RSGytSoH- Cooking Clubs: A Hot Trend In Getting Together (NAPSA)—Take a satisfying serving of friendship and add a hearty portion of delicious food and you have all the ingredients you need to create a cookingclub. Six friends who weretired of boring, bland dinners, but not of each other, formed the Cooking Club, as a fun way to bond over food and friendship. These friends recently authored The Cooking Club Cookbook. They also teamed up with Calphalon, a leading manufacturer of cookwarefor cooks of every level, to share cooking tips, including essential kitchen tools, so others can start their own successful clubs: Pick a consistent meeting day and time. Once a monthis frequent enough to be regular without feeling like a chore. * Don’t worry about your cooking expertise or lack thereof. The object is to have fun. Plan meetings around a theme. Themes ensure that six or more dishes will work together. * Convene in the home of the member cooking the entre. Carting around a 10-pound turkey is no fun atall. Prepare the assigned dish in advance. Six people cooking six different dishes in one kitchen is a recipe for chaos—not fun. Food and friendship bring cooking clubs together. * Celebrate success and chalk up mistakes to experience. Mutual support and admiration is the nameof the game. Having basic tools in the kitchen will go a long way toward successful food preparation. To get started, the Cooking Club and Calphalon recommendtwobasic tools: Chef’s pan, such as the 3quart Tri-Ply Stainless chef’s pan: combined features of a sauce pan, stir-fry pan and skillet makeit ideal for risotto and other grains, pasta sauces, brown-and-braiserecipes. Chef’s knife, such as the fully forged, full-tang 8-inch chef’s knife, is well proportioned for any adult hand and balanced to encourage an even rocking and gliding motion as you cut. More tips are available at www.Calphalon.com.
