Favorite Things - Sunny - January 2013

We started the New Year off right with a twist on our typical Gourmet Style.  Sunny hosted "My Favorite Things" where we each got to nominate favorites from all of our past years of Gourmet Nights.  We each got to bring one of our favorite dishes and one of our favorite kitchen "things" for a gift exchange.  I think we anticipated it to be a bit more casual setting, but Sunny had gone all out and done a great job.  She had a Family photo board all filled with pictures from previous Gourmet nights.  It was so fun to look at all the great memories, ideas and food!

  

 Her colors and theme were great.  Gold, silver and black.

 The table looked awesome and we all loved the candles and plates and the "mood".

Above the dinner table there were...a lot of balloons.  Hung from each one were more pictures.  One photo from every single Gourmet Club we have ever had.

 Place settings where great.  We all LOVED the plates.  And I wasn't surprised to hear that they were from Target.  Bless that place and everything in it!

 She had this fun sprig glitter tree on the take home table with darling alternating bags.  Loved the polka dot tissue paper!

 The appetizer table had a fun Chevron backdrop and was just really simple.  

 The menu for the evening was:

Appetizers-

Fresh Fruit Bruschetta with Orange Honey Cream (Tropical Paradise) 

Buffalo Chicken Dip (Message In a Bottle) 

 Basil and Couscous Salad (Girls Can Grill)

 Strawberry and Feta Salad with Cinnamon Candied Almonds (Easter Modge Podge)

 The Drink:

Mint Julep (Southern Soul Food)

Main Dish:

Pineapple Glazed Ham, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and Scalloped Sweet Potatoes, Yams and Potatoes (Easter Modge Podge)

and Dessert:

Mini Cheesecakes (Modern Nesting)

Grandma Yardley's Cake (A Taste of Fall)'

Mud Pie (Take Me Out to the Ball Game)

 Food was great and it was fun to see what people picked as their favorites!

And next the real fun came when we got to do our favorite things gift exchange.

We all walked away with some fun new kitchen treasures and we had a great time listening to what each other chose as their favorites and why.

 After "favorite things"  we moved onto the "Gourmet Globes".  Such a fun idea!!!

 Here are the nominations for each category and winners:

Favorite Gourmet Club Moment over the years:

        Nominations:
-        Sunny and Stacie dressed up for the “Asian Occasion” and the dreaded
         “Heath Ledger” moment.
-        (***WINNER***) Shelly’s telling of the “Taco Bell” breath incident.
-        Holly’s splits

Favorite Gourmet Club Appetizer:

Nominations:
-        (***WINNER***)Buffalo Chicken Dip from Judith and Kristy’s  (Message
         In a Bottle)
-        Holliday Chutney with Brie – Heather and Amber (Taste of Fall)
-        Raspberry and Pear Guacamole – Sunny and Lindsey (Take Me Out to the
         Ball Game)
-        Chicken and Waffles – Heather and Amber (Southern & Soul Food)

Favorite Gourmet Club Salad:
        
        Nominations:
-        (***WINNER***) Basil and Couscous Salad – Holly and Kim (Girls Can Grill)
-        Cantaloupe and Blackberry and Chicken Salad  - Amber and Heather
(Southern & Soul Food)
-        BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing – Shelly and
Lindsay (Unbirthday)
-        German Salad – Sunny and Stacie (Gathering of Ghouls)
-        Painted Pony Salad – Sunny and Stacie (Victorian Christmas)

Favorite Gourmet Club Entrée:

Nominations:
-        (***WINNER***) Roasted Poblano Pepper on Quinoa – Sunny and Julie
(Nutritious Yet Delicious)
-        Farmer’s Market Panini – Shelly and Lindsay (Meet Me at the Farmer’s Market)
-        Rolled Flank Steak – Heather and Amber (Cowboy Christmas)
-        The Asian Cuisine – Shelly and Lindsay (Asian Occasion)

Favorite Gourmet Club Dessert:

        Nominations:
-        Mini Cheesecakes – Judith and Kristy (Modern Nesting)
-        (***WINNER***) Raspberry Blackberry Bread Pudding – Michelle and
         Annika (Savor the Flavor of Love)
-        Mud Pie – Sunny and Lindsay (Take Me Out to the Ball Game)
-        Orange Chocolate Cake – Heather and Amber (Cowboy Christmas)

Favorite Gourmet Club Theme:

        Nominations:
-        Back to School – Holly and Kim
-        My Big Fat Greek Gourmet Club – Heather and Amber
-        (***WINNER***) Cowboy Christmas – Heather and Amber
-        Coco Chanel – Shelly and Lindsay
-        Take Me Out to the Ball Game – Sunny and Lindsey



Favorite Gourmet Club Invite:

        Nominations:
-        Cowboy Christmas – Heather and Amber
-        Message In a Bottle – Judith and Kristy
-        (***WINNER***) Coco Chanel – Shelly and Lindsay


Favorite Technique Learned from Gourmet Club:

        Nominations:
-        How to cook an Easter Ham – Michelle and Annika
-        How to make tissue balls and pinwheels from Holly and Kim’s Girls can grill
-        How to use Phylo Dough – Heather and Amber’s Cowboy Christmas
-        (***WINNER***) How to make sushi from Shelly and Lindsay’s Asian Occasion
-        How to make huge snowflakes out of paper from Sunny and Stacie’s
Victorian Christmas

Favorite Gourmet Club Drink:

        Nominations:
-        (***WINNER***) Mint Julep – Amber and Heather (Southern & Soul Food))
-        Lemon Spritzer – Holly and Kim (Girls Can Grill)
-        Tropical Pina Colada – Michelle and Annika (Tropical Evening in Paradise)
-        Pineapple mango slush – Michelle and Annika (Masquerade)
-        Serendipity’s frozen hot chocolate from Amber and Heather (Taste of Fall)

Favorite Gourmet Club Take Home:

        Nominations:
-        Holly and Kim’s Chalkboards from Back to School
-        Cake stand from Shelly and Lindsay’s Unbirthday
-        (***WINNER***) Heather and Amber’s Taste of Fall take homes: roasted
pumpkin seeds, sweet popcorn balls, caramel apples, a hair tie AND the
bird necklace
-       Aprons from Heather and Amber's Cowboy Christmas

Favorite Gourmet Club Soup:

        Nominations:
-        (***WINNER***) Coconut Lime Soup – Judith and Kristy
-        Caramelized Onions over Cambozola – Michelle and Annika (Savor the Flavor)

Sunny invited Julie to be her partner for the evening and it was great to have her!  They did a wonderful job and we had a fantastic time.  Sunny passed out the take homes and they were all a different little "favorite" of hers for us.

AND.... after 45 minutes of fighting about who had to sit by who and stand where, we finally got a goo picture!

Thanks for a great night everyone!