Scandi supper menu - 12 May

~small bites~

potato cakes with herring roe and beetroot salad

gravadlax with horseradish cream

veal & pork meatballs with cowberry compote

homemade caraway seed bread

~main~

poached salmon
potato and celeriac bake
sweet pickled beetroot
fennel slaw

~dessert~

sesame milk pudding with salted pistachio praline

Another Scandi-inspired menu. I did a menu similar to this for a private event back in February and it went down very well. Wine matching with all those pickles and beetroot can be a bit of a nightmare so have a look at my friend Nikki’s blog, she did a wine tasting at the last Scandi supper club and came up with these great choices.

Looking forward to seeing you at the weekend. I'll send out address details tonight.

P.S. odd choice of photographs I know, I’m playing around with Instragram to see if it will work as a way of recording photos for my blog. My other camera is just too big and heavy, so I never end up taking photographs. Hhhmmm... need to work on technique.

questions and answers

I’m getting lots and lots of emails via this website at the moment, so many that I can’t quite keep on top of the responses. I’m sorry that I haven’t responded, I’m not being rude just very, very busy! These are the most frequently asked questions.

How do you set up a supper club?

Everything you need to know about setting up a supper club is in Kerstin Rodgers’ book Supper Club. It’s not that expensive and if you are planning on setting up a supper club it’s definitely worth the £12 or so. This book was my bible when I started, as was Kerstin’s blog. You can also read this blog from the start if you wish because I’ve pretty much documented most of the highs and lows of the past year here.

I can’t advise on the legalities supper clubs. Every area is different, and there are lots of grey areas too. You will have to make these decisions yourself, and seek advice from your local authority.

Can I come to your supper club?

My May event (it’s booked up) is the last one for a while. I may do another one or two later in the year but at the moment I’m focusing on Jelly+Gin (do 'like' on Facebook to keep track of dining events) and Burgher Burger.

Can you recommend another Edinburgh supper club?

Follow these two blogs for up to date information on the Edinburgh supper club scene:

My Monkfish

Edinburgh Spotlight

I haven’t been to all of the Edinburgh supper clubs, for the sole reason that I’ve been running mine so frequently. I was on the verge of being black-balled by friends if I went supper clubbing on my weekends off too! I have been to Crescent Dining and Chai Lounge, both are excellent. I’ve also been to Tealicious an afternoon tea pop-up which is the most divine treat on a Sunday. There’s a supper club for everyone, each is as unique as the host/s so try them all out!

Finally, if you’re thinking about starting a supper club, just do it.

supper club menu- 21 april

A tea inspired menu

green jasmine tea bubbles
~
chicken liver parfait
~
mushrooms in aspic
melba toast
~
hibiscus marinated lamb
potato flowers
mint tea steamed greens
~
chai cream pudding
rhubarb sorbet

Here’s the menu for Saturday’s supper club. Inspiration for some of the recipes has been drawn from The Vintage Tea Party book - it is a lovely book. Things may change slightly depending on the availability of ingredients. Do let me know if you’ve got an allergies/ serious aversions. I already know that there’s a pregnant person and a non-fish eater; I hope this menu is okay for you both! I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday...my second last supper club... sigh.

the last supper... maybe

Changes afoot. You’ve probably figured that out what with the change of my twitter tag, avatar and the Facebook diddling. Whodda thunk? A year ago I wasn’t even on twitter and now I’m having what feels like a momentous change of twitter tag (for those of you not on Twitter - it really is a big thing!).

So what's the big news? Well my 1st anniversary supper club on the 12 May, is also going to be my last home supper club for a while. Not because I want to give up having dinner fun with new and interesting people, no because I’m taking this show on the road.

Since starting Burgher Burger back in February I’ve been offered lots interesting opportunities to do pop-up dining events and I feel that I’ve got to grasp these with both hands. I love new things... (that’s why there’s never been the same thing on the menu twice in a whole year of supper clubs) - so I have found that I really can’t say ‘no’.

And, as with the supper club, these bigger dining events have also allowed me to collaborate with some people that I just love being around, people that are so inspiring that you just can’t help but feel creative yourself. And so to Jelly+Gin. The name might sound a bit funny but really it’s just me organising dinners with my good friend Carol Soutar. Carol is a freelance creative director, designer and all round aesthete, and she has been instrumental in helping me develop the look of both Burgher Burger and My Home Supper Club - now we want to do more lavish/unusual/bonkers dining events together. In addition we’ll be collaborating with some of the many brilliant chefs on the Scottish food scene; home-cooked dinner for 12 and I’m fine, anything above and over would be panic stations for me!

This blog has always been about the story of my home supper club, so I’ll continue to write here while the supper club is still up and running. Also, Carol and I will be working on  www.jellyandgin.com and making that look good (it’s a work in progress at the moment) and populating it with information about upcoming pop-up nights, secret supper clubs, and guerilla dining events in very unusual locations.

You might want to ‘like’ the Jelly+Gin Facebook page because this is where we’ll be talking about the very special country manor secret supper club hosted by the mystery man that I’ve yet to meet (have you ever read a sentence with so many enticing words?). The Facebook page is where all the information about tickets etc for this event and future events will be. In short, it’s the place where all the Jelly+Gin action will be happening. Get ‘liking’.

Part 1: an unusual proposal

Those of you that are following me on Twitter (I have reason to believe that maybe one or two of you take notice of my ramblings) may have noticed me talking about an unusual opportunity that’s come my way. Well now I can share the secret with you.

I few weeks ago I received an intriguing email. No, it was not a Nigerian business man wanting my bank account details in order to transfer lots of long lost dollars. It was from a lawyer. This was the gist of it. “I am a lawyer. I have a client. He has heard about underground dining and supper clubs in Edinburgh and likes the idea. They remind of him of his days in London a long time ago. He has a very large house. He would like you to organise a supper club for him. He wants to remain anonymous for the moment.”

Hmmm. I said to myself. Hmmm. I said again. Then I decided that I would ignore the email.  After I couple of days, I could ignore no longer. I did a bit of research. The lawyer was definitely legitimate. With a real office and a real client list. There’s nothing to be lost from meeting a real lawyer in a real office?

A few days later, myself and my good friend Carol set off on a car journey heading out of Edinburgh. We drove, we got lost, we got found. And in the end we found ourselves at the end of a long winding driveway, with a wooded area on either side. Was this where we were going to meet our grizzly end?

No. Here I am. And I can assure you that I did not offer Carol up as a sacrificial lamb either. She’s most definitely at work today. What did happen was that we met a very nice lawyer (but still no client) in the most amazing country manor. It’s full of faded grandeur, full of tokens of a life well-lived. Oh and it has a lake in the back garden...

How could I resist? So hold the date in your diary. 30 June. There’ll be transport from and to Central Edinburgh. There’ll be food cooked by a fabulous chef, and wine matched with the food. There’ll be mystery, even I don’t really know what’s going on. Are you up for it?

UPDATE: Sounds like more than a few of you are up for this. Tickets (£80 incl. transport) will be on sale in a few weeks. Keep watching the blog for more details.