The Partners of Woodruff Sawyer & Company, San Francisco, recently gathered to cook up some teamwork.  The menu consisted of the “Dinner in Athens” chapter of Cook the Part.  The participants gathered at the home of Susan Miner.  The objectives were clear:  1)  get to know each other better  2)  get to know spouses better  and 3)  create a fabulous dinner, while having lots of fun together.  Gary and I were honored to be invited to participate the cooking and dining.    Quotes from two of the WS partners:

Laurie’s Comments:

I thought the team cooking was superb.  Although I know all of the Woodruff partners at the dinner, most of us were meeting each others’ spouses for the first time.  We mixed the teams, and it proved to be a great way to get to know everyone!  And you of course get to know your colleagues a bit better when you spend two hours cooking with their spouse!  The food was wonderful and we could really appreciate how our different contributions made the whole meal come together – clearly a great metaphor for business… and life!

I’m looking forward to hosting my own in a few months – and plan to do a more casual version with my family over the holidays.

Jenn’s Quote:

Everything about the evening was fantastic…the time spent preparing the food was a great way to get to know others at the party. Although we do very little cooking in our day to day lives the instructions were clear and we felt like as novices we could still contribute. The food was delicious and the only negative thing that could be said was that we ate the equivalent of about 3 dinners because we just couldn’t stop ourselves…

Susan’s Comments:
Dinner in Athens was a great way to “host” a party!  Instead of scurrying around trying to finish cooking, serve drinks, and socialize, I was just another member of the team.  The whole process was very interactive, with lots of casual chatter and joking.  And what a pleasant surprise tasting each dish – great quality even with inexperienced cooks rolling out pita dough and working with puff pastry.  Much more of an event than a dinner, made memorable and special because everyone contributed to the success.  We’re already planning the Spanish Wine Dinner…