Supper Club

June 25, 2016: My friend Meg and I have talked for awhile about starting a supper club.  It was hard to decide on the size and who to invite.  We really wanted it to be something that would last for years so obviously we wanted people who are fun to hang out with.  We also wanted people who are adventurous eaters and obviously... love food!  We decided 4 couples would be a good number.  We asked 2 other couples from our church and both agreed. 

Because we have little kids and babysitting can be tricky as well as busy schedules we decided to start with meeting quarterly (each couple hosts 1x per year).  We adopted a couple "ground rules" from Jen Hatmaker's 'For the Love'... 1st--The hosts do EVERYTHING--plan, shop, cook, clean-up. Everyone else need only show up with a bottle of wine and enjoy the night!  2nd--We don't make any food allowances for preferences.  None of us have allergies or special dietary needs (for now) so anything goes!  SC is about being adventurous and trying something new.

Marc and I offered to host first.  I had fun getting a few new things for my table and of course I had fun planning our first menu.  We spent all day Saturday cleaning & prepping (I might have been a little crazy at times!)  When it was about time for dinner to start, our neighbor came to get Sadie & Carver (the other two were still at my in-law's house)--they got to go to the park for a picnic and swim at her house.  She brought them home later and put them to bed for us. The menu:

1st Course:

Sweet & Spicy Bacon Chicken Bites

Raspberry Brie Pizza

Blackberry Mojitos

2nd Course:  

Green Well Salad (Shauna Niequest recipe)

French Bread w/ Dipping Oil

3rd Course:

Grilled, Stuffed Pork Chops

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Jalapeno Corn Salad

Balsamic Potato Salad

Watermelon

4th Course:

Kentucky Bourbon Butter Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce
Vanilla Ice Cream

Coffee

Now we are a year into supper club.  All couples have hosted and let me just say... it's been AMAZING!!!  We decided to up the frequency by including some meals out.  We will all still host 1x per year but want to get together more frequently...We are also planning to rotate the seasons that each couple gets to host.  I love these people and oh boy--have we done some fantastic eating!!! 

"In the middle of this crazy life, we have the food, the table, the bread, the wine... while our senses were busy enjoying the food, our hearts fell in love before we knew what was happening."

-Jen Hatmaker, "Bread & Wine"

I'm so glad we took this jump into opening our home (more), being real, and doing life together.  SC is an abundant blessing and I can't wait to see ours continue for years to come.  The amazing food is really secondary to the magic that happens when you gather with friends... around a table.