Dinner Club-January 2011

Some friends and I formed a dinner club after I had the wee one, and we have had such a blast.  Some of our parents were involved in one in the 80's, and they had a ball, so we decided to carry on the tradition.

If you google dinner club, you will see all sorts of insane things that people do.  I have heard of one that only focuses on recipes from Bon Appetit magazine.  I have heard of some that have lovely multiple course dinners with the best of china.  That sounds great and all, but we are mostly working mother's with very young children.  We don't have time for that, AND for it to be fun.  Preparing an eloquent dish while shooing a 10 month old off your leg sounds miserable.  It needed to be casual- very low key.

After discussion, we chose to have the host couple prepare the meat of their choice and a signature drink, and each couple would bring a side and a little something to sip on if they had something particular they liked.  The one idea we stole from another dinner club in town is that each host invites a mystery couple.  It can be anyone of their choosing, and it has been so fun to show up and find out who is there.

We have had many memorable experiences thus far: the queso explosion, the quest for outdoor curtains, the ceiling of twinkle lights, and the tipping of the ladder.  It never fails that someone will be hilarious.

It has been almost a year since our first meeting, and it has been something that I look forward to every month. Here are some memories of our night.

Pioneer Woman Artichoke and Olive Dip and Pioneer Woman Black Eyed Pea Dip. 

Pioneer Woman Mashed Potatoes 

Delicious Beef Stew (not Pioneer Woman...)

Wedge Salad (I couldn't help myself- I had to eat it before I remembered to take a picture.

Now that I am uploading pictures, I am giggling about how almost everything was a PW recipe. It has to be said, everything she does is the best and SO SO easy.  A couple of suggestions for the dips is to add more cayenne to the artichoke and olive dip, and to add more jalapenos and black beans to the black eyed pea dip. They were both delicious.  Another thing I forgot to snap a picture of was the jalapeno corn bread.  It too was divine.  The wedge was a classic wedge with bleu cheese dressing (my favorite salad of all time).  Hint: stew poured lovingly over mashed potatoes is hard to beat. I have been craving it ever since. 

Now on to the important thing. The specialty drink. Our hostess dared to be creative with a blueberry martini. FAIL. Ha! sorry Jen.  I rarely drink liquor, so I thought it was terrible, but alas, my new favorite and the most dangerous drink of all time arrived to save the day. 

The hot and dirty martini.  Or as I call it, the HOT and DIRRTY. This is a serious drink, folks. Be prepared to take the next day to recover.  Now, I am no expert bartender, but here is what I think was in this magical nectar.  Pepper vodka, (who knew, right?) jalapenos, olive juice, olives... I think that was it.  You can tell that I didn't mix this myself. 

She did. Multiple times. They kept creeping up in front of me..

After dinner is a time to hang out with friends and just enjoy a night off from the world and with each other. It was so nice to sit by the fire on this very cold night. Please enjoy some incriminating photos. Fair warning: the pictures are either yellow or dark- depending on what time it was. I may need to stick with the auto setting for evening functions. 

4 pictures and this was the best one. I think our host was permanently confused. 

the ladies of dinner club + mystery lady

no nick- your head isn't yellow and shining. I like this picture. 

the mystery guest and E

Our beautiful hostess, Jennifer

Many thanks to our beautiful hostess (and host) for a wonderful night full of memories, and a wasted Sunday chugging water, eating grease, and vowing to never touch a martini again. (as I sip my hot and dirrty...)

ciao.