Dining club, then and now

A disadvantage of getting older is perhaps the fact that you have less future, but fortunately on the other hand, the past is getting bigger and bigger.

I don't know why, maybe because I'm having dinner tonight with two members of the dining club or maybe because my Thai meal last night was a bit bland. In any case, all sorts of thoughts come to my mind. Because I'm at my computer, I write them down right away.

I remember that in the distant past I have also been a member of a dining club. That club consisted of two couples and me. Around the in turn we cooked for the group. The special thing was that one of those couples was Hugh Jans with his wife Anneke. Hugh Jans was then known for his weekly cooking column in Vrij Nederland. I'm talking about the early seventies now.

I met him at an opening party at a fancy restaurant. It was called, I think I remember, Gravenmolen and was located on the Molensteeg in Amsterdam. Hugh and I got talking at the bar and we drank young gin. When the meal was announced, he said to me, do you really want to eat or shall we just stay here drinking gin. Someone like that can't break me anymore. While Wina Born cooed loudly that the duck was delicious, the idea of ​​the dinner club was born.

I wouldn't tell this story if it didn't have a Thai touch to it. At a dinner party at my house I used the dried Thai chili pepper. In moderation, because I didn't know how this would go down with my guests. Hugh Jans did not deny his expertise, because he immediately shouted: you use Thai chili pepper, delicious! Where on earth do you buy those?

I know you can get everything at any supermarket now, but times were different back then. I kindly replied that I bought the chopped Thai peppers where they were made, in Thailand of course. The next time I visited Thailand I brought a kilo pack of Thai peppers for Hugh Jans.

In the evening, as mentioned, I eat in a Thai restaurant. It is called Pergola and is located on the first street on the left, behind the Hanuman. A long time ago I lived right next to this restaurant. Another Dutch couple lived on the other side of my house. In addition, another couple and two houses further another Dutchman. In short, it was a lot of fun.

My Thai neighbor started her restaurant, financed by a group of Germans. I made her menu on my computer. She called the restaurant Pergola, but unfortunately the sign appeared Bergola. This was all ten years ago. The B has now been cunningly distorted into a P. The German influence is still clearly visible on the current menu. My friends recommend me a fried liver with onions and baked potatoes. Delightful. Recommended.