Jane Snow's wedding surprise

Sounds like Jane Snow is having "Second Helpings." Her May 8 column in that series is headlined "Jane's wedding surprise." It tells how a guy we know only by the first name of Tony ordered their wedding on the internet at Cupid's Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas and they had lunch at a hole-in-the wall Cuban restaurant.

One of our readers found the column quite by accident. The columns are really difficult to locate. Here's the take. If you want to get the recipe, too, you will have to click on the headline

Second Helpings
Jane's wedding surprise

By Jane Snow
I didn't mean for for my wedding lunch to be at a hole-in-the-wall Cuban restaurant, but that's where Tony and I ended up. It was the only part of our wedding last week that Tony hadn't planned. He booked the Las Vegas chapel, ordered flowers, rented a tux for him and a gown for me, and broke the news by shaking me awake at midnight.

"I just planned our whole wedding on the Internet,'' he said. "You don't have to do a thing.''

``Thanks,'' I mumbled and went back to sleep. In the morning, I hoped it was all a bad dream. But, no, Tony said he had indeed reserved Cupid's Wedding Chapel along with a frilly white dress and a $150 bouquet of purple roses. And the best part, he said, was that the whole shebang would be videotaped and posted on the chapel's Web site for our friends and family to see.

Oh, goodie.

But the guy was so proud of himself that I didn't have the heart to object. I swallowed my dismay at spending so much money on flowers (purple, yet) that would expire that night in our hotel room. I ignored my girlfriends when they hooted at thought of me in a white organza wedding dress. I convinced myself Cupid's Wedding Chapel couldn't be as tacky as it sounded.

And it wasn't. The chapel actually looked tasteful when viewed through our haze of happiness. We were so excited we skipped breakfast and lunch and arrived an hour early for the 2 p.m. ceremony. Afterward, we were starving, and ducked into the first restaurant we spotted after returning our fancy duds to the rental shop.

Sitting there at a bare Formica-top table, listening to the babble of a soccer game televised in Spanish, I felt like Cinderella after the ball. Then lunch came -- mine a gooey-warm sandwich of sliced chorizo sausage and melted cheese on a crackly loaf of authentic Cuban bread, and his, chicken and rice.

The chicken -- arroz con pollo -- is one of Cuba's best-loved dishes. It is similar to paella, but the rice is colored with annato oil instead of saffron. The oil may be found at grocery stores with large Spanish or Mexican sections, such as Dave's on East Exchange Street. Some cooks simply use yellow rice, available in many supermarkets.

Back home, I found a recipe for Cuban chicken and rice at Tasteofcuba.com. In addition to dozens of recipes, the site has an abbreviated list of Cuban restaurants in the United States. My wedding restaurant isn't among them, but Vegas visitors who want an inexpensive Cuban lunch can find Rincon Criollo at 1145 Las Vegas Blvd. S., phone 702-388-1906.

In retrospect, I think Tony did a great job of planning our wedding. He forgot just one thing: I'm still waiting for a wedding cake.