Back in 2010, a small group of my friends started a dinner club. I’m so glad that I was already blogging at that point, so I can look back at the history of our gatherings.
Below is a quick summary for me, but also so our current group can look back at what we did before. If you’re interested in putting together your own dinner club, this post might be a guideline for you as well. For the last iteration of the dinner club, we picked a celebrity chef and cooked their recipes.
It’s also interesting to see what we planned for each dinner versus what actually happened. Which you can see if you click on the links and read the posts.
November 9, 2010 – Paula Deen
December 28, 2010 – Rachel Ray
March 22, 2011 – Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa
February 9, 2011 – Wolfgang Puck
May 19, 2011 – Ming Tsai
June 25, 2011 – Marcus Samuelsson
August 31, 2011 – Jamie Oliver
March 1, 2012 – Bobby Flay
March 17, 2012 – Emeril Lagasse
May 3, 2012 – B. Smith
November 2, 2013 – Dinner Club 2.0
The dates are the dates of the blog posts, not the actual days of the dinners. But they give an idea of the frequency of the dinners. Looking back, I can see how life got in the way. But we still had a great time and all of us who were part of the original group look back fondly at those gatherings. Such fun times!
I’m so happy that we’ve resumed the dinners to start the new decade. The first dinner was in January. Unfortunately I was really sick, so I missed it.
The second dinner was this past Saturday, on leap day. Since it was Black History Month, we picked soul food as a theme. The food was so good and I’m still enjoying the leftovers!
For dessert, I made banana pudding. It was my first time making it and I really enjoyed the process. It was delicious too!
My aunt, who passed away a few years ago, was the one in our family who always made banana pudding and introduced me to the dessert. I thought a lot about her as I was making it. My mom was the one who suggested that I make it and I’m so glad that she did.
For our next dinner club, we decided to pay tribute to B. Smith, who just passed away, by cooking her recipes. Looking back at the old dinner club posts, I saw that she was also our last celebrity chef. We’ve come full circle.
At dinner this Saturday, one of the new members mentioned that she had heard that one of the reasons that we started the club was because regular gatherings make people happier. I had forgotten, but said it sounded like something that I said.
In the Wolfgang Puck dinner post, I found that I had written about gatherings and happiness. Author Dan Buettner had said that being part of a once a month club where you must show up in person, has the same happiness impact as doubling your income. Life experiences and social interaction increase happiness.
I wrote about it back then and believe it even more years later. Here’s hoping that the gatherings continue!
Love ❤️ this post Lisa , you play melodies with the words!!
Jorge – Thank you so much! 😀