What Time Do You Want To Be Knocked Up In The Morning?

The quote: “The Americans and English are two peoples separated by a common language” has been attributed to George Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill. Having friends from Great Britain in your supper club certainly makes for interesting conversation.

The title question was posed to a very proper American business associate of mine as she checked into the London Marriott at Grosvenor’s Square years ago. The poor lady was probably exhausted with jet lag and trying to arrange a wake up call with the front desk. The look on her face and crimson color that came to it was priceless. The crusty old concierge (pictured) at the Marriott had a chuckle at her expense.

We have good friends Mike and Arlene in Dallas who had a couple from Britain move into the house next door. The first time they met Arlene was explaining to her new neighbor that Mike played golf on weekend mornings. The poor lady was explaining her routine and my friend heard her say “My husband and I get up, have sex and then have a large breakfast every Sunday”.

The next time the two couples got together Arlene asked the proper English lady to tell her husband Mike about her weekend routine. Mike heard: “My husband and I get up, have sex and then have a large breakfast every Sunday”. What she said in English was “My husband and I get up, half six and then have a large breakfast every Sunday”. When the English lady realized what was heard she was mortally embarrassed. Her very British husband said: “For the record what you think she said never happens”.

The one thing that the Americans and English have in common is a love for Indian food. Whenever I go to London I make sure to have a meal or two at an Indian restaurant. It has been said that chicken tikka masala is the national dish of England. We have Indian friends that lived in London for years and he always preferred to get his Indian food from “Take away” (English for takeout) because he didn’t want his house smelling like curry for weeks.

For a great supper club meal try Indian takeaway. Whether you live in London or Memphis you are in for a fun evening just be careful that you don’t get knocked up too early the next morning.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Morgan James Publishing published the Kindle-Version on September 5, 2017 and the hard copy coming out January 30, 2018.

Better Than McDonald’s

On my first trip to France when I was in high school I had my first pommes frites (a.k.a. French fries) and I was amazed that they were better than McDonald’s. To this day there is probably nothing more popular at a supper club meal than homemade French fries.

Growing up my mother made French fries and to honest they were not great. She could never get them consistently crispy. Mom used an old stove top fry pot that was small and probably dangerous. I can never remember her having a problem with a grease fire but I do remember soggy fries and never having enough to keep her family of five happy.

The key to making a perfect fry is to do what the French and McDonalds do. You have to cook them twice. McDonald’s pre-cooks their fries and then flash freezes them. Then they pop the frozen fries into hot oil at the store to finish them up. Served hot they are the gold standard for fries. The classic French preparation is pretty much the same. You pre-cook them, let them cool and then cook them a second time to get the targeted crispness. While not everyone is a Francophile, just about everyone loves good French fries.

French Fry Recipe

The second solution to my mother’s quandary was quantity. I have built a fry station on my back patio using a propane fryer with an 11 quart pot (12″ X 5″). Combining a mandolin to cut the fries with the fryer has allowed me to keep a crowd of 30 well fed.

My neighbor Howard Johnson (His wife Jan still calls him HoJo) and I host an annual neighborhood Oktoberfest. Howard used to work for a company that made sausage casings. He had a ready source of bratwurst and I did the grilling. One year I added homemade French fries at the last minute. The next year I skipped the fries and almost had a neighborhood revolt. While folks liked the brats, they love the French fries.

Serve homemade French fries at your next supper club and you will make everyone happy.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Morgan James Publishing published the Kindle-Version on September 5, 2017 and the hard copy coming out January 30, 2018.

 

Forget Paris

I don’t care what Billy Crystal’s movie said one could never forget Paris. It has to be one of the culinary capitals of the world. The cover picture is a great example of the fact that you don’t need a fancy dining room to have a great supper club meal. All you need is some friends, some food, a park bench and voila!

We had a great group in this picture (from left to right) Steve Williams, Lucien Vendome, Paul Kenny, Susan Kenny, Jody Driver and Charlie Thelluson (Taking the picture). We were in Paris for a trade show and after the show we visited a nearby street market on a Saturday afternoon. The food options were unbelievable. Fresh Baguettes, cheeses from Aix en Provence, the sweetest grapes I have ever had, radishes, pates, jambon and rotisserie chicken with potatoes cooked in the drippings from the chicken. What an amazing meal.

Paris is truly one of my favorites cities in the world. People always say to me: How can you love Paris? The people are so rude”. I explain that I am from New York where rude is an art form. In Paris it doesn’t take very much for a Parisian to step out and be very nice.

A great example of this happened a few days before our trade show. We were trying to coordinate getting some cheesecakes made with a local baker and needed to connect via telephone. The good news was that there were phone booths everywhere. The bad news was that to use them you needed a special token that could only be bought at the post office or the tobacco shop. It was a Sunday and both were closed. Lucien got exasperated with a clerk at the supermarket as she was telling us we were out of luck. Up stepped a young teenager that was happy to practice her English and offered us her tokens. The day was saved. A friend was made and she wouldn’t accept any reimbursement no matter how hard Lucien tried.

It doesn’t take very much for a great supper club party. I will certainly never forget Paris.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Morgan James Publishing published the Kindle-Version on September 5, 2017 and the hard copy coming out January 30, 2018.