Minutes, 10-18-04

Hey J-Club

Mike here as acting secretary.  We had a good first meeting, and that sushi was really tasty.  I’m so good at
picking restaurants.

We talked about a lot of plans and possibilities for this year.  First was Iron Chef Chicago, which takes place
during International Food Festival (usually the last Saturday in January).  Iron Chef pits teams of students
against each other in a test of cooking skill, and as we all know the real winners are the judges... and the
audience!  This year we expect to have the Vegans back to defend their Iron status, and Aza informs us that
“small-time cooks” Diane Dickel and Jon Walsh
(http://maroon.uchicago.edu/archives/writer/jon_walsh_and_diane_dickel/), who MC’ed for us last year, will
challenge.  There is room for another team, so those who have interest in competing should email me
(dionisio@uchi...) soon.  Also email me if you are interested in MC’ing (being a “host,” interviewing chefs
while they cook) or have any other questions about Iron Chef.

Next on the list was our upcoming joint trip with UCJAS to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Arlington Heights, IL (northern
suberbs).  Mitsuwa is a grocery store, bakery, bookstore, food court, liquor store, and kitchenware store all
rolled into one (there is more... it’s hard to remember everything in there).  The plan, to be confirmed with
UCJAS, is to travel by car (45 min. one way) and spend time shopping and dining there.  We’ll leave at noon and
get back by 4pm.  Right now, between the two organizations we have three cars available.  Here are the people
from J-Club currently signed up for the trip:

Emily Devan
Kentaro Asai
Michael Dionisio
Aza Raskin
Shawn Fetty

If you want to sign up, or if you can drive, send me an email.

Thirdly we are looking for members interested in joining the board to fill the positions of Secretary (take the
minutes and send out emails like this one) and Interim Treasurer/Representative (our Treasurer is studying in
Toledo right now, and she will resume her duties when she returns in the winter).  We’ll talk about applying for
these positions the next time we meet, but feel free to email me if you’re interested.  I need help typing up
these minutes!

There are also a number of ideas which we’ll discuss some more before taking action.  These include selling
t-shirts, possibly with calligraphy on them (thanks to Paul for this idea), going karaokeing (in Chinatown? on
the north side?), and undertaking Aza’s brainchild of kaitenzushi (we would get together on a weekend or three to
construct the octagonal “river” and make the sushi or whatever food).

There are some great new faces this year.  I look forward to getting to know all of you, and reminding you to
take what Shawn says with a grain of salt.

Mike