed so I didn't get any pictures but it was a beautiful ceremony. We had a sendoff afterward and a 3 hour break before the reception.
We went back to the hotel to grab a snack at Topeca Coffee. I got a strawberry Italian soda (good but I wish it had whipped cream on top) and a salted chocolate chip cookie. 🍪☕Wes got a juniper berry latte which he said had too much berry and not enough juniper. (He got a cold brew from the café previously and said it was good).
Reception time!! 🙌We all gathered in the foyer of the Big 10 Ballroom for a meet & greet with Chinh and Steve. We got a turn to take a picture with them and sign their wedding book. Once the reception officially started, we were ushered in and found our tables. Wes & I weirdly weren't seated with my mom & stepdad. There were a few others from St. Patrick there but none of us were seated together. Wes says it's so we can mingle and meet new people, but I would have preferred sitting with old friends to catch up. The reception started with a traditional Vietnamese lion dance! 🦁
Then it was time to eat; there was a Vietnamese buffet on one side of the room and an El Salvadorian buffet on the other. 🍴I stood in line on the El Salvadorian side behind one of the groomsmen and got tips from him on what to get. He suggested the mixed pupusa (with pork, beans and cheese) and it was so good!! I ate from both buffets and enjoyed the Salvadorian stuff more. The reception had all the usual dances and speeches, and it was all very nice (and extremely organized!) The other neat thing, besides the lion dance, was a troupe of Salvadorian dancers came out to perform traditional dances. Around 9pm, we had a faux sendoff (drone awaiting) where Chinh & Steven got into a Rolls Royce, drove around the parking lot and came right back in. LOL It was freezing outside. It gave us oldies a chance to go home while the cool kids danced the night away.
The next morning, we had brunch at Kilkenny's. I've always heard great things about this restaurant but have never been. It got the traditional Irish breakfast and it was SO MUCH FOOD!! I only ate half of it. It was really good but I think I prefer an American breakfast. 😅My favorite part was the grilled tomato - a whole tomato!! 🍅 I only expected a slice or two.
After breakfast, we stopped in Hey Boba to get drinks for the road. I got a honeydew milk-tea with boba and Wes got a passion fruit oolong tea with boba. Both were standard drinks and pretty good. The owner is what made this café so cool. Aside from being a boba café owner, she teaches Sunday morning square dance lessons at the park and she is a horticulturist. 🌱🌸She grows Chinese plants in her yard and brings them to sell at the café. I bought a Chinese mum and she gave me very thorough instructions on how to take care of it. 🌺🌿She is the sweetest lady; she gave us a piece of oatmilk candy for being her first customers of the day.
And that wraps up Tulsa. We have to wait a week at home, and then it's my annual birthday trip to Carrollton, TX to eat at as many restaurants as we can at the Carrollton Town Center! Until then ✌
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