By Karen Kelly | Special to the Times Vedette
Members of the MJB Library Cookbook Club enjoy good food and good conversation as part of their monthly meetings. Cookbook Club is open to all and takes place on the third Thursday of each month at 6 p.m.
What are you doing at 6 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month? If your answer isn’t going to the MJB Library Cookbook Club, you might want to rethink how you are spending your Thursday evenings.
Last week I had the privilege of attending the monthly cookbook club meeting. I chose a recipe from the month’s featured cookbook, “Taste of Home Pizza, Pasta, and More!,” and prepared it to bring to the meeting. Some of the area’s best cooks and bakers did the same. Eight of us attended. The food was delicious and plentiful, and the camaraderie was even better than the food.
As we ate and enjoyed the food, the discussion bounced from what our favorite recipes were (lemon ricotta cookies, one-pot black bean enchilada pasta, and Tuscan sun orange cranberry cake for me), how we might adapt recipes to appeal to our families, and recipes that disappointed us.
As the meeting wound to a close, the members divided up leftovers to share with each other, cleaned up the meeting room, and looked at the cookbook for next month. At the end of the evening, I left with a full belly, new recipes and a smile on my face.
For those who have considered joining the cookbook club but didn’t for any number of reasons, let me share my feelings about my first meeting. I am not an exceptional cook as many of the regular members are, but they were welcoming, inclusive and kind. My chocolate peanut butter pizza was no one’s favorite recipe, but that’s OK. I made something new, tried new dishes and made new friends. So, my rating for the evening with Cookbook Club is five stars. I would go again.
To welcome the first day of spring, preschoolers used forks to paint tulips in their story hour craft time.
The next cookbook club meeting will feature recipes from the “Homestyle Kitchen” cookbook. Stop by the library to choose a recipe. When you show up with your dish at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, you’ll be in for a fun evening with great food.
A reminder that the Friends of the Guthrie Center Library membership drive is still going on. Prospective members can still be eligible for the drawing for the gift bag of literary treats if they have paid their dues by the end of March. The drawing will be held during the regular meeting on Monday, April 6, at 6:15 p.m. at the library.
A new program, Canasta class, will be offered on Tuesday, April 7 and April 21, from 1-3 p.m. in the Taylor Meeting Room. Participants will be learning Hand, Knee and Foot Canasta. Canasta is a card game where players form open teams to score points by melding cards of the same rank, aiming to create “canastas” (melds of seven cards). This is an adult class for participants 19 and older.
Remember, cribbage meets each Monday from 9-11 a.m. in the Taylor meeting room. Craft and Connect meets from 4-6 p.m. each Monday for creative people who enjoy socializing while crafting. Wednesday from 9-11 a.m., the bridge class gathers in the meeting room. Try out one of these fun groups.
After the tulips are painted, the young artists fingerpainted stems and other details.
The April selections for both book clubs are now available. Anyone who would like to participate in the book club can stop in and check out April’s book. The afternoon book club is reading “Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers” by Jesse Q. Sutanto. “Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk” by Kathleen Rooney is the evening book group’s selection.
For youth, LEGO Mania Day is coming up on Wednesday, April 15, at 2 p.m. Creation Corner is on Wednesday, April 29 at 2 p.m. Both of these events are for youth of all ages. Preregistration is appreciated.
Preschool Story Hour is each Friday at 10 a.m. for preschoolers and their caretakers. This week’s theme will be bunnies.
The Summer Reading Program will be here before you know it. This year’s theme, “Plant a Seed, Read!” promises to be great fun. Registration is now open on the library website.
A big thank you to everyone who participated in the Peeps Diorama Competition. Stop in to take a look at these creative works of art/ A winner will be announced on April 1.