Category Archives: Blog

Virtual Napa Valley Picnic

What is the difference between 2021 and 2013? Back in 2013 we had the whole Kenny crew together for a picnic in Napa Valley. In 2021 we were thrilled to get a group together for a Virtual Napa Valley Picnic via Zoom.

Note: The feature picture  shows both a Zoom session 2021 and the real thing with Kenny crew in the Napa Valley back in 2013

While Zoom is great, we have found that having a lot of people on a call can be difficult. We heard one horror story from a friend that had a holiday Zoom call with 10 family members around the country. His dad took the lead and went around the Zoom asking participants what was going on in their lives. That led to all sorts of tales of woe…job losses, business failures, health issues. Our friend made sure to make his piece positive.

With that caveat in my head, I decided to keep my invite list for our Virtual Napa Valley picnic short and focused on the upbeat. The result was a lot of fun and the call that lasted over 2 hours as we all enjoyed the:

  • Chance to reconnect
  • Good food
  • Great wine

Taking the lead in the food department, I decided to make up a picnic basket for the 3 participants. With the theme of a Napa Valley Picnic, I had a vision of a trip we took to the Napa Valley a few years ago. There is a little gourmet grocery store where we loaded up on a few things for our picnic at the Joseph Phelps Vineyard. The memory inspired the menu of:

The beauty of Tuvi’s Hummus is that it comes with stories:

Tuvi is a friend of mine in Israel.. Tuvi and I have been friends since 1985. He is one of those people that brings amazing insight and wonderful humor to just about everything. His wife Mona is more than special. She is:

I talked to Tuvi a few months ago and asked how Mona was doing and he said: Ahh just google her.

(Tuvi and I discussing peace in the middle east or more likely the punch line of one Tuvi’s better jokes. Remember when people told jokes?)

Back in 1996 it was the year after my father had passed away and my mother spent month in Israel as part of an Elder Hostel. I was in Israel on business. We met up in Jerusalem and Tuvi hosted us for dinner. That night in Jerusalem with Tuvi and Mona, my mother was the center of attention and I came away with an understanding of why dad referred to her as the “Brains of the Operation”. She was just interested and interesting. Me I just sat back and watched. At the end of the evening Tuvi gave mom a recipe book and we have been making the hummus recipe from it for years.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/wine group/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

(Brian and  Lauren Kenny, Jenn and  Ethan Begun, Jess and Mike Schuler at Jospeh Phelps

Check out our itinerary for the 2013 trip:

 

New Years Eve Party

Have you ever hosted a party that became larger than life? My wife and I hosted a neighborhood New Years Eve party for over 25 years. We started when we lived in Delaware and our Supper Club friends were an integral part of it. When we moved to Tennessee we continued the tradition.

The party started out at about 25 people. Our Supper Club and neighborhood in Memphis is a lot larger. I should have known we were in trouble when during the course of the year we got alcohol induced queries about what someone needed to do to get an invite.

Credit to my wife. She saw the storm coming and wanted to curtail our efforts long before I did. My theory has always been the more the merrier. I “say” I can cook for 50 as easy as 15. But I was wrong. The party got to over 40 people and simply, got out of control. There were people there that we barely knew and Susan felt she wasn’t able to enjoy the time with her friends.

To get an idea of what the party was like here is a menu:

The logistics of pulling the party off was a challenge that I liked. Organizing the food prep, renting tables/chairs (one long table wound through the house), renting China (who has China for 40?). Susan being smarter than me was quick to point out that we were out control. Not to mention the cost. One might guess why the party was popular. It was certainly a lot cheaper to go to the Kenny’s than restaurant options.

Finally Susan put her foot down and said the party needed to kept to 20 people. That was fine but the unintended consequence was that there were over 20 people that got cut from the list that didn’t quite understand and are still mad at us today. Oh well.

Several years ago our niece’s wedding saved us. The wedding was scheduled on New Years Eve forced us out the NYE party business. It was sort of like the Chinese bamboo shoots under the fingernails. Boy does it feel good when you pull them out. Now we are just thankful not to be hosting the NYE party.

As final message to Supper Clubbers:
• Listen to your wife. Woman’s instincts on people are probably better
• Beware of unintended consequences
• Apologies to those who got cut. You are right. Susan is a sweetheart and I am an asshole

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/wine group/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

 

Holiday Traditions – Peeling Of The Garlic

My daughter has been known to say: “This kitchen smells like Christmas Eve at home”. Yes, I use a lot of garlic in my cooking. One of my holiday traditions is to peel a few heads of garlic as part of getting a mise en place set up. (See the featured photo)

A Traditional Kenny – Christmas Menu

 

Well, 2020 is anything but traditional. Susan and I are healthy, but staying at home by our lonesome, just to be safe. At one point, we considered adopting our Jewish son-in law family’s Christmas tradition of eating Chinese Take-out on Christmas. As Ethan would say: “Who else would be open on Christmas?”.

Instead, we are going to a modified traditional plan where we have a linguini with clam sauce on Christmas eve. The clam sauce will be my homage to the Italian neighborhood, in New York that I grew up in where the “Feast Of The Seven Fishes” is served on Christmas Eve. I must confess that I still have a little scar-tissue to deal with. One year we had the whole Kenny Clan to Memphis for Christmas, and I published a menu that called for “The Feast Of The Seven Fishes” on Christmas Eve. After dinner which included clams, shrimp, scallops and cod, my brother-in law Brian asked about why I called it seven fishes when there were only four? Now Brian is a nuclear scientist and one of the smartest guys I know.  So I told him that I was careful to count and made sure he had at least. 3 shrimp and 4 clams. Sales and Marketing guys just look at the world differently than scientists do.

Another Christmas ,the whole Kenny Clan descended on the ski resort at Waterville Valley in New Hampshire where Susan’s brother Bobby has a condo. After dinner on Christmas Eve, we had wonderful experience. It was a magical evening with a horse-drawn sleigh ride through heavy snowstorm with the whole family singing Christmas carols. It was also an experience that describes the difference between my two sisters. My sister Joan, the college professor, exclaimed “Isn’t this beautiful, it’s a winter wonderland”. My sister Bernadette, the corporate executive, leans in to her college aged niece and whispers: “Winter wonderland my ass, it’s a ‘F- – king’ blizzard. You can’t buy memories like that.

Ok, so Christmas in 2020 will be a little different…

Not to worry, the Kenny kitchen will smell like garlic

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/wine group/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.