Upcoming Events
May 22 - Tour de Cure
June 9 - Board Meeting
Look Who'll Gladly "Pay" Us A Visit
A Week From This Tuesday
May 24 - Anita Eubank, The Rainbow of Hope
And Then On
May 31 - Michael Maurier, Civil War Reenactment Society
June 7 - Open
Out 'n About
Jim returned from 3 weeks in North Carolina, Florida and a cruise to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. It was a great trip except for the last 2 days when his back went out. He left the meeting early to catch his chiropractor who was leaving on vacation. Their trip cost an extra $21 after his roll of the dice.
Dave G. had a business trip to San Diego. His roll meant an additional $8 for the fine pot.
Doug reported on a trip to Carmel. He also volunteered on a Sunnyvale Safety Program where he worked with several Key Clubbers from Homestead and Saratoga High Schools.
Happy Birthday
We celebrated Ray's birthday with home baked cookies Ray brought and the Key Clubbers serenading him.
Have You Heard The One About........?
A man rushed into a bar and ordered a double martini. The man downed it with one swallow, put a five dollar bill on the bar, turned and rushed out. The bartender picked up the five dollar bill, folded it carefully and tucked it in his vest pocket.
Just at that moment he looked up at the boss standing in the doorway staring at him. Doing a bit of fast thinking he said, "Hi boss, did you see that fellow just now? Came in here, bought a double martini, gave me a five dollar tip, and rushed out without paying."
Speaker
Instead of bringing a plate of cookies, a bunch of
flowers or a bottle of wine as a gift to a dinner party,
today's speaker, Carol Firenze, brings a bottle of
olive oil along with a copy of her latest book, The
Passionate Olive: 101 Things to Do with Olive Oil.
Carol grew up in Saratoga then moved to an area of
Los Gatos known as the Olive District, which she finds quite fitting. Her 86-year-old mother, Gigi, and late Italian grandmothers used olive oil in many recipes as she was growing up. While they obviously rubbed off on her the book doesn't focus on the culinary uses of olive oil. "I've always loved olive oil, but about 20 years ago a group of my girlfriends and I were in Kuleto's restaurant in San Francisco sitting around talking, and there were little bottles of olive oil and bread on the table," she says. From that outing in San Francisco, the Extra Virgin Olive Oil Club was born. The group of six women started meeting at each others' homes or eating out with a focus on olive oil through the food and conversation. At the time, Carol pledged to write a book someday about olive oil, but not just about its cooking uses. After 20 years of gathering research, 3 years of actually writing the book and a long publishing process, it's in print as of March 29th. Ballantine Books, a division of Random House Inc., is the publisher.
Within the book's text, Carol focuses on the non-traditional and useful uses of olive oil such as killing lice, removing eye makeup or fixing a squeaky door hinge. The book is also interspersed with family recipes and fascinating historical references to olive oil, as well as her own side comments that leave readers chuckling to themselves.
Some other useful tips for using olive oil, according to her book, are that it can be used to prevent candle wax from sticking, it can safeguard frying pans, rejuvenate plants and make them glisten, preserve wooden cooking utensils, polish hardwood floors, shine a dog's coat, unstick a zipper and alleviate stretch marks during pregnancy. It can help to treat a hangover, ease the pain of arthritis, strengthen fingernails, soften hands and can even be used for shaving. Her list of 101 ways to use olive oil continues to grow now that her book is out. She says people have been emailing her uses she never knew. Actress Jane Seymour attributes the shine and radiance of her hair to olive oil treatments. Classic film actress Sophia Loren takes two tablespoons of olive oil every morning (it's great for the digestion); even famous baseball players like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams soaked their bats in olive oil to give them more spring.
Carol suggests that not any old bottle of olive oil should be purchased off the shelf at a local grocery store. Consumers should look for certified California or European seals on bottles that guarantee they are extra virgin olive oils. Extra virgin means the olive oil is without the defects regular virgin oil has.
Her book, 'The Passionate Olive: 101 Things to Do with Olive Oil,' can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Borders, as well as at www.thepassionateolive.com.
Guests
We had 7 members of the Cupertino High School Key Club with us today, including their new club officers. Also in attendance was their school advisor, Ms Gatski.
Joker - Joker
Dave M. won the raffle and drew a 9.
