Sunday, May 21 – 6:00pm
For May, we took another foray into a new type of cuisine, with Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey. The cookbook includes classic recipes from the range of regions of India, as well as some more unusual dishes. Madhur Jaffrey also suggests accompaniments for many of the dishes. (more…)
Saturday, April 22 – 7:00pm
The cookbook for this month was Thug Kitchen by Michelle Davis and Matt Holloway. They started as a blog, which they have labeled as the “only website dedicated to verbally abusing you into a healthier diet.” What this boils down to is a vegan cookbook with a healthy dose of colorful language sprinkled throughout the recipes. (more…)
Sunday, March 26 – 6:00pm
For this month’s cookbook, we did Joy of Cooking. Not only is it a classic, but it’s also Anthony’s favorite. That’s a picture of his cookbook, which I adore because it’s the most well-loved cookbook I’ve ever seen. Whenever Anthony brings food to a party, you can almost guarantee it’s a recipe from Joy of Cooking. He’s brought some good food, so we decided it was high time we all give it a try. (more…)
Saturday, February 25 – 1:00pm
To mix things up a bit, we did afternoon tea this month! Alice’s Tea Cup by Haley and Lauren Fox seemed like the perfect cookbook for the occasion. The book shares recipes from their popular Alice’s Tea Cup restaurants in New York City. We had an amazing spread of cakes, scones, sandwiches, and more, plus a lovely assortment of teas. And we decided to dress up for our very sophisticated tea… look at how snazzy we look with our tea! (more…)
Sunday, January 22 – 6:00pm
This month we did a Chinese New Year party. Though the Chinese New Year’s day was on January 28, you typically spend a week closing out the old year and a week bringing in the new year. So the timing worked out perfectly for us to close out the old year with this event! There are a bunch of traditional dishes symbolic for things like long life, prosperity, and happiness. We chose two Chinese cookbooks – All Under Heaven by Carolyn Phillips and Land of Fish and Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop – so that people could have a variety of options and hopefully do some of the traditional dishes. (more…)
Sunday, December 11 – 4:00pm
The holidays are filled with get-togethers centered around cooking and eating. Certainly a favorite time of year for a group of people obsessed with food! But also an extremely busy time that already involves a ton of cooking obligations. We didn’t want our December event to add to the to-do lists and potential stress of the season. So we decided to make it a cooking party – no need to prepare a dish ahead of time. Just show up ready to put on your apron, roll up your sleeves, and make some fresh pasta by hand! (more…)
Saturday, November 12 – 6:00pm
Thanksgiving is one of the biggest food holidays of the year. A perfect reason for a bunch of food lovers in a cookbook club to celebrate! So we took this opportunity to make our party a testing ground for the dishes people wanted to try for their Thanksgiving celebrations. No assigned cookbook – just any recipe people wanted to test out for their holiday feasts. Of course there was turkey, sides, dessert (you might have mistaken it for modern art, but that’s a dessert plate!), and much more! (more…)
Saturday, October 22 – 7:00pm
In honor of Halloween, for October’s event we deviated from the single cookbook concept. Instead, we did a creepy, spooky potluck. Treats could be anything from food that seems creepy to eat (bugs!), foods made to look creepy (skeletons, graveyards), seasonal munchies (pumpkin seeds, apple cider), or candy and beer pairings. It was a great chance to put to use the culinary skills we’ve been acquiring, while tossing in a dose of our own creativity. And the results were amazing! From treats like beautiful candied apples and apple cider donuts (fried fresh at the party!), to tricks like prosciutto skulls and appetizer internal organs. (more…)
Sunday, September 25 – 6:00pm
This month’s cookbook was Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes, by Peter Meehan and the editors of Lucky Peach (the food magazine created by David Chang, founder of the Momofuku restaurant empire). While we wanted to expand our club’s repertoire to different kinds of foods, we were also sensitive to some people’s unfamiliarity with Asian ingredients and where to get them. As Sheana put it: “My inability to cook Asian food is precisely linked to my lack of Asian-cooking staples. What on earth is Mirin and why should I keep that next to the 8 kinds of vinegar and cooking wine that already take up my densely stocked shelf?” (more…)
Saturday, August 27 – 5:30pm
While we’re still in the summer months, we wanted to have a Cookbook Club event outside around an open fire, because fire is fun and grilled food is delicious! There’s a beach nearby with fire pits, so with that in mind as our event location, we chose the cookbook Around the Fire by Greg Denton, Gabrielle Quinonez Denton, and Stacy Adimando. Greg and Gabrielle are the owners of Ox Restaurant in Portland, where they cook dishes inspired by the wood-fired grilling tradition of Argentina. Their cookbook seemed perfect for our grilling event, plus it had awesome visuals! (more…)