Supper the Fifth

This past Thursday, February 18th, was our fifth supper club!
Our menu was totally vegetarian and even mostly vegan, since Celia and I have embarked on an experimental month of ovatarianism (vegan+eggs).
We made:
-Apple-zucchini crostini (referred to as "toasts," haha)

-Tomato-stuffed mushrooms (yes, these were vegan...despite the intensely savory flavor! mmm)

-Warm carrot, dill, and white bean salad (sadly, no picture)
-Homemade sweet potato ravioli with a brown butter sauce and sliced almonds (our only non-vegan item, with the eggs in the ravioli and the butter in the sauce)

-And a delectable and totally vegan blueberry cake:

It all turned out delicious if I do say so myself.
Daniel volunteered to be our official photographer this time so we have some lovely "socializing" shots:



And even a couple cooking shots (with our matching aprons!). "Double fisting" (flattering, no?):

And Celia plating the ravioli:

I'll leave you with my favorite shot of the whole table:

Recipes to follow. Hope everyone had as much fun as we did!
Til next time,
C&D

Supper the Fourth

Hey Folks!
Sorry I'm a little late on this post! So as advertised below, the latest supper club took place last Tuesday, January 26th.
Our menu was:
-Crudités and pita with cucumber-mint yogurt dip and Charlie's homemade hummus
-Chickpea salad

-Hearty Greek fish stew (and a tofu version for the veggies!) served with crusty bread and a dollop of creamy olive feta (I forgot to take a photo until I had already eaten half of it...goes to show how good it was!)

-Homemade olive oil cake with a tangerine glaze and helva from the Turkish market served with tangerine slices and whole hazelnuts
Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the dessert even though it was the best plating job we did!
We've made many improvements since the last dinner, including starting the evening in the living room and actually buying (instead of borrowing) enough cutlery, dishes, and wine glasses for everyone!
We were at full capacity and had a great group, though unfortunately I hardly took any pictures!
Hopefully the one below gives a good idea of the atmosphere :)

Stay tuned for news on the next supper!
Cheers
C&D

Supper the Third

Hey friends!
Last Thursday was our third dinner! As I said in my last post, in Celia's absence I recruited a guest chef, Mary Dellenbaugh. Mary put together a great vegetarian menu for us, which was:
Sekt as an aperitif
Parmesan, garlic, and artichoke dip with bagel chips and olives

Pumpkin-curry-fig-coconut cream soup

Spinach & corn tart on a bed of greens with a balsamic reduction

& mini lemon-raspberry cremes for dessert

It was all delicious!
Only six people were present (our smallest yet!) and it was a very cozy evening. This time, I remembered to take a few photos!
In the absence of an apron, Mary swaddled herself in a towel to blender-wand the pumpkin into submission:

The guests, before we realized we didn't actually need both tables since two people cancelled/didn't show:

And one with me in it...luckily you can only kind of see my horrible thrift store Christmas vest, hahaha:

I have loooved having the leftovers the past few days! Those who didn't come, you missed out.
Stay tuned for the pumpkin soup recipe--Mary invented it herself!
Cheers
D.

Supper the Second

Well! Last week we successfully survived the second supper club. Exactly a week ago, in fact. Sorry it's taken so long to post on it.
The fact of the matter is, I totally forgot to use my camera until the dinner was basically over. D'oh! You'll just have to imagine what I describe.
The photos I have are of the aftermath.
The decimated guac and mango salsa:


The usual kitchen disaster zone:


A burn on my hand (accidentally touched the inside of the oven):

And Celia classin' it up (haha):

The menu was:
Black bean dip with pita
Grilled salmon
California-style guacamole (that means chunky, none of this creamy creme fraiche-spiked stuff the Germans try to pass off as guac)
Mango salsa
Roasted rosemary potatoes
Fresh green salad
Flourless chocolate cake with warm raspberries in mint syrup
Since it was a work day for me, I did not have quite enough cooking time and ended up madly whipping egg whites for the cake when the guests had already arrived! But I think (I hope!) everyone enjoyed the wine and bean dip, so the delay wasn't too bad. We had mostly newcomers: Mai, Michelle, Daniel, Charlie, Christina, Linda, Junitta and Jan were all first-time supper clubbers (welcome, guys!). Kate came back, and my roomie Josh also joined us again. It was a lively crowd, and at 12 my bedroom-turned-dining-room was at full capacity! That's what made it fun though :)
Stay tuned...the next dinner is in the works!
C&D

Supper the First

1 cut thumb
1 burned finger
1 cracked glass
1 snapped knife
and 5 bottles of wine later, the inaugural meal of CD supper club has been brought off successfully!
CD is for our names, Celia & Diana, as well as Casual Dining and Crazy Delicious and any number of other things :)
Our menu was:
Smoked salmon pinwheels (thanks for the recipe mom!)
Chicken stuffed with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes (thanks for the recipe aunty amy!)
Fruited coucous pilaf
Cucumber salad
Roasted eggplants & zucchini
Grilled red & yellow peppers
& Lemon cheesecake for dessert (Celia's mother's recipe)
We received 4 responses to our ads. 2 couldn't make the date but wanted to get on the mailing list, and 2 were in! To fill the extra spots, we invited friends like mad, and eventually we had 11 attendees: me and Celia, my two roomies, the two strangers, and 5 friends from various places, known of whom knew each other. It was shaping up to be a good night.
We shopped at the Turkish Market on Friday and at Kaufland on Saturday. Saturday evening, we met to make the cheesecake and cucumber salad, which had to marinate overnight.
On Sunday afternoon it was time to hole up in Neukölln and get cookin! We set up my room as the dining room (it really has a lot of space!) with some plates and cutlery borrowed from Celia:

We set out the wine (an essential component):

And the salmon pinwheels:

And then we made the rest of the food, and people started arriving, and it was wonderful!
The strangers turned out to be: Rene, a Danish pilot, and Kate, an economics officer at the US embassy from New Jersey. 3 of our 'friends' didn't show, but everyone ate heartily and we still almost finished the food, not to mention all five bottles of wine. There was lots of laughter, the food was delicious (if I do say so myself), and everyone seemed to have a good time.
My roomie Eric helped out and made a playlist:

Action shot of people beginning to eat:

And everyone posing nicely:

My delicious plate of food (nom nom nom):

The amazing cheesecake!:

And the aftermath. I think we used every dish, cooking pot, and utensil in the kitchen (including the cleaver, which we used to serve the cheesecake, haha):


We had a dishwashing party to some Belle & Sebastian tunes and most of it was done pretty quick.
And that was it! The first supper club.
cheers
C&D