This past June I hosted our monthly book club meeting. We are a small group of nine ladies, and we have been “book buddies” for 12 years! Reading books (some have been good, others not), talking about the books, laughing, eating, and laughing some more are what we do during our meetings.
Isn’t the Hummingbird Cake cute? It is hard to tell from the photo, but I baked it in two six-inch pans and served it on a small cake dish. It was absolutely delicious, everyone raved at how flavorful it was, and there was just enough left over to share with my husband! I am providing the link to where I found the recipe in case you want to give it a try. You won’t be sorry!
I love to try new recipes and these gals are such good sports to let me experiment on them – even when things don’t go as planned! About an hour before they arrived, I decided to bake the crab dip and cook the ham and cheese pinwheels (made with my favorite puff pastry) at the same time so I would not have to busy myself with this task when they arrived. The plan was to keep them warm until time to serve.
The crab dip took the longest, so I placed it in the oven for about 20 minutes ahead of the pinwheels. In an effort to keep the kitchen from getting too warm, I wanted to get the pinwheels done in one take so I put as many as I could on my largest baking sheet and placed this in the oven along with the crab dip. They only needed to bake about 15 minutes which was perfect – everything would be ready and in place when everyone started to arrive.
After a few minutes passed I started hearing sizzling sounds, so I gave it a few more minutes and decided to take a peek. As I cautiously opened the oven door, to my horror, I discovered flames of fire on the bottom of my stove!!! My quick-thinking husband grabbed the tray of pinwheels out of the oven and shut the door. I was not about to let the crab dip burn up, so I opened the door again and quickly removed the dish from the oven.
Fortunately, the fire quickly went out and there was no damage done to the stove whatsoever. The pinwheels were cooked but, some were thrown out because the pastry was still a little doughy. The crab dip was (thankfully) unscathed.
What happened? Well, in my attempt to bake as many pinwheels as possible I used a cookie sheet with no rim – so any grease from the ham spilled over onto the bottom of the oven causing the fire. I just wasn’t thinking!
My friends arrived, I shared my story, and turns out (everyone agreed) the pinwheels tasted good in spite of their crunchiness! We then started discussing our book (The Authenticity Project, by Clare Pooley) and all was forgotten.
We took the month of July off, and our August meeting is fast approaching – we are reading Verity, by Colleen Hoover. Looking forward to our discussion on that one!
Savoring Sixty and Beyond 
my kind of bookclub , so beautiful
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Thanks, they are a great group!
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I’m impressed you saved the food! I’ve had more than one accident in the kitchen involving smoke alarms and even a fire extinguisher, but the food didn’t survive, sadly……. Sounds as if you have a wonderful book club, too.
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Yes, the gals in my book club are the best! I’ve been so blessed to have met them!
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What a wonderful group of friends! The ones who will scrap off the burnt bits and enjoy all your labors just the same:) And hooray for not burning the house down!!:)
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They are some of the best! Lol, yes, I am so thankful I did not burn the house down!! 🚒🔥
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I love your book club adventure here ☺️
And that cake looks delicious!
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Thank you, Jennifer! Wish I could share a slice of that cake with you! It would be good with some of your tea! 😊
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It would be lovely to sit & have a cuppa with you 😊
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Your cake looks good! I have not read The Authenticity Project, but just finished Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by the same author. It was the first of hers that I’ve read and I loved it. Such a fun read. I could see it being made into a movie. I abandoned Verity however after about 50 pages – I peeked at the ending on Goodreads, and was glad I had not wasted any more time on it.
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Thanks for the book recommendation – Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting. I will look for that in the library! Oue book next month is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – looks like a long read and may have to get started a little early on that one.
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I’ve not read that one, although I’ve heard of it. I always have so many books out from the library that it’s hard to get around to them all!
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Fun and tasty BookClub you hosted! Happy nothing bad came of that spontaneous oven fire. Whew!
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Thanks, me too!! I really enjoy planning things like this!
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Gosh, good thing there wasn’t a fire fire.
I always try out new recipes for friends, and good thing they don’t judge me, haha.
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
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I know! I am so thankful!!
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Looks wonderful!! I thought Authenticity Project was an interesting read…I’m not a fan of Colleen Hoover though. Oddly, our book club took off august. I think we’re going to take off December as well
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Vertify was not a bad read – a little unsatisfying ending – but I am glad I read it – first of hers that I’ve read. We usually take off the months of January and July. No book in December – just a holiday gathering. Love this group!
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💗
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