Special Wines For Special Occasions

Good wines have always been an important component of our supper club experience. There is something special about a wine that links to special moments in your life.

The Joseph Phelps Vineyard is California’s Napa Valley has always been a special place for the Kenny family. In 1983 we moved to the San Francisco Bay area. We knew very little about fine cuisine and even less about wine, but what a place to learn. Funny thing is that we had more visitors in the 22 months we lived in California than we have had in the 27 years we have lived in Memphis.

With each set of visitors we tried to incorporate a trip to the Napa valley. Right at the start we fell in love with the Joseph Phelps vineyard. The little sub valley is just a magical place and they make fantastic wines.

In 1984 our first child Jennifer was born in California. Shortly thereafter our friend Tom Julian visited and bought a special 3-liter bottle of Phelps Cabernet. The plan was to save the bottle for Jenn’s 16^th birthday. That plan led to a wonderful party and even more special tradition.

In 2013 Jennifer announced the sex of our first grandchild at a wonderful event at the Phelps vineyard. We had the whole family there and Phelps team hosted a superb education and tasting for the event. The only downside was that poor Jennifer being pregnant couldn’t enjoy the wines and is still mad at her father today.

Now with each grandchild we buy a 3-liter bottle to be held for a 16^th birthday party. The good news is that there are two bottles in the cellar and a third on order. Additionally, I have justification for buying a larger wine cellar.

Past the 16^th birthday parties Phelps wines are always our favorites. I will always search them out for special occasions and quite often finding a bottle of Phelps cabernet has made an evening special.

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 due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.

The Healing Process

Good supper clubs involve good friends. Some times life is not fair and bad things happen to good people. Supper clubs can be part of the healing process.

Our friends Kathy and Don Bell lost their son Michael in a car accident while he was in high school. They lived every parent’s nightmare. At the funeral I asked Kathy if there was anything I could do to help. She asked if I could write a menu for her for an upcoming supper club. It was just one thing on her mind and the last thing she needed to be worrying about at that awful time.

I will never forget the night a few years later when Kathy stood on her chair during one of our special Impromptu Friday Nights and announced that she had made a breakthrough. She had finally come up with a way to deal with Michael’s loss. It was a beautiful moment and her friends were complemented by the way she shared it with them.

Fast-forward several years. Kathy and Don now live in Charlotte, as do our daughter and son in law. Two years ago we were in town to babysit for our grandson Max then 2 years old while his parents were out of town on business. We invited Kathy and Don over for dinner.

As we were preparing for dinner my wife Susan remembered that it was the anniversary of Michael’s passing. When Kathy and Don arrived Max took over. He took an instant liking to “Uncle” Don. It was almost as if Max somehow knew. He provided a wonderful distraction and a reminder that life goes on.

Besides that we had a wonderful Beef Ragu

We try to get together with Kathy and Don whenever we visit Charlotte. Max and Don continue to share their connection. After their daughter’s wedding last year one can hope that grandchildren are in their future.

It is kind of nice how, in a small way, supper clubs have been part of the healing process.

Back By Popular Demand

You have to love an appetizer that people ask for time and again. My Cheese Puffs (or Gougères) are always a hit. When my daughter asked: “When are you going to write a blog about your Gougères?” I figured the time has come.

Gougères are a great starter for any supper club meal. Warm right out of the oven they are pretty much irresistible. They are not the healthiest alternative so I usually serve a crudité along with the Gougères. Without fail the Gougères will be gone and the crudité goes untouched.

The recipe for the Cheese Puffs with Bacon and Shallot

My Cheese Puffs are a little different than the traditional Gougères because I add bacon and shallot. These additions follow the old culinary rule that: You can add bacon and shallot to just about anything and people will like it. It can get you in trouble if someone in your supper club keeps a kosher home.

Check out the blog on “Kosher can be fun”

This brings me to my father’s story about our family’s Jewish ancestry. It is a special story because I had an uncle who was a catholic priest on the Jewish side of my family.

Dad was a great storyteller. Before he died I sat down with him and documented several of his stories. One story he told is that we are part Jewish. His father emigrated from Ireland under the sponsorship of his aunt, Selma Diamond who was Jewish and lived in Brooklyn New York.

The story gets special with the twist that my father’s brother Pat was a catholic priest that was trained in a seminary in pre-war Germany. My father claimed that Father Pat (“Rev” for short) had to come home from Germany because of his Jewish ancestry.

Fast forward a few years, after my father had died I went to visit my uncle. Father Pat was then 90 and living in the Augustinian monastery at Villanova University. He was still as sharp as a tack and when I read him my father’s story about him having to come back from Germany he asked indignantly: “Who told you that? I didn’t come home because I was Jewish I was a catholic priest. I came home because it was time to come home”.

There are two morals to this story:

Don’t let a few facts get in the way of a good story
You can add bacon to anything and people will like it