A NIGHT ON THE TOWN

What does Old Town Cape mean to you? Well, until Oct. 13 it didn't mean anything to me. I was not aware that it is an incorporated organization established to promote the betterment and revitalization of the downtown and the Old Town Cape area.

Recently the Old Town Cape Board and committee members organized A Night on Old Town Cape. Volunteers and merchants teamed together to create a wonderful evening "on the town." And what a wonderful evening it was! Raffle tickets were available at A Touch of Grace, Rhea Optical and Burrittoville as a fund raiser, and Dr. John Koch bought the winning ticket. The evening did not fit into his schedule, so he gave the winning ticket to his co-worker and my sister-in law, Dr. Ann Seabaugh Kinsey. The evening was set up for three couples and yes, you guessed it, she invited Scott and I to go, along with Rodney and Dimple Bridges as the third couple.

We arrived to the beautiful Bellevue Bed and Breakfast where our gracious hostess Marsha Toll helped us get checked into our rooms. We were greeted with beautiful flowers from Knaup Floral and Toni's House of Flowers and a bottle of champagne donated from The Wine Cellar.

Shortly after, we were picked-up by Nelson's Limousine Service. Bob was our driver and he took us from place to place all evening. Our first stop was Port Cape Girardeau, owned by "Doc" Cain. Each person chose the beverage of his or her choice. We then went to Mollie's, owned by John and Jerri Wyman, for an exquisite assortment of appetizers. Those included grilled smoked shrimp with pommery mustard, escargot traditionnelle served in a mushroom cap, Mollie's famous stuffed mushroom caps, smoked trout and shrimp stuffed artichoke bottoms. It would be impossible to choose which one outshined the others, for each one was perfectly prepared and served by our waitress, Dawn. While we enjoyed this delicious food, Tom Neumeyer of Tom Neumeyer Photography came to take a keepsake commemorative photograph for each of us.

From there, we proceeded to Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, also owned by the Wymans, for soup or salad. Each of us chose something different from the menu. I selected the fresh spinach salad with warm raspberry vinaigrette, which was very delicate and quite tasty.

Rodney chose the Royal N'Orleans salad with chilled asparagus and hearts of palm. It was beautifully served to the table.

Again we boarded the limo and went on to Celebrations for a fabulous dining experience. James and Pat Allen own Celebrations, where James was one of our chefs for the evening. He along with his assistant prepared a special treat for us of grilled New Zealand lamb chops topped with a white truffle and sweet pea sauce, served with Maine lobster-filled zucchini and langoustine tail, fennel and potato latke, braised baby bok choy, and black trumpet and spinach ragout.

As the saying goes, it was to die for. The presentation was just perfect and quite stunning with all of the galley staff in their white chef jackets carrying out our plates for serving. We dined to the music of Steve Schaffner, which again was a real treat. I went the next day and bought his tapes at Shivelbine's Music and have enjoyed them so much.

Once again Bob was waiting for us outside the door. We then made our way through the City of Roses Music Festival to In the Wine Cellar, owned by Jim and Debbie Weatherholt. We were running quite late at this point and after having had so very much food all evening, we simply could not eat dessert. We will be going back soon to collect our rain check. Having a brother who owns My Daddy's Cheesecake, I thought I would never say no to dessert, but we had to.

When we got back to Bellevue Bed and Breakfast, I just sat there and said, "Cinderella has to get out the carriage now." We were like children and stayed up until 2:00 a.m. talking and laughing together. The next morning, Marsha prepared a delicious breakfast of a baked French toast casserole, hot spiced fruit compote, bacon and a strawberry filled cream puff.

Like everything else, good things must come to an end, and our wonderful "Night on Old Town Cape" was over. There were so many sponsors and people involved in putting this event together I am afraid of leaving someone out, but have to try anyway. Zimmer Radio Group, including KZIM and KISS radio stations for all of the advertising, KFVS 12, Southeast Missouri Builders Supply, Re/Max Achievers, Thorngate Outlet, Gerry Keene, Paula Huggins, and Hutson's Fine Furniture. Above all, we would like to extend a special thanks to Judith Ann and Roger Lang. They were instrumental in the creation of the event and saw to our every need and to every detail of the organization of the "Night on Old Town Cape." And also to all of the restaurant owners who provided so much, as well as the limo service. Thank you so much.

We will certainly be buying chances next year, and I encourage you to do the same. It was certainly a great evening of food, fun and fellowship.

Now, to get on with the recipes. I received a piece of mail with a recipe for spinach casserole. We have put this recipe on the menu at the Senior Center as a nice way to serve spinach.

Speckled Spinach Casserole

1 stick margarine

1 onion, chopped

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

3 (10 ounce) packages spinach, cooked and drained

1 cup cooked rice

Saut onion in margarine until tender. Add cream cheese and mix well. Stir in spinach and rice. Pour into sprayed baking pan. Sprinkle with crushed potato chips. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.

Last Sunday evening; we were guests at the home of Cheryl Mothes for an Italian feast. She had 30 guests and prepared a variety of items for us.

One of them was particularly good and she shared the recipe with me.

Mediterranean Chickpea Soup

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 cup diced onion

1 1/2 cups water

1 can chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup ditalini pasta

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add onion and saut until tender. Add next 6 ingredients, through tomatoes. Boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add pasta, cook 9 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in chopped parsley.

Cheryl is a vegetarian and is always looking for new recipes to fix for her and friends. All of her food was delicious and even the big meat-eaters in the group did not complain. Scott didn't even have to stop at Burger King on the way home.

I will close by saying next week there will be quite a few recipes, and not so much of me. But I just had to share the experience with you. Have a great week, and happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan, an administrator at Cape Senior Center, can be reached at Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699. Recipes published are not kitchen-tested by the Southeast Missourian staff.