Good food at Annapolis Dinner Group

[lposko]

Hey Shirley! I found all your postings by using the search like you said. Thanks for hosting the group on Saturday. Everything was great. Should I apologize for Jaci's criticism of your spice drawer? Wait till you see her office room. See you next month. Linda

[Grace]

Awwww, aren't you going to tell us what you all had at your supper club meeting and how it all tasted??!!!!!

[Shirley Panek]

Glad to see you made it to the board, Linda! Wonder if anyone else from the group will respond? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Grace, here's what our menu was:

Appetizers -

Crispy Zucchini Sticks with Creamy Salsa Dip (June 2000) - The salsa was yummy although I thought the coating on the zuccini could have had a little more "zing".

Watermelon-and-Kiwi Skewers with Starry Strawberry Cream (July 2000) - Although this was listed as a dessert, it made a light and refreshing starter.

Salads:

Chicken Caeser Salad (July 2000) - We omitted
the chicken. This was good, but I think I prefer the creamy Caeser dressing from May 2000.

Vegetable Side Dish:

Summer Vegetable Stew with Basil Puree - A yummy dish, especially with Linda's home-grown veggies and basil.

Main dishes:

Tomato-Basil Lasagna With Prosciutto - A nice change from the "traditional" meat lasagna. This had a nice flavor with a little kick thanks to the red pepper. I'll make this one again.

Malaysian Lime-Coconut Swordfish - (We grilled the fish instead of broiling) I thought the flavors were delicious. I'm not a big cilantro fan (I think it can overpower a dish), but this was a definite keeper.

Desserts:

Brown Sugar-Peach Pie with Coconut Struesel - This was great with the fresh peach taste bursting through. There was also the perfect amount of struesel topping.

Cherry-Almond Coffeecake - This was very moist, and had a nice flavor. I think I liked it even better the next day.

Thanks to everybody who brought such wonderful dishes. It was great getting together. I can't wait for our "cheesecake feast" next month!

Shirley

[Lauren]

The dishes you prepared sound wonderful! Thanks for the suggestions. We are starting a cooking group in MA. Ten of us met last month at a restaurant and had a great time. The end of this month we are going to have a potluck planning meeting. My question is, how do you organize your dinners? How many dishes do you cook together vs. what is already prepared? Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[Grace]

Shirley,

Thanks for taking the time to describe what you had! I love living a little "vicariously" through others on this board! And it inspires me to no end to get into my own kitchen and create. Your dinner sounded great - all stuff I haven't made yet except for the Cherry Almond Coffee Cake.

I'm definitely going to have to try the swordfish. Sounds excellent, and I'm not much of a fish eater, but I LOVE cilantro!

We have a Supper Club too, but we are only 5 people (actually, this works out well, none of us have big kitchens). And we're having a ball.

Lauren, our group decided that since we meet on weeknights after work (we all work outside the home), and because none of us have a big kitchen, we would keep our meetings potluck, with the hostess making the main dish, and we decide ahead of time what each of the others will bring so we have a rounded meal, including a dessert. We bring our latest two issues of CL to the meetings, and spend the time after we're done eating to peruse, comment, ooh, aah, review recipes we've already made, and decide what we'll bring for the next meeting. We let each person choose their own dish, i.e, for the next meeting I bring the dessert (I was the hostess last time), so I get to choose which dessert I want to bring/make. It doesn't really matter much to us whether the dishes "go" together or not - we like the idea of tasting lots of different things. Additionally, it seems everyone chooses different things (ie., everyone else seems to choose recipes I would never make). This is a great thing, as I am now exposed to so much more, and it's great! I got turned on at our first Supper Club meeting to the Chickpea and Nectarine Couscous salad from June, and now I can't stop making it! (I would never have made that one otherwise).

Anyhow, there are no hard and fast rules. We decided that we'd eventually cook together one night when we could plan it for a Saturday or something, but we're all quite happy with our potluck arrangement for now. The key is to have fun, and do whatever works for your group, and don't worry about doing it "right"! One last thing to tell you is to give it time. Things have a way of settling in. When our group first met in a restaurant, it was extremely awkward (I don't know why). There were long dead silences, and everyone was afraid to make decisions, but now, after only 3 meetings, we feel like fast friends and laugh and really have a ball! And it really is so much fun to be with people who share your interests and passion for good food and cooking. As noted on another thread, not too many people these days like to cook, so finding people with which to enjoy your hobby is not the easiest thing. Thanks to CL we have a way of meeting people it was unlikely we ever would have met otherwise! Thanks CL! And have fun at your Supper Club, Lauren!!

Grace

[Lauren]

Grace,
Thanks for answering! You raised some good points. Since most of us also work outside the house, and plan on meeting on a weeknight, it would be easier to keep it potluck. I agree with you that it is fun to just pick out recipes and not worry how they will go together. I too will enjoy trying dishes that I may not have chosen otherwise. We have a good group and I'm sure, like you mentioned, it will just work itself out. We'll find what works, what doesn't, and have fun along the way. Thanks again for telling us about your club. Oh, by the way, I'm making the Lemon-swirled cheesecake for our next meeting. It did look great on the cover!

[CATHIEA]

It seems like no one is posting on the cooking group website anymore! I posted a review of the Milwaukee group's effort last month and had no new replies (we were hoping to attract some additional cooks!). Our group seems to be evolving like the Annapolis group. We had our first meeting at a restaurant. Our second meeting was a pot luck at a church that is centrally located (our group spans a couple of counties). Our third meeting will be a pizza party at the church again (you should SEE the kitchen!). We are going to do the CL pizzas from this winter. One member will bring a salad and one a dessert, but we will ALL join in making the pizza/calzone dough and recipes.
CathieA

[Shirley Panek]

Lauren -

Our group runs pretty much the same way Grace mentioned. We first met at the Macaroni Grill, then somebody volunteered their home for the first "meeting".

We have 8 in our group. We our trying to meet once a month, and our currently rotating houses. We usually have 2 main dishes with the hostess contributing one of the main dishes. The main dishes we usually cook together at the hostess' house, and everyone brings their own dish (appetizer, side, salad, dessert).

We bring our latest issue, and decide what to make for the next meeting. It doesn't matter to us if the dishes "go" together, it's great trying new things!

Here's our next month's menu:

Spinach, Caramelized Onion, and Feta Quichelettes (as an appetizer)

Oriental Salad

Italian Meat Loaf with Fresh Basil and Provolone

Garlic Shrimp in Yogurt Sauce

Potatoes, Green Beans, and Carrots With Cashews

Banana-Split Cheesecake

Chocolate-Mint Cheesecake

Zebra-Stripe Cheesecake


We are hitting it off well, and have discovered some "hidden talents" of our group. Next time, one of our members will be bringing her guitar and serenading us. It's hard to believe we've known each other only a short time!

Good luck with your supper group, however you like to do it! And keep us posted on your menus and group. As Grace said, it's nice to live vicariously through others, and this is a great board to get new ideas!

Shirley http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Angela]

Another Annapolis CL group memeber....we are a great group!! It's amazing how a group of 8 of different ages, backgrounds, professions, etc. get along so well...amazing what food can do, especially CL food http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif I'm so glad I decided to join a group. Shirley and I are trying to get the other members to get on the BB more often (or at all). Though I think they enjoy the BB as much as Shirley and I do, they always get a kick out of hearing our experiences on the BB (and wonder how we have the time to log on).

[Jaci]

Hello Annapolis Group. Yes, I thought the dinner was overall very good. Thanks to Shirley for being such a fun host. Since Linda continues to apologize for my faux pas, I shall just ignore it, especially now that the whole Cooking Light community can read about it. I'm looking forward to the next meeting, although I may keep my mouth shut, except to eat.

[Lucydots]

Hi Annapolis group,
Just had to check out the bb after all that discussion. Where's Shirley?

Debbie

[Shirley Panek]

Yoo hoo, Debbie!

Here I am! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

Shirley