Y How It All Got Started (written by Stacy)
A Tradition Is Born!
Stephanie & Stacy (left to right) in June of 2000 with their
first ever co-cooking venture: Italian Herb Bread!
The Cross-Country Cooking Club, C4, was officially founded in January 2001, but the idea was in the making months before. I suppose we first discovered our enjoyment in cooking together in June of 2000 when Stephanie was up visiting in Nebraska, and we made a loaf of Italian Herb Bread together in my new bread machine. We had a lot of fun.
Later, when Steph was back in Florida, I sent her some recipes that I liked to make. She told me she was going to make one of them (Corn Dog Casserole, to be exact) on a certain date, and I said I’d go ahead and make it the same night so we could all have dinner “together.” That was around Fall of 2000.
In January of 2001, Steph sent me a recipe for a Strawberry Cheesecake she wanted to make and suggested we make it at the same time again. This time we decided to talk on the phone while we were making it so we could “cook together”, too. We both took a few pictures of our finished cheesecakes and e-mailed them to each other, and the idea was born.
Since then, we’ve had regular “cooking events” where we take turns choosing recipes and menus, and we talk on the phone while we’re preparing the meals. We also take pictures throughout the cooking process and share them with each other over the Internet.
Over the many months since C4 came into existence, we’ve experimented with a wide variety of recipes ranging from Australian cabbage stews to Italian Chicken Pot Pies, Indian Curries, and basic holiday baking. We’ve cooked simple dishes like Crock-pot Cream Cheese Chicken to 3-hour meals like Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Herbed Butter. We even turned the tables once and had our guys cook for us! That was an interesting experience. It has proven to be a really fun and unique way to stay close across the miles, and our families in both states have also come to look forward to our “events” as they tend to share in the meals with us.
C4 has given us an outlet to be creative, have some fun, and stay in touch while we live so far away and only see each other once or twice a year. It’s something that we can look forward to that brings our families together, and we’ve made some great memories that I’ll remember for a lifetime.
