Here is our reading for November-December,
Remember the next meeting is now Friday December 11, bring cookies for the cookie exchange and lots of wit and wine.
Tuesday
Monday
Thursday
Meeting #3. We met on Friday September 25th at Beth's house to discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Rory was the official hostess and once again we had an amazing spread of food. We had fish & chips, potato pie, hamburger pie, Pea salad
, scones, Pork and some kind of delicious German dish whose name I can't remember. This book got a big thumbs up from the entire group. It was just what we needed after the very heavy and thought provoking book from last month. 
We discussed the book in detail including our favorite characters, who should play them in a movie, who was the true heroine in the book and why the writing style worked so well. Once again this story took us to a place in the world that we knew little about. Robyn brought her delightful mother, Flo, along for the meeting and she talked about how her book group read this book and reminisced about what their life was like during and after the war. Interesting that for us it was all about the characters and for them it was all about memories.
For this reader, it made me yearn for the days of letter writing.
Next month we will shake things up a bit.
The meeting is the first Friday in November due to Halloween. We are meeting at Suzi Byrd's house and discussing Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I'm a little worried that Jane Austen will haunt us but at least the food will be interesting. Will folks go with the delicate British party food or the guts and brains? You'll have to show up to find out.
Happy reading.
Beth
, scones, Pork and some kind of delicious German dish whose name I can't remember. This book got a big thumbs up from the entire group. It was just what we needed after the very heavy and thought provoking book from last month. 
We discussed the book in detail including our favorite characters, who should play them in a movie, who was the true heroine in the book and why the writing style worked so well. Once again this story took us to a place in the world that we knew little about. Robyn brought her delightful mother, Flo, along for the meeting and she talked about how her book group read this book and reminisced about what their life was like during and after the war. Interesting that for us it was all about the characters and for them it was all about memories.For this reader, it made me yearn for the days of letter writing.
Next month we will shake things up a bit.
The meeting is the first Friday in November due to Halloween. We are meeting at Suzi Byrd's house and discussing Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I'm a little worried that Jane Austen will haunt us but at least the food will be interesting. Will folks go with the delicate British party food or the guts and brains? You'll have to show up to find out.Happy reading.
Beth
Monday
Hope and Glory
This Film (by John Boorman) would be a wonderful compainion to the Guernsey book. I remembered seeing it years ago in the theater 
maybe it's time for another viewing.
maybe it's time for another viewing.Potato Peel Pie Recipe
Potato Peel Pie Recipe from the author
Here’s a recipe for a potato peel pie, but I warn you, it tastes like paste. The more authentic it is, the nastier. These ingredients will make a very small pie (expand at will):
1 potato
1 beet
1 Tablespoon milk
Peel the potato and put the peelings in a pie pan. Don’t cook the peels, because you’re in the middle of an Occupation and you don’t have any fuel. Boil the potato and the beet together in salty water, but not for very long, due to the fuel problem. Just until you can stick a fork in the potato. Take them out and mash them up with the milk. Pour the glop in the pie pan. Bake at 375 for as short a time as is consonant with digestion (fuel again), say, fifteen minutes.
The finished product will look quite attractive and pink. If you squint, you can almost imagine raspberries. Don’t be fooled. It looks a lot better than it is. However, if you forgot that you were in the middle of WWII and added a bunch of butter and milk and salt, it could be quite tasty.
Kathy's Potato Peel Pie from a blog site on
line Friday Friends
She said it she made it like a quiche. With peels from
Yukon gold potatoes, a leek, butter, eggs and jack cheese.
And Celtic Sea Salt.
It was really good.
And so much a part of the theme of the book.....
This one sounds much better and here is photo
Here’s a recipe for a potato peel pie, but I warn you, it tastes like paste. The more authentic it is, the nastier. These ingredients will make a very small pie (expand at will):
1 potato
1 beet
1 Tablespoon milk
Peel the potato and put the peelings in a pie pan. Don’t cook the peels, because you’re in the middle of an Occupation and you don’t have any fuel. Boil the potato and the beet together in salty water, but not for very long, due to the fuel problem. Just until you can stick a fork in the potato. Take them out and mash them up with the milk. Pour the glop in the pie pan. Bake at 375 for as short a time as is consonant with digestion (fuel again), say, fifteen minutes.
The finished product will look quite attractive and pink. If you squint, you can almost imagine raspberries. Don’t be fooled. It looks a lot better than it is. However, if you forgot that you were in the middle of WWII and added a bunch of butter and milk and salt, it could be quite tasty.
Kathy's Potato Peel Pie from a blog site on
line Friday Friends
She said it she made it like a quiche. With peels from
Yukon gold potatoes, a leek, butter, eggs and jack cheese.
And Celtic Sea Salt.
It was really good.
And so much a part of the theme of the book.....
This one sounds much better and here is photo
Our Book for September is:
The Guernsey Literary 
and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Sunday
August meeting
We held our 2nd meeting on Friday August 28th to discuss Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. 10 members showed up and we had a delicious assortment of Chinese food.
The table include long beans, shrimp fried rice, soup, crab wontons, walnut chicken and dim sum. Plus, fortune cookies and black rice pudding for dessert. We ate with chopsticks provided by Suzi and sat outside and enjoyed the warm summer evening all while swatting at the pesky mosquito's.
Deborah was the host for the evening and everyone seemed to enjoy her book selection. It generated a lot of great conversation. Could we have survived that life? Would we put our daughters through foot binding if it meant a better life for
them? Are we still held back by societies expectations of beauty? All members agreed that the book was beautifully written and showed us something about a time in history that we knew little about. Some people felt it was a little depressing and we disagreed on the likability of the main character. Jane brought photo's of foot binding and Beth bought fans and wrote Chinese proverbs on them for each member.
Overall it was a fun evening and a really interesting discussion.
Rory is hosting the next book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society. Jane has added a calendar to the blog (see the right hand column). We also choose the October book, Pride & Prejudice & the Zombies. It seemed like the perfect book for the month of Halloween. Suzi will host that meeting. More to come on that next month.
For members who missed the last meeting, we hope to see you at the next one. Read on!
Beth
The table include long beans, shrimp fried rice, soup, crab wontons, walnut chicken and dim sum. Plus, fortune cookies and black rice pudding for dessert. We ate with chopsticks provided by Suzi and sat outside and enjoyed the warm summer evening all while swatting at the pesky mosquito's.Deborah was the host for the evening and everyone seemed to enjoy her book selection. It generated a lot of great conversation. Could we have survived that life? Would we put our daughters through foot binding if it meant a better life for
them? Are we still held back by societies expectations of beauty? All members agreed that the book was beautifully written and showed us something about a time in history that we knew little about. Some people felt it was a little depressing and we disagreed on the likability of the main character. Jane brought photo's of foot binding and Beth bought fans and wrote Chinese proverbs on them for each member.Overall it was a fun evening and a really interesting discussion.
Rory is hosting the next book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society. Jane has added a calendar to the blog (see the right hand column). We also choose the October book, Pride & Prejudice & the Zombies. It seemed like the perfect book for the month of Halloween. Suzi will host that meeting. More to come on that next month.
For members who missed the last meeting, we hope to see you at the next one. Read on!
Beth
Tuesday
Beth's visit to Julia's kitchen
On her journey to the East Coast Beth visited the Smithsonian display of Julia's kitchen, here are a few 
photos.
photos.
Wednesday
Tuesday
Our first meeting
Welcome!
We had our first book group on Friday July 31st and discussed Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. 12 members showed up and it was a fun and lively discussion. Everyone went above and beyond with the food. We had; Crepes, baked cucumbers, beef bourguignon, potato salad, tapenade, asparagus, gratins, creme puffs, fruit tarts and much much more. And let's not forget the gimlets!
I thought I'd recap what happened for
those who missed the meeting.
Before we started the book discussion, we made some decisions on our meetings. Typically we'll meet the last Friday of the month. But, that will probably change for October, November and December. Due to the holiday's we'll make a few adjustments to those months. Everyone should bring their calendars to the August meeting so that we can go ahead and plan it out.
At the end of each meeting, we'll take recommendations for the next book. If your book is picked, that makes you the hostess. The hostess has a few responsibilities. 1- they choose the location. Typically their house or someone else's house. I volunteered my house to anyone who would like to host but needs a location. As long as no one minds the humping dog, you are welcome here. It is completely up to the hostess. 2-
They should come prepared with some discussion questions from the book to jump start the discussion. Many publishers provide the questions on their websites or in the back of the book. Or you can create your own or ask the group to all bring questions. 3- they should supply the Non-alcoholic drinks (if folks want to drink, they need to bring their own booze :) and they should supply the plates, napkins and utensils. That's it.
At each meeting we'll bring food that is inspired by the book. Our first choice was easy because it was all about food but it will get harder when the subject isn't so obvious. But, it will be fun to see what everyone picks up on.
You don't have to read the book to attend but you can't complain about us spoiling the ending. We know that life will get in the way from time to time and it will be difficult to attend every meeting. We'll leave you on the invitation list for as long as you want. Even if you don't show up very often, we'll still be happy to see you.
I've got the e-vite already set up on my computer so I'm happy to send it out each month. You just need to tell me where you are holding
the meeting and I'll send it out the next day. IF anyone wants to do their own invitation, it won't hurt my feelings. Just say the word.
Jane did a great job of setting up this blog. We'll try to post notes from each meeting within one week of our meetings. We'll give an update of what happened and what to expect for the next meeting. Everyone is welcome to leave comments on the book or the meeting or anything else that crosses their minds. It's up to you guys if you want to use this forum to discuss parts of the book that we might have forgotten during our meeting or just to send updates on what is coming up.
Okay.... I think I've gone on enough. Our next meeting is Friday August 28th. We are reading and discussing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Deborah is the hostess this time and we are meeting at my house at 7pm. I'm guessing we'll be eating Chinese food but I haven't read the book so I haven't been inspired yet.
Next post will be about the books and not so many guidelines. Sorry.
Get reading!
Beth
We had our first book group on Friday July 31st and discussed Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. 12 members showed up and it was a fun and lively discussion. Everyone went above and beyond with the food. We had; Crepes, baked cucumbers, beef bourguignon, potato salad, tapenade, asparagus, gratins, creme puffs, fruit tarts and much much more. And let's not forget the gimlets!
I thought I'd recap what happened for
those who missed the meeting.Before we started the book discussion, we made some decisions on our meetings. Typically we'll meet the last Friday of the month. But, that will probably change for October, November and December. Due to the holiday's we'll make a few adjustments to those months. Everyone should bring their calendars to the August meeting so that we can go ahead and plan it out.
At the end of each meeting, we'll take recommendations for the next book. If your book is picked, that makes you the hostess. The hostess has a few responsibilities. 1- they choose the location. Typically their house or someone else's house. I volunteered my house to anyone who would like to host but needs a location. As long as no one minds the humping dog, you are welcome here. It is completely up to the hostess. 2-
They should come prepared with some discussion questions from the book to jump start the discussion. Many publishers provide the questions on their websites or in the back of the book. Or you can create your own or ask the group to all bring questions. 3- they should supply the Non-alcoholic drinks (if folks want to drink, they need to bring their own booze :) and they should supply the plates, napkins and utensils. That's it.At each meeting we'll bring food that is inspired by the book. Our first choice was easy because it was all about food but it will get harder when the subject isn't so obvious. But, it will be fun to see what everyone picks up on.
You don't have to read the book to attend but you can't complain about us spoiling the ending. We know that life will get in the way from time to time and it will be difficult to attend every meeting. We'll leave you on the invitation list for as long as you want. Even if you don't show up very often, we'll still be happy to see you.
I've got the e-vite already set up on my computer so I'm happy to send it out each month. You just need to tell me where you are holding
the meeting and I'll send it out the next day. IF anyone wants to do their own invitation, it won't hurt my feelings. Just say the word.Jane did a great job of setting up this blog. We'll try to post notes from each meeting within one week of our meetings. We'll give an update of what happened and what to expect for the next meeting. Everyone is welcome to leave comments on the book or the meeting or anything else that crosses their minds. It's up to you guys if you want to use this forum to discuss parts of the book that we might have forgotten during our meeting or just to send updates on what is coming up.
Okay.... I think I've gone on enough. Our next meeting is Friday August 28th. We are reading and discussing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Deborah is the hostess this time and we are meeting at my house at 7pm. I'm guessing we'll be eating Chinese food but I haven't read the book so I haven't been inspired yet.
Next post will be about the books and not so many guidelines. Sorry.
Get reading!
Beth
Sunday
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