Our men’s cooking group
Earlier, when I introduced this blog, I made mention of our men’s cooking group. They’re called ‘The Twisted Cooks’ and we gather regularly to prepare and cook at various community events. “Dinner with a Twist” is the name we have given to the series of dinners that we cater for.
So how did “Dinner with a Twist” start? More importantly, how did we come up with the title? Well, the answer to that question is “I can’t remember” but it may have been arrived at during the Thursday evening happy hour. Seriously though, it had its origins in 2022 after the cooking lessons I hosted the previous year for some of the men in our community.
Having come from a culinary background, I thought there might be a need to teach some of our male residents some cooking basics. So, a number of interested males gathered in our community kitchen and for a small fee we produced a main course and a dessert – and then we ate it. It proceeded well but a combination of cancellations due to Covid and the cost of ingredients forced me to consider alternative ideas. I felt that it should be more about men feeling confident in a kitchen environment and at the same time learning a few skills.
At the beginning of 2022 I suggested to our Social Committee that the cooking group prepare and serve a dinner in a lounge area adjacent to the kitchen. I chose a Monday evening, and the first one was limited to 30 guests. After being postponed until March (because of Covid) we ended up serving 39 residents – the additional 9 guests were on the reserve list, and we didn’t want to disappoint. For a cost of $12 per person we served Chicken Roulade followed by Sticky Date Pudding. It should be pointed out that, like all good chefs, we make a bit of mess and fortunately the Social Committee (and a few others) not only set the room but also cleaned up. Our October 2024 dinner was our fourteenth and we now limit the number to 75 persons. From December 2022 that same group of volunteers combine to present both our lunch and dinner Christmas functions. Currently we have 7 members in the group and the average is around 77. It’s a nice sized group for our sized kitchen, but occasional absences mean we could probably accommodate a couple more men.
The management of our village tell me that they haven’t heard of a similar group within retirement communities, in Australia. I don’t know if that is correct, but I do know that it has given a number of men the opportunity to remain active, both physically and mentally. It is an activity that they continue to look forward to being involved with and it is much appreciated by their fellow residents.