It is the end and yet only the beginning!

To my dear friends,

Thank you thank you thank you for being a part of my Sunday Suppers!

To those of you who came to the last official Sunday Supper, who came last month, or came last year: thank you for making the time to participate, for putting such care and effort into your dishes and drinks and contributing so thoughtfully, and for bringing wonderful friends with you.

When this all began last fall, I decided rather simply to have a potluck and see what happened. I wanted to try to encourage home cooking and eating in, but more than that really I wanted to cultivate community through a shared love and appreciation for food and for each other. I never planned or expected for these monthly meals to take on the life that they did. I hoped they would though, and as each month passed, and each supper succeeded, I felt my community expanding and feel so blessed at how special these evenings became, not just for me but for my friends as well. To have had the opportunity to and lovely experience of hosting, of opening the doors of my home to see friends, to reunite with old ones, and make some brand new ones, was nothing less than exceptional.

And the food, oh the food! The cooking and the eating has been nothing short of profound. I have challenged myself, as I know many of you have as well, and created some dishes I am very proud of and I have been lucky enough to eat the fabulous dishes you all brought my way. If you want to continue in the sharing, please post and / or you use the recipes, found here:

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AVkJGuHAjhPYZGNrZ2dmdGZfM2dycnN6azJ6&hl=en

And i do very much hope that the sharing will continue. This has been one of the most important and transformative years of my life. I am so grateful that you all have been a part of it. I look forward to whatever may come next... and to being invited to your place already! :)

Sending much much much love.

xx, Rachel

a bite of the big apple

after nearly 12 years in manhattan it is only fitting that the 12th supper be a new york theme! in a city that never ceases to amaze these suppers have continued to surprise and impress me.

for this momentous evening marking one full year of monthly meals, i asked my friends to take inspiration from this town, whatever that might mean, to guide and encourage them. apples themselves could be the main ingredient, and seemed fitting both with fall looming and the bounty of all the new crops cropping up at every farmers market, as well as the impending jewish new year around the corner, when we eat apples and honey to toast to a sweet year ahead.

i decided to take inspiration from the best of new york and cure my own gravlax, so my preparations for the evening began three days earlier. unlike many great things in new york this fish could NOT be rushed.

the night of the supper, while josh was by my side mixing up manhattans, i put my culinary skills to the test and did my best making his granny's classic apple, raisin, almond strudel. she said the first time it wouldn't work but they would eat it anyway, and she was right!

sarah and dillon arrived with a lovely and light spinach, pecan, fennel and apple salad. ami brought a new friend and a beautiful salad of corn, peas and parma ham. more baked goodness arrived and erin and jack came with an apple brie tart, and april brought apple turnovers. andrew arrived, better late than never, with a lovely bottle of wine, in addition to the bottles lauren had come with earlier.

once again awed by the friends who came, the contribution they made and all that we shared together that evening.

what an amazing end to this year of eating in together, and yet it's only the beginning...

Mystery Meal

it was a dark and stormy night. just the right setting for the 11th SUNDAY SUPPER: THE MYSTERY MEAL. until suppertime who exactly would and would not, be showing up, and what those who did come would be bringing truly remained a mystery.

all i knew for sure is what i would be making. pasta with roasted summer veggies, a favorite dish from my mom's arsenal of recipes.

the pasta i actually brought back from a visit to Rome to my mama and papa a year and a half ago. it had been waiting patiently in my pantry and boy was it delicious.

the veggies on the other hand were quite a bit fresher, picked up just the day before at my local neighborhood farmers market up the block, a beautiful bounty of squash, zucchini, eggplant, plum tomato and onion.

and the final product!

tasted as good (almost) as i remembered it... i did a slight variation on my mom's recipe, instead of using parmesean cheese i set aside some fresh feta cheese, which i had on hand and thought the tang and creaminess of it would make a nice compliment to the rich, olive oiled and garlic infused vegetables.

and just as i topped it off with some freshly chopped parsley, friends arrived with both food and drink in hand:





the menu:

andrew's tacos in a bag
stephen's raita w/ pita chips
jason & kate's german potato salad
amanda's guacamole and corn on the cob
rachel's roasted vegetable salad w/ feta cheese
serena's crostini, ricotta, balsamic-onion chutney & vanilla peach jam

and many lovely wines courtesy of abbot, amanda, jason and kate and stephen. not to mention seriously delicious st germaine cocktails...

...courtesy of josh who once again quenched the thirsts of all the guests, and even came complete with his serious bartender 'stache!

and serena came complete with a serious necklace...

... but the night was anything but serious, a lovely, intimate and happy, happy night. this was the 11th sunday supper but the first time it felt like a supper, the gathering of just a few friends, many of us catching up after not seeing one another for many months, others meeting for the first time.

the meal is what brought us together, but the company is what kept us together.

that and andrew's tacos in a bag...

surf's up!

another hot and humid nyc summer evening - a day AND night at the beach certainly would have been a refreshing way to spend this sunday supper. but despite the weather, it was a festive and full of food!

started off with some garlicky fava spread and tropical agave roasted cashews...


...but perhaps much more importantly a giant batch of thirst-quenching and absolutely delicious dark-and-stormys.





as it goes, friends and food arrived and it was most certainly time to eat, drink and be oh so happy!


DINNER MENU
rachel & josh's fish tacos with red cabbage-apple slaw
melinda & sean's penne & rock shrimp in spicy tomato sauce
nick's shrimp in garlicky gravy
justin's crab salad
austin's spicy black beans and rice
clemence & nora & friend's chips and guacamole
stephanie's watermelon and avocado salad
jakenna & conor's veggie kabobs & strawberry-spinach salad

BEVERAGES
dark & stormy's by josh
beer courtesy of eve & greg, amy, justin
wine from amanda, clemence & friends, robbie & dana, april
champagne generously gifted by antonio
capri sun thanks to justine
and ice a la erica





once dinner had been devoured, it was time to just chill...
...well we tried, it sure was hot! but we were still happy.




and then - of course - didn't wait too long before we were onto dessert!!


DESSERT
rachel's peanut butter & jelly loaves
april's fruit salad and meringue
amanda's watermelon
robbie & dana's "ice-cream" sandwiches
clemence & nora & friend's chocolate covered cherries





i'm pretty sure nick enjoyed the little loaves...


... every, last, bite.

birthday brunch!

what a truly special day! a bit confusing yes, a sunday supper on a saturday, and brunch for dinner. but as it was my birthday i felt entitled to mix it up!

it was an incredibly hot and humid summer day - fortunately i made some tasty tangerine-mezcal margaritas to cool us all down, and had some other beverages waiting on the side...

i readied my apartment (complete with bday flowers from some building buddies) and myself and before i knew it we had a most incredible spread of my favorite foods:

brunch menu - round 1

kate's frittata
rachel's scrambled eggs & maple-pecan little loaves
eve & greg's smoked salmon, mini bagels, cream cheese & capers
jamie and matt's vegan donuts and cinnamon buns
jade's fruity and nutty granolas
todd's fresh fruit salad
ruben's watermelon

john & friend's proseco
rachel's tangerine margaritas
ethan & caitlin's champagne
april's sparkling rosados

after popping a bottle of bubbly and a quick toast - we all dug in to this incredible feast!

but it wasn't long before plates were cleaned off!!! good thing we had more... and good thing more guests arrived - with more and more food!!

yes that's right, that's exactly what it looks like. my dear christina came with a basket in hand complete with a portable waffle-making station - sweet as sweet can be :)

brunch menu - round 2

christina's waffles, with whipped cream and berry compote
ali & friend's bread, cheeses, bresaola and fig spread
lauren's bread, cheese and fig spread
conor & jakena's crawfish and pasta salad

rachel & david's wine
andrew's wine
erica's beer

it was a happy happy day - for me and for my friends. made happier by the incredible array of sweet treats

dessert menu

ethan and caitlin's godiva chocolate sampler
amy's varsano chocloate sampler
amanda's cherry clafoutis
ruben's peach pie

what a wonderful way to celebrate!!!! feeling so loved and so grateful. the absolutely best way to start off a new year, the last year of my twenties - the first year of the rest of my life!