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My dear friend from high school, Allison, and I have talked about hosting a supper club for years. Since before babies and prior to our homes being separated by a one-hour-plus door-to-door commute.
So leave it to Joanna Gaines to reenergize our idea. An article in the fall issue of Magnolia Journal suggested a simple supper club--one with low expectations, a big pot of soup, and no need for an RSVP.
We set a date and just decided to go for it. We planned to make two of the autumn-esque soups featured in the magazine, as well as one of the salads highlighted. Add a cheese plate, some crusty bread, a couple of bottles of wine, and poof! We had a menu.
Initially, my list of invitees was long because I didn't want to leave anybody out. Then, I whittled it down to my mom friends. But I realized I yearned for an intimate dinner with a diverse group of women. I wanted to include my working mom friends, stay-at-home mom friends, and of course those moms I don't see too often but adore from afar. I'm always excited to be inspired from the good my friends are doing.
Looking for a tie to bind a diverse group of women for this first supper club, I thought of friends who live in my area or not too far away. That immediately left me with a very nice, small group of extraordinary women to invite.
Once we were set on a Wednesday night after bedtime, I said I had a group of gals in mind and wondered if Allison had anybody she wanted to include. A friend of hers from college just so happened to move to my area, and by huge chance and coincidence, she actually ended up living just two blocks away.
I sent out a quick email invitation and included the following very important notes:
Miraculously, almost everyone could come. We ended up with six ladies, and there really was no shortage of food or conversation.
So leave it to Joanna Gaines to reenergize our idea. An article in the fall issue of Magnolia Journal suggested a simple supper club--one with low expectations, a big pot of soup, and no need for an RSVP.
We set a date and just decided to go for it. We planned to make two of the autumn-esque soups featured in the magazine, as well as one of the salads highlighted. Add a cheese plate, some crusty bread, a couple of bottles of wine, and poof! We had a menu.
Looking for a tie to bind a diverse group of women for this first supper club, I thought of friends who live in my area or not too far away. That immediately left me with a very nice, small group of extraordinary women to invite.
Once we were set on a Wednesday night after bedtime, I said I had a group of gals in mind and wondered if Allison had anybody she wanted to include. A friend of hers from college just so happened to move to my area, and by huge chance and coincidence, she actually ended up living just two blocks away.
I sent out a quick email invitation and included the following very important notes:
- There are no strings attached and who knows if we will have another after this, but we thought we'd toss out the invitation and see if we could round up a great group of gals for a bite to eat this fall.
- Please don't bring anything and don't offer to bring anything...this is meant to be very effortless!
Miraculously, almost everyone could come. We ended up with six ladies, and there really was no shortage of food or conversation.
Allison and I split the cooking responsibilities (we've always loved sharing a kitchen, even if it was a dinky apartment stove with just two burners and a makeshift desk for counter space!), and it was fairly effortless.
The point of this post is to encourage you to set-up something similar. We all yearn for community, for good food, for a break for cooking...and in my case, I love to host and prepare an evening for others.
I've included poor-quality photos (standard!) of the recipes from Joanna's magazines. You should be able to enlarge them so you can see the recipes: sausage, white bean, & potato soup...chicken, wild rice, & mushroom soup...and a salad with apples, feta, & walnuts. We ended up just making a large salad rather than the "stacks" the recipe called for (simplify and go!).
Enjoy, and please share your supper club ideas in the comments.