Have you missed me? I know I’ve missed the food, the fun, and certainly some of my friends that I rarely get time with outside of our Dinner Club! Our first gathering is November 12th this year and it seems like FOREVER since we’ve done this thing!
Our group typically plans to start in October, but life being what it is…. We simply could not find an October Saturday that worked for everyone this year. So, since I’m always preaching flexibility; this time I had to practice what I preach! We all did. Therefore, we’re having Dinner Club November through May this year. Whatever. Let’s get this party started!
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| With my computer, my calendar and a few other materials I'm ready to plan! |
The first step on our way to a fantastic dinner club year is already behind us; our planning session. I know what you’re thinking – cue the Darth Vader music – “Planning session? That doesn’t sound like fun to me!” Yeah, yeah… I’ve been in this place before; defending our yearly evening of planning for what it is. And it is definitely not torture!
Here’s the short version. If you want to start a Dinner Club of your own, I’m thrilled for you and proud of you and wish you the best of times. If you want it to last, you want people to show up, you want it to be less stressful, more fun and less last-minute work… Have a planning session! Our group thought I was nuts the first year too.
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| I lay out cookbooks, food magazines, etc.. along with our computers for help if we need it. |
That was SIX YEARS AGO! We just do it. We hammer it out. It’s a labor of love. Plus, (hello!) we make it fun! We bring our calendars, our computers, our drink of choice and we plan out our gatherings for the next six months. It takes us three to four hours to plan SIX MONTHS of good times together. We live through it every year and it’s WORTH IT!
This year I prepared a plate of my girlfriends’ favorite little nibbles; BLT stuffed tomatoes. I made some dip, put out chips and set it all up at my big dining room table where we could spread out and do our planning. Our group sat down together (they’ve all been fully on-board with the planning thing for forever now) and we came up with some really great stuff for this year!
They’re getting really good, by the way. These folks come with theme ideas, specific recipes they want to try, cuisines they’re interested in, television shows that inspire them… They really had their “@#$%” together this year, if you know what I mean? J
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| Don't plan without food! I made my BLT stuffed tomatoes and some dip. Simple, but it makes it more fun! |
