Charlotte, Emily and Anne

Artist Stella Vine has produced this limited edition print of the Bronte sisters in order to raise funds for Haworth church which is in urgent need of repair. It is a modern reworking of the portrait that Branwell Bronte did of his three sisters but done in Stella’s distinctive childlike style. The three women grew up very close to where we all live and I can’t help but feel an affinity towards them and their work.

I can just imagine the three of them sat around the fire on a cold winters evening chatting and giggling and coming up with ideas for books; we ladies in The Intellectual Dinner Club know all too well the importance of a girly get-together.

I just have to say that if you haven’t yet read ‘Wuthering Heights’ these dark and windy nights are the perfect time to do so.

Amanda xxx

To purchase one of stella’s prints follow the link below:-

http://stellavine.bigcartel.com/product/charlotte-emily-and-anne

Looking for some inspiration

I'm looking for some inspiration...2012 hasn't got off to a great start and I'm disappointed that I'm sat here failing to be inspired by this month's theme. It's really hard to get motivated, which is why we want all of our followers...we know that you are out there...to join us on our 12 in 2012 Facebook page and start telling us about some of the New Year's inspiration you have. What goals have you set yourself? Have you picked your 12 in 2012 yet? We'd also love you to follow our blog...it's not scary, we won't receive your details, you won't get annoying e-mails. We know that some of you are regularly following us and it would be fantastic to get your feedback on what we do,
 maybe you can tell us where we can improve.

This year the Intellectual Dinner Club is setting out on a world tour...ok not exactly...we can dream. But we've decided to travel the world by visiting different restaurants in our local area so that we can sample different flavours from around the globe. This month we will be starting with Lebanese food, it's all very exciting!

We'd love you to follow our journey...

January's Theme

Ten Pounds

As Carrie Bradshaw said in Sex and the City...sometimes she would go without dinner so she could buy Vogue instead..."because it fed me more!"

What would you buy if you only had £10? This month I want you to imagine that in this difficult economic climate all you have left in your pocket is £10. Would you be sensible and spend it on food? Or would you do as Carrie did and buy something that you really want...something just for you...something that you are truly passionate about. At the next meal I want you to present your theme...in any way that you want to. I want to see the thing that you would buy and I want to know why you chose it.

Amanda's dream £10 note

New Year Treat at The Old Mill Restaurant

This seems to be the time of year when people really struggle; Christmas and New Year are now in the past and the sense of excitement and anticipation has been replaced with a cold and dreary present. Any break from the norm is a real treat, so when The Intellectual Dinner Club was invited to dine at The Old Mill Restaurant we jumped at the chance.

As we set out for the evening the weather was cold and drizzly but Radio 2 was playing comfortingly on the car stereo; a French singer causing us to imagine that we were in Paris and the night would end with an expensive cognac and a slim cigar. We arrived at the Brighouse Restaurant in good spirits where we were immediately shown to our table in a cosy little corner next to the bar. As we were handed menus and asked for our drink preferences our waitress leapt into action with a lighter to ensure that our table had candlelight. It was reassuring to know that she understood the importance of ‘ambience’.

The restaurant had a cosy country décor with authentic wooden beams, exposed stone and cream paintwork. It felt relaxed and welcoming and although it obviously has a history as an old corn mill it also feels modern. It was a good feeling for all four of us to be back together after the past few weeks of madness and as we scanned the menu we realised how hungry we all were. We settled on an Antipasti Sharing Platter for our starter. This was lovely, picky food – perfect to take the edge off our hunger but not enough to fill us up and spoil our main course; and the gooey balsamic vinegar was gorgeous mopped up with soft bread all washed down with a nice glass of wine.

The weather has been making the headlines this week so it wasn’t long before we all began to recount our stories of gale-force winds. I have had a few restless nights sleep as the ferocity of the wind has woken me. I sleep in the attic and it’s blown so hard against the roof I thought the house was moving; it genuinely scared me. While driving to her parents house Catherine experienced a terrifying white-knuckle journey on the motorway where she was buffeted about next to precarious looking lorries and trucks. When she heard later on that a truck had blown over on that same stretch of motorway she felt that she’d had a lucky escape.

With the starter cleared away it wasn’t long before our main courses arrived. After some deliberation we’d all opted for the very tasty specials board although with a varied winter menu on offer we really were spoilt for choice. Catherine and Caroline both had the Pork Trio while Phoebe and I had the Duck Breast. All four meals looked and smelled delicious; this was rich hearty winter food at its best. The duck was complimented with the flavours of spiced red cabbage, black cherry and red wine and although the pink at the centre was edging closer to raw everything else on the plate was done to perfection. The trio of pork offered a variety of taste and texture which went down very well, Catherine’s only criticism being that the sausage could have been a bit warmer. A silence had descended as we all savoured our food. I took a while to finish mine (I’m always the last to finish) but I wanted to be sure to fully appreciate all the different flavours on my plate. When all the knives and forks were finally laid to rest we were a very satisfied bunch of ladies but it didn’t take long for the question to form on everyone’s lips - “Shall we have dessert?”

As we took a little time to peruse the menu and try to figure out just how full we were, we all contemplated what our specialist subject might be if we were to take part on ‘Mastermind’. Phoebe’s had to be Harry Potter of course as she loves the books and the films and knows them all inside out. She then revealed that she had in fact received her own Harry Potter wand as a Christmas gift which we were all free to borrow if we needed a touch of magic in our lives; Catherine’s subject would be aeroplanes – she has a massive fear of flying; Caroline’s would be ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens which she reads religiously every December and mine would be the artist Tracey Emin.

At this point everyone apart from me felt they had enough room left for a dessert so Catherine opted for hot apple pie with custard, Caroline for blackcurrant tart with liquorice ice-cream, Phoebe for rhubarb and Clementine cranachan from the specials menu accompanied with a late harvest dessert wine and I chose to finish with an Italian liqueur coffee. There were murmurs of approval all round as dishes were cleared, Caroline declaring that her pudding was ‘to die for’ as the blackcurrant and liquorice flavours got her taste buds humming. Phoebe was very pleased with her dessert wine as it went beautifully with her choice of dessert. Catherine felt like a peppermint tea to finish off the evening and although this particular flavour wasn’t available our waitress, Chelsea, was very helpful in finding an alternative.

It was getting late and so, over our coffees and teas, we felt it was time to reveal our lists for our ’12 into 2012’ campaign. This was an idea first put forward by Caroline at our Christmas meal as an alternative to the usual New Year’s resolutions. It was an idea that we all jumped on and decided to launch online so that everyone can take part and decide the 12 things they really want to do in 2012. As it was the 6^th January this evening, it seemed quite poetic that we were revealing our ’12 into 2012’ on Twelfth Night. The lists varied from simple things such as keeping in touch with friends more, to the more extravagant such as trips to Paris and we were all very excited by our different choices wanting to do each others as well. Be sure to follow the link at the top of this page and do your own list.

Last orders had been called some time ago and although it was still quite busy and no one seemed eager for us to leave it was time to go before my car turned into a pumpkin. We’d had a fantastic evening, shared some delicious food all served by helpful and attentive staff - a really great start to the year.

Amanda xxx

Christmas Dinner at the 3 Acres

Christmas was almost upon us and our party of four (Dannie was sadly absent) were being chauffeured, very slowly I might add, along the dark country roads to our destination for the evening. Phoebe’s boyfriend, Alex, has become our designated driver for this end-of-year gathering and for one night only we re-christen him James; I made it very clear that next year he simply must wear a peaked cap. As we picked up speed and the exhaust started making lots of noise it became apparent as to why we had been doing a frustrating 20mph – any faster and we sounded as if we were about to take off.

As we rounded the final bend in the road the familiar sight of the 3 Acres came into view with the twinkling red lights of Emley Moor Television Mast hanging in the night sky. We’d been looking forward to tonight for months, as this has now become a yearly ritual and we know that we won’t be disappointed. Upon entering, the place is warm, cosy and inviting. Every year as we take our seats around the table we comment that it feels like the living embodiment of a Dickensian Christmas. Large church candles placed throughout mean that tonight I don’t have to worry about a lack of ‘ambience’.

As we settle into our chairs and scan the delicious sounding menu we all agree that it’s good to be back here as it finally feels like Christmas is in the air. As conversation flows and we catch up with each others lives over the past few weeks I discover that I’ve started a new trend - warm mince pies topped with a generous dollop of thick Bailey’s cream. It’s one of my indulgences at this time of year and seems to have caught on with the other ladies and their partners, especially Catherine’s husband who previously didn’t even like mince pies. Be sure to try it yourself.

A Festive Feast

The 3 Acres does the best turkey dinner ever and so it was without any hesitation or pondering that we ordered unanimous Christmas dinners all round. While waiting for our food to arrive we remembered the long curved plastic fingernails which three of us had procured the previous week while pulling crackers at our work Christmas party. We’d brought them along this evening as they are very witch-like and we’d become quite attached to them and their obvious use as a comedy prop. We were very quickly served with “roast locally reared turkey” and crispy belly pork, apple, shallot and cranberry chutney, pork & chestnut sausage, sage & onion stuffing, bread sauce & mustard sauce, mashed potato & roast potato, roast parsnip, an accompanying tureen of sprouts, carrot & swede mash and cauliflower, not forgetting the gravy boat. It was as good as it sounds, and to say that we thoroughly enjoyed every last morsel of our meals doesn’t really do it justice, but our four empty plates were an indication of our complete appreciation; and even though I was feeling pretty full at this stage, if someone had placed another dinner in front of me I would have had a good go at it as I’m sure the other ladies would.

Once the plates had been cleared and we were about to peruse the dessert menu it was with horror and panic that Catherine realised her plastic nail had gone. She’d left it on her side plate which had now departed to the kitchen. The waitress we called over and explained the predicament to very kindly went to the kitchen to see if said nail could be retrieved. She returned with the sad news that it was probably in the bin. We didn’t mourn its loss for too long as there was now the important task ahead of what to have for dessert. Ordinarily I’m too full by this point and opt instead for a liqueur coffee but tonight was special and I felt I had a little room left.  Once again we were united in our choice as we all opted for a “trio of Christmas puddings” which consisted of Christmas pudding & dark rum sauce, mince pie & brandy butter and rum & raisin ice-cream. We were all in agreement that the quality of tonight’s food and the attention to detail was superb. As if that wasn’t enough we were all then entertained by a local brass band playing carols. Wonderful!

‘Read All About It’ - December’s Theme

After pulling Christmas crackers that contained not only jokes but facts and charades as well, and exchanging our Secret Santa gifts under the table so the secret could be truly secret, it was now time to present our themes, this months being ‘Current Affairs’. I’d bought and read a lot of newspapers over the past few weeks in the hope that a stand-out article would jump off the page and grab my attention in a positive way. But the papers seemed to be full of stories of doom and gloom interspersed with indispensable Christmas shopping lists to encourage more spending as the high street goes into melt-down. But amongst the stories of rising divorce rates and an unsteady economy I did find an article that gave me some hope; it was about proposals to rid Dorset's villages of the urban clutter of unsightly road signs, road markings, traffic lights and speed cameras. A few years ago I saw a programme about these schemes that had been put in place in other European countries where they worked very well. The projects are designed to improve traffic’s relationship with pedestrians, and the methods used change the perception and expectations in the drivers mind. I think these projects should be rolled out countrywide and I also suggested that it would work very well alongside some of the proposals offered up by Mary Portas and so help us to also transform our town centres. I also proposed tree lined streets and old fashioned shop awnings alongside other ideas to make market stalls form a cohesive part of the shopping experience.

When I embarked on this theme it felt like a struggle but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. It gave me a much more rounded picture of what was going on in the world in December 2011 and I was also very happy that Victoria Beckham won designer brand of the year at the start of my theme, and it was announced that Tracey Emin was going to be the new Professor of Drawing at the end of my theme.

The article that caught Catherine’s attention was about a café in London’s West End, frequented by actors since 1965, that was facing closure. The falafels at Gaby’s Deli had always been a crowd pleaser until this Christmas when a planning application was passed for its redevelopment as a chain restaurant. Many of the country's best-known performers and writers are now queuing up for the chance to support the deli by appearing in a series of impromptu cabaret nights. Before reading this article Catherine had never heard of Gaby’s Deli, but the more she read the more she realized that this was a story that would resonate with everyone as we face the prospect of throwing our history aside to make room for even more cold, generic, heartless chain stores. Mary Portas had just been in the news with her plan to revitalize the high street and although most people are feeling the pinch it’s vital that we support our local shops and restaurants. Catherine felt that Gaby’s is the representation of every struggling independent business; a small part of the big picture that makes up our local community that we so desperately need to preserve.

For Phoebe this month has been all about Gareth Malone, a man that she now has a major crush on as do many ladies across the land. He's the cherished TV choirmaster who inspires stirring deeds from people who never knew what they had in them and the article was about the path his life has taken and how he is now hoping to beat the X Factor single to the Christmas No.1 slot. The choir’s that he has formed have brought communities together and by giving them a voice he has demonstrated the power of music to make them and others feel good. With his current single he enlisted 40 military wives and girlfriends and allowed them to express, in public, emotions that they might otherwise feel obliged to disguise with the lyrics being lifted from the women’s letters to their husbands in Afghanistan. Phoebe loved that Gareth has made choir singing cool and trendy, and has seen its impact first-hand as her sister Laura has now joined a choir and is loving it. To get the Intellectual Dinner Club into the spirit she provided us all with our own little pamphlet of Christmas carols so we can sing our way through the festive season.

Caroline felt that the word that summed her up this month was ‘frazzled’. Work had been too much and constant transcribing had given her ‘transcription pedal knee’, so the thought of ploughing through the papers and reading about politicians filled her with dread. To relieve stress and provide some relaxation she treated herself to a pile of glossy magazines and found that it wasn’t an article that caught her eye but an advert. A rather feisty looking young woman appears to be kick-boxing her way into the New Year which gave Caroline the inspiration needed to decide that exercise and getting fit are going to be top of her list for the New Year. 2011 was almost over and rather than regretting the things that hadn’t been done she was looking forward to 2012 and all its possibilities. With this in mind she decided that resolutions were not the way to go as they so often fall by the wayside; instead she was going to embark on the concept of ’12 into 2012’ where she will commit to doing one thing each month that she has always wanted to do. An inspired idea that would get us all thinking.


Home James

With the theme over it was almost time to depart but not before the ladies surprised me with some gorgeous presents for my birthday in just a few days time; a lovely little mirror compact decorated with birds and then a book I’ve been coveting for months – ‘True British’ by Alice Temperley – perfect presents. They very nearly had me in tears. Conversation then turned to Christmas trees and Catherine asked if we’d seen the TV advert of Peter Andre being netted up like a tree? I hadn’t but as we waited for our chauffer to arrive it gave us great amusement imagining Peter Andre standing in our living rooms, arms outstretched, holding glittering baubles aloft. And so our third year of The Intellectual Dinner Club was almost at an end. Who knows what awaits us in our fourth year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Amanda xxx

Step into Christmas

I'm finding it difficult to do this month's theme. It is a bit hectic at the moment but my biggest problem is all I seem to be reading or hearing about is doom and gloom; the state of the economy, the government,  war...there's so much hate and depression in this world and it's difficult to find an article that doesn't contain these issues. It just doesn't feel like Christmas at the moment but I'm doing everything I can to try and get into the Christmas spirit. Caroline and I got horribly tipsy at our local Christmas market the other day...it wasn't our fault that the man on the hot chocolate stall poured a huuuuge shot of rum into our drinks...I was seeing double! I put the Christmas tree up, although when the Christmas tree lights exploded I was starting to think it was a bad idea; I'm playing Wham's Last Christmas in the car on the way to work every morning; I'm slowly wading my way through a tin of chocolate whilst watching every Christmas film there is and I've poured so much brandy into my Christmas cake that I'm sure at any moment it's going to grow legs and stagger it's way out of the front door. What I'm hoping though is that come the next Intellectual Dinner at the 3 Acres we'll all be feeling a lot more Christmassy, I'm really excited and can't believe that another year has passed. Until then I'll go back to finding my Christmas spirit...I think it's hiding somewhere...possibly behind the big bottle of Amaretto I've been saving for a festive occasion. Like the little boy in the John Lewis advert (it makes me cry every time) I can't wait for Christmas to arrive, I hope you all manage to find your Christmas spirit and have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Catherine xx
http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnLewisRetail

December's Theme

"READ ALL ABOUT IT”

Current Affairs   December 2011

For this months task I would like you all to keep an eye on what is going in the media be it newspapers, magazines or online news.

I then want everyone to choose an article, from your chosen media, to present to the rest of the group.

I want to know why you chose that article; what was it about it that caught your attention? I also want you to formulate a response to the article in any form that you choose.

The article can be about anything. Just because it’s current affairs doesn’t mean it has to be about the economy or politics. I was recently reading ‘The Independent’ and the headline Happiness is a Warm Sponge caught my eye. I noticed it because two certain ladies we know are very keen bakers and the food writer Annie Bell was extolling the pleasures of baking. She was commenting that baking is this year’s hot food trend, which perhaps says quite a lot about where we currently are as a nation.

Just remember, we go to press on Friday 16^th December.

Amanda xxx