Dinner Club

On an autumn Saturday night fourteen year ago, eight friends met to share a dinner of game from the north woods. My husband's motto "if you catch it, eat it" allowed us to feature quail, woodcock, turkey and venison from the local woods, brook trout from the Boardman River and salmon from Lake Michigan. And what a feast we had. The venison filet served with a blueberry sauce, the turkey seasoned with garden fresh herbs - sage, oregano, basil, the salmon poached with dill. I honestly can't remember the rest of the meal except that it must have been a success as we eight have been together ever since as "The Dinner Club".

Initially we met once a month but over the years as our lives changed with increasingly busy schedules and travel our dinners now are scheduled when the eight of us are in town. The rotating "host" couple selects a theme, and creates the main entree. The others prepare sides based on the theme - appetizers, salads, desserts. At our last "dinner club" we recalled many of the themes and wished we had listed them in a diary. Many flavors have crossed our palates - cuisines of Italy, France, Greece, China, and Vietnam - Holidays, Using Local Products, and On the Grill are a few favorite standbys. But, we have gotten creative with some rather unique ones, as well: Movie with Dinner, Everything Stuffed, Anything with Chocolate and/or Wine, Stack It, From the Diner, Winter Solstice, Election Night Franks and Beans. "A Night In Grelickville" had us inviting eight other dinner clubs and friends to a "Jimmy Buffett" surf and turf dinner for 80 people at our local yacht club organizing the sides by dinner club. It would be a challenge to come up with the other 100 themes but suffice it to say we've sampled quite the assortment of foods.

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