Signature Drinks

One of the keys to kicking off a Supper Club or dinner party is getting guests a drink as quickly as possible as they arrive. It doesn’t need to be a “signature” drink. It doesn’t even have to be alcoholic. There is just something welcoming about giving guests a drink.

Signatures drinks are great for Supper Clubs. The first time I made Mint Mojitos for a Supper Club it was a huge hit. In the spring my mint crop is prodigious so I thought I would give it a try. Initially, our guests were less than receptive. Being wine drinkers they were a little leery of something rum based. A few sips in and they were hooked. I have also used champagne cocktails along the same lines. My brother in law makes cocktails based in fresh fruit juice that are great. Doing something different sets the right mood and gets your guests thinking that there are in for special culinary evening.

Signature drinks are one of the keys for a successful wedding reception. For whatever reason my wife and I have been to a lot of weddings over the last few years. There is nothing worse than having to wait on a long line to get that first drink at a wedding reception. About 80% of the time that is the case. It doesn’t seem to matter how simple or elaborate a wedding is. If there is a long line to get drinks it sets the wrong mood.

We went to a wedding last summer of the daughter of a friend who is a corporate titan. My buddy spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the wedding and that didn’t prevent the 30 – person line-up to get a drink. It is pretty simple; all you need to do is to have the wait staff walk around with trays of drinks. The drinks don’t even need to be all that special. Red and white wine would be great. The key is to get the wedding or any party started on the right foot.

Having been to a lot of weddings one witnesses all types of strange things. One of the funniest things I have ever seen was people trying to eat poorly prepared oysters. This was at a very elaborate wedding where our hosts spent a lot of money for a beautiful raw bar. Oysters have two muscles attachments one for the upper shell and one for the lower shell. The caterer had cut only one of the two muscles. The poor guests had waited on line to get their drinks. Then they went straight to the raw bar. Just picture a group of people dressed in their finest trying to balance a drink and eat an oyster sabotaged by still having the muscle attached to the shell. It was hysterical. Not to mention the one poor guy that lost the oyster’s cocktail sauce down the front of his light blue suit.

For other tips on Supper Clubs and entertaining keep reading my blog at www.impromptufridaynights.com and be on the lookout for the book Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing January 30, 2018

My Favorite “Communist”

My brother in law Bobby is a special guy and he has been in a really different type of Supper Club for years.

My wife Susan used to get upset when I jokingly referred to Bobby as “my favorite communist”. When I told him the story he countered with “I am really more of a Marxist”. The beauty of Bobby is that he is one of those genuine liberals that really walks the walk.

Bobby’s socialist roots go back to being a political science major in the 1960’s. I think he was head of the SDS at the University of New Hampshire back in 1968. The guy has some liberal “Cred”. Now while he has that background he also understands capitalism better than most. When PC’s first came out back in the 70’s/80’s he was teaching high school math and he started a software company to develop school administration programs. He says that I told him to “Cash Cow” the business and started investing in condominiums. I don’t remember telling him to cash out the business, but I do regret not investing in the condos with him. He wound up owning 269 condos that he bought mostly at distress sales from banks. He also set up a company to manage over 500 condos.

In 2006 just before the housing crash he decided to sell the condos. (Perfect timing) The piece that makes Bobby special is that he GAVE the condo management company to the employees. Lots of folks will talk a liberal bent but this guy walks the walk. He sort of combines the best of capitalism with the best of socialism. This reminds me of the old Joke:

A farmer from Maine goes to Boston and hears a lecture on socialism. He goes back to his buddies in Maine and announces that: “I am a socialist”. To which his friends queried:
• You mean if you had two houses you would give one away? To which our new socialist replied: “Yup”
• You mean if you had two cars you would give one away? Again he replied: “Yup!”
• You mean if you had two cows you would give one away? To which he replied: “Well that is not fair, you know I have two cows”

As unique as Bobby’s story is, his Supper Club is unique as well. For years he and his wife have gotten together once a month with another couple for dinner. They alternate between each other homes and enjoy socializing over a meal. The tough part is that Bobby is a good cook and goes to great lengths to serve something special. The other couple consistently serves similar pasta dishes. This dichotomy does present a bit of friction, but the Supper Club continues on.

I guess the moral of the story is that with both people and Supper Clubs – all types can be very successful.

For more tacky stories like this one keep following my blog at: https://impromptufridaynights.com/category/blog/ and watch out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide to Supper Clubs due out form Morgan James Publishing January 30, 2018

You Had S.E.X. at the Party?

One of the funniest things that ever happened at a Supper Club event goes back to a New Years Eve party we had several years back. Before I go further I have to say two things:

1. Alcohol was involved
2. Names have been changed to protect the guilty

Susan and I hosted a neighborhood New Years Eve party for years. This year in question involved extensive appetizers/drinks, dinner/drinks, game/drinks and dessert/drinks. About a quarter of the way through the evening “Ralph”, who I had probably over-served, announced to party that his new years resolution was to “have more sex in the new year”. His wife who is usually adept at controlling such out bursts was missing in action. It really got out of control when another neighbor who was a psychologist started querying: “So Ralph tell us what you really feel?” As you can guess Ralph was the target for a fair amount of teasing, but the evening went on and a good time (non-sex related) was had by all.

A few days later I was back at work and got a call from Ralph to apologize for his S.E.X. comments at the party. While the whole thing was funny to me, poor Ralph had taken a (deserved) beating from his wife and probably had been forced to give me a call. Later that day my wife and kids met me at McDonalds for lunch. In recalling the highlights of my day I told Susan about Ralph’s call and apology for comments. I was careful to spell out the S.E.X. word in front of the children. My daughter Jennifer who was about 9 quickly leans across the table and carefully turns to protect her brother Brian (6) and whispers “You had S.E.X. at the party?” Susan and I both initially burst into laughter and then almost in harmony ask “How do you know about S.E.X.”. To which Jennifer answered confidently “Oh Lydia (Ralph’s daughter aged 10) has told me all about it”. In the immortal words of Ricky Ricardo on “I love Lucy” we had quite a bit of explaining to do.

Do you want to catch up on similar tacky stories? Keep an eye out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide to Supper Clubs – Due out from Morgan James Publishing January 30, 2018