When I was in my twenties, before marriage and before kids, I thought it would be great fun to gather a bunch of friends for a dinner out, and have the appetizer at one restaurant, the main course at another, and the dessert at yet a third. I thought it was a brilliant idea and I commended myself on my originality. Yet, as it so happens with one's youthful ideas, I never acted on it, and it wasn’t all that original.
There is name for this kind of activity. It is called a progressive dinner, and I participated in one for the first time over the weekend. It was organized as a fundraiser for our local school, and it was more fun than I could have imagined.
We started off with cocktails at one couple’s apartment where picture windows framed New York Harbor and homemade sangria and gruyère fondue were served. I’ll never forget those views, nor the mouthwatering scent of the simmering gruyère. After the appetizers, we went on another home, where we sipped lemongrass infused vodka, listened to gamelon recordings, and ate an amazing Thai dinner. Most of the cooking that night seemed to have been done by dads, and I was very impressed. I'll get some recipes and post them here during the week.
In the meantime, I'd like to hear if you have ever been a part of a progressive dinner. Write a comment or shoot me an email, and tell me your story. At the end of the week, I'll give the author of the most interesting tale a copy of my book, "Man with a Pan: Culinary Adventures of Fathers who Cook for their Families." Bonus points for recipes.
Our neighborhood in Washington DC does an annual progressive dinner. This year was the party’s 25th anniversary. Although those of you “outside the beltway” probably think of DC residents as short time, politically connected people, in this neighborhood, we’re mostly long term folks who try to help each other out. We enjoy the food (and mourned terribly when a Cordon-Bleu trained chef moved out), but more importantly we enjoy each other. Most years we are 30+ people, including kids of all ages and move among 3 houses on the block that organizes the party. We use an email to send out invitations and for important issues that arise on the block in between the annual block parties. Last year one neighbor broke up with his longtime companion and had back surgery. We used the progressive dinner email list to put together a cadre of volunteers who brought him dinner, did errands for him, and kept him company during his convalescence.
Here’s an idea that my girlfriend and I have been kicking around, an icebreaker for getting to know other couples.
On a selected evening, we invite our new friends to our apartment for appetizers and cocktails, then we all travel to the other couple’s apartment for dinner and desert.
Both couples get to show off their domestic bliss, good design sense, AND culinary/mixological prowess, sort of an interior progressive dinner.
Many moons ago when I was in my twenties, I rallied a few of my closest girlfriends together for a progressive wine tasting party. Each household selected a country and had to serve wine and accompanying food from that country. With 6 houses on the progressive trail, we slowly made our way southward from Chicago’s northside to the south Loop, using every mode of transport except our cars (hey, we were responsible drinkers), and quickly got very slushed! I lucked out with Spain and made several of my favorite tapas, but was dismayed when I noticed none of my friends particularly cared for gambas a la plancha with the head on!