Wednesday, February 27, 2008

TAKING POTLUCK

Mike and I went to the bike club’s annual potluck dinner last week. I think I mentioned it to you. There were the usual pasta dishes, a few salads, no dessert. Next month the bike club holds its annual spaghetti feed. The members bring salads and desserts.

Most everyone has had the experience of a potluck dinner. There’s the church fellowship, the Scout banquet, the dinner at the Grange Hall, the bike club social event, etc., that requires you show up with a dish to share. I’ve been wondering – what’s your favorite potluck dish? Do you have a favorite covered dish you like to take? A salad? A dessert? What do you like to eat at a potluck?

I admit it – I’m not good at thinking up something to take. I used to take lentil casserole, but it doesn’t look appetizing and folks avoid it. My friend Rosemary said the same thing about lentil casserole. And I used to take an apple dessert that occasionally went well, but in my opinion, if you don’t want to carry some dessert home, take cupcakes that have something chocolate about them.

It would be fun to peek in on a potluck of the 1930s, ‘40s, ’50, etc. Someone must have written a description of a potluck dinner someplace. Do you suppose the food has changed much over the years? I’ll have to do some research on that. I remember going with my parents to potluck dinners at the Masonic Lodge in Orofino from time to time. My mother liked to take scalloped corn. Her philosophy was that you don’t find many side dishes at a potluck dinner. (Seems to me it’s still a starch.) And she would take it in her hammered aluminum serving dish with lid. That’s about the only time we used that dish.
Here's a picture of a family dinner, December 1955 (probably Christmas Eve). My dad was in to candlemaking then. And note the photos on the mantel. KW

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