Many American military posts might be considered remote to some who live in the large metropolitan areas of the U.S. Those who have been assigned to foreign countries often can feel isolated from familiar scenes, foods and language. Military families learn to take advantage of the special opportunities in remote areas to make their own fun. Though I would not consider Ft. Sill, Oklahoma a remote area, it is about an hour away from the next larger city (Oklahoma City) and two hours away from Dallas, TX. In 1974, there were some, but not many fast-food restaurants, department stores or specialty shops. For anything very exotic, the big cities were the place to go. For many of us at the time, those excursions were few and far between because most families had only one car and that one car was in use for work each weekday.
To entertain ourselves and to enjoy the company of old and new friends, we started a monthly Supper Club. Initially, it was six couples also attending the Field Artillery Advanced Course – all of whom happened to have been classmates at West Point in the Class of 1969. As we began the club, we decided to make it an international dinner club. Each month, the couple hosting the dinner at their home would tell those attending what the theme would be and each couple would bring a complimentary dish to add to the meal. It could be quite a puzzle finding the ingredients to some of the international dishes, since there were few options for ingredients besides the commissary on post or a couple of small grocery stores – there were no internet purchases available or international groceries in which to shop. Substitutions were often required.
We had an Oriental dinner one month for which we chose a recipe called “Spring Soup”. It was odd to read the recipe and maybe, even odder to eat – made of peas and lettuce! Never made that recipe again. We had to find a special butcher to prepare the meat needed for the entrée, but we had a fun evening tasting the delicacies.
When dinner was over, we played some games. We made up a game we called the “Dictionary Game” that we loved and made us laugh ourselves silly. One couple once had a scavenger hunt around their house, clues and all, and we spent a lot of time looking under the furniture and behind the curtains for our prizes. Weren’t they brave to let us look everywhere – didn’t find any dust or anything out of place. They must have spent a busy week cleaning the house besides preparing our dinner.
The dinner parties were so successful that several years later, after most of the men had gone to graduate school, we arrived at West Point to teach in various departments and the Supper Club was resumed. It was a slightly different set of six couples, but most of the same old crowd. For most of the dinners, the wives and husbands worked together to determine the menu and to prepare and serve the food at their home each month. At one dinner, the men decided that at the next get-together, they would do the preparations without help from their wives. Sounds great!!
By this time, the dinners had lost their international flair. Surrounded by the mountains of the Hudson Highlands, West Point was more isolated than Ft. Sill.
The “guys” dinner was to take place at the Rice home, so Bill took the lead with the entrée. He asked for my cookbooks and proceeded to look through them to find just the recipe he wanted to make – with no help from me. He, eventually, found just what he was looking for. He liked the photo of the entrée and picked…Beef Wellington. I read the recipe and innocently asked if he was sure he would like to make that recipe. “Of course.” was the immediate response. I did the shopping, but he was in charge of the rest of the preparations.
On the day of the dinner, I was to spruce up the house while Bill spent his time in the kitchen. Our 18th-month-old daughter was, for the first time in her life, propped up on the couch to watch Sesame Street and whatever else followed on the public television station. It worked well; she loved it! It was soon clear that Bill needed some help in the kitchen. It was a small kitchen, more like a short hallway with no room for even a table, so trying to roll out the crust for the large beef tenderloin turned out to be quite a task; the rolled-out crust was so large that there was no room in the refrigerator to keep the crust cool until it was needed. Since it was November and a cold day, we finally hit upon a great idea – cover the crust and place it on the picnic table in the fenced-in backyard until it was needed. First, the beef and the duxelles had to be cooked and then those small stuffed tomatoes in the photo in the cookbook. There was no recipe for the tomatoes, but they were pretty so Bill made up a recipe. By the time of the dinner, we had both been in the kitchen for eight hours and could barely keep awake to serve and eat dinner. Our guests said it was delicious.
I don’t remember what all the other men brought to complement the Beef Wellington. Dessert did stand out – all these years later. It was Bananas Foster – flaming bananas. Fancy!
It was tasty but had just a little glitch… when it flamed up, the fire went so high that it scorched our dining room ceiling. We lived in the Gray Ghost quarters on West Point and were quite concerned that we would be fined when we left for our next assignment. Luckily, the inspector didn’t notice!
Remembering Marianne 1945-2021
Thanks, Suzanne, great memories … Merry Christmas!
Didn’t we have the best time eating and playing the “Dictionary Game”!
Suzanne
Brought back so many great memories. Thanks.
Happy to hear that, Wayne. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
NIce story Suzanne. Thanks.
Wonderful memories with life-long friends.
Enjoyed your family memories, Suzanne! Apart from the memories of Christmas with our own children, my most memorable one is from my childhood in Germany: One year I wished for a quarter pound of bratwurst – just for myself to eat. And my grandmother made this for me!
There is no Christmas without enough Bratwurst!
Merry Christmas to all!
The first call of the morning (this is my birthday) was from an old friend in Oberbayern. I’ll bet she was preparing her bratwurst dinner! Loved your childhood Christmas wish, but best of all your Oma made it for you. What a delight for you both. Merry Christmas! Thanks for sharing this wonderful memory, Claudia.
Merry Christmass, Suzanne!!
Christmas blessings to you and your family. Janie. Happy New Year.
Susan always liked to hear stories from you. Jean and I once had unaccompanied enlisted troops from my company over for Christmas dinner. We were stationed in Nurnberg, Germany in 1973. In order to prepare a turkey, we didn’t buy it in pounds, but by measurement in 3 dimensions to get the largest turkey that would fit barely in our small German oven. With all the traditional sides prepared, when the meal was over, not a morsel of food was left. We received many handwritten thank you notes from the “boys”. One of the best holiday meals ever.
Love your story, Rob. Isn’t wonderful how our military looks after each other and have some wonderful experiences for everyone. Christmas blessings to you.
And where did the idea of Supper Club come from? I recall some parents doing the same thing. Or did parents get the idea from you ;0). Fun story and that sounds like Bill!
Hi! Dennis. The first Supper Club was definitely in St. Louis with the elder Hayashis, Ottofys McLellans and Rices. It turns out that the Smiths in Southern Illinois also had a Supper Club at the same time. Must have been a 1950’s thing at least around the St. Louis area. Good to hear from you. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Great story Suzanne!
Being away from family at the holiday reminds me of my Christmas in Vietnam exactly 50 years ago. My mother-in-law, Ellen Bennett, sent me a package that had a small (~2′ tall) artificial tree & a half pint hip flask with bourbon (totally verboten according to the Postal Service in those days). I still have both (flask minus the bourbon) and we put up the little tree in our bedroom.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
You had an amazing mother-in-law, Denis. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Love that you have kept the Christmas tree and use it every year in her honor. Happy New Year.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Suzanne. I love what you have created in the Days Forward.
Thank you, Pete. Your class son (2010)/my son had the idea for collecting the stories and leads the way in publishing them. It is a great honor for the Rice family to be able to present the wonderful stories of your Class. You have all had some amazing experiences – well worth recording for future generations.
A very Happy Birthday und ein gesegnetes Weihnachten wünsche ich Dir und deine Familie.
Frohes Fest, KC
Danke, KC. Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr!
Thank you, Suzanne!
Merry Christmas.
Hope your Christmas was wonderful and the new year will bring many blessings.
Your article brought back many memories. However, I don’t remember our looking as young as we did in the pictures! As young couples, safe with friends who would overlook occasional culinary failures , we learned a more important gift of extending hospitality to others. As far as the guys’ dinner party, Eric remembers making the salad and said it was the measure of his gourmet abilities!
Dear Sally,
Today is the day 50 years ago that Bill introduced us at Christmas dinner in your quarters in Herzogenaurach, West Germany. It has been a wonderful friendship through all of those years for which all the Rice family is grateful. Merry Christmas! Frohe Weichnachten!
Dear Suzanne,
While I don’t believe we’ve ever crossed paths, I feel like I’ve known you for years as a result of your uplifting and familiar stories of the BOTLers and our exploits.
First of all, Happy Birthday! Christmas Eve is a special day that likely overshadows your personal celebration. I’m glad you mentioned it in your reply to Claudia Clark above
Some 20 years after your tour at America’s Firebase, aka Fort Sill, I had the privilege of serving my final years as its Post Engineer (now called Director of Public Works). It’s a special place which treasures its traditions. Your posts and continuing advocacy are a treat which we all appreciate.
I’m confident that Bill would be proud of the legacy you work to preserve..
Respectfully,
Stewart
Dear Stewart,
I believe we met at West Point when you were the Supe’s aide (General Goodpaster?) I wouldn’t expect you to remember since you met hundreds of people at that time. We are happy that you are enjoying the stories and especially that you believe that Bill would approve. The Days Forward has become very special to us Rices since we not only get to present your Class stories, but we get to meet Bill’s classmates that we didn’t know before. What a gift that we didn’t expect. Good wishes for a wonderful 2022.
What a delightful story, Suzanne. So many of us miss those days.
Dear Dee,
Friendships forged in the military are the best. I know you agree!
Your story reminds us of a dinner party we had at Fort Sill. We had just graduated from the Basic course and we were still newlyweds and I thought it might be a good idea to invite some of my close bachelor friends to an evening supper at our house on base. My wife was still learning but we did have “How to Feed a Red Leg”. The meal went great but when it was time for dessert, my wife put the Pumpkin pie filling straight from the store right into the pie crust with no other ingredients. The guys were so polite – they finished every last bite and never said a word. But no one ever came back!! The Cappiellos.
Thanks for sharing the story. Weren’t your friends gentlemen – good FA officers!
Happy Birthday Suzanne! Merry Christmas also! As for the supper club idea, didn’t our parents do that all the time??? Didn’t we experience some dinners where you traveled from house to house to eat each course??? Maybe, they did that with their CCD classes they used to have at each others’ houses? Anyway, I used to think they were always having fun eating!! Thanks for the stories; I really enjoy them!!
All fond memories. Thanks. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Suzanne, a belated Happy Birthday and Mele Kalikimaka. Thanks for the stories, we also have many birthdays in December and early January, our younger daughter is today and her sister’s is next Sunday. One great niece is also 24th. There are 5 more…
4 Christmases in Hawaii were followed by 4 in Germany. A bit different! We never snorkeled on Christmas in Germany, nor had gluwein in Hawaii.
Thanks, Bruce. Happy New Year. Enjoy those birthdays all over the world.