Club members have much more in common than cooking

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The Flaming Spoons are hot.

The six-member dinner club has been cooking and dining together since 1997, has to turn away "wannabe" members, and now has hit the road to market its newest concoction: a cookbook.

Back in the early days, on just the third gathering, the self-styled group of "slightly rowdy, early-vintage women" got a bit too hot.

The group's members, all widows, were planning to end their meal with cafe brulot. The hostess had never made the after-dinner coffee and asked the others for help. One member, who shall remain unidentified here, took charge and began stirring the brew with a wooden spoon only to see it catch fire.

After frantic shouts of "Blow! Blow!" and "Stir! Stir!" the blaze finally went out. And that's where The Flaming Spoon Dinner Club got its moniker.

Since then, the club has gathered once a month and enjoyed everything from "Chinese Cuisine" to a "Mexican Fiesta" and, of course, a "Home-Grown Arkansas Dinner."

For their "Black and White Dinner," repeated earlier last year, members got fancy, wore long black-and-white dresses and dined on black-and-white food ranging from souffled sole to angel food cake with ice cream and dark fudge sauce.

For their "Truck Stop Dinner," they wore overalls, waitress uniforms, even baseball caps, and dined on meat loaf, beans with sliced onions, corn bread, canned Vienna sausages and the like.

Now, recipes for all of these goodies and more, both humble and elegant, are in the group's recently self-published cookbook, "Entertaining With The Flaming Spoons: Hot Ideas, Menus & Recipes" (Morris Press, $18.95). Over three years, the authors, who range in age from about 60 to 73, did their own writing, editing and proofing, and now they're doing the marketing.

They have sold about 1,000 books since it was published, says Betty Reynolds, who came up with the dinner-club idea because she missed entertaining with friends after her husband died.

"I thought it would be good to get together on a regular basis with other women who also were single," she recalls.

The group now includes Reynolds, Irene Wassell, food editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Martha Craig, Dorothy Clement, Kay Perry and Nancy Pace.

Recently, several members drove about 100 miles from North Little Rock to Camden to promote the book, and sold 72 copies. At public appearances, the women wear black shirts and slacks beneath identical red-and-white aprons.

Just about every member has a story about how she sold a book or two. "My dentist bought 10," says Craig.

"I went to Nell's mother's funeral, and I sold six cookbooks," says Clement, while dining with other members at her North Little Rock home recently. "My mother would love this," says Nell Miller of Helena, Clement's special guest that evening.

But Wassell has perhaps the most unusual story. As she lay on an operating table and was about to be sedated, she sold three books to her doctor, one for each of his nurses, who were standing by, waiting for her autograph, when she awoke.

How did Wassell happen to have the books on hand? "We all keep them in the trunks of our car," she explained. Her son, who was in the waiting room, got the books for her.

Being widowed has given the women much in common.

"Betty and Dorothy were the first ones to lose their husbands, and that changes your life so much," says Wassell. "They found all the others who had lost their husbands" when organizing the club. "It just gives us a feeling of friendship and loyalty and keeping us involved in cooking and preparing our meals, and just plain fun."

Clement adds, "Because we're single women, it's turned into a support group. When our kids are doing well, we celebrate. When someone's kids are having a problem, we cry with them. Cooking is almost secondary."

Secondary, indeed. Clement still laughs about her reaction when Reynolds first suggested a dinner club. "I didn't know we were going to have to cook. I thought we were going to eat out," she says.

The group continues to restrict its membership to widows, although married substitutes are welcome as occasional guests. Some members, including Reynolds and Wassell, are dating but have made sure that, if they re-marry, they'll be grandfathered in.

The group celebrated the book's publication by inviting 300 people to a party for a sampling of their recipes. More than 200 guests attended and bought about as many books that evening alone.

The book features 36 dinner menus arranged by season and theme, along with table-decorating ideas.

The recipes are accessible, and range from Island grilled salmon with salsa verde, in which the most exotic ingredient is Oriental sesame oil (available in Asian food stores and in some supermarkets), to sweet potato casserole, which gets its main ingredient from a can.

"You do need to like to entertain and to cook" to belong to the club, Perry says. But, she adds, "We're not gourmet cooks."

"I consider us more middle of the road," says Wassell.

That's OK because, as Reynolds says, "The food is not the point."

Wassell agrees: "The relationship that has developed between us it has filled our lives so, at a time when we needed something."

This recipe was among the items served at the club's first dinner party. It can be cooked in a 350 F oven instead of on a grill, if desired.

Island Grilled Salmon With Salsa Verde

1 salmon fillet, about 2 pounds cut 1 inch thick

3 tablespoons lime juice

3 tablespoons Oriental sesame oil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 medium pineapple, peeled, cored and cut crosswise into six slices

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 tablespoon sliced green onion

Lime wedges

Salt

Salsa Verde (recipe follows)

Rinse salmon and pat dry. Combine lime juice, sesame oil, sugar, ginger and soy sauce in a large, heavy-duty plastic food bag. Add salmon and pineapple and seal bag securely. Rotate bag to distribute marinade and place in a shallow pan. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 12 hours, turning bag once.

Meanwhile, toast sesame seeds in a small frying pan over medium heat, shaking pan often, until golden. Remove from pan and set aside.

Remove fish and pineapple from plastic bag and drain, discarding marinade. Lay fish, skin-side down on a piece of heavy-duty foil. Cut foil to follow outline of fish, leaving a 1- to 2-inch border. Crimp edges of foil to fit against fish.

Arrange foil-supported fish and pineapple on cooking grate. Place lid on grill. Cook, turning pineapple once halfway through cooking time, until pineapple is brown and fish is opaque but still moist in thickest part, about 10 minutes. Cut fish to test for doneness.

Support fish with foil and wide metal spatula; transfer to a platter along with pineapple. Sprinkle fish and pineapple with sesame seeds and sliced green onion. Garnish with lime wedges. Season to taste with salt.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Salsa Verde

1 bunch fresh spinach

1 bunch fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons capers

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, peeled

Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Refrigerate 4 hours. Serve as a topping for fish. Will keep in refrigerator for one week.

(Recipes from "Entertaining With The Flaming Spoons: Hot Ideas, Menus & Recipes," Morris Press $18.95)

The next recipe was enjoyed late one September as the group relaxed at Martha Craig's lake house.

German Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies

1 package German Chocolate cake mix

1 stick margarine

3 eggs

8-ounce package cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

16-ounce box confectioners' sugar plus extra for garnish

1/2 cup toasted pecans

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, margarine and one of the eggs; mix well. Press mixture into a greased 9-by-9-inch pan.

In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, remaining two eggs, vanilla and confectioners' sugar. Pour over chocolate mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and toasted 1/2 cup pecans.

Makes about 12 brownies.

(Recipe from "Entertaining With The Flaming Spoons: Hot Ideas, Menus & Recipes," Morris Press $18.95)

To order the book, visit:

http://www.geocities.com/flamingspoons.