Gourmet Club – January 2007

This is the 16th year of our Gourmet Club. There are 4 couples in the club and once a month one couple hosts the gourmet dinner. We do it the first four months of the year. When we first started, we tried to do it a total of 8 times a year, two for every couple, but that proved unworkable, so early on, we settled on 4 times. The hosting couple stands the cost of the meal and does all the preparation. Pot luck type meals didn’t work out. With one couple in control, the whole dinner was more appropriately planned. Shortly before the night of the meal, the hosts submit their menu to Doug, our resident sommelier. He matches the appropriate wines to the various courses. The host never pays for the wine. The other three couples split the cost and pay Doug, who brings the wine the night of the meal.

We have had the same couples the entire time we have been doing this. We, the gourmets are; Robert and Karen Thorpe, Doug Beach and Lynne Carlson, John and Sue Hawn, and our hosts this meal, Steve and Terri Howes.

Lynne Carlson, Doug Beach, Karen Thorpe, John Hawn, Sue Hawn,
Steve Howes, Terri Howes, and Butchie Boy (Robert Thorpe)

The Menu

The Winelist

Here is how the meal turned out. I got pictures of all the courses except dessert. We had a short break between the entré and dessert and by then the winelist was asserting itself, so, no dessert picture. It was very nice though. It was served in pear shaped glasses with the strawberries floating on top of the Vanilla Crème.

The Presentation

The Future

We have 3 more meals planned this year. Keep a watch and I will feature each one if I can.