Moosewood Cookbook-ish Club

Last month I attended this fabulous Santa Barbara Cookbook-ish Club potluck event that featured delicious vegetarian dishes from the 40th Anniversary Edition of Moosewood Cookbook. The Cookbook-ish Club is a local Santa Barbara cookbook club created by the talented Viktoriya Filippova. Viktoriya Filippova is a local designer, maker, stylist, and founder of FOLD, a textile studio specializing in hand-crafted table linens fusing traditional craft and textile treatments with modern design. Victoria’s linens can be purchased or rented for events. Each month Viktoria selects the cookbook and venue that appropriately fits the cookbook’s theme and creates a menu from her guests’ top choices.

The cookbook theme that Viktoriya chose for this particular event was inspired by Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook and the location was in our local neighborhood Clubhouse in Santa Barbara which fit the 70’s theme perfectly along with her linens, styling, and decor. She even created a vertical garden installation for the event. There was a lot of attention to detail that gave this fun event a lot of depth. Did I mention I am lucky enough to happen to be neighbors with Viktoria? That is one degree of separation.

Why is this cookbook so special? In the 70’s when the American diet was still stuck in the 50’s and 60’s Moosewood Restaurant was founded by a group of visionaries who happened to be friends in Ithaca, New York. The menu features dishes that are healthy plant based dishes, vegetarian dishes, and world cuisine. Moosewood Restaurant won a James Beard Foundation Award for American “Classic” in 2000. The Moosewood Cookbook was first published not long after the restaurant opened and is now somewhat of a cult classic amongst home-cooks and chefs alike. The first print was spiral-bound with beautifully hand drawn illustrations and very neatly hand written recipes created by Mollie Katzen who was one of the original founders of the Moosewood Restaurant in New York.

I purchased my own copy of the 40th Anniversary Edition Moosewood Cookbook several weeks before the event and I am happy to say that the publisher has kept the neatly hand written recipes and illustrations which was part of the charm of the original publications. I haven’t had the pleasure to dine at the restaurant, yet, however, I definitely experienced the essence of Moosewood in a different light with the vision and attention to detail of Viktoria’s Moosewood Cookbook-ish themed potluck dinner with the 70’s decor, linens, and styling.

The guests who joined us were a talented group of foodies ranging from foodie enthusiasts, talented business owners, and fellow food bloggers. Everyone brought their delicious and carefully selected dish to the potluck and enjoyed an evening of great conversations sipping shrubs or a Paloma, the signature cocktail, while being transported back into time to forty years ago.

To be around like-minded ladies (and gents) to discuss all things food including the history and culture behind the recipes was nothing less than inspiring. Life has an interesting way of giving you what you want if you ask for it. I have been putting more intention into evolving my food world, connecting more with what I eat, and connecting with our local foodie community. How does it get any better than this?

Here is what everyone brought to the table (all pun intended). Drum roll, please.

DRINKS
Paloma Cocktail: The Paloma a citrisy signature drink that was concocted by Viktoriya Filipova from FOLD and served in lovely vintage cocktail glasses. The ingredients were hand written on a chalk board and guests made their own cocktail to their liking.

Shrub Bar: Emma Moore, who is one of three founders of WomensHeritage.com and HeritageGoodsandSupply.com, provided the refreshing shrub bar and also one of the delicious curry’s. Shrub drinks are an American Colonial vinegar drink that is making it’s way back into the social consciousness and it’s also great alternative to artificial soda drinks. I have a new appreciation for shrub drinks and I am now hooked! The different sized translucent plain bottles showed off the beautiful natural coloring of the fruit sweetened vinegar. Loved it. It said 70’s all the way.

APPETIZERS
Guacamole and Chips: Margaret with www.MargaretJoanFlorals.com made the yummy Guacamole which is hands down one of my favorite appetizers in the whole wide world! So happy it made it on this menu. She designed all the beautiful florals and foliage that were laid out beautifully on the napkins and the centerpieces. She shared with us her philosophy of why she chose a single flower which was to not overpower the bold tablecloth print. It worked. Simple yet elegant.

Tabouli: Lea made the Tabouli. Everyone loved it!

Pita Bread: The homemade Pita Bread was also made by Viktoriya. Everyone raved over Viktoriya’s Pita Bread and it went very well with the Feta Walnut Dip.

Feta Walnut Dip: Claire made the delicious Feta Walnut Spread. It was tasty and had a great consistency.

MAIN DISHES
Fresh Berry Soup: The evening would not have been the same without the Fresh Berry Soup which added a nice twist to the evenings cuisine. I was not sure what to expect but the Berry Soup had a nice flavor and very refreshing to have on a warm evening.

Alsatian Cheese Salad: Meredith made this tasty cheese salad. I don’t think I ever had cheese salad and the recipe included generous portions. This paired well with the Multi-Bean Salad.

Multi-Bean Salad: Ingrid made this delicious Multi-Bean Salad and it was perfect.

Sattyama’s Famous Cauliflower Curry: Emma Moore made the Sattyamma’s Famous Cauliflower Curry with brown and I made Sattyamma’s Famous Cauliflower Curry with white rice. They both tasted delicious. I substituted the sesame seeds with sesame powder and used a very bright organic turmeric which made it robust in color which I later discovered after some research in my cupboard. I found three bottles of organic tumeric all ranging in colors from deep yellow to a bright yellow. I really the shredded coconut in the recipe which gave it a nutty flavor. The overall taste of each dish was delicious. I will definitely make this again. And again.

Samosas: The samosas were a hit at the event! They were made by Irene Hoffman who also created the event poster. Irene Hoffman with www.IreneHoffman.com is an award winning designer. The criteria was to create the poster by hand without any assistance of computer software programs much like a graphic artist would have created a poster back in the 70’s. My favorite part? The hand drawn and cut-outs of the lemon, lime, and orange wedges.

DESSERT

Sour Cream Orange Cake: The Sour Cream Orange Cake was an absolute dream! It was fluffy and moist. The dish was made by Robin, a local Santa Barbara food blogger from CaliGirlCooking.com. Her website is now one of my favorites!

Coffee and Tea was also provided by Viktoriya and was a delightful way to finish off the evening.

The Moosewood Cookbook-ish Potluck was nothing short of sensational. It was interesting to see how each guest interpreted their own recipe with their final dish. There were conversations about each dish and we talked about what we would do differently and noted recipes and ingredients that were indicative of the time. It was a very enriching experience.

I highly recommend trying out these recipes. I found my copy of the 40th Anniversary Edition Moosewood Cookbook locally at Chaucer’s Bookstore. I am sure you can find a cookbook online, but there was something really nice about walking into my local bookstore and buying this book. I am a fan of bookstores and this one had the nice bookstore smell. It’s one of my favorite scents besides food. A cookbook club is a great way to discover and try out new recipes that you otherwise would not find the time to make. I have to admit that I was more than delighted to be a part of this Cookbook-ish narrative.

Here are some of the food and decor photos that I snapped at the event.