Cats in the Cradle

Every father listens to the Harry Chapin song and wonders what kind of father they have been. My son Brian is a lot like his father (in a good way) he is just a way better cook than I was at his age. One of my goals in writing Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide to Supper Clubs was to outline a Supper Club roadmap for my kids Jennifer and Brian.

Last winter Brian dropped a “Cats in The Cradle” brick on his father. We had one of those rare snow/ice events in Memphis where the roads were more than hazardous. Brian was getting ready to drive to work and I asked if he really needed to? He responded with: In your day what would you have done? That shut me up pretty quick because I have always been an advocate of showing up.

I have been a believer in the Woody Allen quote: “80 percent of success in life is showing up”. A perfect example of this involves Charles Barkley. Today Charles is one of the most gifted sports analysts on television. A friend of mine was a graduate assistant teaching Speech 101 at Auburn in the early 1980’s. Charles was in her class showed up at every class sat in the front row and paid close attention. But he was scared silly to speak in front of people and got a “D” in the class. I would like to think that his showing up in speech class was the harbinger of his current success as a speaker in front of the camera.

Both of my kids are adventurous cooks and both of my children love to entertain. With young families they are getting to a stage in their lives like most millenials where Supper clubs are a perfect socialization solution. Not all millenials grew up with supper club crazy parents the way our kids did. That’s why I wrote Impromptu Friday Nights – Guide to Supper Clubs.

My son Brian is famous for his Sunday Pasta Nights. Check out his recipe for Pasta Bolognese.

My daughter Jennifer and her husband Ethan have taken IFN on its first book tour with a swing through San Francisco on the way to the Napa valley. These pictures bring meaning to the old saying: “In my next life I want to come back as one of my kids”.

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. Morgan James Publishing published the Kindle-Version on September 5, 2017 and the hard copy coming out January 30, 2018.

A Disaster Beyond Your Imagination Will Occur

This line from “Phantom of the Opera” is with me every time we host a Supper Club event. No matter what happens, with a little planning and some quick thinking no one will ever know you had a problem.

Working with Kraft we staged culinary events around the world. And, pretty much what could go wrong did go wrong. With that said 99% of the attendees at those jinxed events had no idea we had a problem.

The two biggest issues that occur are:

Something gets over cooked
You run out of a feature item

Having backups is the easy answer. Most cooks will have an extra or two in the hopper. A microwave’s defrost features work wonders. Quick substitutions are virtually never noticed.

Then there are those disasters that you can’t plan for:

We once hosted a culinary event in San Diego that was disrupted by the outbreak of the war in Iraq. The show went on and we got to watch lots of action as the event was held on a beach in site of the Naval Air Station.

There was the trade show in Säo Paulo where our kitchen equipment short-circuited. Every time a chef touched a pan he got shocked. We had an electrician do the cooking until the problem got fixed.

The classic was a trade show in Chicago where we were featuring an Oreo Lava Cake. To this day I don’t really know what happened, but after day one of a 3 day show we ran out. We bought the chef that short ordered the lava cakes a new calculator and served lots of Oreo cheesecake.

When in doubt, over order. To this day my wife Susan complains about me overcooking. Guilty! In my opinion leftovers are never a disaster!

Do You Have a “Go To” Recipe?

It is always good to have a “Go To” recipe. A Recipe that is tried, true and that you know will be a hit with guests. Having a menu and recipes that you know people will like is great for a supper club or any dinner party.

My mother in law Helen had her ITALIAN Spaghetti and chocolate cake menu that was always a crowd pleaser. To this day her children and grandchildren remember her ITALIAN spaghetti fondly. It didn’t matter if we went to Helen’s for Christmas, Easter or Thanksgiving we all wanted her to make her ITALIAN Spaghetti and chocolate cake .

I always loved that Helen’s sauce wasn’t Spaghetti Sauce it was ITALIAN Spaghetti Sauce. Somehow this was an oxymoron for me. This recipe originally came from Aunt Marian who was Helen’s sister in law. Marian was Italian and worked in the A&P Grocery store so she was REAL ITALIAN. Hence the family always calls it ITALIAN Spaghetti Sauce.

ITALIAN Spaghetti Recipe

Helen was a special lady. She was a single mom that raised three children on her own. Helen had a career with IBM and made real sacrifices along the way. Her children and grandchildren were simply the most important things in her life. She worked hard and made sure that she did the right things for her children.

I will never forget the first time I met her. It was at the hospital. Susan and I had just started dating and she had gotten food poisoning from something Helen’s boyfriend had made. To this day she won’t eat venison on a bet. I met Helen at the hospital and when the patient was recovering we went out to dinner. All I remember from the conversation that night was her stories about Susan’s old boy friend that was a millionaire and looked like Paul Newman. How I lasted against that guy I still don’t know.

Along with ITALIAN Spaghetti Helen usually had chocolate cake. There was no magic to her recipe. She made the cake with Duncan Heinz yellow cake mix and she made the icing following the recipe on the Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate box.

Fast forward 20 years and I am running the Baker’s Ingredient Chocolate business. Helen has passed and I had a team of food scientists trying to replicate Helen’s chocolate cake. Helen’s cake was special in that the icing was hard. At times it was like a helmet, but boy was it good. The scientists tried different fat systems and formula tweaks to no avail. We fell upon the answer when Susan inherited her mom’s Tupperware cake carrier. Helen would put cake/carrier in the refrigerator and voila that special texture. Legendary!

Past her legendary ITALIAN Spaghetti and Chocolate Cake, Nana is remembered for her focus on her children. No mater what life through at them they had the “Go To” unconditional love of their mother. Helen is gone, but Susan is now Nana and her grandchildren love Nana’s chocolate cake.