1st Klub, The New Spanish Table, completed!

Wow the first Klub was fucking great, IMHO... I must say at first I
was worried, as more than half of you dropped out in the last 24
hours!~ arrrrrrgh. Was I gonna be left holding the octopus? But them
folks that showed up really dove in head first and we had a great
time!

A couple people were nervous about cooking and having people "judge"
what they made, but i assured them that we are judging the cookbook,
not the cooks. a few of you even tested your recipes before re-making
them for the club! awesome, but not necessary! plus, once we were all
gathered it was pretty apparent that it was super chill... I hope.

I'll write about it in courses... First, I made the pear sangria which
was probably the best of the three things I made. It tasted better
than I had even imagined. I shoulda made more! We also began with the
marinated carrots, and Crystal and Sam (plus Greg) brought an empanada
with tuna and red pepper. It was beautiful, for one thing, and
disappeared really quickly. (You'll have to forgive me, I dont have my
book and can't figure out the exact names of the recipes... ). They
also brought a palate-cleansing granita made with liqeur and green
grapes which we served in little glasses and felt quite chic.

From there we had the octopus and potato salad, which I made and
thought tasted like... er, a potato salad with octopus. Nothing to
special, but totally edible.

Scott and his dad Bob really went crazy and barbecued some amazing
chicken with garlic... then they served another bbq chicken dish that
they served in slices with a side of spicy gazpacho. i thought it was
very very spanish and very very good! they also brought another
surprise but more on that later...

Kitty brought not only a CD of 60s and 70s spanish music (of course!)
but also a honey-lemon chicken. it had a beautiful saffron color and
was just about the tenderist chicken i have ever eaten. i loved it.

Dessert! Shannon made a beautiful cake with powdered sugar on top. I
have to confess I was too full to try it but i have a big bunch of it
in my fridge for breakfasts all week. Marta, the pastry chef, opted
for the pear and blue cheese tart... another thing i couldn't eat but
plan to! dang gastric bypass surgery...

Mostly we all ate and talked and whooped it up. My friend Fred also
showed up, making our gathering about 10 people, and he wants to join
tha klub now. WE NEED NEW MEMBERS! Pass it on.

As the host, I was really touched at how much work and enthusiasm
everyone put into it. you all really honored the book and gave it your
best. I couldn't ask for better co-klubbers!

The verdict on the book? Most everyone said that their recipes didn't
turn out the way they expected... some also complained about typos,
like "add 1/2 olive oil". 1/2 of what?? But everyone liked the book,
and we damn sure wolfed down all the nummy food. I think the book is
worth it for the sangria recipes alone. Still, only about three
people were happy to add it to their collection. The rest were glad
that they used the library or borrowed their friends'.

OK, NEXT KLUB.... we have a queue forming. It looks like Marta will
host the next one at her apartment in Alameda. She mentioned wanting
to go "white trash" so wippee goddamn dee doo to that. Next will be
Shannon, then Kitty. The next one will probably meet at the end of
June. Sorry its so east bay focused! you SFers who want to host may
be able to move to the front of the line...

Oh, yeah, the surprise! Well it wasnt exactly spanish, but bob and
scott brought a pinata shaped like godzilla. i happened to have the
godzilla soundtrack so we played that and wacked it. ok that doesnt
sound right.

xokaty