Traverse City Record-Eagle

Kathleen Gest: Senior Focus

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December 31, 2011

Senior Focus: Make friends, eat worldly food

By Kathleen Gest, Local columnist ----

Finding new ways to have fun and make friends can be challenging at any age, but it's often harder for older adults.

A new, delicious way starts Friday, Jan. 13.

The Senior Center Network is launching the Meet & Eat Club.

The program also involves a cultural and language component, said Ericca Hovie, program coordinator.

The monthly Meet & Eat Club (second Friday) is a potluck with a different ethnic theme each month. Table displays will have information about the event and its sponsor, facts or cultural trivia and the language linked to the culture.

Here's the challenge for all of you who like to try different recipes. The dishes must be homemade and the recipe written out, so it can be submitted to the cookbook that will be published at the end of the year. Each Meet & Eat Club participant will get a complimentary cookbook, but they will also be available for others to purchase. At the end of the each dinner, the next theme will be revealed and participants will draw for an item -- appetizer, bread, salad, vegetable or dessert -- to bring the next time.

The theme for Jan. 13 is Asian; Feb. 10 is French; March 9 is Irish. The sponsor will fund an entrée dish.

The get-together includes music, a short information speech by the sponsor, the culture of the month's subject and introduction of the participants and their side dishes. Photographs will be taken at each month's event for inclusion in the cookbook.

"The Meet & Eat Club is going to appeal to someone who is interested in fresh food, experiencing other cultures and being social," Hovie said.

This new event builds on the Senior Center Network's commitment to support a senior's healthy and socially active lifestyle. It is their hope that those who join the new Meet & Eat Club will find the food delicious, the ambience relaxing, the entertainment enjoyable and the conversation interesting.

The Meet & Eat Club will be held the second Friday of each month from 4:30 to 6 p.m. There is a $12 charge at the beginning of the year; basically, a dollar a month. If a participant joins later in the year, the fee will be prorated.

Reservations are required to participate and must be made by Friday, Jan. 9, for the first Meet & Eat dinner on Jan. 13.

Call the Senior Center at 922-4911 or email EHovie@tcseniorcenter.com

Kathleen Bellaw Gest is a local freelance writer. For more about the Traverse City Senior Center, go to www.tcseniorcenter.com.

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