The February meeting of Wine and Words Book Club was held at Karen’s. Karen, Sandie, Jan, Kay and Ann attended. Karen served a kale salad with oranges,  blueberries, feta, and Lemon Love and Olive Oil.

We enjoyed two types of quiche for dinner…the first was a delicious Salmon quiche and the second  consisted of butternut squash, blue cheese, walnuts, and spinach (replacing the seaweed called for on the recipe). Instructions for her quiche and links to her other recipes are on the recipe page.

Karen also served several delicious wines. The red was from Expedition, Horse Heaven Hill’s, Canoe Ridge. The white wine was a Josh Pinot Gris, and she also served a delicious, sweet sparking wine with dessert.

Kay told us about her search for seaweed at the Co-op…available in the drawers by the coffee in bulk food at the Co-op. She bought 3 leaves at $100 per pound for $4.35.

Karen made two delicious cookies… Pistachio, Lime and Matcha Snowballs and Oatmeal Chocolate no-bake bars. Links are on the recipe page.

Ann mentioned she and Frank are still working on their trip to Hawaii in May and would love input about which islands and resorts we all have enjoyed.

We turned to discussion about recent events, such as the Academy Awards presentation on Sunday, with the botched Best Picture award, and our thoughts about the movie “La La Land,” on which we differed in our opinion about the story line and ending.

We finally discussed our book for this month, 1984, by George Orwell. The members were sharply divided on their feelings about the book. Karen did not like it, and several members were quite depressed by the book, but Sandie said it was one of her favorite books of all time. It brought back memories of the time she read it in her 20’s and wrote a college essay on “Totalitarianism,” so she enjoyed it as a study of the past, as well as a reflection on our present political conditions.

Sandie mentioned there will be a screening of the film, 1984, on April 4, at the Pickford Cinema. Read more at http://www.unitedstateofcinema.com/.

Kay read us a comprehensive explanation about the meaning of 1984 and this led us to a discussion about current politics and possible future scenarios in our nation’s political scene. We all agreed that the Trump presidency has awakened many of the need to take action, become involved and informed.

Our next meeting will be held at Ann’s on March 28th, 5:30 pm. The book for March is Last Bus to Wisdom, by Ivan Doig. At the next meeting, we will need to select books for April and May, so please bring ideas of books you have enjoyed reading.