Cooking Buddies Again!

The "History" of Cooking Buddies began when I met Judy Elliot, a friend I met in the Salon groups. She and I went to several interesting discussion groups "around town" and eventually found that we enjoyed cooking. Tracy Duckworth was giving cooking classes in her home (her classes are still available, following her on Facebook). I asked Judy if she wanted to go with me. We enjoyed our classes and dining experiences with Tracy.

We wanted to do more cooking together. I said, "Now that we have had our classes together, let's share with other people who like to cook. I put a small ad in the Cincinnati Magazine's classified section: "Small Suppers" 6 to 8 people, cooking together, share expenses for clean-up, etc." We had a good group of people sign up for our first dinner. "Small Suppers" rapidly increased to more than 16 people - it was more often 22 - 30 people and finally the Luau for 54! (Enough already!)

My husband, Bill did not share my enthusiasm for opening our home to "total strangers". He took down everyone's license plate numbers!

We enjoyed a wonderful potluck dinner around "the big table" and had dessert in the family room. Then we discussed a NAME for our group which eventually became "Cooking Buddies".

At that time I had "help" who cleaned our home. I offered my housekeeper and her friend, her sister and eventually her daughter to team up and be part of helping me make it work. I needed help with serving and clean-up. To pay for their work, I collected $7 (at first) and eventually $10 from each guest. They could make as much as $80 a night ($20 an hour).

I sent out "mailings" to our group with the "theme" and plan for each event. Sometimes I sent postcards and other times, I sent a detailed announcement and sometimes included a recipe from one of the dinners.

"Cooking Buddies" was wonderful, fun and challenging. It was a "time-consumer". In addition to all the "paper work", I would purchase a lot of items for the dinners including: tablecloths, runners, napkins, dishes, glassware and theme items (signs, decorations, etc.) I would set the big table ahead of time so that I could figure out "what else was needed". Then, the appetizer/dessert table and soup table were set up in the family room (for our indoor dinners).

Outdoor events were on the patio with a buffet area under the magnolia tree, grilling done on various grills on a porch or out in the yard and dining was at a big picnic table and three round tables.

People sat and visited, were served soup first, then they "hit the appetizers" before they disappeared. Salads were often "plated up" if the dinner was inside. Outside, the salads were part of the buffet. We "kept to the schedule" which was posted in the kitchen and next to the sign-in station where people checked off what they brought and if they paid their $7 or $10.

When we had dinner "inside" the plates were on the table, so each person could pick one up and walk through the buffet line. Other items already on the table were bread, butter and ice water. The beverage areas were in the family room. People served themselves and brought the beverages to the table.

After the main course, the table was cleared, people were asked to "get their desserts" from the dessert table (leaving the main dining room) and coffee or tea. Some people would continue visiting at the table or go into the family room. Others would head for the kitchen to gather up their "left-overs" or share with others. Sometimes there were NO left-overs and that was an unhappy moment for me to open the "fridge" door to find NOTHING!

I will be having some more Cooking Buddies suppers at my art studio. I'll share some pictures and some recipes here, too.