The Recipe Box Club

My plans have changed. Originally, I was to go to Olympus Women's Spa in Tacoma for a soak, a massage and such a thorough scrub-down that your skin peels off in rolls. So, I'm using this time to write in my blog, and go through the recipe box. I plan to cook up one of the recipes & lay out the general logistics of The Recipe Box Club.

The basic premise of the Recipe Box Club is that if you care enough for how good the food tastes, you'd be willing to hand write the recipe down. There are other objectives as well. One is to end up with intimate notes on food and advice which can be handed down through your family. Another is to share good food and companionship. A third one is to carve out time to prepare something you might not give time to otherwise. There's also the point of trying foods you might not otherwise have tried, to explore recipes & cooking that you've never really done before.

The club will be invitation only. At this point, I'd say no children. The invitation should be limited to two people: the invited + guest. RSVP is mandatory so that everyone will have a committed number of guests to prepare for.

For the first meeting, I'll ask each person to bring a single, home-made item, i.e., an appetizer, a pickle or relish tray, salad w/ homemade salad dressing, entrees (how many meat & fish), drinks, desserts, (cheeses? why not?!). They'll bring the hand-written recipe on an index card. We sit down to eat. Now, here's where I haven't figured out the logistical components.

If you like the recipe, whip out your empty index cards & write it down. The original hand-written recipe will be passed to another person maybe by some sort of pre-determined rotation - like if you brought the pickles & wrote the pickles recipe, maybe that recipe gets passed to the person who brought the appetizer, the appetizer person's recipe gets passed to the salad person?

Logistically, I can see several problems. I'm open to comments and suggestions.

Should the meal have a common theme?
How many people can be seated at a table? I think this meeting will create a gathering "bigger than my breadbox" dining table (seats 6) or house. What other options are there for seating a large group of people? Church halls?
If we have to rent a church hall or something, we'll have to collect money first.
Plates, glasses, forks (I now have a plethora of those - in silver, no less!), knives (not so lucky there), etc.
If we rent a hall, will there be a kitchen available?
Clean - up

Anyways, those are my initial thoughts for the Recipe Box Club. Don't hesitate to email me if you'd like to be invited. I'm starting a list.