Hi Friends,
Hi Friends,
A peek behind the curtain: I'm working on a robust calendar of events for 2027. (Want first dibs? Join the list here.) To prepare, I'm attending as many supper clubs as is reasonably possible. Rough tax deductible life, I know. Venues, pricing, logistics, seating layouts, all of it is going under the microscope this summer.
Last night Mr. Gunks and I went to The Pines for NONNA-MAXXING, a Sicilian feast presented by Fancy Feast Supper Club. Leah's food was spectacular, from the juicy sultanas popping in the caponata to sucking the nectar from nasturtiums atop panna cotta in tea cups. The weather was perfect, the drinks were on point, and the conversation was effervescent.
Honestly, it would have been a divine event if all but one of those things had failed. We've all gone to dinner parties that were kind of a shit show and had a really, really good time, right?
It's the conversation that makes or breaks an event like this. It's like a potluck: you're building a collective experience by contributing as an individual. But you don't have a dish to hide behind, its your presence that you're offering to .
Fortunately, our table mates were all in. The woman next to me (Hi Nicole!) unintentionally broke the whole thing open with one question:
Would you rather?
We were all trotting out our crazy New York-in-my-20’s tales when someone told the story of a friend living across the hall from a sex dungeon in Hell's Kitchen. A clients allegedly mixed up the apartment numbers, found her unlocked door, and crawled into bed with her and her boyfriend.
Would you rather find the guy in the gimp mask (we embellished) or the mouse someone else found in their bed? Or bedbugs? Or the feral emu roaming my friend's cul de sac?
The secret power of this question is that it invites everyone to build together. It's a zero-stakes game where everyone who brings their attention to it wins. If you're anxious about attending an intimate event with strangers, think about how to find the thread of conversation that would make a great "would you rather." See how it goes.
By the end of the night we were agreed: We'd all take the emu.
The Poughkeepsie Farm Project has made a desperate plea for carrot weeding help! If you're not a gardener, or you are and you need to get your hands dirty, go help these folks out.
Running a local non-profit is really hard, and Rewind Kingston is bravely asking for help. Reach out to them at [email protected] if you're an artist who'd like to host a workshop, have an Airbnb for workshop facilitators to stay, if you'd like to table at Heart of Midtown, or can help out with sponsorship.
Do you desperately miss Harana Market? Would you like to enjoy meals from our hometown hero James Beard nom while providing them with consistent income? Check out their monthly meal subscription here.
Blue Fridge Community Fundraiser at Clinton Avenue United Methodist Church in Kingston -- The outdoor Blue Fridge has stocked free food for anyone in Kingston since 2020, and the church is about $2,745 short of its $5,000 goal to keep it full through the year -- donate by August 31.
