Tallahassee Cooking Club, August 2009

This blog post is dedicated to our Cooking Club. We had another terrific evening filled with fun, food and frolic. Our evening's theme was Caribbean Fusion. This theme allowed us to take advantage of the abundant summer fruits and vegetables that are available this time of year in Florida. You will see a focus on mangoes, peaches, cucumbers and a variety of peppers. The theme was perfect for beating the summer heat and being whisked away to a cooler place at least for the evening.

The evening began with Mojito cocktails with 3 fresh options to choose from:  A traditional Mint Mojito or you could live a bit on the edge, and select a Mojito infused with Basil or Jalapeno.  For those of you who enjoy these tropical cocktails, never be afraid to experiment! You can muddle (using a wooden spoon or muddler) a variety of herbs and fruits and even peppers! Or you can use new fresh ingredients to infuse the simple syrup that is traditionally used in Mojitos.  This will bring the experience of drinking a Mojito cocktail to a new level.

Our appetizer was Cilantro Crab Cakes with a fresh Peach Salsa on pastry rounds. A perfect opening to a great meal.

A before dinner aperitif....Just a little something to clear the palette.

Always plenty of great wines!

Our salad was a beautiful mango and cucumber salad

Followed by a simply prepared grilled swordfish with mango, cucumber and melon served with a lime sauce and topped with a quinoa and orange salad.

Check out these beautiful biscuits. The basket included a variety of homemade biscuits that included sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and scallions. I am not sure I could possibly name all the varieties that we were enjoying. What I can tell you, I was not able to stop at just one biscuit covered in butter but, at least three!

Dessert was a mango cheese pie! Cool and refreshing.

Finished up our evening eating chocolate drizzled fortune cookies and reading our fortunes to each other.

Next month's theme is Tailgate.  The college football season begins on Saturday. If you know folks that follow college football, then you know they take their college football seriously. Our family are University of Florida Gator fans ( My Alma Mater)  and we are going to be having loads of fun, eating and tailgating and SMAK talking with our rivals! 

I would love to hear about any great ideas for cooking club themes that you may want to share. We are always looking for new ideas.

If you are interested in starting your own cooking club and need some tips don't hesitate to contact me, I would love to help.