Feng Shui of Supper Clubs – Seating Arrangements

Could Feng Shui play a role in supper Clubs? I don’t know, but common sense should and why take chances.

First of all what is Feng Shui?

Feng Shui also known as geomancy, is a pseudoscience originating from China, which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment.

So for supper Clubs if we are going to “harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment” we should definitely think about seating arrangements. It makes sense to:

Four Feng Shui (Or common sense) – seating arrangement rules:

Pair people that you think will enjoy each other’s company
Seat people following the line from the old movie (Seams Like Old Times) where Goldie Hawn seats people by saying: “Boy, girl, governor, girl”
Don’t seat spouses next to each other (I know my wife has heard my stories way too many times)
Separate people you know have issues with each other.

Do I believe in Feng Shui? While I’m not sure, I certainly wouldn’t take any chances. I ran a company in the Philippines. It was the Franklin Baker Coconut company. We owned a housing compound in the city of San Pablo about 60 miles from Manila. The compound dated back to the 1930’s during the American colonial era when the company was run by American expats who lived with their families on the company property.

In 2005 the land was very valuable situated in the middle of the city. A Chinese retailer “Walter-Mart” (A real company with good trademark attorneys (?)) made an offer to buy the property contingent on having their Feng Shui expert survey the land. Feng Shui is very important to Filipinos.

The Feng Shui guy walked through the property and when he got to the swimming pool he stopped saying he sensed “pained spirits”. He asked if there used to be a cemetery there. The Franklin Baker people told him the truth which was that while there was no cemetery, the story was that during WWII the Japanese had used the pool as a prison. They put a steal plate over the pool and several Filipino prisoners had died there. The deal to sell the property was off and I don’t take chances with Feng Shui. You can’t make stories like this up.

One of the highlights of Filipino cuisine is the abundance of amazing seafood. We had a plant on the southern island of Mindanao that was right on the bay. Local fishermen would catch these huge prawns the size of lobster tails. One of my predecessors once commented when seeing the size of the prawns that he knew why the rest of the world called prawns shrimp.

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.

How To Eat Mussels

The best way to eat mussels is to use a mussel as a tweezer. Try this method once and you will be hooked for life. It just works. Mussels also make a great supper club starter.

Spending summer vacations on the east coast, one of my fondest memories was going “musseling” with my wife, our kids and my mother. The bay near mom’s always had a plentiful harvest of mussels. The say that you marry the girl like the girl that married dear old dad, Mom and my wife were like two peas in a pod filling buckets up with “free” shell fish.

After scrubbing and soaking in water with corn meal to get rid of the grit, I like to prepare mussels two ways with:

Red sauce (olive oil, garlic, onion, canned tomatoes)
White sauce (butter, white wine, olive oil, garlic, onion)

Add fresh herbs and a hearty baguette to soak up the sauce and you are in for a treat.

Using one mussel as a tweezer to eat mussels is not something we grew up with. My buddy Lucien who grew up in the south of France is the one that taught us this one. If you ever go to Paris you have try moules frites. Chez Leon along the Champs -Elysees is a great experience. While moules frites is originally from Brussels, the French do a great job. You can get your moules 10 to 20 different ways. No choice is bad.

I like mussels for supper clubs because it adds the dimension of sharing. While mussels are increasingly popular at restaurants, they are not everyone’s favorite. Chances are you will have a guest or two that is not a fan, but my bet is that you can get a few converts to the “tweezer” method and have lots of fun with it.

Pick Your Poison – Adult Beverages of Choice?

Wine has always been the adult beverage of choice for supper clubs. The increased popularity of Craft Beer and the fact that hard liquor (without mixers) presents a low/calorie/carb option has brought the wine choice into question. A deeper dive into the data might suggest otherwise.

Per the Wall Street Journal Americans aren’t drinking beer like they used to.

AB InBev, Heineken, and Molson Coors have all reported significant drops in beer volume in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year. According to The Wall Street Journal, AB InBev (BUD, -0.39%) saw a 4.1% drop, Molson Coors (TAP-A) a 3.8% drop, and Heineken (HKHHF, +0.75%) saw a “high-single-digit percentage” drop.

The decline in sales is brought on both by consumers increasingly turning to other alcoholic beverages like whiskey and wine, and an overall falloff in alcohol consumption.

Craft beer sales have taken a hit as well “Some of the country’s biggest craft brewers are struggling with falling sales, hurt by a glut of competitors crowding retail shelves and moves by megabrewers to scoop up some of their rivals.” “They used to say a rising tide lifts all boats. And it is definitely not that now,” Mr. Steinman said. His firm estimates that shipment volumes declined for 16 of the top 36 craft-style U.S. brewers last year.

So where are the trends going. Yes I am a data freak. If you look at three key variables the answer becomes clear

Health trends with calorie and carb content are important.
People want a balance between alcohol and calorie/carb content
Supper clubbers want to socialize, not get wasted

The data tells a very clear story:

Beer just isn’t the answer. Calorie and carb content are an issue for regular and craft beers and lite beer while somewhat healthier just is not the answer.
Hard liquor while great (Low calorie/carb) by itself when you add in mixers to make cocktails issues arise.
Wine, while not a panacea, certainly presents a healthier alternative and pares well with foodie delights