FRIENDSHIP BREAKFAST
Ms. Kingsolver with a basket of vegetables
All week the weather kept people in suspense. But on Saturday morning, January 23, the sun was out and the sky was blue when 45 AAUW members and friends gathered at the Essanay Café in Niles for the annual Friendship Breakfast.
The Essanay Café, listed on the Local Harvest website, is the only restaurant in the area which serves seasonal, local, organic menus. As such, the Evening Book Talk interest group which chaired the event saw the Friendship Breakfast venue as an important link to the reading selection for One Book/One Community Reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in which author Barbara Kingsolver champions the same nutritional philosophy.
Chef Matthew Close and staff prepared the following meal from local ingredients. The first course was a salad with two kinds of beets and goat cheese. It was followed by a main course of roasted fingerling potatoes and an omelet filled with diced butternut squash. The dessert course was carrot cake with spearmint.
Breakfast was served on the patio, where the décor reflected the historic Niles connection to Charlie Chaplin. This was carried out in illustrations, linens and centerpieces in contrasts of black and white.
Fremont Branch AAUW member Kris Sandoe was the featured speaker, first sharing her background of training as a master gardener and photographs of her urban farm at various seasons of the year; then after the breakfast, hosting visitors on site to view her produce which in addition to various fruits and vegetables includes chickens, eggs and beehives.
At the end of the breakfast, Kathy Bray, hostess and Evening Book Talk Section Leader, held a contest to identify two winners of reusable grocery bags.
In addition to Kathy Bray, the following members of the Evening Book Talk group who served on the planning committee for the Friendship Breakfast are: Martha Crowe, Shirley De Lucchi, Becky Denevan, Marge Leonard, B.J. Swint and Jo Szeto. Genevieve Angelides was an emeritus member of the planning committee.