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.

CREATING MEMORIES

Supper Clubs are not always just dinner, if you are lucky, you can create a memory. We had a memorable evening with Phil and Peggy Rose in Nashville.

The theme for the evening was Parisian Bistro combined with Phil’a favorites. We had warned participants to bring an appetite as the menu consisted of:

Hors D’Ouevres

Pisaladieres
- Caramelized Onion with Olives
- Caramelized Onion & Garlic With Bacon

First Course

Romaine Wedge with Roquefort Vinaigrette, Croutons and Bacon

Main Course

Rack of Lamb Provencal
Potatoes Gran Mer
Roasted Asparagus
Béarnaise Blush Sauce

Desert

La Tartre Au Pommes with Grand Marnier Infused Berries & Sauce Anglais

The key to preparing for a dinner party for 11 people is in the mise en place. Said another way, do everything you can in advance. By the time guests arrived at 6 pm:

Pisalidieres had been cooked
Potatoes and the asparagus were in the oven
Rack of lamb had been prepped and the grill was preheating
The salad was staged ready to be assembled

All I had to do was to assemble the salad, cook the rack of lamb and serve.

Preparing the meal in Peggy’s kitchen was a delight. The Roses have top of the line stoves, ovens and grills. The kitchen is well laid out. Peggy is the gadget queen. Working in a strange kitchen can be hard, but in this case it was a delight.

The Rose’s friend are a fun bunch and were very appreciative dinner party guests. It was great to get to know them and give them the background on Impromptu Friday Nights. It was particularly fun to hear the color provided by Peggy and Phil. They shared their Supper Club memories bringing credibility and humor to the story being told. Even if the jokes were at my expense.

Check out the video

At the end of the night it was Phil that hit the nail on the head by saying:

“Tonight was not just a dinner party, we created a memory”

That pretty much said it all, and that is one of the beauties of supper clubs.

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.

Reverse Engineering Or …Imitation Is The Greatest Form Of Flattery

I really enjoy having a dish at a restaurant and then trying to replicate it at home. In fact most of my “Original” dishes are the result of this process. It is also a great way to come up with ideas for a supper club menu.

I started this process with our friends Debby and Marc Waldman when we lived in Dover Delaware in the late 1980’s. Mark and Debby lived across the street and our routine was to go out to a restaurant on Friday night and then I would replicate dishes on Saturday night at home via reverse engineering.

I’d better explain, “Reverse engineering”. It is a standard practice in the food business. It is very common for a major manufacturer to spend a lot of money developing a new product. If the product does well in the market, competitors, particularly private label manufacturers will develop a “knock-off” product. Reverse engineering is the process of analyzing the ingredient line and researching manufacturing options to come up for a match of the successful product.

Early on in my career, a representative of a private label manufacturer propositioned me. He said I could make a lot of money by helping him to develop a knock-off of Post’s Grape Nuts. The guy was a sleaze ball and there was no way I was going to help him. Divulging trade secrets is certainly unethical, but I have no qualms about replicating a dish I enjoyed at restaurant.

To be honest, not all the recreations that I made for Marc, Debby and Susan were stellar. Today it is a lot easier. There is a wealth of information available on the Internet. You can Google steak au poivre and come up with several recipes. Or better yet, you can search YouTube and get a few videos with step-by-step instructions. Back in the day, my victims were stuck with my rudimentary culinary skills. I learned a lot and Marc, Debby and Susan survived. You should never question wine’s medicinal value.

One of my early attempts t0 recreate a dish was Roasted Peppers. I can remember buying roasted peppers in the Lake Farms Italian Market in Silver Lake NY where I grew up. Mr. Belmonte would bring a tray of freshly roasted peppers from the kitchen. They had a wonderful smoky flavor from the roasting married with the garlic and olive oil.

Check out the recipe

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.