I have belonged to the same book club for years. Every 4 to 6 weeks, one of us acts as hostess. The hostess is responsible for choosing the book, designing the questions, running the meeting and preparing the food.
Seeing it written down is a little daunting…
It’s not all bad… Each guest brings a hostess gift and a bottle of wine to show our gratitude. Well… I guess we drink the wine but we are grateful!
A couple of the girls have said, from time to time, that they find preparing the food a bit ‘intimidating” or “stressful”.
Over the years, I have been blown away at the generous, creative and delicious display of foods that each book club member has prepared.
At our last book club, I asked the girls if they would allow me to blog about the food that we enjoy at each of our gatherings.
They agreed… so here goes!
Brenda is one of our original members and lucky for us. She is a fabulous cook! Her food is fresh and bursting with flavour. She is absolutely fearless about trying a dish that she has never prepared before! Her combinations and selection of dishes make her book club less about books and all about the food.
Tuesday evening, I arrived early, to find her a little panicked. She told me that she usually preps the day before her book club so all that’s left is the finishing touches. She had worked the day before this book club so everything had to be done the day of.
I watched as she buzzed around her kitchen pulling everything together. In 25 minutes, her diningroom table was groaning from the weight of her buffet.
As always, the food was spectacular! My favorite was her CEVICHE. I have made seviche since the Silver Palate girls made it popular in the 80’s. Brenda’s is the best that I have ever eaten!
BRENDA’S CEVICHE
1 lb scallops, cut in half
4 limes, juiced and zested [you need 1/2 cup of juice]
1 lemon, juiced and zested [you need 1/4 cup of juice]
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped medium
1/4 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes
pinch of sea salt
combine all of the ingredients in a non metallic bowl
allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour…stirring occasionally
refrigerate until ready to serve
Thanks for reading!
