W3 Book Club-Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

by Laura Chin, Tastemaker in Residence

The book of choice for this evening was Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple.

Here are a few comments from the hostess for the night...enjoy!

Basically the theme of the evening was a bit techie and a bit wintery (we met in January and Bernadette fled to Antarctica at the end of the novel). In the book, Bernadette's husband was an employee of Microsoft hence the techiness. So the table-scape and centerpiece had a winter theme and the napkins were folded like ties: with all the women receiving sunglasses because Bernadette went incognito for a while.

The recipes were appropriately named for the book. I am a big believer in doing as much as I can ahead of time. So when Ina Garten published her latest "Make it Ahead" cookbook, I used 2 of the recipes: the bacon salad wedge recipe and the pureed leek gratin.

The main course: Chicken Tangine in a crockpot was something I had tried earlier on my family. It turned out so fabulous that I knew the book club ladies would enjoy it as well. The dessert was an Retro-Choco icebox cake: because in the book, Bernadette had fled to Antarctica, hence the "ice box" cake recipe!

Menu

Appetizers:
Pike’s Place Fish Market Mold
Ted Talks Tasty Treat
Lummi Island Smoked Salmon with Lemon and Capers
Pickled Herring
Bill and Melinda’s Delectable Dungeness Dip

Starters:
Ina’s Internet of Everything Iceberg Lettuce Salad
Boeing’s Brilliant Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Main Course:
Tastes Like Nirvana Chicken Tangine
Puget Sound Pear and Parsnip Gratin
Seattle Seahawks' Super in a Bowl
Spinach Noodle Pudding
Amazon’s Amazing Not So Ready for Prime Time
Rice Christine

Dessert:
Antarctic Retro Choco Icebox Cake
Coffee by Starbucks

For more on how to start your own book club; see W3 Book Club, The Back Story