Cincinnati Supper Club: The Tenth

supper club

Originally uploaded by cincinnatista

Many apologies for the lateness of this post! I had to leave for my Christmas trip to Europe the day after I hosted the supper club, which meant: 1) I did not cook and 2) I did not get a chance to blog about it before I left.

I didn’t think many people would be able to make it in December, what with the holiday social season being so hectic. So I was pleasantly surprised that we had about a dozen people, including a few new ones! We were thrilled to meet Shannon and Carol from Cincy Scenes, and I was also pleased that my new friend (and City Beat columnist) Stephanie Dunlap could make it, as well as two other new friends, Greg Hyland and Ben Yamaguchi.

Like I said, I did not cook this time. Instead, we had pizzas and three flavors of Ben & Jerry’s, along with Ben’s wonderful homemade almond cookies and homemade fudge contributed by Ms. Schwartz. Bob has more photos here. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a lovely evening!

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The Ninth

Mary Gruber did not disappoint with her wonderful spread of filling but relatively light winter comfort food for our November gathering.

After hors d’œuvres (including sweet honeycrisp apples with caramel apple dip, chips and salsa, jalapeno jelly over cream cheese with crackers), Mary served up piping hot chicken mulligatawny soup and a crunchy Asian salad. Those of us who had room then finished with a rather autumnal graham cracker cake, served with Godiva chocolate creme coffee.

I was determined that we carry on with the supper club through November and December, despite the holidays, and I’m so glad we did. We had a great turnout and - as ever - some new people who we hope to see again soon. All my pictures from last night are here, and watch this space for the date and host announcement for December!

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The Eighth

What a pleasure it was for me to host the Cincinnati Supper Club for October. I don’t say that lightly, either: Preparing for the descent of hungry friends takes some work, but it really is more like fun than hard graft when you’re doing it for such great people. So thanks to everyone for letting me cook! I hope it came across as the expression of gratitude and friendship that I intended it to be.

As for what we ate, it was all rather thrown together at the last minute - I had a variety of food but was undecided until the eleventh hour as to how I’d combine it all. In the end we had: crudités and dip to start, followed by green salad with walnuts and feta (creamy poppyseed or ranch dressing on offer), shrimp korma, chicken and mushrooms in cream, couscous, a pizza-esque quiche, and a spicy salad of chickpeas, okra, and peppers in a lemon olive oil dressing. For dessert, we had mini pecan and pumpkin tarts (which I did not make from scratch, I hasten to add) with freshly whipped cream.

I had a blast, and I hope everyone - newcomers especially! - did, too. More photos are here. Watch this space for details of November’s gathering, which will be our ninth. If this supper club were a pregnancy, we’d be graduating from Lamaze!

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The Seventh

Wow. That’s all I can say: Wow. And also: Just my luck to have been out of town for this one!

Many thanks to Donna Covrett and Doug Pentz for hosting what everyone says was a wonderful evening full of amazing food and fantastic company - not to mention a spectacular view. The pictures I’ve seen of their Spanish tapas extravaganza seem to back this up. (Check out Blake’s photos and Bob’s photos for more evidence. The picture at right is one of Blake Fox’s.)

We had lots of newcomers for this gathering, which also thrills me to no end. Yay, new people! I hope you all come back soon, maybe even to October’s supper club, the host and date for which I will announce on the first Monday of the month. Watch this space…

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The Sixth

If you weren’t at last night’s edition of the Cincinnati Supper Club, you missed out on more than just fantastic food. See? I have photographic evidence.

Our Texan friend Steve Aday decided to bring authentic cowboy cuisine to the Queen City for us, putting on a fab spread: chilli and cornbread, Texas caviar, twice baked sweet potatoes, two Texan salsas and even Xochitl totopos. For dessert, he served up ruby red watermelon and coffee cake. In between, there were lots of legs, lots of laughs, and lots of exclamations of “DON’T BLOG THAT!”

To find out what all the fuss is about, you’ll have to come along to the next one. Details will be posted here soon, so watch this space!

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The Fifth

Wow, what a night! Joe Wessels and his friend Mike, in town from California, put together an awesome spread and a fantastically relaxed atmosphere for everyone.

We ate kidney bean, yam, and soy sauce burritos, which may sound strange, but are unbelievably good. With them we had all the necessary sides - rice, guac, salsa - and a rich salad of field greens, gorgonzola, pear, and caramelized walnuts. For dessert, I finally got to try that ’80s classic, dump cake, for the very first time. I couldn’t help but go back for seconds. (Perhaps the entire pound of butter it contained was what I found so moreish…)

There were plenty of cameras on the scene, and I’ll post links to photo collections as they go online. For now, mine are here.

UPDATE: Bob 5chw4r7z’s pics are here. Thanks, Bob!

Stay tuned for details of the next supper, which will be up on Monday!

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The fourth

Massive thanks to John Spencer and Ken Cunningham for putting on a stupendous, beautiful spread of food for us last night in their gorgeous, cozy Over-the-Rhine home. Once again, I couldn’t help but be full of gladness for the number of times I heard people comment on what a fun night they were having, how great the food was, and how much they enjoyed the company. Lucky us, eh? (My photos are here, and Bob has more pics here.)

Details of the next supper are coming very soon indeed…

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The third

Huge thanks to Michelle Lightfoot and Chad Munitz for hosting our third Cincinnati Supper Club meal. Check out all the photos here.

Michelle is a beloved gastronome here in town, so it’s no surprise that she came up trumps with the food: Fried tilapia and carnitas for assemble-your-own tacos, spicy rice, corn, perfect guacamole, salsa, and even homemade tortilla chips were on offer. Michelle also laid on not one but two desserts, chocolate chip brownies and strawberry shortcake. (I tested both thoroughly and can confirm that each was excellent.)

Just as great was the company and conversation, so thank you also to everyone who joined us.

I’ll be announcing the details of June’s supper very soon, so watch this space…

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The second

Many thanks to Blake Fox for hosting us all at his super-sweet home last night for our second Cincinnati Supper Club meal! It was great fun, and we had some new faces (Chad Munitz, Michelle Lightfoot, and Kari Wethington) this time around, too.

As for the food…Oh, man. Blake laid out a buffet of greens, cut vegetables, and a variety of cheeses and dressings so we could each build our own salads, which were followed by his absolutely incredible beef stroganoff served over hot egg noodles. (I heard somebody say they could have crawled into the pot and eaten their way out. That person definitely wasn’t me. I swear!) There were also huge loaves of freshly baked bread, along with butter that Blake had thoughtfully softened for us. Finally, we had crème brûlée, which was made for us by Michelle Lightfoot, the culinary powerhouse who owns the hugely popular Deli720 on Pete Rose Way.

Thanks, everybody, for a great evening. My pictures from last night are here.

Readers, I wish you could have been there. Speaking of which…

We now have confirmed hosts for the next three months’ worth of supper club meals. Considering how scared I was that this idea wouldn’t take off, being as it was started by a complete newcomer to town (me), I could not be more pleased with how much people seem to be enjoying themselves.

Details of May’s gathering of the Cincinnati Supper Club will appear soon on the blog. Watch this space (I highly suggest subscribing to the RSS feed so you know as soon as news hits the site)…

 

Cincinnati Supper Club: The first

Thanks to everyone who came over to my place tonight for our first supper! I was really pleasantly surprised that we filled all available slots our first time out, and happy to get such a great mix of fine locals in my humble abode. (In the photo, from left: Ken Cunningham, John Spencer, Renee Jackson, Edward Staples. My pics from the night can be found here, and I’m hoping Joe Wessels breaks down and gets a Flickr account so he can share his with us!)

So…what’d we eat? I’m so full right now that I feel uncomfortable just thinking about it, but here was the line-up:

Red Thai chicken curry
Chickpea curry
Couscous with toasted pine nuts
Roasted broccoli and cauliflower with pancetta and parmesan
Spinach salad (spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes, capers)
Strawberry shortcake
Chocolate chip cookies from Silverglade’s

Plus way too much in the way of tortilla chips with various salsas and dips.

I’ve got a ton of leftovers, so if anyone wants to sample anything listed above, drop me an email! Blake Fox has graciously offered to host next month at his awesome pad (it’s not like Ken badgered him into it or anything…no way), so I’ll update soon with the confirmed date for that. Thanks again for coming, guys!