January 23 - The Rules of Civility

Nine of gathered at Karen's for an elegant evening to discuss The Rules of Civility. Karen made crackers (!) and served two delicious soups: squash and corn chowder and her experimental chick pea soup served with broccoli and fresh parsley. (The experiment was a complete success.) The meal was rounded out with Leann's lovely rolls and green salads from Heather and your faithful scribe.

Before dinner, we snacked on Mary Beth's beautiful appetizer plate featuring cheese, kiwi, and mango; and Susan provided healthy watercress sandwiches (whole wheat bread with the crusts on) and made a pizza with garlic jam and Gorgonzola cheese on the spot. For dessert we feasted on Becky's yummy shoe-fly pie and Lisa's terrific Madeleines. I think we did it up worthy of the wealthy of the 1930's, don't you ladies?

Everyone liked the book, and we had an interesting discussion about class and the place of women in the 1930's. College was not such a necessity then as it is these days, and working class people who were smart and well-read could more easily mix with the wealthy in a place like New York. Every character reinvented himself or herself to some extent. That Eve sure had Moxie!

Upcoming Meetings
I suggested we try just serving finger foods at the next in-home meeting, because we have such a nice time chatting over hors d'oeuvres. We seemed to have a quorum in agreement, so that's the plan.

We also have plans or parts of plans for the next three meetings. To wit:

February
Where: The Norwich Inn for a wine tasting benefit for the Norwich Public Library
When: Wednesday, February 27, time to follow
What: The Round House by Louise Erdrich
What else: tickets for the wine tasting are $15 each

March
Where: Susan's
What: a Dorothy Parker short story, essay, or poem of your choosing
When: TBD

April
Where: Leann's
What: TBD
When: TBD