Friday Food Affair

A free community dinner in Richmond, VT

Preview of coming dinner attractions

This is where the magic happens...

You too can join our many Guest Head Chefs and help cook a meal.  We've had some doozy meals already.  Email Gretchen Paulsen (gpaulsen@gmavt.net) to learn more.  You can do it!

Our Next Meal:


December 20th , 2024  


Guest Head Chef: 

 Catch your breath, let us do the cooking during this crazy busy season.  Celebrate solstice and the season's best with dinner on Friday, December 20th.






Past Meals:


December 6th , 2024  Pizza Night


Guest Head Chef:  Li Ling Young


Once again Li Ling Young is back hosting our annual "Pizza Night".  All things pizza on this great dinner. Minestrone soup (gluten free and vegan),  salads and cookies for dessert.   Plan to stop by the Richmond Free Library after dinner for their annual used book sale.  Pizza dinner and used book sale, what a night out!



November 15th, 2024 


 Guest Head Chef:  Erin Farr and the Farr family.   Farm-to-Table Dinner


Richmond's own Erin Farr and the Farr family will be our Guest Head Chefs for the Mid-November dinner.  And with the Farrs at the helm what else could it be but a Farm-to-Table dinner!  Really looking forward to this one.  Meatloaf, pulled pork with apples and onions, quiche , roasted squash with brown sugar glaze, salad and rolls.  and of course desserts.  Yum



November 1st, 2024  


  Guest Head Chefs:  Li Ling Young and VEIC


Beat the post Halloween blues with Friday Food Affair dinner!  we welcome back  Li Ling Young and the gang from Vermont Energy Investment Corp.  They're at the helm leading us into the fall with a great dinner menu.  Get past the candy high with this awesome meal and enjoy the best of the seasons harvest with a Seasonal Harvest Dinner. 



October 18, 2024


Guest Head Chefs:  North Star #12 Masonic Temple


Richmond's own Masonic Temple,  North Star Lodge #12 are teeing it up for a terrific dinner to start our 2024-2025 dinner season.  They nailed it last year with "Breakfast for Dinner": and we're so glad they're back to be our Guest Head Chef's again.  Featuring local eggs generously donated by Erin Farr and syrup from Giroux Family Sugarhouse and Slopeside Syrup.  Even rumor has it homemade cornbeef hash by Jay Furr.  And of course coffee cakes for dessert.  Welcome Back!



May 17 , 2024


Guest Head Chefs:  Li Ling Young and the Posse from Jonesville


“Gonna sit down in the kitchen, fix us sumthin’ good to eat…”  Well that song may bring back memories from the past, but make your own new memories this week without the hassle of cooking.  Friday Food Affair will do all of that for you!  Come join us this Friday,  May  17th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at the Fellowship Hall of the Richmond Congregational Church. Li Ling Young, Nick Ponzio and the great gang from Jonesville will be  satisfying our munchies with  Taco Bowls and Strawberry Shortcake!   With this lineup there’s always room for more. 


May 3, 2024


Guest Head Chefs:  Richmond Congregational Church


May day is here!  Also known as Lei Day in Hawaii or Beltane in Northern Europe, May Day is celebrated worldwide.  Now you may not have danced ‘round the maypole, but here in Richmond we’ve got a super May Day suggestion:  Friday Food Affair’s  “Soup and Summer Salads” dinner.  Along with homemade breads (yum) and brownie sundaes for dessert this is one awesome way to kick in the beginning of the warmer months ahead.  Our Guest Head Chefs are the homemade soup-loving folks from the Richmond Congregational Church.  This Friday, May 3rd from 5:00 – 7:00pm.


April 19, 2024, 5pm-7pm

Guest Head Chefs:  Maple Wind Farm and Settlers Farm         Lasagna Night


Been waitin' all year for this one: the next Friday Food Affair (FFA) dinner will be Lasagna Night! One of the kings of comfort food, Lasagna is just the dinner for a mid-spring evening. Our Guest Head Chefs are the farmers from Maple Wind Farm and Jericho Settlers Farm. A choice of Maple Wind Farm ground beef or Jericho Settlers Farm spinach.  Lasagna, salads, bread and delicious desserts.  There will be a gluten free option.  Come ring in spring Lasagna-style this Friday, April 19th in the Fellowship Hall at the Richmond Congregational Church, 5:00-7-00 pm.


April 5, 2024, 5pm-7pm  

Guest Head Chefs:  Li Ling Young and Vermont Energy Investment Corporation


“I’ve got sunshine…. On a cloudy day……”  With the eclipse coming what better way to celebrate the global event than joining this week’s Friday Food Affair with “Hearty Stews of the World”.   Li Ling Young, Nick Ponzio and the great gang from Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) will be “making us feel this way”  with  West African Groundnut Stew, Chicken Pozole, Moroccan Chicken Stew, Kimchi Stew, Turkey Chili and more.  Please join us Friday, April 5th from 5:00 – 7:00pm in the Fellowship Hall of the Richmond Congregational Church. 

 

Hearty Stews of the World on Friday and solar eclipse on Monday, Who can resist the Temptation!


March 15, 2024, 5pm-7pm

Pi Day: In honor of this auspicious 3.14 day, the next Friday Food Affair(on the 15th) will be in honor of PI day! All foods PI (or really, pies..) Tamale Pie, Shepards Pie, Pizza Pie, Chicken Pie, Spaghetti Pie (!), desert pies, other pies…. Well, you get the idea. Our Guest Head Chefs are the merry folks from the Community Senior Center. Plan for dinner pies then circle back for desert pies. Round and round we'll go…

March 1, 2024

India Night: It's India Night this week at Friday Food Affair. Get whisked away with spices, herbs, and flavors of the exotic land of the peacock and Bengal tiger. This week's Guest Head Chefs is our Church Street Neighborhood headed by Gretchen Bambrick and Lauren Esserman. Curried red lentils with rice, roasted carrots, salad and more. Cookies for dessert. Just "the bare necessities of life!"

February 16, 2024

Chinese New Year: This week's Friday Food Affair (FFA) will be a celebration of the Chinese New Year. George Lam will be our Guest Head Chef. Any of you that remember some of George's dinners you know you are in for a treat! Come join us Friday from 5:00pm – 7:00pm at the Richmond Congregational Church.

February 2, 2024

Breakfast for Dinner: Enjoy a "backwards day" at this week's Friday Food Affair from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at the Richmond Congregational Church. We're having BREAKFAST FOR DINNER . Thanks to our guest Head Chefs, Richmond's own North Star Lodge #12, we'll be offering breakfast for dinner featuring pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon and mixed fruit. Of course coffee cake for dessert.

January 19, 2024

NOFA: "Summertime and the livin' is easy". Remember that song? Memories of warm soft summer evenings. Well, look outside. Not what it is right now. But you can recreate that great feeling of summer because this week's Friday Food Affair Head Chef is none other than Richmond's own NOFA. The Northeast Organic Farming Association. So you know that whatever they rustle up for dinner is going to be good. And their dinner menu offers up a healthy dose of summer sunshine. It's a sure midwinter cure! See you this Fridaybetween 5:00pm and 7:00pm.

January 5, 2024

Taco & Burrito Night: Remember the song title "In the Bleak Midwinter…"? Looking outside with once again a cloudy drizzly day sure reminds me of that. But there's a cure. Come join us for a community dinner with Friday Food Affair! This Friday from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at the Congregational Church in Richmond it'll be TACO AND BURRITO NIGHT. Laugh in the face of whatever bleakness may be outside and lets enjoy a dinner of south of the border fare.

December 15, 2023

Italian Night: Evviva! This Friday is Friday Food Affair's Italian night. Check out this menu: Lasagna, Pizza, Eggplant Parmesean, Italian wedding soup, Minestrone, Spaghetti, broccoli, Mediterranean salad, garlic bread, delicious desserts....... the list goes on but you get the idea. All things Italian! Vegetarian and gluten free dishes included. So please join us this Friday, December 15th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at the Richmond Congregational Church for this delicious community dinner.

December 1, 2023

We're Back! After a covid-induced hiatus, Friday Food Affairis back with dinner this Friday from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at the Richmond Congregational Church. Please come, all are welcome. Mac and Cheese, Shepards Pie, and Gerry's famous potato bar. And to top it off a mystery dessert. What could be better?? Well, after dinner stroll over to the Library for the annual used book sale to complete a perfect evening here in town.


Due entirely to a bunch of wonderful volunteers (could even be you…..) this cherished tradition has returned. We're planning on dinners the first and third Friday's of each month. Come join us. And come be part of the fun and volunteer!