Before Matt and I moved to Boston, I was looking on Craig's List for apartments and ran across a posting for a cooking club. Because I was used to meeting friends on the internet after Hong Kong (where everyone is on asiaxpat.com to meet people when they first arrive), I had no hesitation about emailing the founder of the cooking club. When I got to Boston though, our neighbors and old Matt's old high school friends thought it was bizarre and creepy that I would join a club I found out about online. Then I got scared too...Would everyone be freaks that couldn't find friends the normal way?
Despite being slightly apprehensive, I went to the cooking club anyway, and it was great! There are about 5 of us that meet once a month. We are all in our early to mid-20s and we really like food. There is one stay at home mom, one administrative assistant, one art student, and one girl just out of college working in a lab. Oh, and me! We all take turns hosting it, and the host makes the main dish. Every month we have a theme. Past themes have been Jewish food, Caribbean night, Italian night, Fall Harvest, and Spanish night. The theme for this month was Spa Cuisine...We figured that after the holidays it might be nice to start eating lighter, fresher foods.
Last night I hosted the cooking club. I attempted to make salmon as the main course. I had never made it before, and I was nervous. I kept cooking it and recooking it because it never seemed to be finished. In the end I had cooking it for about 20 minutes at 350 and it still seemed slightly raw in the middle. Oh well. I also made a chickpea salad and guacamole for chips, and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Other people made artichoke-crab dip with pita chips, edamame-tomato salad, pasta salad with home-made pasta, and crepes with ricotta cheese and berries for dessert. It was delicious!
I really feel like I am getting to be good friends with the cooking club, and it is great because these are people that I wouldn't ordinarily meet. It is nice to talk to people that are outside of the "nutrition bubble" that I live in. Also, sometimes it is nice to have friends that are completely not related to anything in your outside life...so conversation never devolves into a complaining session about professors or homework or your boss...
5 comments:
That sounds like a really fun idea. I'd definitely join if there was one in my area!
I love that you do things like that...I want a cooking club! There is a girl at work that is an amazing cook and brings me wonderful treats...mostly I'd like her to be the host every month and I could just go eat there! Maybe I'll suggest it to her!
I love that you do things like that...I want a cooking club! There is a girl at work that is an amazing cook and brings me wonderful treats...mostly I'd like her to be the host every month and I could just go eat there! Maybe I'll suggest it to her!
One of my friends said that the secret to salmon is to cook it in the oven in foil at 500 degrees for exactly 14 minutes...I like it with sour cream or something on it as well...
Sounds like janet has the right idea... 500-degrees in (or on top of) foil for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness.
We like to just drop some butter, salt and pepper, and any fresh herbs we have on it. Comes out great... cooking club sounds like fun!
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