Last Gourmet Club Luncheon of the Year

Our culinary journey through the movies has finally ended. Today we had our last Gourmet Club Luncheon. It was decided we'd hold a pot luck and have everyone bring a dish to share. I decided to make Ina Garten's Lemon Fusilli with Arugula. It's one of my favorite dishes to make. I just love the blend of heavy cream, lemon and garlic! Delish!!!

 This is the sauce starting to bubble away. It's heavy cream, garlic, lemon juice and zest with a little salt and pepper.

Here's the final product all put together. Generally, I like serving this right away. The crunch of the Arugula with the pasta is really one you should all try. But since I had to be up and out the door the next morning right away, I made this the night before. It's still good either way. Plus, it allows the sauce to really soak into those noodles. 

Everyone brought such amazing dishes to be served! It was really hard filling my plate up with a little bit of everything. Especially the desserts! I have a massive sweet tooth, so it's very hard for me to pick and choose! Thankfully the plates were small which only allowed me to take a small portion of each dessert to try. And even then I didn't get a taste of everything. There was just SO much! 

Here's a few examples of what we had:

Chicken Salad with Melon

Garam Masala Deviled Eggs

Cheese and Asparagus Tart

Pear, Arugula, and Pancetta Salad

Scallops with Mushrooms in White-Wine Sauce

 Mexican Brownies

Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting

Fresh Fruit Cheesecake

Pear Almond Tart

Roasted Tomato & Goat Cheese Tarte Tatin

India Delight

Key Lime Pie

Buttermilk Pie

Apple and Blackberry Pie

These are just a handful of the ones I could get pictures of. One of the many reasons why I love Gourmet Club - All the different food you get to eat! Amazing!

After we had all gorged ourselves on the food, it was then time to announce the winners of the 'Best Of' each course. We took all the dishes made throughout the year and had everyone vote on their favorite dish for each course. The winners won the 'Golden Rolling Pin'. It was our very own version of the Oscars.

There winners (and the Movie they were based off of) were as follows:

Best Appetizer

Crisp and Buttery Strawberry-Brie Sandwiches (Breakfast at Tiffany’s - November)

Best Soup

Roasted Parsnip and Vanilla Chocolate Soup (Chocolat - February)

Best Salad

Crispy Duck Salad with Bitter Orange Vinaigrette (Julie & Julia - January)

Best Entrée

Peppered Beef Tenderloin (White Christmas - December)

Best Dessert

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake (White Christmas -December)

Best Table Decoration

White Christmas—Set A—Julie Jensen

Best Take Away

Baklava (Greek Wedding - March)

Best Gourmet Club President

Madeline

It was then time to hand out gifts to our members. New members received their very own Gourmet Club apron with their names on it.

To show you an example, this was mine from last year...

Our returning members received a wood cutting board with 'Gourmet Club 2010-2011' engraved on it and also a bottle of homemade vanilla.

 Madeline also presented us Board Members with our very own gifts. I got an awesome 8x8 baker and cookbook, along with a very lovely heart felt card thanking me for all my hard work the past year.

 It was a very touching gesture and it just makes the fact that Madeline will be PCS'ing to another duty station all that more bittersweet.
Finally, Madeline announced the new Board for next year and everyone seemed pretty excited. So I'm taking that as a good sign and diving head first into the job as President. I'm really ecstatic about it and can't wait until next year!

As for our Gourmet Club for 2010-2011, all I can say is:

That's a Wrap!