So I decided to do it - I had my first (quite informal) "supper club" meeting last week. I was inspired to do this by some authors I've been reading (you can read more about that here). It's not an official group yet and there are no guidelines yet on what it will look like. To start off, I just invited some of my girlfriends over for dinner with just one "rule." No kids. :)
That morning in the kitchen, I was in my element. Trying new recipes, music on, ingredients and utensils spread out all over the kitchen, mixing flavors together to create something delicious.
As a side note, I'm reading Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist and there are 29 recipes in it. My goal is to go through them all. I had done 5 up until that night so I decided to try out 2 more for our "supper club" dinner.
I decided on chicken enchiladas with chips and salsa (and margaritas) for dinner and flourless brownies for dessert. I've never been a big chocolate person until after I had Eli...not even so much when I was pregnant. Maybe the amazing chocolate cake I ate in the hospital after giving birth triggered the chocolate center in my brain and it hasn't been turned off since. ;)
Despite trying 2 recipes for the first time, I was pretty convinced that everything would turn out perfectly. Now, baking has never been my forte. (This is why I cook instead). Baking is all about timing things just right. Take it out of the oven to soon and you're eating warm batter. Take it out too late and it's hard as a rock. I rarely seem to get it right and usually it's on the gooey side because there's nothing worse than burnt cookies.
So these brownies were tricky. There are flourless so I was expecting them to be more fudge-y than cake-y. But I still think I undercooked them. I was slightly disappointed and debated not serving them at all since they didn't turn out like I had planned and I didn't want my guests eating brownie batter (despite the fact that it's still chocolate and still delicious). But then I remembered what I read in Shauna's book.
Entertaining people in your home isn't about putting on a show and making everything perfect. It's about making your guests feel comfortable and allowing them space to be who they need to be in that moment. She says,
"...entertaining isn't a sport or a competition. It's an act of love, if you let it be. You can twist it and turn it into anything you want - a way to show off your house, a way to compete with your friends, a way to earn love and approval. Or you can decide that every time you open your door, it's an act of love, not performance or competition or striving. You can decide that every time people gather around your table, you goal is nourishment, not neurotic proving. You can decide." (p 195)
So I decided that I would serve those imperfect brownies. We added some vanilla ice cream to them and they were fantastic.
But even more fantastic was the company and conversation. We are all mothers, two of us very recent mothers, one single mother and many of us mothers who struggle to take time for ourselves. It was amazing to take a step back from our normal, busy routines, to take off our "mom" hats and just BE. I was grateful for the community we created around that dinner table; the time we took to nourish our bodies and our souls. I hope that my guests saw it as an act of love, a space where they could breathe for just a moment, enjoy the hot summer weather - not worry about making dinner or doing the dishes. I hope to do this more. There are many ways we can show love to others. My way just happens to be through food. :)
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