| Hi All !! We talked late into the night this month! Perhaps a little too late as yawns were making their way into the conversation by the time we wrapped it up around 10:15pm. We discussed many different aspects of the book from a writer writing about a different cultural group than his own to values in westernized and non-westernized societies. Popular stories included Love, The Trip Back, and Fairy Tale. The American Couple definately met with mixed reviews and we all noted Butler's love of the poignant, touching ending with a little twist. More than previously, this book inspired discussion of larger, universal life issues. We talked about cultural stereotypes, how easy it is to get caught up in "keeping up" and lose sight of the important things, and what it's like to be an "outsider" in a new place. And to top it off, Linda was an amazing hostess! To go along with our Louisiana based book, she made red beans and rice with an authentic Southern recipe...WOO-EEE!! It was delicious! She told us all we had to follow the tradition and put Tabasco on it and "slop-it-up" with bread, which we did...although it had plenty of flavor and didn't need the Tabasco :) The meal was perfectly balanced with the nice, crisp Caesar we started off with. And...Happy Birthday Julia!! We got to celebrate her birthday and even made her bring her own cake :0 Well, we didn't make her, but she was nice enough to bring cake (the yummy fancy kind) in the Polish tradition. We passed on the vodka however and kept to wine and water. And our new mom in the group brought some irrestible Rice Krispie treats! Needless to say, I think we all left full of good conversation, good company, and good food. What more could you ask for?? Well, maybe just the recipe for the red beans and rice. Thanks to Linda, here it is: Ingredients: 1 lb dried red beans 1 tsb veg oil 1 cup chopped yellow onions 1/2 cup chopped green bell peppers 2 tbs minced garlic 1 lb smoked sausage (prefer Hillshire Farms) 1 tsp salt 1 tsp Creole Seasoning - Tony's Thatcher's 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1/2 tsb ground black pepper 1 tsp dried thyme 2 bay leaves Fresh Celery - Optional 1 - 1lb ham hock 2 qts Chix Stock or Broth Rice Rinse and soak beans overnight. Heat veg oil over medium high heat in a large heavy stockpot and sautee onions, bell peppers & garlic and cook until softened. About 4 mins. Add sausage, salt, cayenne, black pepper, thyme, and bay leaves. Cook & stir often until sausage is browned. Add the ham hock and cook for about 2 mins. Drain the beans and add to the pot along with the celery. Pour in enough stock to cover about 1 inch.. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to med low. Simmer uncovered, stirring occassionally until the beans are tender - about 2 hours. Remove and discard the bay leaves. NOTE: If you decide to cook in a crock pot like I did, then all you need to do is sautee the onions, bell peppers & garlic and cook until softened. Then put everything else in the crock pot and pour in the chix broth/stock. Do not put the sausage in until an hour before serving. This keeps the sausage from getting soggy and overcooked. Mash about 1/4 of the bean mixture against the side of the pot with a heavy spoon to thicken the juices. Remove the ham hock and slice the meat from the bone. Discard fat and skin and return meat the pot and heat through. Spoon the rice into bowls and top with bean mixture. Don't forget the Tobasco sauce and bread & butter. Our next meeting is Monday, May 13th and our host will be Bernadette. Our selection for May is Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Next month is Book Selection time and we talked a little bit about classics and passed some different lists around, both general and classic lists. We discussed in our first meeting the possibility of picking a looonger book and reading it over a July book group break. We can discuss this further next month and see if it's something we're still interested in doing. We will still have the December break and will do a long book over that break. Just some things to keep in mind. As always, our website has been updated. And now you can read meeting notes (just like this one) from past meetings by clicking on the month! Down the road I'm sure this will be fun to look back on! I'm also working on adding our photos to the page, but I'm not thrilled with how they turned out. I'll snap some new ones next time. |
| APRIL NOTES |