October 2010: Mad Men

Elizabeth hosted her first cooking club and did it up Mad Men style. For those not watching one of the very best shows on television right now, the series is about a New York advertising agency in the early 1960's. Elizabeth decorated her apartment in doilies and baby's breath and would have made Betty Draper proud.

The table was set with lead crystal and fine china. The napkins were even folded.


There were only four of us in attendance, as Bonnie, Tina, and Christina were unavailable. We missed them, but we took advantage and not one single dish was even remotely vegan.


Michele did drinks and made Manhattans.

[As an aside, either there was something unknown going on in Golden Gate Park or there was some kind of accident because what should normally be a 45 minute drive from the peninsula turned into a 2.5 hour drive. Luckily, Michele and Ashley avoided the worst of it, but I (Janet) got slammed. I was about to turn around and go home but 1) I couldn't turn around, and 2) I had $25 worth of shrimp in the car. The rest of the ladies were great sports and waited patiently and drank more Manhattans.]

Dinner was an amazing 1960's style feast. We resisted the impulse to serve jello salad and pigs in a blanket and every dish was perfect.

First course (Janet) was shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce.

Main course (Elizabeth) was Roast with potatoes and carrots.

Side (Ashley) was creme fraiche scalloped potatoes.

Dessert (Janet) was cheater cheesecake with Redi-whip and maraschino cherries.

Big thanks to Elizabeth for taking black and white photos and opening her home to one of the best themes to date.

We've Come a Long Way

The very first Cooking Club!

Theme: Tapas
Hosted By: Bonnie
Date: August 24, 2003

7 Happy Years of Cooking!

Recipe: Whole Wheat Fruit Tarts

For the recipe go here!

August 2010: Farmer's Market

Saturday brought yet another brilliant Cooking Club hosted by Michele. This time we were all challenged with making dishes from ingredients found at a Farmer's Market.

We all met up at the Farmer's Market located at the College of San Mateo.

(Michele, Ashley, Elizabeth, Bonnie)

Michele assigned us a partner and a course and we went to town. Most of us already had in mind what we were going to do for our course, but Michele and Bonnie flew by the seat of their pants.

The market was delightful and had a great selection of produce as well as a plethora of samples.

Michele and Bonnie devising their plan.After we gathered all our ingredients we headed to Michele's home - which of course always looks fabulous.
We all started prepping our dishes, but not before enjoying a nice glass of wine outside.

Bonnie got to work prepping what apparently is the best corn ever made. When Bonnie and I first arrived at the market we were looking to get some coffee and saw a line of people. We thought for sure that it must be for coffee. But oh no - it was for corn. Bonnie kindly asked someone in line what was so great about the corn and they said once you have this corn you'd be more than happy to wait in line every weekend for this corn. Therefore, Bonnie knew she must incorporate this corn into her dish.

More prep.

Bonnie is very fond of the corn. And all veggies in general.
For our first course Ashely and Liz paired up and made heirloom tomato bruschetta......
and these grilled peaches with basil and pancetta. Both of which were incredible.
Tina and Christina paired up and made a delightful watermelon gazpacho. It had just the right amount of spice with an added jalapeno pepper.
We then reminisced about past Cooking Clubs. It's been SEVEN years! And I was presented with a lovely William-Sonoma going away gift basket, but not before I was given a trivia quiz on past Cooking Club events. It turned out to be a great discussion and I learned of my disappointing Bloody Marys our first year. I used Mr. T&T's mix versus making the mix from scratch. It's hardcore I tell ya, and people (cough-Bonnie-cough) don't forget.
Michele and Bonnie got to work on the main dish.
The corn of course!And ta-da! The finished product. A heirloom tomato stuffed with corn, blueberries and garnished with dill, set on a bed of fresh herbed pasta with tomato sauce (made from the heirloom tomatoes insides) with added basil and kale. Fantastic!
Not pictured was a batch of moijitos Michele managed make.

Lastly, Janet and I ended the day and I literally mean ended the day (as we started at 10:00 am and went 'til about 5:00 pm) with Fresh Fruit Tarts. We had to bring some of our ingredients from home, but got the fruit, jam and even the honey (that I'm enjoying at home) at the market.
If only all our days were spent like this. We of course ended the evening with more lively discussion and said things that are better left unsaid on blogs.

It was a great meeting to go out on before my Cooking Club hiatus.

I'll miss you girls! Visit anytime.

April 2010: Sir Mix-a-lot

The Host - Janet

The theme - 'Sir Mix-a-Lot' and everyone was randomly paired with a course and an ingredient. The only rule is that your dish must contain your ingredient.

Michele: Dessert with apricot
Janet: Appetizer with peanut butter
Christina: Salad with cinnamon - Couldn't make it - we missed you.
Tina: Side dish with lemon
Bonnie: Soup with ginger
Angela: Drinks with blueberry
Ashley: Main course with arugula
Elizabeth: Side dish with hominy

Here is how it went down...
Angela prepared a Prosecco drink mulled with raspberries, blueberries, mint, lemon, sugar and vodka. Michele is holding the drink above as she told some funny story about her trainer.
Meet the newest member of CC - Elizabeth. She is going to fit right in. Janet started off with an appetizer - Asian inspired spring rolls. These tasty little spring rolls were stuffed with shrimp, basil, mint, noddles, sprouts, and pork (am I missing anything?). The dipping sauce was a combination of peanut butter and hoisin sauce.
Bonnie made a delicious beat soup. This pureed goodness we heard was somewhat of a kitchen disaster/challenge - she had to puree beats, yikes. But the finished product was outstanding. The soup contained, ginger, onion, green garlic and other wonderful goodness. The soup was served with a dollop of cashew cream and a spring of thyme.
And didn't Bonnie look pretty?
Tina prepared a wonderful lemon alfredo fettuccine pasta with peas and artichokes. It was light and creamy and wonderful.
Elizabeth was given hominy as her ingredient for a side dish and prepared a very comforting like casserole dish. It was spiked with jalapeno, which gave it just the right kick and also contained cream and cheese and topped with breadcrumbs. Yum.
For our main dish Ashley prepared a lovely pizza topped with homemade pesto, goat cheese, arugula and tomatoes. Michele who was paired with dessert and apricots prepared two pleasing desserts. The first was a vegan cookie with dried apricots and sage.
And the second was this delightful marsh-mellowly goodness. Michele you never disappoint. And I found the recipe because this is going into my binder. Click it!
The evening rounded out with a visit from this blue eyed beauty.


As always it was a grand time with good food, great stories and wonderful news!