Cooking Club

Many years ago before I married Brett, my friend Sandie and I found ourselves divorced.  We created our own support group with two members -- just us.  We called it the Cooking Club and that's what we did.  Cook.  We took turns hosting and it was the hostess' responsibility to create the menu and buy the ingredients.  There were rules.  We had to be cooking something that was new to us and we had to have three courses.  Appetizers were usually fruit, cheese and wine while we cooked.  But the main course and dessert were challenging.  Bon Appetit was our primary source of recipes.  We both learned a lot and, more importantly, we had a good time.

We have both been happily re-married for fifteen years (Sandie) and fourteen years (Brett and I).  We moved to Aspen Meadows, Sandie moved to Pasadena and it became logistically impossible to continue.  Sandie still lives in Pasadena and now we are a plane ride away.  Tuesday, she was in Sacramento for a meeting and then spent the night here at Oak Creek Ranch with us.

And we had a meeting of our Cooking Club.

We started with a glass of wine on the front porch, looking for deer and watching the dogs in their never ending quest for squirrels.

Sandie was in charge of the main course: steak salad with parsley, mustard greens,

homemade rye bread croutons,

carrots

and a yummy vinaigrette.

I made dessert.  Rhubarb pie.  Okay, that was cheating since I make it a lot.  But I've had a craving for rhubarb pie that wouldn't stop so we bent the rules.

Yes, Lori, I used my Skoog Farm rhubarb.

Brett poured the wine and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards.  There's nothing better than eating good food with great friends.