My immediate family are introverts, and I used to think I was too. I think mostly because I liked books and video games and didn’t really enjoy some of the activities people in my homeschool co-op were into- paintball, football, and hunting. But the older I’ve gotten, I’ve realized that I am much more extroverted than other members in my family. Being sent home from college in 2020 because of COVID really solidified that fact. I remember feeling so bored and lonely on the weekends, with no plans with other people to hang out or do anything, while everyone else seemed perfectly content to sit around all day. No offense to anyone who enjoys a quiet day at home, who doesn’t need to have plans to feel contented; sometimes these sorts of days are needed even for me. But in general, I needed to know that there were plans to look forward to, I needed to get out of the house and do something.
And I now have filled my schedule near to bursting. Nearly every night of the week has something happening in it, all things that I love doing and would be sad if I missed them. At the same time, I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed with it all, but I think I’ve been balancing it all pretty well. It’s a season of busyness, of new friendships, of change. And I’d rather have things to do than multiple nights in a row where I have nowhere to go and no one to see. I’ve just been eating a lot of sandwiches.
With all that is going on in my life, why not add one more thing? So I decided to try and start a supper club, where someone hosts each month and makes a themed meal, maybe something they’ve wanted to try or something they don’t make and eat on a regular basis. Some of my friends from church have their own supper club and they inspired me to try and start my own. I was hosting our first meeting, and I was nervous. Back in Missouri, I had hosted youth group nearly every week, filling my house with teenagers, planning and making the meals we would eat, hoping enough of them would sit on my cheap couch so so it would break and I would have an excuse to buy a new one (it was surprisingly sturdy). Now, I felt out of practice and uncertain. But like most things I worry about, it turned out better than I expected.
I made the main dish, khao soi. It’s a noodle soup from northern Thailand, with a coconut curry broth. It’s topped with crispy fried noodles, pickled onion or mustard greens, lime, and cilantro. It’s delicious and I highly recommend giving it a try. Here is the recipe I followed: https://www.feastingathome.com/thai-coconut-noodle-soup-khao-soi/. I mostly followed the recipe, but made a couple substitutions: I left out the lime leaves because I wasn’t able to find them in my area, I used white onion instead of shallot, and I used ramen noodles instead of egg noodles. I made the broth a couple of days before we were planning on eating it, and that helped to deepen the flavors.
It turned out delicious, and everyone enjoyed! I asked the other people who were coming to bring sides and dessert. We had quite a spread of egg rolls filled with vegetables, cucumber salad, Thai tea, and pumpkin mochi cake. We’ve already planned our next meeting, and I’m excited to see how this little supper club evolves over the coming months. Now that the first nerve wracking event hosted at my house is done, I’m also excited to have more people over to my house.
What else have I been up to? I’ve been trying to think up some programming ideas for the library I work at. Things the students can engage with if they come into the library, but it doesn’t have to be at a certain time or for a certain event. I’ve been putting a question up on a white board once a week and having the students answer. Most of the questions have been “would you rather” or “either/or” style, such as “tea or coffee?” and “early bird or night owl?” This past week though, I said “suggest me a song and I will listen to it and give it a rating”. I got some good songs, from artists and bands I had never heard of.
My favorites were “Cranes in the Sky” by Solange, “Telegraph Ave.” by Childish Gambino, and “Dark Red” by Steve Lacey. Let me know what you think of these if you give them a listen! This has been a year of discovering new music for me, and it’s so fun to see what other people like and what they would suggest when asked for recommendations.
~Muriel
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