We have cul-de-sacs, of sorts, in our neighborhood. Short, straight sections of road about 100 years long jut off Good Hope Drive and along each jut five or six houses are positioned.
Living along one of these juts creates a mini enclave. Ours includes six families. We call ourselves the "Sub-Association", thanks to
Barbara Bundy, fellow jut dweller and unofficial director of all Sub-Association matters, including socializing.
When we moved into our mini enclave, it was Barbara who put together our welcome party before the last box was even unpacked. When blizzards socked us winter of 2006, Barbara led our digging-each-other-out efforts. When Barbara deems the time right, we have a Super Bowl party or a clam chowder party. She organizes us and mobilizes us. Without her, I am not sure the Sub-Association would be the well-oiled machine it is today.
Recently, Barbara notified members of the Sub-Association the time had come for a meeting. This time, she advised, we were leaving the property and conducting our...err....business at a unique culinary place called the Passionate Palette.
At the Passionate Palette, located on County Line Road just west of I-25, guests are assigned seating at a table loaded with ingredients and recipe for part of a meal, such as an appetizer, a side dish, a main course or desert. Participants do all their own cooking of their assigned component, under the direction of owners
Jenifer Suydam and
Ben Davis, both chefs, then gather at the end of the evening to share.
Whatever.
I am no cook. But, the idea was intriguing, as was the opportunity for another fun evening with fellow Sub-Association members. My husband,
Kevin, and I were in, as were
Grant and
Lori Miller, Mike and
Marty Jones, and Sub-Association co-director,
Larry Bundy.
You can think of the Passionate Palette as an evening in the kitchen of friends with a very large home. Guests dig for measuring cups, share mixers, stand over the stove together, rummage through refrigerators in search of fresh herbs, stir and laugh and talk. Owners Jenifer and Ben flit from table to table overseeing recipe adherence and answering rapid-fire questions, all the while smiling and cordial.
"Where is the zester?"
"What is a zester?"
"Where is the lavosh?"
"What is lovosh?"
"When will you bring out more pitchers of margaritas?"
Our table was assigned the task of creating Southwestern Hye Rollers, an appetizer. Delectable ingredients include cream cheese, garlic puree, fresh herbs and spices and more mixed together to form a mixture spread across lavosh bread, rolled up with grilled peppers, pepper jack cheese, thinly sliced roast beef and cut into finger-food sections. Heavenly.
Tables near prepared Texas Toothpicks, Green Curry Calamari Lettuce Wraps, Muffins, Kung Pao chicken, Glazed Shrimp, Spicy Tomato Tapadane and chocolate truffles, all according to recipes created by owners and chefs, Jennifer and Ben.
The evening was more fun than a high school home ec class, and the results far tastier. Something about cooking together creates a special sort of cheer. Those we had never before met seemed almost part of the Sub-Association by evening's end.
To learn more, visit:
www.passionatepalette.com