Oops My Club Is Closing

Sometimes in life, and golf, the things that you think at first, are the worst things, turn out to be the best things.

This blog is not food or supper club related. It addresses my other passion, GOLF. This piece was originally written for a Golf Digest series called Golf Interrupted, but as that series has been terminated, I wanted to share the piece as a blog. Apologies to my Foodie audience. Hopefully you will get a chuckle out of it.

What a shocker it was to get a letter on January 4, 2019 that our club would close on February 28^th. It quickly brought on something similar to the five stages of grief with dying:

Anger – Denial – Depression – Bargaining – Acceptance.

In Anger one yahoo threw a golf bag across the pro shop when he heard the news. The Denial piece was led by a group of guys trying to buy the place. (Talk about what a big mistake that would have been.) Depression was driven by the reality of losing connection to friends that we have built over the 28 years at the club. Bargaining came pretty quick as various clubs in the area put together packages to woo the 350 refugees set adrift. Acceptance hit home with the realization that there are better options out there.

The situation was driven by the reality of the golf market today. Young professionals (they don’t want to be called millenials) are not joining country clubs the way previous generations had. The reality is that something like 200 country clubs across the country have been closing per year. Our club, affectionately known as the “Germ” was pretty typical. The owner died and his kids realized that the land was worth way more than a country club. And, by the way, the club had been losing money. In summary, the reality can be summed up in one word. Adios!

In hindsight, there were all kinds of signs that the end was near. The truth was that we were in denial. I use my squeaky windshield wiper analogy. I had a Mercedes for years that had a windshield wiper that squeaked. I brought it in at least a dozen times trying to get it fixed. It got the point that I would manually turn it on and off to minimize the squeak without thinking. I bought a new car and low and behold, the windshield wiper didn’t squeak. It never occurred to me how much the squeak bothered me, until I bought the new car.

It was the same way with the Germ. I loved the place, but there were lots of things that bothered me, and signs that it would be ending, that we chose to ignore. For one, you have to love a course whose key design feature was affectionately referred to as the freaking ditch. If it was in California it would sound a lot better because it would be called a Barranca. In Memphis it was just a freaking ditch. The fact that the ditch was getting bigger every year with erosion was a bit of a tell. Ten years ago the owners spent some money to fix the ditch on 4 holes and promised to fix a few others. It never happened.

The Freaking Ditch

It turns out that other clubs in the area were hurting as well. One club in particular stepped up with incentives to woo a block of 75 refugees. The infusion of newfound revenues allowed the new club to make what was a nice club into a really nice club. The key design feature at the new club is a beautiful 30-acre lake. Somehow we don’t miss the freaking ditch.

Ridgeway Country Club…Kind Of Nice!

Of course we miss a lot of old friends. Then again there is the old saying about the two rules you have to remember if you are thinking about changing jobs. Rule 1. There are a–holes everywhere. Rule 2. You are probably making good money for what you do, where you do it. Rule 2. A. When in doubt… remember Rule 1. There are lots of parallels with country clubs. The really good news is that with 75 refugees at the new club we are constantly being surprised with old friends and former Germ employees showing up as part of the new club.

Don’t Miss the Freaking Ditch Flooding. Do Miss Ben & Hogan

In hindsight, what seemed to be a bad thing when the Germ closed turned into the best thing that ever happened. Who would of thunk! It was a shock. It still hurts to ride by the Germ. We worried about the Germ’s employees, but almost everyone has benefited from new opportunity. In a final point of irony, it turns out that the kids of the old owner, who had thought they were in for a big pay day, will have to wait a lot longer than they had thought to get their money. Lots of the old clubs members were mad at the kids for closing the club. In reality, they did us a favor. In all, it was 3 weeks from getting the closure letter to having a welcome reception at the new club. Sometimes in life, and golf, the things that you think at first, are the worst things, turn out to be the best things

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/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 Culinary Disasters

We all have seen the pictures of the perfect holiday meals. The turkey is a perfect golden brown. The side dishes all perfect. Perfect is usually not a reality.

(The Fried Turkey was pretty near perfect)

Reality was that the dressing was overcooked. Reality was that you completely forgot two of the side dishes. Reality was that the ham got over charred.

The cause of most of my disasters is the fact that I try to do too much. Every year I try to pare the Thanksgiving menu back. The problem is tradition and fact that everyone has a favorite. God forbid that you cut out someone’s favorite and completely ruin their holiday. This year I surveyed the usual suspects, for everyone that said do away with the sweet potatoes there were two that said sweet potatoes were their favorite.

(The extensive menu was the recipe for disaster)

THE DISASTERS AND WHY THEY OCCURRED

The dressing was over cooked

The dressing I make is an homage to my father. He didn’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but every year he would make the stuffing. It was a process that started early in the morning, he always used the same pot and basically the same ingredients. It’s a fond memory and starting Thanksgiving Day making dressing is my tradition.
Why did the dressing get overcooked? The simple answer is that I forgot it in the oven. The truth is, I was trying to do too many things at one time.
The solution was adding some chicken stock to remoisten the dressing

I forgot two side dishes

How can you be are cruising along thinking everything is in place 30 minutes before guests arrive and then realize you have forgotten two side dishes? Well, if you have 5 side dishes ready to go, forgetting 2 is explainable. Or is it?
The good news is that the Brussel Sprouts and Green Beans had been prepped the day before and just needed a quick sauté to be ready.

The ham was over charred.

Why does this feel like an oxymoron? Why would you char a ham to begin with? The reality is that a disaster 15 years ago has become one of my signature dishes and the one item that if I cut from the Thanksgiving Menu I would get cut from the family.
This dish started years ago when my son Brian and second daughter Meagan who hate turkey, asked for a ham. The problem was that my one oven was being used for the turkey. The solution was to roast the ham in the Webber Grill in a cast iron skillet. The result was a ham covered with char. The solution was to trim the char. We wound up with a tasty/juicy ham that has become a fan favorite.
This year I cooked the ham early. Left it in the grill and then reheated it just before serving. The result was too much of a good thing. The solution was trimming a little more char that normal. The irony is that those pieces of char trimmings wind up being fought over. Adding new meaning to the saying: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

Perfect was not the reality. But, with preparation and a little creativity, the result was pretty tasty. And, next year I am going to simplify the menu

Paul, Emma, Hadley, Jennifer
Susan, Dylan, Brian
Max, Ethan, Declan, Lauren

Frying A Turkey Is The Best…But!

A few years ago my daughter’s in-laws from Brooklyn NY came to Memphis for thanksgiving. To give them a taste of southern cuisine I decided to fry a turkey in addition to my conventionally roasted turkey. In effect we had a taste panel where our twenty guests got to try both a roasted and fried turkey. There was no question that the fried turkey tasted better. It was more savory and had a richer flavor. It gave new meaning to the saying: “you can fry anything and it will taste better”.

Fried turkeys are great, but frying is dangerous. Every year deep-fryer fires are responsible for five deaths, 60 injuries, the destruction of 900 homes, and more than $15-million in property damage, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

I had a neighbor who once almost burned down his house. The poor guy thought you had to have the oil boil before putting the turkey in. He was lucky he didn’t kill himself. He did however set his house on fire. The funny part of the story was that my buddy just happened to be wearing a tee shirt that said “Chicago Fire Department”. When the local fire department got to the house my freind noticed one of the firemen looking at his shirt quizzically. My buddy told him the shirt was a gift. To which the fireman responded: “I figured”.

With all this said, there are six keys to safely frying a turke

Get a smaller turkey that fits in your fryer

A turkey in the 12 to 15 pound range will work well. Most turkey fryers will fit a turkey of less than 15 pounds. Larger turkeys increase the chances of oil overflow. The smaller turkey also cooks quicker and more evenly. If you are having larger crowd you may need to fry more than one turkey. The good news is that it only takes about 35 to 45 minutes to fry a turkey so cooking two should be no problem.2

2. Make sure your turkey is fully defrosted and brought to room temperature

If you want a real disaster try putting a frozen turkey in hot oil. There are some hilarious videos on the internet, but if it happens in real life the explosion isn’t funny at all. I like to use a fresh turkey and even with that I will take the a turkey out of the refrigerator for a couple of hours prior to frying to make sure it is at room temperature

3. Pre-measure how much oil to put in your fryer

I like to place my turkey in the cold fryer before cooking. Then I fill the fryer wiith water to get the turkey fully covered. You then pull the turkey out and mark how much water is in the fryer. Then empty the water out. Fully dry the pot and fill the fryer with oil up to your mark

4. Fry your turkey outside away from anything that will catch on fire

This seems like an obvious one, but you can’t be too careful. Again there are stories where people have fried a turkey inside or even on a wooden deck that just don’t end well

5. Use an fry oil thermometer and take precaution when lowering the turkey into the oil

Heat your oil to 250 degrees and then slowly lower it in. The biggest risk is the first time you lower the turkey into the oil. The risk is the oil bubbling over and igniting with the flame. I use the a hook unit that comes with the fryer and wearing heat resistant cooking gloves and a large sturdy fork to lower the bird in without getting burned. Once the turkey is in, I then bring the oil temperature up to 350 degrees and cook for 35 minutes

6. Use an instant read thermometer to make sure the bird is done.

After the bird has cooked for 35 minutes I pull it out with the hook, gloves and fork. Then using an instant read thermometer I make sure the internal temp is 155 degrees. After the turkey is out of the oil it will continue to cook and should reach 165 degrees. The bird should rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes before carving.

In the end fried turkey is better and with these 6 keys it can be done safely.