Chatham Woman’s Club Creates Community Cookbook

by Jennifer Sexton 

            CHATHAM--- The Chatham Woman’s Club has created a community cookbook entitled “Seaside Squares” containing 386 recipes contributed by club members and local restaurants. All proceeds from the cookbook, which retails for $16 including sales tax, will be used to provide scholarships for local students.

            Woman’s Club members will sell the books in front of Yellow Umbrella Books from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, Nov. 27 and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28. The book is also available for sale at Puritan, Island Pursuits and Oasis Salon and Day Spa.

            The recipes collected in “Seaside Squares” consist of 336 appetizers, beverages, soups, salads, vegetables, main dishes, breads, desserts, cookies and candies from the kitchens of club members and 50 restaurant recipes in a separate restaurant section. The restaurants represented include many Chatham favorites: The Captain’s House Inn, Celestino’s Café, Chatham Bakery, Chatham Bars Inn, Chatham Candy Manor, Chatham Coffee Company, Chatham Cookware, Chatham Fish and Lobster, The Chatham Squire, Eastward Ho! Country Club, The Impudent Oyster, Marley’s, Sandi’s Diner, Twenty Eight Atlantic at the Wequasset Resort, Vinig’s Bistro and the Wild Goose Tavern.

            Fans of the Squire’s Portuguese kale soup are in luck, as are lovers of CBI’s quahog chowder, Eastward Ho!’s lobster pot pie, Impudent Oyster’s oysters Nelson Rockefeller and fish tacos from Chatham Fish and Lobster. Home cooks with a sweet tooth will enjoy trying their hand at Candy Manor’s fantasy cranberry pecan fudge or chocolate truffles, the Captain’s House Inn’s traditional scones, Sandi’s Diner’s chocolate chip pumpkin bread and Dylan’s New York style cheesecake from Celestino’s Café.

            The book’s title refers to the Seaside Squares quilt which the club’s members created last year and auctioned off to raise money for scholarships to benefit local students. A color photograph of the quilt graces the cookbook’s cover, and black and white reproductions of some of the 24 squares, each of which depicts a Chatham scene like Chatham Light or the Eldredge Public Library, introduce each chapter.  

             “We started talking about creating a cookbook last winter,” says Peggy Sullivan Crespo, second vice president of the Chatham Woman’s Club and cookbook committee member, along with head of the ways and means committee RoseMarie McLoughlin and club director Alayne Tsigas. “For close to a year we gathered recipes, tested them, sorted them into different categories and went over them with a fine-toothed comb. Both RoseMarie and I are cooks, so we felt we had the unique ability to recognize what was OK and what might need to be perfected. We do a lot of cooking. We can look at recipes and know that they are good.”

            “I learned in the movie ‘Julie and Julia’ that even Julia Child didn’t test every single recipe,” jokes McLoughlin. “We tested most of them. I had the task of approaching every restaurant to ask them to contribute to the cookbook. That was my job. Many gave us several. The Impudent Oyster was especially generous, and the Candy Manor was fantastic. Anyone who has ever spent any time here in Chatham and made a connection to the town will love this cookbook.”

            “Seaside Squares” is dedicated to Peg Flynn, a past Woman’s Club president who passed away earlier this year.

            “This project was something that we had discussed with Peg when she was president,” explains Crespo. The dedication page to Flynn reads simply, “Her leadership inspired this book. Her life was her finest recipe and a gift to all of us.”

             The Chatham Woman’s Club has several hundred members and is open to all women, including residents and nonresidents of Chatham. The club meets on the second Thursday of each month at noon at the community center. Each meeting consists of a tea followed by a featured speaker, which might be someone in the arts, an author, or some other member of the community.

            “There is something for everyone, and everyone of any age is welcome,” says McLoughlin. “Our club really is a link to all of the other volunteer organizations. We’ve raised money for scholarships for many years. A young local woman came and spoke to us one year who had been a recipient of one of the Chatham Woman’s Club scholarships, and it was wonderful to hear from someone whom we had helped with our fundraising efforts.”

            To purchase a copy of “Seaside Squares” by phone, call Peggy Sullivan Crespo at 508-348-1938 or RoseMarie McLoughlin at 508-945-5965. Club members will arrange delivery or pick-up. The book may also be purchased and delivered by mail for a cost of $20 including shipping. For more information about the Chatham Woman’s Club, visit www.chathamwomansclub.org.

11/19/09