I can never decide if we are a cooking club or a supper club?
Oops. We are not a Supper Club
[ˈsəpər ˌkləb]
I kind of like this definition tho:
A supper club is a traditional dining establishment that also functions as a social club. The term may describe different establishments depending on the region, but in general, supper clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to all. A newer usage of the term supper club has emerged, referring to underground restaurants.
I mean, we are a social club. We love to socialize with each other. And I like the term:
Underground.
We sound edgy!
But then--we don't do entertainment. Hmmmm.....
???
But before we get started---here are two little synopsizes, or definitions of what Milk Street is, in their own words:
We are traveling the world to bring you the very best ideas and techniques with no lists of hard-to-find ingredients, strange cookware, or all-day methods to slow you down. Milk Street is a new, yet familiar, way to cook.
Milk Street Magazine will take you across the world to find bold ingredients, easy recipes and smart techniques that will change the way you cook
It seems that in the past, when blogging about Cooking Club (never to be called supper club again) I've started with someone's pet.
OMG! This is not an exaggeration or wishful thinking--if you go back thru all the Cooking Club posts, there is a dog or a cat in each post. I just looked.
Check them out! You can click on any like at the bottom of this post.
We like our pets, I guess.
So, here is Bailey. She's mine.
Sheesh--we can't be too edgy and underground if we start with our pets!
It puts a whole different spin on things.
Wait, WAIT, WAIT!!!
I found something--an article from Southern Living Magazine titled:
Why Southerners Will Never Quit Supper Clubs
For Southerners, a supper club is more than a shared meal—it's a lifelong tie that binds.
Now wait just a minute!
We Westerners (is that even a word?) have a lifelong tie that binds!
WE ARE NEVER GIVING UP COOKING CLUB!
Which will henceforth be called SUPPER CLUB.
1st excerpt from the article
A dinner party brings a group of people together over a meal, but it is just a one-off event. A potluck asks attendees to contribute food or drink, but the menu is lucky or not, as is the guest list. A cooking co-op shares the meal-prep duties, but participants do not always eat together. A supper club is a little bit of each of these, but it goes further, deeper, and longer.Look at these people!
We have ties that bind.
We go further, deeper and longer.
(and no that is not a slogan for Viagra!)
It's Western friendship!
2nd excerpt from the article:
Supper clubs gather regularly and remain intact for years, sometimes even decades. Members take their participation very seriously, sticking together despite life's inevitable interruptions and other challenges. The mix of participants—including their personalities and proclivities—is not indiscriminate. Everyone in the group must get along and have compatible expectations on how the supper club will operate.
There are no fixed rules for supper clubs, but there is surprising consistency on certain points. Members take turns as congenial host and charming guests. The host usually selects and prepares the entrée, the others provide sides and desserts, and those with the least interest or skill in cooking (or the busiest schedules of late) bring the beverages.
We've stuck together thru life's inevitable interruptions and challenges!
Oh, my goodness---they even described Shelly!
Those with the least interest or skill in cooking bring the beverages.
She has the skill, just not the interest. And we made her bring bread, when she was just a substitute. Then she became a regular and she had to pull her weight and did a very fine job indeed!
BUT the article calls it--just as it is.
It's not just for the South!
It can be North, East and West too!
and for the record. (HA--record. Shelly's holding a record--more on that later)
(Sorry, that I find myself and my puns so funny.)
Check out if you will, my assortment of vintage glassware.
In April's hand we see a vintage Budweiser glass.
Those were my parents' bar glasses. They had a bar in their basement, that had a pool table.
Anyway---an ode to my parents. As might so be that Conway Twitty record album Shelly is holding above.
And Sally is holding a vintage iced tea/lemonade glass with strawberries on it.
I got that set from my mother-in-law, complete with a pitcher.
I love them. They're just very tall and skinny. If you have a big nose, it's hard to get a drink. LOL
And Paul is holding an "old-fashioned" glass. Not meaning old fashioned (although the gold embossed mushrooms are from the 70's), but rather the drink 'old fashioned'.
I love those little low-ball (ha! another name for short bar glasses) glasses, that I got from a yard-sale that April was having.
Yes, they were originally April's.
Please excuse the meandering....
carrying on....
3rd excerpt from the article:
The menu is carefully orchestrated and often built around a chosen theme, which can be a type of cuisine, an occasion, or a curiosity to learn something new and different. No supper club meal should be mistaken for a humdrum dinner at home. However, if the host hits a snag at the last minute, everyone will go out or order in rather than cancel.
Food matters to supper clubs, but abiding friendship and consistent fellowship matter most. These close-knit cooks and eaters may get together around a table with one another more often than they do with their extended families. It's as though each member swears an amiable allegiance to just show up, time and again, carrying a bowl or a bottle and a readiness to share.
We have a chosen theme! Always!
This is no Humdrum dinner at home!
This is Milk Street Mania!!
1. Chili and Citrus marinated fish tacos
2. Lebanon style spicy potatoes with lemon and cilantro
3. Spiced lamb burgers with pitas and tahini sauce
4. Kale salad with Brussel sprouts
5. Shrimp salad and radish crostini
6. Potato and Herb Focaccia
7. Triple Chocolate Almond Cookies
8. Amalfi style Lemon cake
Part 2
We now discover why Shelly was holding a Conway Twitty Album!
Let me meander back for a minute--remember when I said we don't do entertainment so we couldn't be a 'supper club'?
Even tho I now know that we are definitely a Supper-Club (not letting you Southerners have the market on that. LOL)
(you know I love you Southerners, right?)
We make our own entertainment!
Each and every time we have Supper-Club!
And we are edgy all the time too!
We got to talking about old music and I went into the other room and brought out a couple albums--then every time someone mentioned a song, or an artist or an album, I would disappear and return with said, song, or artist or album.
I kid you not!!
Remember I also said that the Budweiser bar glasses had been my parents'? Because they had a bar, a pool table and a collection of HUNDREDS of albums with a hi-fi to boot!
My parents were entertainers. Not literally--they didn't' entertain anyone, but they opened their home for friends and parties.
I inherited those hundreds of vinyl records. (not going to mention my parent's 45's from when they were in high school in the 50's)
These records started in the late 50's and went up into the 80's when they started purchasing CD's.
Their 60's era consisted mostly of crooners and folk rock.
BUT--enter in my husband and his collection of 60's pop and rock and roll albums.
He even has this rare William Shatner Album
I told you---I could bring out anything anyone mentioned.
Then add in my 70's albums and for some reason I ended up with my brother's records from the 80's.
Oh, I remember why--he went into the Marine Corp and gave them to me.
*for the record, I love album cover art. IF I had a basement with a bar and a pool table and a hi-fi, I would have album covers as artwork on the wall.
Except perhaps for William Shatner. Don't really want him on my wall.
Here is an excerpt from another time I talked about old records:
Music-- I've been making my way thru my parent's extensive record album collection. I just wanted to listen before I gave them away, passed them on to a record store or whatever. But there are seriously hundreds of albums. And then when I add in what the Handyman own and what I own (from our teenage years), that's a lot of listening. Some of it is GREAT old music. Some not so much.
I have found I love old album covers. Look at these couples!
Conway is dead. Love did not keep the Captain and Tenille Together, but Herb? He's still alive and well. And yes, that's him on his cover. (I am showing my age, but does anyone remember his Whipped cream album? Racy for the times!!)
*I never did get around to giving them away. And I also have the Whipped Cream album. 😉
I digressed SO MUCH from the Supper-Club.
Where was I?
While eating our dessert of Triple Chocolate Almond Cookies
and Amalfi style Lemon cake
I brought out albums and we sang--kind of. And we laughed and reminisced. And told stories--because music can bring back memories.
It was fun!
We are a Supper-Club!
We cooked, we ate, and we entertained ourselves.
With edgy music!
Our good friend Mitzi, as well as my mother, are/were (respectively) Conway lovers.
Lovers!
So, we sent Mitzi a picture of us.
And then I came across this set of albums, which I had forgotten I owned. Remember the Top 40 Countdown with Casey Kasem? Before computers, etc they used to be sent to radio stations on vinyl (complete with commercials) to be played on Saturday mornings. My friend Laura gave me these series of albums from the week of March 29th, 1986. Laura's family owned the radio station in the little town we lived in.
It was fun to revisit, but there certainly are a lot of songs in the bottom of the countdown that didn't make it. Like some really bad songs I had to suffer thru.
And the NUMBER ONE HIT for the week of March 29th, 1986? (in case you're wondering)
Rock me Amadeus by Falco. (okay, so the number one song was really bad too)
I also have this---from Solid Gold.
Remember Solid Gold? They came out with records that "you couldn't' get in any store" and then--- you could. And you thought you were really cool, because you had a compilation of hits?
My maiden name is written on it.
We always have fun at our SUPPER-CLUB!
The end!
This was the best cooking club ever!
And these cooking club meals were all good too... just click on the link to see.
Cooking Club #1 -Meals your mom used to make
Cooking Club #2- Cajun Cooking
Cooking Club #3 - Let's all go to Hawaii
Cooking Club #4 - American Regional Cooking --Great Lakes Region, featuring: SUPPER CLUBS!
Cooking Club #6 -Meatball Madness -- or something round (long post combined with Famous Chef's. Scroll thru some stuff to get there)
Cooking Club #7 - Breakfast for dinner
Cooking Club #8 - Slow Cooking
Cooking Club #9 - Mexican Street Food
Cooking Club #10- Your Christmas Cookie Heritage
Cooking Club #11 - Cooking from labels/back of box, can, or carton
Cooking Club #12 - It's all Greek to Me!
Cooking Club #13 - A Root Beer Tasting Holiday
Cooking Club #14 - Thai Food
Cooking Club #15- Pizza
Cooking Club #16- Pacific Northwest
Cooking Club #17 - Christmas Scavenger Hunt
Coming Soon --
9x13 cooking
Jewish Deli Night
Italian Dinner
No comments:
Post a Comment