Singles Trade in Book Clubs for Cooking Clubs

In a recent Match.com survey of single adults, the three holidays rated the most stressful were, in order: Christmas, Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve. No wonder. From Thanksgiving on through Valentine's Day, the holidays with their images of warm home fires and happy couples and families can be rather bleak for unattached singles. According to the U.S. Census, there are a lot of single people in America -- about 80 million.

The Cooking Club Cookbook came out of the monthly meeting of six friends in New York.

Many singles fight the holiday blues by doing volunteer work, creating their own home traditions, and meeting others through events and clubs. Six young New York women decided that they weren't reading the assigned books in their book clubs so why not meet instead to eat with friends? They began gathering one Sunday a month to try out new recipes and bond over a home-cooked meal.

The cooking club enriched the women's friendships and kept Sunday night blues at bay. Their efforts have turned into two ebullient cooking books within the last two years, The Cooking Club Cookbook and the recent The Cooking Club Party Cookbook.

The Cooking Club women have expanded their activities to include a Web site (see Web Resources below). Fausset says the site has a forum that links people with others in their local area interested in creating a cooking club and sharing recipes.

Lisa Singer, another Cooking Club member, says holiday parties like Hanukkah and Christmas "can be stressful, so when everyone feels a part of creating the party, it's easier. Try to make a meal that's really comforting."

Web Resources

Cooking Club Recipe: Holiday Iced Almond Bars

The Cooking Club Web Site

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