My appetizers for my book club meeting yesterday went well! (REC inside)

H

heather_in_sf

Well-known member
Since I had to take the metro for 40 minutes (plus a looong walk from the stop) to my friend's house I managed to pack a nice little feast in my tote bag and it was well recieved!

We had:

Smashed Canneli bean crostini with feta salsa verde (see link - I used fresh marjoram instead of oregano this time)

Muhammara (purchased from Boulette's Larder)

An herb and flour coated goat brie (from Cow Girl Creamery - wow)

CGC crackers

Acme baguette

Veggie platter with baby red carrots, watermelon radishes and sliced fennel

I really didn't have time to assemble the crostini so I put everything in bowls and we called them the red goop, the green goop and the beige goop and you know, it was really terrific! Nothing was left but some of the radishes. The veggies spurred an interesting conversation, do red carrots really taste that much different than other colors? We were divided on this. And why are they only red on the outside? We did have a lot of wine too! LOL

It was a fun evening, and I really wish I could have made the walnut and blue cheese covered grapes but I will do them this weekend instead.

Hope you try the green and beige "goop" sometime! The salsa verde is really great on pasta, although one reader just wanted to have a spoon of her own!

http://www.finerkitchens.com/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=1228

 
We did Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears and next month we are doing

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (he also wrote about the Mt. Everest disaster) which was recently made into a movie.

Most of the group liked Dream of Scipio, which is about three men at critical moments of history (the end of the Roman empire, the beginning of the Black Plague and the invasion of France by the Nazis) set in the same physical place (Avignon, FR) and how the three men's lives interrelate. It spurred us to list what classic works we should read such as the original by Cicero (Abe books, here I come!). Some found it hard to get into, his prose is complicated but mostly we had a great discussion about the maltreatment of Jews throughout history, the role of men in a pivotal moment in their lives and what we would do if we were faced with the "fall" of our civilization.

We picked Into the Wild to discuss if society has a responsibility to protect those who cannot make good decisions for themselves and the errors people make when they think they are infallible (or don't think of the consequences of their actions). I didn't see the movie but I understand this is a true story and it should be interesting to see how it's covered.

Next time it's my pick I'm going to suggest Zuri's book The Saffron Pear Tree! I like how she wrote about her family life and what it was like growing up with apartheid and the end of it, plus how food unites everyone together (and her recipes are good too, I'm still working on translating them to Empire (nonmetric) measures!

 
I just picked this up last night. It's a possibility. did you like it?

circus food: hot dogs, peanuts, candy apples, or maybe just lots of appetizers for a "grazing" evening. I was also thinking of making old fashioned comfort food chicken pot pies if I chose this book.

 
Cyn, that's a fun one - it's about a circus right?

How about Bob Blumer's "the Surreal Gourmet" Chorizo Corn Pups - mini corn dogs done upscale:

REC: Chorizo corn pups

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons canola, or other vegetable oil
3-4 cups peanut oil, for frying
8 inches of chorizo (andouille sausage is a good second choice), ideally an inch in diameter
Assortments of mustard (e.g. Dijon, honey mustard, grainy country-style, ballpark)
6" bamboo skewers

In a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, and chili powder. In a medium-sized bowl, mix egg, milk, and canola oil.

Slowly, pour liquid ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth. It should be the thickness of pancake batter.

Pour peanut oil into a small, tall pot until it is 3 inches deep. Heat oil until it reaches 350ºF.

Peel and discard chorizo casing and cut sausage into 1/2-inch slices. Place each chorizo slice on a 6-inch bamboo skewer, then dip in batter.

Fry 6 puppies at a time for approximately 1 1/2
minutes, or until batter turns golden brown, rotating once during frying. Transfer puppies to a paper towel.

Serve with an assortment of mustards, set out in small bowls.


I have his cookbook Surreal Bites and I've always wanted to try these!

 
I know this isn't FRC - but anyone interested in listing their bookclub lists?

I'm not home now - but if there's interest I'll list tonight or tomorrow!

 
Yes, I'd love to know! Especially since we seem to be having them monthly,

that means my turn will be coming around soon enough and I'd love to have a great list of books to suggest!

Thanks Deb.

 
Could you please enlighten me as to how a book club is held?

I have never been to one, and would love to start one here. How do you choose the books, what do you do when you have the club? I am totally clueless. With my old group of friends, we would have said, did you like it, yes or no, and then we would have consumed martinis and talked about recipes, husbands and such. And where do you find the women or men that would like to participate. (That should be an indication of how clueless I am, and also what a Stranger in a Strange Land that I am.)

 
Our club is quite simple: 12 ladies, each assigned to a month, chooses the book for that month.

Our books can be anything at all from fiction to non-fiction, mysteries, travel etc. The only criteria is that the person choosing the book has to have read it first and not choose just on someone else's recomendation or Amazon review etc. We had some real loser books that came highly recommended, but the person never did read it beforehand, and everyone pretty much hated the book. Twilight was one book that we all pretty much hated, and they also really didn't like Running With Scissors. We have a light supper, usually based on the foods mentioned in the book, or from the region or time period. Wine and soda is served. Then we have a lively discussion. We generally start at around 7 and end at midnight, if we're really long winded. These ladies are all in their 50's-60's and most have known each other for years. I am a newer member, after someone dropped out. We meet every month on the second Friday at the home of that person. So far we have had 4 authors visit our group. That was fun.

 
here was our list for 2007.

2007
>
1/12/07 Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith

2/5/07 If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name by Heather Lende author attended

3/16/07 The Kids From Nowhere by George Gutheridge author attended

4/13/07 A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

5/17/07 Kidnapped in Yemen by Mary Quin author attended

6/1/07 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

7/13/07 Two Old Women, An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage,
and Survival by Velma Wallis

8/10/07 Body and Soul by Frank Conroy

9/7/07 Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan

10/12/07 The Timothy Files by Lawrence Sanders

11/9/07 Testament by John Grisham

12/14/07 Johnny’s Girl by Kim Rich author attended

 
I have just re-read a club book: The Poisonwood Bible by B. Kingsolver more inside

It's an amazing book about a missionary family who goes to The Congo during the early 60's. It was the first book ever discussed by my club many years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it again. Very good@

 
Some of the books we've covered in the last 12 months

"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides
"The Age of Innonence" by Edith Wharton
"Blindness" by Jose Saramago
"Leaving the Saints" by Martha Beck
"The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards
"Snowflower in the Secret Fan" by Lisa See
"Water for Elephants" (already mentioned )
“The Road” by Cormac McArthy
“Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett
“The History of Love” by Nicole Krauss
“The Bookseller of Kabul” by Asne Seierstad
“The Memory of Running” by Ron Mclarty
“The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer

 
It isn't necessary to assign a book. That makes some people feel like

they're in school again. I used to be part of a book club that met every couple of months just to talk about whatever we were reading. It was amazing how themes overlapped, so instead of everyone discussing, say, the subject of death in one particular book, you'd have seven people reading seven different books in which death came up.

Plentiful booze and memorable potluck meals made these really enjoyable nights out. The group evolved over the years, and newer members wanted assigned books and wanted to go through the "Discussion Questions" found in many books, which took a lot of the casual, sharing appeal out of it for some original members.

 
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