There was an incredible bounty of very tasty food at our Southern Indian buffet dinner party for MY TWO SOUTHS on Sunday, June 4. All of it was DELICIOUS! Everyone got very, very full... including Dodger.

We loved everything -- the Shrimp Etoufee was gone at the end of the night, as were all the Smoky Hazulnut Chocolate Cookies and the Carrot Cake.

Honestly, all the food was very, very delicious and I think every single person went back for seconds and thirds. This is a pretty easy cookbook, and things just turned out super great. All the dishes were family friendly, nothing too spicy or too fancy. Our party felt like a truly successful Southern-Style pot-luck. The conversation was as interesting as the food, there were as many dessert choices as dinner choices, and everyone left happy and stuffed.

• Recipes we tasted:
• Adriene made the Smoky Hazelnut Chocolate Cookies.
• Debbi cooked the the Shrimp Etoufee.
• Debbi & Jackie made the Carrot Cake.
• Elena cooked the Turkey Kheema Sloppy Joe's.
• Ginny baked the Quick Telicherry Buttermilk Biscuits.
• Jackie made the Vivid Tomato and Cheese Pie.
• Julie cooked the Southern-Style Pork Vindaloo and the sides that go with it.
• Melissa G. made the Red Quinoa and Avocado Grain Bowl.
• Ginny provided the Arabian Sweet Tea and the Sparkling Midnight Thyme Rose.

We had a fantastic time tasting many of the dishes from A NEW WAY TO DINNER on Sunday, January 15. Although we totally forgot to take pictures, the party was rocking, and despite the fact that every recipe in A NEW WAY TO DINNER serves about 12 people, every single bit of food was gone by the end of the evening.

Our favorite dishes were pretty much everything there -- the Chicken Fingers were incredible, the Applesauce Cake was divine, and the Broccoli, Lemon, & Parmesan Soup was a surprising standout.

The general opinion of A NEW WAY TO DINNER was that it's a good, but extremely frustrating cookbook. It inspired all of us to try something new -- but usually reaching for another cookbook to do so, or figuring out how to adapt their weekly meal plan to serve less, take out part of the week, or just make things a little more winter friendly. We were surprised by the amount of times a recipe required you to go back and make another recipe, or unapologeticly admitted halfway through that you just cooked about five times more than you needed in the first place, and we were all a little bit frustrated about how hard it was to find a certain dish in the messy layout. However, A NEW WAY TO DINNER taught us all a little something about meal planning, and I, for one, will ever be grateful that it made me learn to love a good chicken thigh.

We also hosted our first ever cookbook swap, and hopefully some of you went home with some great new finds. If you'd like to try Curing & Smoking your own meat -- I still have the book for that...

• Recipes we tasted:
• Adriene cooked the Roasted Applesauce, the Applesauce Cake and the Applesauce Mess.
• Annie cooked the Brussels Sprouts Salad with Anchovy Dressing.
• Debbi cooked the Broccoli, Lemon, & Parmesan Soup.
• Ginny cooked the Chicken Fingers.
• Jena cooked the Eton Mess.
• Missy cooked the Crispy Crunchy Oatmeal Cookies.
• Roz cooked the Braised Chickpeas and Celery.

Our third meeting was a fantastic sit-down under the stars. Despite heavy doubts by some members (OK, me), "It's All Easy" turned out to be a super userful and delicious cookbook, even though we all still find it hard to believe that Gwyneth Paltrow cooks and eats human food.

We had a huge spread of amazing dishes. Everyone packed their plates and we squeezed in around one table for a long meal. We got to chat about everything we cooked and we gossiped and got to know each other much better. Julie passed around her (heavily annotated, well-used) copy of the cookbook and shared some of the recipes she tried out at home (pics below!). She also shared a great story about renaming the Singapore Rice Noodles "Angry Noodles." Apparently, and Melissa G. confirmed, Gwyneth wants you to put in a lot more ingredients that your wok can hold, and you just don't see that coming ahead of time.

Despite Melissa B's obvious talents as a dessert chef -- her dog still raves about that Almond Cake -- the key lime tarts were living proof that you just can't trust a Hollywood Movie Star to make a good dessert. Oh, don't get me wrong, we still ate every bite. We also tried the hummingbird egg sized "chocolate truffles", but none of us understood why you would go to all that trouble when you could just buy a bar of dark chocolate and eat that instead.

Our favorite dish of the evening was the Spring Fattoush Salad. What a surprise! The Beet Chips and Cilantro Hummus was a huge crowd-pleaser. Also, the Lemongrass and Mint Tisane and the Rosemary, Lemon and Chile Tisane were packed with flavor and were incredibly refreshing when served iced on a hot summer day.

Dinner went over so well that we went through several bottles of wine, the night went late, and things got a little crazy. And isn't that what we all really wanted to happen?

This meeting was an absolute blast and we can't wait to do it again!

• Recipes we tasted:
• Debra cooked the Falafel.
• Ginny cooked the Soft Polenta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes.
• Jena cooked the Spring Fattoush Salad.
• Julie cooked the Cilantro Hummus and Beet Chips and the Zuni Sheet Pan Chicken.
• Kyle grilled the Salmon Skewers with Chermoula.
• Lauren cooked the Cauliflower Tabbouleh and the Roasted Cauliflower with Curry and Lime.
• Melissa G. cooked the Singapore Rice Noodles.


• Melissa B. baked the Coconut Key Lime Tarts.
• Ginny cooked the Chocolate Truffles.


• Ginny mixed up the Lemongrass and Mint Tisane as well as the Rosemary, Lemon and Chile Tisane.

Our second meeting was quite a bit different from the first. "My Kitchen Year" was a pretty great cookbook, and also a really, really thourough memoir of Ruth's life after 'Gourmet'. We agreed that the book was a little frustrating because Ruth assumes you all know certain temperatures foods cook at without being told and Ruth essentially has the palatte of a toddler -- she doesn't love vegetables, and she really doesn't love a lot of spices either. But one thing Ruth does love is dessert!

Our favorite dish of the evening was totally the Big New York Cheesecake. Melissa felt that the Lemon Pudding Cake could have been a little less tart, Julie freeformed with adding mushroom, zucchini and onion to her Custard in a Crust, and Ginny ate all the rest of the Broccoli Rabe Bruschetta after everyone was gone.

With such a small group, we really had a fantastic opportunity to taste and enjoy the food, and also to get to know each other. Ruth's roomie Carole King provided the tunes, and we also passed around a copy of Ruth's novel, Delicious.

We didn't take any pictures this time, but we're all looking forward to the next meeting!

• Recipes we tasted:
• Adriene cooked the Big New York Cheesecake.
• Dara cooked the Broccoli Rabe Bruschetta.
• Ginny cooked the Spaghetti Allo Scoglio.
• Julie cooked the Custard in a Crust.
• Melissa cooked the Lemon Pudding Cake.

Our first meeting was a huge success! It turns out that "Near & Far" is a fantastic cookbook. Also, we recruited some seriously talented cooks. Everyone ate, drank, chatted, made new friends, and had a blast!

Our favorite dishes were the Chive Dumplings, the Roasted Tomato Salad, and the Ruby Ginger Juice.

• Recipes we tasted:
• Adriene cooked the Spring Carrot & Bean and the Red Lentil Hummus.
• Anna cooked the Pasta with Cauliflower.
• Colleen brought some Spicy Tuna & Crispy Rice which should be in the next edition of "Near & Far".
• Debbie cooked the Mashed Yellow Split Peas.
• Genevieve cooked the Brown Butter Tortellini.
• Ginny cooked the Vaghareli Makai and the Easy "Wheat" Bread.
• Under tutelage from the wise Chef Toshi, Janice cooked the Sake Glazed Mushrooms and the Brussels Sprouts with Karashi.
• Jena cooked the Chive Dumplings.
• Julie cooked the Carrot & Sake Salad and the Strong Ginger Snaps.
• Kit cooked the Sabayon.
• Korelan cooked the Roasted Tomato Salad.
• Lauren cooked the Sprout Salad.


• Melissa cooked the Almond Cake and none of us will ever forgive her dog. (RIP, delicious Almond Cake.)


• Adriene mixed the Ruby Ginger Juice.
• Ginny mixed the Saffron Gin & Tonic and the Verde Gin & Tonic.
• Janice mixed the Plum Wine Sparkler.