Guests started trickling in the doors of E.J. Buys on Main St. in Three Rivers at around 6:30 pm on Saturday evening. On most nights, E.J. Buys is a vacant storefront, but on Saturday June 21 it was the site of the latest *cino Underground Supper Club, a dinner put on in an exciting and unusual location for the purpose of raising money for the Huss Project. On this night, instead of an empty building gathering dust, the guests walked into a charming, historic building, warmly lit by strands of hanging lights above a long dining table with the light of candles dancing off of wine glasses and refracting through vases of flowers. The generosity of friends provided the venue and the creative energies of the combined *cino community transformed it into a space reminiscent of a premier dining establishment.
As more guests arrived, the wine glasses filled and the hosts, Rob and Kirstin, introduced the evening. They explained the fund-raising nature of the event and presented the menu: an Indonesian rice table. No sooner had the menu been described than the dishes made their way out to the buffet table from behind the screens that formed the temporary kitchen at the back of the room. Steaming hot rice of two varieties took its place on the buffet, followed by egg curry and grilled pork satay. At the far end sat a multitude of toppings, from sunflower shoots to ground peanuts, and roasted coconut to the spicy chilli paste called Sanbal Oelek. In short order the room was filled with the clinking of knives and forks and lighthearted chatter until all the guests had eaten their fill. Their dishes were then whisked away only to be replaced by homemade, strawberry-basil ice cream topped with a stroopwaffel (a dutch wafer-like waffle bite) and served with coffee or homemade chai.
As the night wound down, in place of a check guests received an empty envelope in which to deposit donations towards the Huss Project. It is through donations such as those that the Huss Project is able to continue moving forward with its vision and our hope is that nights such as this one offer a foretaste of the type of culture we are hoping to cultivate. A culture of food in abundance, of sitting next to a stranger and finding a friend, of connections to the food we eat and to the earth it came from, and of conversations that pursue a greater understanding of each other.
If you are interested in receiving an invitation to future Supper Club events, please contact us!