Happy First Anniversary Friends!
Looky looky what I found-The long lost photos from our
VERY FIRST
dinner club party!
click the beautiful people to see
Welcome to our Gourmet Dinner Club site.
Our Members- Karen, Andy, Lisa-Jo, Mark, Iva and Brian, (proof that it's never too late in your life to make wonderful, lasting friendships) Invite you to have a peek at this site and the fun we have at our dinners. Although we aren't meeting as often as we originally planned (life is just TOO damn hectic), we still manage to find time in our busy lives to get together, enjoy ourselves and enlarge our circle of friends.
Our rules are simple:
No kids (so we can act like them)
Host couple invites 2 guest couples
Host couple supplies the Appetizers and Main Course
Non-hosting couples bring a side dish or soup or salad
Guests supply the dessert
Everybody has fun!
Thanks for visiting and being our guests. Click
HERE to email us.
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Next Meeting at the McLaughlin's- Date TBD.
This dinner's theme is
Comfort Food
Slippers and comfy clothes REQUIRED!
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October 14th, 2006 - French, Iva and Brian
Missed a couple! Sorry!
Mexican - Karen and Andy
Norwegian - Mark and Lisa Jo
February 19th, 2005 - Carnival, Iva and Brian
January 8, 2005 - German. Lisa-Jo and Mark
October 23, 2004 - Italian - American. Karen and Andy
July 17, 2004 - Colonial American. Iva and Brian
April 17, 2004 - Polynesian Island. Lisa-Jo and Mark
March 13, 2004- St. Patrick's Day Gourmet. Karen and Andy
January 2004 - Greek Island Gourmet, Brian and Iva
October 14, 2006 - French. Brian and Iva
(back to Past Dinners menu)
So sorry for neglecting our wonderful site!
On the Plus site Mark has agreed to take lessons in html so he can help with the maintenance... because we ALL need another hobby right?
Toast du jour: Salute!
Iva really impressed us with a complicated and delicious Beef Tenderloin En Croute (Crust) with Coriander Walnut Filling. Thanks Iva, we loved the recount of your afternoon spend in the kitchen
"There was the kneading and the kneading and the rolling and the ROLLING... (this doesn't do itself justice without Iva's frantic gesturing!).
Thanks also for designing our new logo:
Our evening started with Hot, Mulled Beaujolais and the following hor d'Oeuvres:
Bartlett pear and Gorgonzola Crostini
Fresh Salmon Mousse
Deviled Eggs a la Dijonnaise
Cheese , Fruit and Nut Plate
Our guests for this lovely noir were Ellen and Len Pons, and Jay and Andi
Miller.
Dinner started with Karen's version of Soup au Pistou accompanied by Brother-in-law Brian's delicious Pesto (pistou). Along side the yummy beef were Mark and Lisa-Jo's wonderful side dishes, glazed carrots and and outta-this-world onion tart. Everyone brought French wine (SO much easier to find than Norwegian) and we saved our drivers by serving Perrier. The night was finished off with desserts of chocolate mini eclairs (thank you Andi) and a beautiful and equally delicious tart (see the pictures). Awards for "Most Imaginative Use of Leftover Puff Pastry" go out to our guest, Ellen, for stuffing it with Lindt's dark chocolate and baking it to a crispy, melty delicacy.
visages d'invité (pictures) HERE
January 8, 2005 - German. Lisa-Jo and Mark
(back to Past Dinners menu)
Our one year anniversary, Congrats everyone!
Mark's impressive pre-dinner speech
Liebe Gãste, es ist mir eine grosse Freude Euch in meinem Haus willkommen zu heissen.
Danke dass ihr heute abend da seid.
Geniesst die Party und esst soviel ihr kšnnt!
Mahlzeit!
My dear friends, I'm happy to welcome you as guests in my house.
Thank you all for being with us tonight.
Enjoy the party and eat as much as you can.
"time to eat!"
Drinks were not a problem this time at Mark and Lisa-Jo's, seems like everybody enjoyed the German wine, German beer, and after dinner cordials of Blackberry Schnapps and Jagermeister! Guess the Germans know a little about alcohol, or could it be that Mark didn't have to mix anything?
Anyway, the fare was terrific.
Appetizers included; red bell pepper spread with ham dip, German liverwurst spread and feta and pepper spread.
Our main course included; Sauerbraten, along with hot German potato salad, kraut with apples, purple cabbage, spritzels, Bavarian cucumber salad, pumpernickel and rye bread.
Dessert
German apple cake and Bavarian apple cheese cake.
We enjoyed German music supplied by the Bazilian's, which included the German national anthem, (Brian had to remind us how many times we heard that song during the Olympics!) We even got to hear the Beatles sing in German.
Kraut with apples, bread and spaetzle-McLaughlin's
Purple Cabbage & Wine-Voorhees'
German apple cake-Bazilian's
Bavarian apple cheese cake-Hair's
Music-Bazilian's
recipes here mug-shots here
On deck, the Voorhees, looking forward to it!!!
October 23, 2004 - Italian - American. Karen and Andy
(back to Past Dinners menu)
What a pleasure to be around grown ups for a couple hours. It was like an adult swim with food! Cheers, everybody!
-Sean
Even though it took us quite a while to get through our busy end of summer/beginning of school year schedule, we FINALLY had our club meeting! It was worth the wait, dontcha think? Our hilarious guests were, Chrissy and Chris and Sean and Patty. We had such fun with them and thank them for coming and contributing to the delicious menu and the scintillating conversation. On tap for our meal...
Lots of wine, reds and white,
Delicate crab and and spinach pastries as appetizers from Chris and Chrissy,
A fabulous Italian Wedding soup by the Voorhees that was SO good, I made it for my kids later that week (recipe here)
A spicy and delectable pasta dish with scallops and shrimp from the Kriss'
and
Our main course:
Chicken Breast Valdostana with Braised Lentils
See below for the recipes.
July 17, 2004 - Colonial American. Iva and Brian
(back to Past Dinners menu)
"Hi to all our best friends,
We had a fabulous time with all of you Đ in fact, every time we get together, I realize how much I really love all of your company and what great friends you are. We sure had a lot of laughs. I could not have done this dinner without all of your help in the kitchen before, during, and after the meal. " - Iva
Another delicious, successful dinner club session! Of course, I somehow think that the colonists didn't eat quite so well as we did on Saturday night! And again Iva OUT DOES her self, the meal started off with some yummy appetizers including those cream cheesy/smoked salmon toasts and a nice dry (pucker up) fine sherry. Starting off the dinner portion was a sinfully rich Peanut soup from a recipe from the King Arms Tavern in Colonial Willamsburg (recipe) created by Lisa-Jo and Mark. The main course was a specially GRILLED to perfection Turkey by Brian, cooked outside like a real early American. There were a TON of side dishes to choose from:
Onion Spoon Bread
Sage Stuffing
Blueberry Salad (recipe)
all made by Iva
and
Onion Tart (recipe)
Pecan topped Sweet potatoes from Karen and Andy.
Whew hope I didn't miss anything, that's alotta food.
Our delightful Guests, Lauren, Barry, Gail and Rod, who had us in stitches during all courses, brought the unbelievable desserts:
Deep DEEP dish Apple pie ( with what like a whole orchard full of apples in it?)
The better of the two chocolate pecan pies
and
A very patriotic homemade cake topped with blueberries and the biggest raspberries ever (Gail we ate all your cake about an hour after you left!).
Thanks everyone for making this such a special night indeed!
God Bless America and our friends.
April 17, 2004 - Polynesian Island. Lisa-Jo and Mark
(back to Past Dinners menu)
This Month's Dinner report by Mark Kriss
The first nice weekend of the spring brought a beautiful day to celebrate our third meeting of the Maxwell-Forrest Gourmet Dinner Club. Saturday April 17th at the Kriss' home we listened to Hawaiian music, (thank you Karen) and feasted on Polynesian pleasures including Shark, Shrimp and Scallops as starters.
Arriving first and testing the warm South Pacific waters- the Nelson's, with them came a smooooth Hawaiian tropical fruit salad with real whipped cream. Kinda makes you want to start with dessert!!
Karen and Andy arrived soon after, along with some UNCOOKED foodstuffs. Hawaiian Spring rolls with Shrimp sounded great, you should have seen the two of them work as a team to get it cooked in time for the main course. They say half the fun is the cooking, well the other half is watching the McLaughlin's cook together!!! A good team, the spring rolls were a hit!!
Iva and Brian brought a Maui Fruit Salad, which had to be assembled on site. With assistance from Sharon, the two large plates of salad were quickly put together and ready for serving. The dressing was great, no need for additional sugar in the salad dressing, (we could've used that sugar elsewhere, but more on that later)
The Epstein's arrived just before we sat down; bringing with them a large platter full of pineapple upside down cakes. Tried to hide them, but the plate was too big, had to share them with everyone.
Our pre-dinner drinks were, well, different then what were accustomed to on the mainland. The pitcher of Mia Tia's interested several people, but Scott took a real liking to the cocktail. Let's just say it's the good thing Sharon does the driving!! Steve bravely approached the Tahitian Tantalizers, and he actually came close to finishing the drink!! Needless to say Mark needs a little more practice in preparing Polynesian drinks. A little too strong would be an understatement, (this is were the extra sugar would have came in nicely!!)
Lisa-Jo put together a terrific pineapple glazed pork roast, melted in your mouth, and the glaze on top could have been a dish all unto itself!!
(NOTE TO SELF: Tell Lisa-Jo how much I loved the pork roast)
UPS:
The umbrellas in the drinks, with or without straws.
The Hawaiian music
Wide selection of food to enjoy
The people we had at our home!!
Love you all.
DOWNS:
The drinks were, ummmm, oh yeah, UNDRINKABLE!!
Can't wait until July 10th, at the Voorhees... for the Maxwell-Forrest dinner club.
Bon Appetite!!
MK.
March 13, 2004- St. Patrick's Day Gourmet. Karen and Andy
(back to Past Dinners menu)
Ahhhhh... The McLaughlin's favorite holiday- St. Patrick's Day! Our March dinner at Karen and Andy's was a delicious spread of pseudo Irish gourmet. Traditional Irish music thumping in the background and an appearance by our favorite Celtic dancer, Molly added to the festivities. Completing the enjoyment was a very special live musical appearance by our esteemed guests, Bob and Annette, aka Backyard. Their spouses, Sally and Rink were blissfully indulging in a Tullemore Dew during the concert. On the menu:
Appetizer of stuffed mushroom followed by a sinfully rich carrot soup provided by the Kriss'. Then a fab entree of Beef Fillet with Cashel blue cheese and a port wine sauce accompanied by Iva and Brian's outstanding traditional potato and parsnip dish, colcannon. YUM! Our guests from the famous Atco Gourmet Dinner Club showed us why their club has lasted so long supplying us with a dessert of homemade chocolate pudding and Irish lace cookies. Needless to say there wasn't a crumb left. Looking forward to our April Dinner with the Kriss'.
January 2004 - Greek Island Gourmet, Brian and Iva
(back to Past Dinners menu)
Menu:
LOTS of appetizers including Babaganush
A generous Greek Salad by Karen and Andy
Extra and unexpected but VERY delish, Soup and Rice Pilaf by Iva
A complicated, delicate Spanikopita by Mark and Lisa-Jo
Main Course; superb marinated lamb, chicken and vegetable shish-kabab grilled to perfection in the freezing cold by Brian
Dessert provided by our guests, Chocolate cake and Baklava
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French Dinner- October 14, 2006
Soup au Pistou (Karen)
German Dinner- January 8, 2004
Cabbage Recipes (Karen and Iva)
Appetizers and side dishes (Lisa-Jo)
Italian-American Dinner- October 23, 2004
Chicken Breast Valdostana with Braised Lentils (Karen and Andy)
Italian Wedding Soup (Iva and Brian)
Angel Hair Pasta with Seafood Sauce
Colonial American Dinner- July 17, 2004
Peanut Soup (Mark and Lisa-Jo)
Onion Tart (Karen and Andy)
Irish Dinner- March 13, 2004
Karen & Andy's Medallions of Beef with Port Sauce and Cashel Blue.
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Rachael Ray (because we want to get on her SHOW!! Right?)
Atco Gourmet Dinner Club - Lots of good ideas here.
thegroup@gourmetdinnerclub.com - E-mail the Atco Diners.
KM Digital Design - Creative design for web, work & world.
The Food Network - Good source material.
CatMarket.com- Friend Bill Gould's comprehensive online cat store for all our feline connoisseurs.
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