Supper Club

One of the many programs in my church, the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, is Supper Club. To participate in Supper Club, you sign up with the coordinator and agree to host or co-host 1 to 3 dinners a year. Then you go on her list, and eventually receive a list of your own for your designated month to host. The list will give you the names and emails or phone numbers of the 6-8 or more people (depending on how many you have said you can handle) You contact these people to set up a date agreeeable to as many as possible, and coordinate what category dish each will bring (appetizer, salad, dessert, etc.). The host generally provides the main dish and drinks, which can include wine or beer, and the rest of the meal is pot luck. It's surprising how well balanced these meals usually turn out, considering no one knows what will be served except the main dish, which the host decides in advance.

Of course, since you are also on the list to be a guest you will receive calls or emails from at least one host a month to attend as a guest at their Supper Club. Sometimes I attend as many as three dinners a month, but generally at least one, and I host at least twice a year. It's a great way to get to know Fellowship members on a more intimate basis than just seeing each other at church on Sundays.

April was my turn to host, and I set the date for yesterday, the 26th at 5:30 pm. Three days before that I went into a cleaning frenzy, wielding Liquid Gold, Enddust, Windex and Clorox spray cleaner all over the household surfaces. I arranged for my cleaning lady to come Saturday instead of Wednesday, so the bathrooms and floors would be as clean as possible. Also on Saturday I made a big bowl of tabouleh from Laura's recipe and but it in the fridge for the flavors to blend overnight.

Sunday Madison was banished to the back yard. (Don't feel sorry for him--the sun was shining and he was busy all day chasing squirrels.) I played hooky from church to have enough time to get everything ready without being exhausted. (I've noticed it's a pretty common occurance when Supper Clubs happen on Sunday evenings for the hosts--at least the hostesses-- to skip Sunday morning services. Everyone wants to put their best foot forward, so to speak.)

I set the table and covered it with a sheet to keep curious kitties at bay. They already knew something was up, and were sniffing around to see if I would drop any tidbits as I prepared the meal.

The sheet was a very effective protective device, keeping my four-footed "children" off the dishes. Foiled by the sheet, they gave up and took catnaps.

This is Buttercup, who, for a few more hours, is still the baby of the house.

Whitey is the senior citizen cat at age 14. She takes lots of naps.

Jennie in her favorite place, a pile of towels on the end of the kitchen counter by the back door. The towels are there to put on the floor on days when Madison would otherwise be tracking in mud on his paws. Jennie lies on top of the stack and leaves the rest of the counter alone, so I let her stay there.

This is Princess Margaret Ann Mouse, aka Meggie (named after Meg Ryan, actually.) She too was in her favorite place on the shelf in the garage. She rarely comes out of the garage, but seems happy as a clam there. Notice the sign warning plumbers, etc. not to open the crawl space door, which is directly under Meggie's shelf, without letting me know so I can herd any and all cats into the house and shut the door leading into the kitchen. Meggie got under there once and I had a devil of a time getting her out.

There really is a cat in the above picture. Charlie's favorite napping spot is under the bedspread on my bed. If you look closely you'll see a small lump on the left center side--that's him. Every now and then I go by and give him a pat and get a muffled "meow" in response.

Shortly before the guests were to arrive I removed the sheet from the table and poured ice water into the glasses. The little green and white striped boxes on the plates are cloisanne' bells from China, which I used as favors. The end plate doesn't have a box, since that's my seat, nearest the kitchen.

I set up the "wine bar" on the oak buffet in my livingroom. (When I took this picture, the white wine was still chilling in the fridge.) The livingroom/diningroom is all one open area, and my house is really not very large. But that makes for "cozy".

Here are some of my eight guests enjoying wine and the raw veggies and dip appetizer that one guest brought. I normally have seating for eight, including myself, but I ended up with nine this time due to a mixup on the part of the coorinator. Thankfully, I have a card table and plenty of plates, tableware, etc., so the more the merrier.

I realize I should have taken a picture of the table once the food was out, but by then I was so busy I forgot. Later I was having such a good time that I continued to forget. Therefore, you must imagine the menu, which included, along with my tabouleh and baked mustard-crusted wild caught salmon, zuccini with garbonzo beans, a mixed green salad, home baked rye bread, and for dessert, fresh strawberries over angelfood cake topped with lite Cool Whip. It was a feast for both the eyes and the palate. The food got raves, and everyone asked for recipes for the tabouleh and salmon.

The conversation was fascinating, as it always is. One of my guests is a transplant from New Orleans to Carbondale, and was a Katrina refugee. His home was destroyed, so he moved here to be closer to family in our area. His tales of the storm and the aftermath were interesting and scarey. Before the hurricane hit he escaped in his truck with two duffel bags of clothes, his computer and two pieces of valuable artwork. (He had a lot of additional art pieces, many of which were destoyed beyond restoration possibility.) He told us he lost so much that it has given him a new viewpoint on life. "If I drop something and break it, " he said, "I just think, 'oh well, it's only a thing.' The importance of 'things' in my life has been reduced to almost nothing."

We also talked about China. One couple had been there 20 years ago and we compared notes and discussed changes in the country.

By 9 pm all the guests had gone. By 10 pm, the candles were extinguished, everything was put back in its place, the dish washer was running, the tablecloths and napkins were churning in the washing machine, and I retired to my bed to stretch out and contemplate my next Supper Club, which will be in June. It's going to be hard to top the salmon, but I'll think of something!