Joanna Miller
The Quail Creek Gourmet Dining Club completed another successful winter season of cooperative dinners in members’ homes using a theme of famous chefs. October dining, 2012, featured recipes from the cookbooks of Ina Garten, with December dining from Giada DeLaurentis. January, February, and March dinners were created using recipes from, respectively, Tyler Florence, Jacques Pepin and Ming Tsai. The famous chef theme created an opportunity to focus on a particular cooking style, as well as different cultural cuisines.
Members of the Gourmet Dining Club took turns acting as host and providing the main entree. Other members were assigned an appetizer or vegetable or dessert dish selected by the host from the theme of the month. Dinner costs were shared.
This year several additional events took place outside of the members homes. One was a luncheon prepared by students at the International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Tucson.
And the grand finale was a three course gourmet dinner prepared by Chef Aris Cabrera served with especially selected wines in our own Madera Clubhouse Ballroom. Chef Aris demonstrated the preparation of some of his dishes to the delight of diners.
The Gourmet Dining Club inaugurated its first summer season with two progressive dinners held at members’ homes on a more informal basis.