S. Calif - Inland Empire Area

[Dfen911]

Looking to join or start a club for folks in or near the Inland Empire - San Bernardino, Redlands, Fontana, Rancho Cucuamonga, Ontario, Riverside, Moreno Valley, Yucaipa...and a slew of others I'm sure I'm missing :)

I'm in San Bernardino, but with freeway access everything is pretty near.

Let me know! :)

[Dfen911]

Oh good heavens! 43 views and no one wants to start one or has one? Come on....there has GOT to be a least 2+ other people in my area that like to cook! ;)

[Dfen911]

Bumping :)

[Curiosity Hears]

Hi ~

Am a new member in the Corona area and think a supper club could be great fun. Have you found one to join or might you start your own?

[Dfen911]

Hi Carrie :)

Well I have one from my office that is interested and there was one other gentleman here (Keith) who was interested. I'll drop him an email. I figure if we start with 2 or 3 everyone will see how much fun we're having and not be able to resist joining in for the fun :)

Denise

[HappyPerson]

Hi there Denise ...

I was so thrilled to see your email. I sure hope you are still interested in starting up a Supper Club in the San Bernardino area. I have tried to start a club a couple times in the past without any success. Maybe we can do it together, whata ya think? Please let me know if you're still interested.

Smiles,

Jacque

[Dfen911]

Hey Jacques! Check your email :)

Carrie you still with us? :)

[Curiosity Hears]

Still with you! Please keep me in the loop on this one. :p

[HappyPerson]

Hi Denise and Carrie ...

I was thinking, perhaps we could all make plans to meet somewhere for dinner on Friday, St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. :D We could wear green, eat Irish stew (or anything else for that matter), and have the opportunity to discuss the proposed formation of a supper club. What ya think?

Smiles, Jacque

[ukcheese]

Hello!

Been meaning to search out a potential supper club around the Redlands area for a while now...saw the posts from early this year/late last year and was wondering if you ever got one up and running.....

Please feel free to let me know if you ever got anything organised. If not, is anyone else out there in the IE interested in starting one?? WE could meet once a month to start with since we all seem to be chronically short of time! lol.

Cheers! Suzanne

[HappyPerson]

Zowie!!! Hi Suzanne! I am so pleased to see your posting. I am very interest in starting a Supper Club within the area. I live in East Highland, so we don't live that far apart. What do you think?

Smiles, Jacque

[BruceW]

I'll toss my name into the ring, as well. I live in the High Desert but work down the hill (Fontana).

Perhaps we can start a discussion on the where and how, then concentrate on the when?

Seems like having a lot of cooks in the same kitchen could get kinda messy and unpleasant. Or am I misunderstanding the purpose of the club? I was thinking it was for everyone to get together in the same "room" and cook. Learning, sharing. That kind of thing. I know I, for one, could REALLY use some help in prep work. Chopping onions (or slicing peppers or whatever) consumes SO much time because, well, I suck at it.

Please raise your hands and let's get some conversation going! I would think that, in order to retain SOME sense of sanity, we should NOT plan on ANY get togethers until AFTER the holidays.

Agreed?

Beuller?

[HappyPerson]

Hi there Bruce ...

I am thrilled to see your posting. It's great to have another person who enjoys cooking, as well as, sharing techinques.

I agree the holidays need to be attended to before we begin anything.

As for how we function, I think that is really up to the individuals who form the group. Easy, huh? No one to please, but ourselves.

Have a terrific turkey day!

Jacque

[BruceW]

Hi there, Jacque! Glad to see that there is, indeed, life on the internet. Well, other than LOW life... :rolleyes:

Anyway. ;)

Although the holidays are here, I still think we could start some high level brainstorming on some of the things we want from a group.

The obvious ones would be getting together, cooking, learning and socializing. 4 things, easy in concept, yet much more difficult to pull off.

Where? Something somewhat centrally located sounds prudent, however who's interested? Who's posted? Are they still alive? Do they remember that they WERE interested at one time or another? Without knowing that finding a central location, especially for any kind of meeting, would be difficult. I think getting the members together beforehand will be crucial. Would need to discuss menu items, utensils/cookware needed, shopping lists...

I think the menus should not have a firm guideline EXCEPT that the items go together; not something like making refried beans with foix graus (sp?). Variety is the spice of life, so spice me up, baby! Bam! ;)

Learning: kinda comes with the territory (unless we're ALL bad at it!). I'd like to foster an attitude of teaching if possible.

Socializing? Sounds good, but keep in mind that we'd all be holding a knife. No religion or politics, please. :D

So. What would be the first step? Or was this just it?

Let's try to keep the majority of our comments within the thread, so that people can see the thought processes and jump in when necessary.

Thanks for writing, and I hope to make this happen!

Bruce

[HappyPerson]

Bruce, I like your take charge ... let's get it done attitude. :D It is critical to the success of our organization steps.

I have sent "ukcheeseyou" a copy of my original email to you. Suzanne and I exchanged emails about a week or so ago, so I am certain she is interested in exploring the formation of a dinner club.

As for the others I have exchanged emails/posting or actually met and spoken with in the past, I simply have no idea. They just seemed to have dropped off the radar never to be heard from again. :(

Suzanne (aka "ukcheeseyou") and I live within within 5-7 miles from each other. My place of employment is close to my home. I don't know about Suzanne. With the holidays upon us, and the crowds and traffic ... is there such a thing as a central meeting location? We will have to put our thinking caps on for this one. Besides, we would want our spouses or significant others to be in on the planning, wouldn't we? That would mean we should consider meeting perhaps some weekend afternoon, or evening. Maybe at some place like Chili's or TGIFridays? So whata ya think?

Like you, I enjoy learning and socializing. The world is too small not to!

Smiles, Jacque aka HappyPerson :)

[BruceW]

Jacque,

I've found that if something needs to get done, and nobody's done it, it won't get done until somebody steps up. If that's me, then that's me.

I work in Fontana but live up in the High Desert. Central to me is a broad brush. I would think that if you two could hash out a place and it wasn't like a trip to Mars for me, I'd be able to do that.

How about a lunch date somewhere? Something not so formal, just to talk about the ideas we might have?

As for involving families/SO's, that isn't something I've even given thought to. That would drastically increase the head count for a get together, and IMO would detract from the task at hand (paying attention to each other and learning). Again, I have no direction on this. Have you read up on the kinds of things (ways) things are typically done? I saw a BRIEF writeup in Life and that's why I'm here. Other than that, I have no idea. Involving the family/SO's for a HUGE get together - you know, like a summer or winter party - sounds TOTALLY feasible. But every month/whenever? I think that's a recipe for disaster... Huh. I made a pun! ;)

Chew on this and get back to me. I'd better stop now or I'll say something else punny...

;)

Bruce

[ukcheese]

Hi Jacque & Bruce.......

Good to see some discussion on the topic. My idea of a supper club is (and feel free to disagree or give some more input on the topic) that we rotate around each others kitchens and prepare meals together usually with a cohesive theme i.e Indian cooking or healthy desserts etc. That way we all host and get to mess up someone else's kitchen at one time or another...lol!

I think we should try and get together for at least a meeting to see if we like each other and feel we can get along before we get let loose with sharp objects. I noticed that you are in Highland, Jacque, and work close to home. I am in Redlands and work part time in Apple Valley (is that near you Bruce?) and the other time in East Los Angeles county (Pomona, Upland etc).
Perhaps we can meet for a coffee in and around Fontana/Redlands/Highland after Thanksgiving but before Xmas to mull around some ideas etc.

Let me know your thoughts?

Suzanne

[BruceW]

Suzanne...

Good to see some discussion on the topic. My idea of a supper club is (and feel free to disagree or give some more input on the topic) that we rotate around each others kitchens and prepare meals together usually with a cohesive theme i.e Indian cooking or healthy desserts etc. That way we all host and get to mess up someone else's kitchen at one time or another...lol!

That DOES sound about right... Geography may be an issue, however.

I think we should try and get together for at least a meeting to see if we like each other and feel we can get along before we get let loose with sharp objects.

Agreed.

:D

I noticed that you are in Highland, Jacque, and work close to home. I am in Redlands and work part time in Apple Valley (is that near you Bruce?)

Yeah. I'm in the High Desert, Phelan area (next to Hesperia). I work in Fontana.

and the other time in East Los Angeles county (Pomona, Upland etc).
Perhaps we can meet for a coffee in and around Fontana/Redlands/Highland after Thanksgiving but before Xmas to mull around some ideas etc.

Say when and where. I'm fairly flexible; just let me know...

Bruce

[BruceW]

Is it just me, or did this idea just die?

I somewhat expected a lull, but I think someone just called the coroner.

:confused:

I'm finding that a sure-fire way to have something fail is to ignore or lose track of it....

Anyway...

While I have some attention, has anyone had any experiences with some of the classes put on by Williams-Sonoma? I'm looking for some simple, "quick" classes I could go to...

Thanks, hope all is well...

[lwhitham]

I just posted for new members in the Glendora/LaVerne/Claremont area, so our group is a little west of y'all, but our small but mightly group has been together for five years, so the start-up issues aren't a problem. We're just looking to add to our numbers. If you're interested....let me know!

We get together once a month - usually the second Saturday in the month. The "host" plans the menu, assigns the recipes and everyone comes with the dish prepared, or as much as can be prepared if it's something to be served fresh from the oven. We only use cooking light recipes and try to cook a little outside our comfort zone.....it's worked great so far and we've never had a bad meal.

It's great fun!

[BruceW]

Hmm. Sounds like an option. I live in the High Desert, though, so geography is definitely an issue.

Hopefully one of the others chimes in and we'll know where things stand.

It's the holidays - hopefully that's the issue...

Thanks for the post, and hope your holidays are good.

Bruce

[lwhitham]

Bruce,

Hopefully, you're right and the lack of response is holiday related. Hope you're San Bernardino group gets going after the first of the year.....:cool:

Have a good holiday season!

[luvcook]

I have been looking a group to join. I live in Riverside, but don't mind traveling to be a part of a good group. Let me know if you are still interested in new members.;)

I just posted for new members in the Glendora/LaVerne/Claremont area, so our group is a little west of y'all, but our small but mightly group has been together for five years, so the start-up issues aren't a problem. We're just looking to add to our numbers. If you're interested....let me know!

We get together once a month - usually the second Saturday in the month. The "host" plans the menu, assigns the recipes and everyone comes with the dish prepared, or as much as can be prepared if it's something to be served fresh from the oven. We only use cooking light recipes and try to cook a little outside our comfort zone.....it's worked great so far and we've never had a bad meal.

It's great fun!

[bscotch55]

I started a new thread looking for people in the I. E. to start a club. I tried to start one out here 2-3 years ago but one got a response from 1 person. I am in Chino so I am fairly close to the Riverside person. My s.o. and I love to cook so we would both be invovled. Please feel free to contact me for those who are truly interested. This is one of my New Year's resolutions so this will not fizzle out for me. Would like to have something going by Feb. 2007

Please email me at bscotch55@aol.com