Members Only Events
Upcoming Events:
Dames Who Read and Reel Tasty 2026 Schedule: Please consider hosting either a book or movie discussion or plan on joining us at these lively small group gatherings. We have lists of suitable books and movies to aid with your selection.
If you have questions about Reel Tasty, contact Gail Forman at gailforman@comcast.net. Questions about Dames Who Read, contact Eileen Dykes at eileendykes@gmail.com.
Discussions are on Zoom, on Monday nights from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
June 15- Dames Who Read
September 28 - Reel Tasty
October 19- Dames Who Read
Dames Who Read: The Heart-Shaped Tin: Love, Loss and Kitchen Objects, is a memoir by British food writer Bee Wilson. When Wilson found the heart-shaped baking tin she had used to bake her wedding cake 23 years earlier, it inspired her to search for others who invested kitchen objects with magical or personal properties that made them powerful symbols of identity and memory. According to a recent review by Bonnie Benwick in The Washington Free Beacon, “Wilson knows how to craft one true narrative out of many. As the book’s title suggests, her heart-shaped cake tin serves as the catalyst for her own remembering and letting go.”
Let's do a show-and-tell at this meeting! If you have a kitchen object that you've invested with meaning, please keep it nearby so that we can all see it on the Zoom screen. Discussion moderated by Gail Forman. If you have any questions, please contact Eileen at eileendykes@gmail.com.
Monday, June 15: 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Spring General Membership Meeting: Aside from getting a ticket to “The Dames’ Table” (above), here’s another nudge for a quick sign-up. Make sure to register for our semi-annual membership meeting, held on Zoom. In addition to being introduced to our new members and incoming Board, you’ll hear about this year’s grant awardees, lessons learned from the LDEI conference in Las Vegas, and more. We look forward to seeing your faces.
Monday, June 22, 7 to 8:30 p.m
Past Events:
Tours of Annandale’s Koreatown: Global Culinary Initiatives Committee Co-Chairs Susan Barocas and Bonnie Benwick invite you to take advantage of a special offer from Virginialicious, a woman-owned business that offers culinary tours of Koreatown in Annandale. The company has extended a 10 percent discount to our members for three of its tour dates in May. A tour takes three hours on a Saturday afternoon, with tastings of Korean specialties at mom-and-pop places, along with a generous helping of information about Korean culture and cuisine. Vegetarian and other dietary needs are accommodated, and the walking is limited.
As of March 24, these tickets remained: May 2-two (Dames have purchased 10 of the 12 spots); May 9-three (Dames have purchased 9 of the 12 spots); May 23-12 (Dames have requested but not yet purchased 2 of the 12 spots). The discounted ticket price is $80.59, which includes tastings and beverages at four to six establishments, restaurant gratuities, and Eventbrite fees. The remaining tour spots are first-come, first-serve, and Dames can bring one friend.
Baltimore Potluck: A new addition to our (formerly) semi-annual potluck series brought about two dozen Dames to Cary Kelly’s beautiful home in Baltimore’s Fells Point. As our chapter has expanded geographically, this event was meant to make it easier for those members who live further out from the D.C. metro area to attend. An abundance of delicious dishes, savory and sweet, proved once again that nobody does potlucks like we do!
Hands-On Mushroom Foraging Tour and Workshop, Sunday, May 17
On Sunday, May 17, our Green Tables Committee hosted a hike and hands-on mushrooms and foraging workshop at Seneca Creek State Park. The day was led by the incredibly knowledgeable team from ALL CAPS, a project hub and mushroom farm based in Maryland. With ALL CAPS founder Felipe Reed as master forager, Dames and their guests identified more than 30 (!) mushroom species, learned about the parts of fungi and their functions, how to identify dangerous or "false" mushrooms, and best/safe practices for cooking mushrooms. Afterward, everyone enjoyed sandwiches, iced tea, lemonade, and delicious freshly sautéed black pearls and golden enokis grown on the farm. Dames can follow @allcapsfarm on Instagram to stay tuned for other community projects and events.
Winter Potluck: Sunday, January 18th, 1pm
Location: 10820 Alloway Drive, Potomac, Maryland.
Many thanks to Debbie Moser for opening her home for our annual winter get-together, where we catch up over great food and conversation.
We're so excited to be able to get together and reconnect and enjoy a fabulous spread of seasonal dishes. You won't want to miss it!! Bring your favorite ready-to-serve appetizer, main entree, salad, dessert, wine or non-alcoholic beverage. Dames only please.
Hands-On Dumpling Session & Dinner
Chef-restaurateur Tim Ma and his D.C. restaurant Lucky Danger hosted Dames on November 18 for a full and fun evening. The event was organized by our chapter's Global Culinary Initiative with vital assistance from the restaurant’s general manager, Alyssa Hackbarth. After cocktails and a dumpling-making demo–including Chef Tim’s and Chef Robbie Reyes’s special folding lesson–we tried our hands at it with great success! A delicious dinner featured our dumplings cooked and sauced, followed by roasted duck, a noodle and vegetable dish, and sides of cucumber salad, pickled persimmon, and rice served in Chinese takeout containers. After dinner, we learned how to play Hong Kong mahjong in Lucky Danger’s mahjong bar outfitted with automated tables for mixing and setting up the tiles. (Unlike American mahjong, there is no card with set hands to follow.) Lucky Danger’s director of operations, Kati Pirner, and Chef Tim, who has been playing since he was 5, were our teachers for this, as we played our way to the end of a terrific evening.
Philly X DC Dames’ Tour de Fork: The kudos and thanks poured in via email after the October 22 joint gathering between our chapter and members of the Philadelphia chapter (see details in Lori Gardner’s President’s Letter, above). Aside from the camaraderie, the food at Ama was fabulous. An abbreviated description of the menu: focaccia di formaggio, polpette Mondeghili, insalata verde, spaghetti pomodoro, lasagnetta, branzino, rabbit stew, eggplant parmigiana, gelato, and tiramisu.
Chefs For Equality
Dames showed up in full force–cooking, baking, pouring, serving, and dining–at this year's Chefs for Equality events, held at five Washington restaurants on Monday, October 27. Chefs for Equality is a D.C.-born fundraiser to advance the fight for LGBTQ+ equality through the work of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. Aside from heading up the chef team at Perry’s “drag brunch for dinner,”
Executive Chef Masako Morishita also hosted the afterparty for the CFE committee and crew.
Dames Volunteer Day at Lederer Gardens, Washington, DC
The Green Tables Committee organized a successful outing on Wednesday, June 11, when seven Dames joined community members at Lederer Gardens. Under the skillful direction of Josh Singer, Community Gardens Specialist for the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, they helped harvest kale, Swiss chard, herbs and flowers; weed, tie up squash and cucumber vines; prepare the garden beds, and repot plants for an upcoming plant giveaway. The festive atmosphere was marked by a cooking demonstration, a bite of lunch, and a tour. Located at 4801 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. NE, Lederer Gardens welcomes volunteers on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
Dames Who Dine, Wednesday
We were thrilled to attend a Dames-only dinner at one of Baltimore's most coveted eateries Alma Cocina Latina. Alma Cocina Latina is not just a restaurant with deeply imaginative, exquisitely crafted food, it is a space that transports you into Venezuelan culture.
Dame Irena Stein, Alma's founder, has created a beautiful space that envelopes you in an oasis of green and wafts of tempting aroma. She and Chef Hector Romero have thoughtfully and generously curated a very special menu served in a private setting with dedicated servers...just for us.
Sip, Savor & Socialize
Guests enjoyed a fun and delicious evening on May 20 at the National Press Club with prosecco, light bites, passed canapes and a brief discussion and sampling of cachaca, a Brazilian distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Peter Banks, founder and CEO of Cachacier, spoke about the spirit while attendees sipped two drinks made with it–Rabo de Galo (aged cachaca, sweet vermouth and bitters) and a Caipirinha Fizz (cachaca, lime juice, simple syrup and club soda). Thanks to Michelle Licht, Director of Events at The National Press Club, for hosting the event.
Volunteer Day at DC Central Kitchen
On April 10, about a dozen Dames swelled the ranks of daily volunteers at DC Central Kitchen’s busy Klein Center for Jobs and Justice at Buzzard Point. Mel Gold, who has served as DCCK’s director of marketing and communications for the past four years, co-directed the Dame volunteers on a pre-shift tour of the kitchens, training spaces, and resource center.
Tasks given to Dames, which were focused on creating meals for DC schools, included chopping a mountain of onions, scrambling huge trays of just-steamed eggs; prepping trays of croissants; mixing mega bowls of sweet potato hash; filling containers of salads and dressings, and more.