The All Women’s Book Club
Posted by sideshowjudy on October 9, 2007
The invite-only All women’s bookclub is Peishan’s genius of an idea. One book a month, 7 girls get together in someone’s house, discuss the book, other books, and mostly end up gossiping about life, jobs, boys and music. Did i fail to mention that we all have a common love for Indierock? The charter is simple and lightweight, quite like our discussions 
This month’s bookclub meeting was at my house and The Kite Runner was the book of the month. Despite the controvesy surrounding the rape scene in the movie, whether it will ever be released, the fear of homosexuality and its non-existence, The Kite Runner is that, but a lot more. Which reminds me of the recent conference given by President Ahmadinejadand of Iran, who openly comments that "Our country has no gays" [paraphrase], one forgets that we live in a society that has become rather unconditional in its ability to accept personal choices.
Back to The Kite Runner? Do I like it? Is it well-written? Yes, it is, the author has utilized all the textbook forms of irony, allegory and imagery to create a perfect book of modern literature. The literary hooks are extremely obvious. The tenacious relationship between Amir and Hassan is touching, but strained, and the author does a great job at making us judge Amir, and yet, wishing for his sake, that he reconciles with himself, his emotions and his feelings towards his father. It gives us an in-depth insight into Afghanistan, its culture, its people and the food - which is always exciting. The imagery of the kite, free flying as it is, being the ultimate enjoyment for a people as repressed and controlled sets up the narrative parameters. Its characters and characterization is typically Asian, where self-sacrifice for the community is common, selflessness is considered a virtue, the emotionally remote parent-child relationship. It’s as Tessa says, "quite Amy Tan".
To spice up the bookclub this time around, we had a secret challenge. Each person was paired up with another person and received secret ingredients at the last minute to make a dish. Given the Afghanistan setting, I recommended ingredients used in Afghan cooking - rice, dumplings, beef, eggplants, raisins, fresh mint. Each team had to use all their ingredients in concert to create a dish. Sounds simple but try herding, cajoling and managing a hard-arse bunch of smarty-pants women and that was me - vowing never to do such a thing again!
But, I am extremely proud and pleased at the results. We had some seriously amazing concoctions.
Gin and Ci’en’s Baked Eggplant with Fresh Mint Leaves, balsamic vinegar and garlic
Tessa’s killer Wanton pockets with baked Beef balls dripped in wasabi mayonaise - i merely addled along and assisted
Peishan may not be able to cook, but she sure can dress for the occasion!
Peister in apron, being Ms Bossy - she never deviated from her rice and raisin receipe 
We like to gossip, gossip, gossip!
Surprise visit from Stacey - who flew in specially from Beijing because she was nostalgic for us…obviously!
manger, manger
Tessa should be posting all the receipes soon enough. For the curious, check her space out.
