New event – One last potluck

Hello bakers and foodie friends,

After more than six years of running our marvellous little club, it’s time for me to say goodbye. December’s potluck will be the last meetup I host. I had been planning to do a potluck in November as well but I’ve decided to just do one more on December 5.

What an adventure it’s been. So many potlucks, so many recipes. So much Tupperware. So much post-potluck breakfast cake. So much whipped cream. So. Much. Bacon.

Thank you all so much for being up for ANY culinary task I threw at you. From Tex Mex to French food to all of the cuisines of all 15 post-Soviet states, we’ve always eaten well. Surprisingly, there have been few duplicate dishes.

I know we usually do the cookie swap for December but since this is my last meetup I’d love to do an “Inspired By Ourselves” theme. Think of a recipe you’ve made before that you were really proud of, or make a recipe that another member brought to a past meetup that you loved. I shall be bringing Laura’s epic Klondike Baked Beans, which I will serve with sourdough bread and herb butter.

The lovely folks at the Arts Centre have offered to let us use their space again. I’m going to put a collection jar out for donations to their new fund for gallery’s special collection. The arts council has put on some truly wonderful shows in the years I’ve lived in Summerland, and have always been welcoming and accommodating whenever I ask to use the space for an event.

As many of you know, I’m also very bookish, so in addition to this being a potluck, I would like for it also to be a book swap. Bring any book that you would recommend to trade with someone else. You can trade as many times as you like or hold steady to the first book you trade for. This is my little toast to our tradition of the “whip-round” – the sharing of stories.

Potluck date: Thursday, December 5

Time: 6ish

What to bring: Your favourite inspired-by-ourselves dish, your Tupperware, and a book to swap. The Arts Centre has mugs we can use for tea. Feel free to bring your own plate and cutlery, but there will be extra there as well.

If there’s anyone from the group interested in taking over from me, I’m happy to hand over the reins to the blog and the Facebook page. If not, my plan is to shut down the Facebook page but leave the blog up as a record of our awesomeness.

I hope to see you at the potluck. If you’re not able to make it, I’d still love to hear about your favourite things you’ve eaten at our many meetups. Comment below or email me at pleasebringcake@gmail.com.

Peace, love and buttercream,

Sophia

Fall Potluck at the Arts Centre

Hello lovely foodie friends,

I don’t know about you but I’m hungry for a potluck. Fall is the perfect time for feasting. I hope you can make it to next week’s gathering at the Arts Centre. This month is an open theme, so if there’s something you’ve been itching to make, this is the time:

When: Tuesday, October 22, 6.30 pm

Where: Summerland Arts Centre, 9525 Wharton Street. The road in front of the Arts Centre is still blocked but you can drive in behind the arts centre, with access near the museum.

What to bring: Your dish of deliciousness to share, plus if you can, a plate, mug (in case of soup/stew) and cutlery in order to cut down on disposable stuff. And of course tupperware for leftovers! I shall be attempting my first haggis lasagna in more than 8 years.

Who to bring: A friend. Someone who could use a night out with a group of nice people, or who maybe doesn’t take themselves out for dinner very often because they can’t afford it. Ask them to join us. When all our wonderful offerings are unveiled and we begin to dig in, there is such a feeling of abundance. That’s a nice feeling to be able to share.

Upcoming potluck: Join us Wednesday, November 20 at Bead Trails on Victoria Street. I don’t know what the theme will be yet.

I hope to see you next week!

Sx

What we ate in June – Keto potluck at O’kana Guest Ranch

Hello fellow foodies,

Instead of a regular blog post, I’ve made a little video of our keto potluck adventures at O’kana Guest Ranch in June. We also got to cuddle many puppies and kittens, and swoon over goats and alpacas. It was a wonderful meetup – thank you to LeeAnna and Cam for hosting us.

Save the date: Our next potluck is our annual Two-bite Appy and Pool Party at Lisa’s. The date is set for Thursday, July 25, with a 6pmish start time. Bring along your no-cutlery-needed appetizer to share, your swim suit and a towel!

Enjoy the video!

What we ate in May – Inspired by the News!

Greetings, fellow food lovers,

This month we had our “Inspired by the News” potluck at the Summerland Review office. Who holds a feast in a newsroom? We do! Thank you to Luc, Nan and John for hosting our little gathering. If you haven’t watched it already, check out the video of the event.

The key learning from this meetup was Put Homemade Yogurt on Everything. Tracy took the newsworthy Instapot trend and ran with it, using a tin of condensed milk to create the a subtly sweet flavour.

Nan told a great story of how she saved her cinnamon rolls from a near disaster, which was lucky, since they were lovely dipped in yogurt. Luc took her inspiration from her Italian heritage, baking up a batch of biscotti best enjoyed with a copy of the latest newspaper and a nice sit down (also nice with yogurt). John plied us with mountains of Death By Chocolate Cookies, a recipe winner from one of Review’s past community cookbook publications. I ate three of these melt-in-your-mouth dreams, but was so overwhelmed I neglected to take a photo of them, so here’s the recipe instead (click to make bigger), as well as a bonus photo of some nuns touting their heavenly Bourbon Balls.

There were several recipes taken from newspapers clippings, including Janice’s mincemeat pie, a recipe that her mom had cut from the paper many moons ago. Wendy, who has tempted us with many a substantial dessert over the years, made an enormous chocolate dream that was even better smothered in yogurt.

Kim’s bake was inspired by the Queen. Thousands baked and scoffed Queen Elizabeth Cakes in celebration of the Queen’s coronation, although the Queen herself apparently did not. Well, she missed a treat, because this heavy date-rich offering is delicious. Also awesome swimming in a small sea of yogurt. The gang at the Review had put out some of the archive papers for us to peruse, and as luck would have it, the page was open to June 4, 1953, where the headline story was none other than the coronation. This calls for even more yogurt!

Karen and I both chose “superfoods” as our news trend inspiration. Karen whipped up a quiona salad (one regular, one spicy, as is Karen’s way), and I made a spring minestrone superfood soup.

Alas, I only got a nibble of Jean’s Perogie Casserole, but what a nibble it was. Worth sacrificing a few points on the cholesterol scale. We also had the chance to toast the lovely Jean and Ken on their 39^th anniversary! Hearts and warm fuzzies all around.

And that’s the news and all the treats inspired by it! Join us on June 13 when we visit the beautiful O’kana Guest Ranch for our first ever Keto potluck. The Facebook event page is here, or email me at pleasebringcake@gmail.com for more information.

The April Curry report

I have been remiss in my duties as deliciousness recorder. In April we had our first every curry potluck, which was hosted by the lovely ladies at Bead Trails. Despite being severely jet-lagged, Val still managed to make a killer Tikka Masala.

Other dishes included “Thai one on” Soup, mango curry dip, Moroccan lemon chicken tagine, butter chicken, chicken curry, thai salmon curry, some amazing thai curry noodles, a rocking curried trail mix, and some robust lemon squares to clean the palate in order to allow us to eat even more curry.

I hereby present some photos of our curry adventures. I was so overwhelmed by filling my plate (twice) that I forgot to take a group photo. I hope we can do another curry meetup someday, for it is truly wonderful.

Our French Canadian feast at Maple Roch

Hello food loving friends, how are you today? What are you remembering most from our French Canadian potluck? Personally, I have no regrets about eating a piece of Janice’s maple tourlouches that had fallen on the floor (five second rule), nor about my second helping from the glorious, topping-rich poutine station.

My only regret is I was too slow during the snapping up of the leftovers and managed to snag only one of Kim’s Montreal bagels for my breakfast the next day. Sad times. But I did get one, which I plied with copious butter. It was tremendous. In addition, I consoled myself by spreading sourdough toast with lashings of Val’s creton, which one website rightly describes as “highly addictive French Canadian meat spread.” Later for elevenses I enjoyed two kinds of tarte au sucre (thank you, Wendy and Diane!), a large, rich lump of Kathleen’s poudin chomeur, and a big mug of tea.

The beans! Do you remember the beans? Two kinds of slow baked, maple syrup laden Feves au lard? I ate Karen’s alongside Jean’s perfect little tourtiere pockets and Kathleen’s next to a slice of Lisa’s onion & bacon tart. Did you get to try the maple lavender tea, and a dram of the Sortilege Gina regaled us with? And what of the two crock pots of pea soup? I liked Candace’s better than mine – it had more ham flavour. Next time, more ham!

But I must think again about the poutine. Crispy fries, big nuggets of cheese curd, generous crumblings of BACON, thick gravy with maple, maple garlic scapes and chopped pickles. It’s the kind of dish that’s a party all by itself.

Mirjana and Lacey decked out the front of the Maple Roch store with tables and chairs and cleared all the counters for our offerings. The shop resembled a busy pop-up bistro, and people walking by on Victoria Street peered in with curiosity. Mirjana gave us an update on a few of the fun projects the Maple Roch team is working on, the most notable being the tapping of Summerland maple trees to turn into maple syrup.

Thank you to Maple Roch for hosting us and to everyone who came out to make it such a great evening, full of laughter and good catch-ups. Kathleen proposed the splendid idea of adding a fondue theme to our winter meetup schedule. In the meantime, our next potluck gathering will be April 25 at Bead Trails. Your culinary challenge in one word: Curry.

French Canadian potluck at Maple Roch

After traveling around Eastern Europe for our last potluck, it’s time to get inspired a little closer to home. Join us for all things French Canadian at Maple Roch!

• Date: Thursday, March 21
• Time: 6pm-ish
• Location: Maple Roch Pure Canadian Maple Syrup, 13224 Victoria Road
• What to bring: Feel free to put your personal twist on traditional French Canadian dishes, from tourtiere to pea soup. If anyone is daring enough to attempt poutine, I will swoon. If dessert options don’t start out drenched in maple syrup, they soon will be. Along with your dish, lug along a plate and some cutlery (there will be extra if you forget), along with a Tupperware for leftovers.

Join the Facebook event or email me at pleasebringcake@gmail.com to let me know you’re coming. Hope to see you there!