ANNUAL REPORT 2012 - WBFN

Beer ClubThe Beer Club was born in December 2010 when seven men “re-invented the wheel oncemore” and decided to come together every Wednesday to enjoy a cold “mid-week beer”,network amongst each other and learn what is going on in DC.From the very start, the “founding fathers” of Beer Club knew they did not want an exclusivegroup. They would welcome both men and women, spouses/partners and Bank staff,newcomers and long-settled WBFN members, friends and neighbors, family and colleagues,consultants and folks with no link to the Bank whatsoever.Indeed, one of the ideas behind the Beer Club is precisely to get out of the Bank bubble andget to know other Washingtonians and network outside the established and most easily accessiblecircles of friends and colleagues.This year, the Beer Club has thrived on its philosophy that anyone is welcome anytime withno obligations and no need to RSVP. New members have been signing up using the bclub@wbfn.org email address. The Beer Club has been meeting every Wednesday from 6:30pmonwards at James Hoban’s Irish Pub, Dupont Circle.The Beer Club in numbers:• Total of 80 members• 8-20 participants each week• Average 2 beers per capita• New members welcome any time!International CuisineOnce a month, members of the International Cuisine group get together at a participant’shome for a cookery demonstration. The group discovers and enjoys meals from a differentnational culinary tradition each time. Every individual present receives a copy of the recipespresented in the session. All members contribute a participation fee of $20 per session,except for the host and the one in charge of preparing the food.From July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012, the group had the pleasure of enjoying the followingdemonstrations:• September: First meeting, during which the schedule and menu for the upcoming yearwas discussed and decided upon.• October: Russian cuisine—borscht (beetroot soup), salmon koulibiac (fish pie), vatrushka(pastry with cottage cheese), and Russian apple pie.• November: no demonstration; two demonstrations given in December.• December 2: Moroccan cuisine—chicken pastilla (sweet/savory meat pie), shrimp andfish pastilla, and fruit salad.• December 16: Gingerbread house and German Christmas cookies, with homemadepanini for lunch.• January: Potluck evening, to which spouses/partners were also invited.• February: Indian cuisine—stuffed tomatoes, tandoori shrimp, tandoori chicken,tamatar toor dal (tomato lentil soup), and baked bananas with coconut and jaggery(sugar cane).• March: Thai cuisine—spicy tomato soup, Thai salad, Thai corn cakes, chicken andpeanut panang curry, and black sticky rice pudding.• April: Finnish Cuisine.• May: Moroccan cuisine—mechouia salad (grilled vegetables), chakchouka (vegetableswith poached eggs), and chocolate pear charlotte.• June: Spanish cuisine—gazpacho (cold tomato soup), and paella (rice with seafood).74 75