Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Cooking Club

Once a month I get together for a bunch of women for a cooking club that we do.  We put together a list of what needs to come to each get together and then we cycle through who brings what.  The hostess always chooses the theme and makes the main dish.  Usually veryone is encouraged to make something that puts them outside of their comfort zone, but sometimes - after a long week- we're more understanding when someone brings a loaf of store bought bread instead of making their own :)  But in general it's been a great way to try lots of foods we've never tried, or been too intimidated to make, it's a chance to connect with eachother without our children tugging at us and there's usually a fair amount of some kind of alcohol to help us relax.  

We've had invetive themes and not so inventive ones.  My favorite to date was our Indian themed night - someone brought the most amazing homemade mango chutney!  But we've also had 'Three Ingredients or Less', "Mediterranian", "Vegitarian" and this month's is "A Victorian Picnic" (and we've been told we can leave our petticoats at home).

I'd encourage anyone to get a group of friends together and try something like this.  It would be fun to do as couples also (our husbands call cooking club 'left over night') and as families though the dynamic would be totally different depending on how you set it up.  Family night might not be quite as gourmet :)

4 comments:

Lora said...

This is great! We do pretend gourmet on family nights. Maybe a good cheese or an artisan bread. Served with chicken fingers!

I love the idea of themes too

Mara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mara said...

What fun! I do themes for my Scrumptious Saturdays, but I also do all the cooking. Well, Jack helps me, which is great. We turn on music, crack some beers and enjoy our time alone together in the kitchen before my friends arrive.

dragyonfly said...

This sounds like great fun. Unfortunately my circle of friends are somewhat undependable... I can't even get them to come over for free food and booze that they don't even have to fix.
My work friends are different tho, we play bunco once a month or so, and do frequent "potluck' at work.
I don't know whats up with my old pals. Life is busy, I guess.