#common meals

[donaldmckenzie13]

Book Review - Keeping the Feast

Book Review – Keeping the Feast

I originally posted this on Bubsblurbs.com in late 2012, but wanted to include it here as well.

[amazon_enhanced asin="B009K5INPU" /]

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in…

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Joani and her neighbor are cooking common dinner tonight

Joani lives in something called cohousing, which is a planned community where everyone has their own living space (like a condo) and also shared facilities like laundry, a community garden, children's play area, etc.  They have common meals two or three times a week, and every adult in her community takes a turn cooking  once a month.  (This doesn't mean that they don't have their own kitchens, but there's also a big common kitchen and dining area.)  Common meals are referred to as "the glue that holds the community together" because food is something that brings people together!

She and her co-cook Laura have a  pan-Asian menu planned:

Chinese: ramen noodle salad with cabbage and sesame dressing; vegetarian and meat potstickers; baby bok choy stir fried with garlic and ginger.

Vietnamese: summer rolls (some with meat and some without meat)

Japanese: ice cream mochi

And hot tea as a beverage.

My role in all this was to try and find if there was anywhere closer than Ranch 99 to buy the Fortune Avenue brand of vegetarian potstickers that Joani likes.  (The representative from the company was really unhelpful in this regard.  "We have a distributor that sells to Ralphs and Vons," he said.  Yeah, I can really tell that you're in southern California and don't know Oakland at all.)

Common meals are usually prepared from scratch, so Joani's a little nervous about serving her neighbors prepared food.  I've eaten those potstickers before, though; they're pretty good.