Cage Match Supper Club Does Fiji

The “Cage Match Supper Club” was an idea clearly conceived after multiple glasses of wine.

It’s a dinner group of four couples committed to, above everything else, entertaining ourselves and each other.

After our group’s first gathering in March to sketch out our mission statement over an exquisite dinner at the school, we inked our first date for May. The first dinner party would be at Chet and Heather’s abode.

The theme was “Fiji” and the food was FABULOUS.

Chet and Heather had vacationed one Christmas in Fiji, and Chet has extensive knowledge of the area due to the year he lived and worked there on a stint as a Fiji Adventure tour guide. Upon entering their home, we were each outfitted with a colorful sarong to look the part. Each “non host” couple brought drink concoctions meant to be consumed along with the dinner, and since our food was traditional fare found in Fiji, our beverages were tropical in theme.

My Subtly Amazing husband and my cocktail concoction, confusingly titled “The Hairy Bitch,” wasn't the least bit hairy or bitchy. Basically, it was a mixture of two glugs pineapple/coconut juice, one glug of white rum and a dash of triple sec, served with a dorky look on the face, a bendy straw,  in a coconut cup found at Goodwill.   Chad and Laurie provided lovely Dark and Stormy cocktails and Matt and Mary yet another oddly named but appropriate beverage.  (Those recipes will be posted tomorrow kittens)

{cheesy grins via Kev and Chet}

The evening played out a bit like an eighth grade social studies class.
We indulged in perfectly spiced Indian food, which, we learned, is a staple in Fiji due to the largely Indian population. Chet filled us in on Fiji culture and Heather loaded the iPod with music indigenous to the islands, then Kevin created a betting pool in which we each chose soccer teams that we thought might win in the upcoming World Cup.

Dessert was a mind blowing batch of Heather’s homemade creamy peanut-butter frosting and banana chip topped Elvis Cupcakes.

We ended the evening with a traditional kava ceremony. Stuffed full of delicious curry, and sitting cross-legged on a reed matt in the living room, Chet filled the ceremonial kava bowl with authentic powdered kava root and water, making it a somewhat muddy and floral tasting murky “tea”, which immediately numbs the tongue.

I’m not so sure I’ll imbibe in Kava often in the future, but I already anticipate the next Cage Match Supper Club dinner party. The food and company was absolutely brilliant, and I know more about Fiji then I ever imagined. Maybe, when you are old, you find Eighth Grade social studies finally fascinating, and any chance one has to wear a sarong is welcomed.

I just don’t know yet if I’ll be able to supply costumes to our guests for my brilliantly themed “Liberace Cookbook” supper.