Reader Friday: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
You can have dinner with any currently living author. The rules: Itβs at your house. You have to cook. No take-out, no delivery. You cannot ask the author about preferences. For the sake of this exercise, there are no food allergies, dietary restrictions.
Whoβs coming to dinner?
What are you going to prepare?
Based on early comments, it looks like my one-on-one dinner with an author has been hijacked into dinner parties. You guys are going to have trouble with next week’s Reader Friday. πΒ
I’m inviting James Scott Bell and I’m serving home made Chicken Chili with cilantro sauce made with Hatch chilis. On the side, I’ll have black beans, warm flour tortillas, and queso fresca. I’ll serve whichever drink he prefers. Dessert will be home made chocolate cake.
Except for the cilantro (I’ve got the ‘soap’ gene), that sounds fantastic, Joe. Chocolate cake is a fine finish to any meal at our house.
That’s kind of you, Joe. And you have anticipated my SoCal taste buds perfectly, all the way to cilantro (sorry about that soap thing, Terry). A cold long-neck Corona with lime wedge to go with it, if you please. Thanks!
Easy question. The current and past TKZ gang whom I’ve known for many years but never met.
Two kinds of lasagna: one made with elk, one made with veggies. Crunchy homemade Italian bread. I’ll poll everyone in advance for their choice of beverages. Dessert smorgasbord of lemon meringue pie, chocolate-orange cake, and Costco pumpkin pie (yeah, that’s cheating but it’s better than I can make).
Hmmm… I guess I’ll give you a pass on the Costco dessert as long as you made everything else. Can you narrow the guest “list” to a single author? We’ve had elk chili and yak meatloaf, but now I’m going to want to try lasagna.
Debbie, you stole most of my menu!
I would make antipasto, meat lasagna, and garlic bread. And for dessert for guests to take home: boxes of chocolate truffles and lemon truffles.
A while back, I promised Sue Coletta I’d invite her to a dinner party sometime. A dinner party neeeds at least four people, so I’d add Dennis Lehane to emphasize the crime in New England aspect, and Dale Ivan Smith to add a West Coast perspective, plus it’s always fun to have another librarian around.
The question didn’t say anything about it being a dinner party, TL, but I like your guest list. And your menu.
Count me in, TL! Everything sounds delicious. π
This is a really tough question, Terry. There are authors whose writing I admire who might be boring conversationalists or divas. A few I would have liked to dine with (e.g. Tom Wolfe) are no longer with us. So I’d probably choose David McCullough because I can’t imagine the evening’s conversation ever hitting a dull spot.
I’d make my famous table-side Caesar salad and grilled ribeye steaks, served with a Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon.
Yum. I’ll have another glass of the cab, please.
I’ll invite Debbie Burke over. She looks tough – just shot of JD and Wild Turkey all night. π Maybe we’ll warm up some frozen pizza.
An interesting menu choice. One of these days, I’m going to have to get together with Debbie. She’s not really that far away from me.
Terry and Ben, would be fun to have dinner with both of you!
Only one? Then I have to invite Garry Rodgers. For dinner I’ll do surf ‘n turf with Maine lobster and filet mignon. Homemade cheesecake for dessert. π
That’s right, Sue. Only one guest. After all, what’s the point in making things easy? Do you wrap your filet in thick-sliced bacon?
My wife hates Maine lobster, filet mignon, and homemade cheesecake so I’m gonna leave her at home.
Garry: Hahahaha! Yeah, I’m sure Rita won’t mind staying home.
Terry: I love filet mignon wrapped in bacon. Is there any other way?
So tough. I’m late to the party on the Outlander series but I just saw an interview with Diana Gabaldon and she seems like she’d be fun. We could talk Scottish history and probably a lot of other things.
My menu, however would be pure Gulf Coast – shrimp gumbo (family recipe handed down from our Louisiana side) and key lime pie for dessert (since we’ve lived in Florida forever).
Good menu, Cynthia. Diana Gabaldon would be on my list, too. One of the few things I miss about Florida is our fruit trees and vegetable garden. I used key limes from our tree to make my key lime pies.
I’m gonna break the rules and invite the whole TKZ group. We’ll add John Grisham since he lives just down the road.
Beef tenderloin, with potatoes and asparagus, etc. Wine: Bordeaux. Dessert will be my favorite Sticky Toffee Pudding.
Another rule-breaker. We seem to have a lot of them. Of course, our lives are governed by “there are no rules, only guidelines,” so I guess I’ll have to forgive you, Kay.
I’m all in on your dessert choice.
Oh my gosh . . . Terry, this is an impossible dilemma. Okay, I’m going to be a rule-breaker sort of and plan a one-on-one dinner each month for a year. 2022’s gonna be fab.
First up, JSB. I will have a list of burning questions for him to answer, then I’ll cut him loose to gab about anything he wants. Menu: smoked tri-tip, roasted red potatoes, and cheesecake for dessert. (You can bring your own, JSB, if you don’t like cheesecake.)
Second up, Charles Martin. I just want to listen to him talk about where he gets his ideas for his beautiful stories.
Third up, Garry Rodgers. Having worked in medicine and law enforcement, the conversation will be scintillating, I’m sure.
I’ll have to give some thought to the rest of the year.
But, when December rolls around, all y’all ‘re invited to my house for popcorn and fudge. (BYOB, please!) π
Nothing but rule-breakers here! One dinner a month sounds like a good compromise, Deb. I see a dearth of veggies in your first menu. π
Oh, well, when I roast tiny red potatoes, I usually throw in some broccoli and carrots and tiny onions. Scrumpt…
Rules are only suggestions, Terry!
You had me at smoked tri-tip.
And I love cheesecake.
James Scott Bell.
Smoked brisket.
No others need apply.
Smoked brisket? Say no more!
Looks like Mr. Bell is going to be feasting pretty.
Boy oh boy, this would be hard to keep it to just one, especially since my dining table seats 8. But I suppose, to break it down to an easier choice I would have to maybe arrange a pit fight for the guest of honour chair.
Let me see.
Gilstrap, Bell, Hartlaub are on the list for certain. Craig Alanson maybe as well, gotta see if I can look inside the mind that made Skippy the Magnificent.
The menu would be an all Alaskan feast from the grill & garden. Kenai River Smoked Salmon, Grilled Moose Steaks, Potatoes, Carrots & Onions from our garden, and Wild Forest Fresh Morrell Mushrooms. A cask of my hand crafted Wild Blueberry Mead made from berries harvested in the Chugach mountains will keep our throats lubricated. Dessert will be Fresh Vanilla Ice Cream made from Alaskan milk in the wind swept plain of Delta Junction far to the north paired with Alaska Wild Berry Port.
I’d also offer a finishing off cigar or pipe, but I don’t smoke. That said, if one so desires, there is a Pot Shop just around the corner and the Fred Meyers across from it has a sale on Oreos.
Oh yeah, that’s a great group. Will the leprechauns join us?
The Leprechauns will be doing the cooking! And Gerald the Troll is managing the event.
No, no, no. Rules say YOU have to cook. π
Of course! They are just the helpers!
π
Ah, you’re bringing back memories of our trip to Alaska way back when.
Those rules have to go, and no one would probably come to my dinner since the only thing I know how to cook is soul food…so maybe fried catfish, fries, hush puppies, and slaw. With a lemon cake for dessert. And sweet tea to drink…with a lemon slice. Oh, and the whole crew at TKZ is invited…