Hello Hello Hello!!!!!!! As you read this newsletter, the Labor Day weekend will just about be upon us. Hope you all have a good time as it is the last holiday for awhile. As September arrives, we have two club dates coming right up. The first is our Wednesday the 6th meeting in San Leandro. Please try to attend if you can. Saturday the 9th is our club cruise to Pontiac Grill! This was a blast last time and event coordinator Adam Peralta has another fun day planned for us. Check out the details in this issue. Weather in Santa Cruz is always just perfect! Be there!!!!!

Our August 20th wine cruise went really well. Event chair Rindy St. Clair did a fine job of putting the event together. A fun time was had by all. Good wineries and fine weather along with an interesting route in between helped make it happen. With a South Bay location, I was surprised to hear that more people did not attend. Any reasons why????? I fully understand peoples’ busy schedules and time constraints. Exploring these reasons enable us to do a better job next time around.

To steal a phrase from Jim Lent, I have been among the ‘ghost members’ the last couple of months. My wife Marsha has been dealing with a herniated disc since Fathers Day. She has had moderate pain during this time period and our lives have been far from normal. We have managed to meet our work obligations and not much else. She is scheduled for surgery to remove the herniation on Sept. 1st. We are told that her recovery will be very quick and are both looking forward to returning to a normal life. Marsha is definitely planning on going to Cherry's Jubilee!!!!

Lots of car activities to attend coming up. We have about a month between club events with our GGG 4th Birthday Party Picnic scheduled for October 8th in Felton. (Note date change; still a Sunday but one week earlier). In between you have the Altamont Cruisers Show on the 24th in Livermore. GGG made a $100 donation and is a ‘cruiser level” sponsor. This show is always well attended and a good time. Cherry's Jubilee is the 22nd through the 24th in Monterey and Laguna Seca Raceway. Another date change is for the POCI Regionals in Sacramento. That event along with Horses to Horsepower in Redwood City are both on Sunday October 1st. Along with Cool Sept. Days and the Nostalgia Drags at Sears Point in September as well, its GOIN ON!!!

I urge as many of you as possible to attend our upcoming meetings beginning on Wednesday Sept. 6th. At this meeting I would like to begin discussion on next years 5th Anniversary event with Jim Wangers. Also, several members have suggested that holding some meetings on Saturdays might be a positive thing. Lets plan on discussing that as well. Our October meeting will be our planning meeting for our 5th anniversary party. November is our brain storming session for potential 2001 club events and we vote on them at our December meeting. Lots of things to work on with many opportunities for member involvement. If you want to be involved in deciding the future direction of your club, please plan to attend these meetings. Hope to see ya there on September 6th!!!!!!

OMIGODITSGOOD! Recipe Corner

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. This is the second month for the recipe corner, and we have our first contributor from the club.Thanks Pam! John received positive word from a few folks and shared it with me. Hearing that you like this little addition to our news letter is great. I don’t mind doing this at all, as cooking is one of my hobbies. These first recipes from Pam Harris look wonderful. Can not wait to give them a try myself. How about the rest of you? Do you have any recipes you would like to share? Would love to post them here! Please, dig into those boxes, books or memory banks as this is meant to be a vehicle for all to share with each other. Remember how everyone at the picnic was asking for secrets to the wonderful salads, desserts, appetizers etc.that were made? That is how this got started. Your ideas. If there is a short story behind the recipe, send it on to me too. That makes them even more special. Looking forward to hearing from you. Please send feedback and recipes to Johns e-mail, or use the fax option on our home phone or even send by the good old US Postal Service to our home address. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks Pam Harris for sending these wonderful recipes. They both look delicious and perfect for this time of year, so I have gone ahead and posted both so everyone can try them while figs are still in season and we are all still barbecuing.

Ingredients

8 very ripe figs
1 cup powdered sugar

Ingredients are approximate depending on size of ramekins.

Preparation

Thinly slice figs, and alternate layers of figs with sprinkled powdered sugar, press down lightly after each layer, filling a small ramekin. When full press down again and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 days before serving.

Run a knife around edge and turn out gently. Pour any liquid over the cake. Serve with crème fraiche and mint sprig. Sprinkle powdered sugar over cake and plate.

This is an excellent dessert for people who don't like very sweet deserts.

CREME FRAICHE

Ingredients

1 cup cream
1 tblsp buttermilk

Put ingredients in a screw top jar and shake vigorously for approximately 5 minutes until mixture thickens, leave overnight at room temperature, then refrigerate.

SERVES 4

Ingredients

2 Yellow Peppers 
4 tblsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 Red Peppers 
3 tblsp. Currants or raisins
8 Cherry Tomatoes 
3 tblsp. Pine Nuts
1 Clove Garlic (finely chopped) 
2 tblsp. Basil Leaves chopped
Sea Salt & Ground black pepper 
4 tblsp. olive oil

Preparation

Halve peppers, trim, remove seeds and membrane. Brush with olive oil, place on baking sheet. Fill peppers with halved cherry tomatoes, raisins, pine nuts, garlic, and basil. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper. Roast in 375 degrees oven until cooked, peppers should be soft, approximately 30-45 minutes. Plate and drizzle with basil oil and few drops reduced balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. Serve warm with a good crusty French bread.

BASIL OIL

Blanche 1 cup basil leaves 30 seconds, drain and plunge into iced water. Drain, remove excess moisture and puree in blender with 1/2 cup olive oil to desired consistency. Add salt to taste, and let rest half an hour. Strain through fine mesh strainer and transfer to squirt bottle.

REDUCED BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Reduce 1 cup balsamic vinegar to 1/4 cup, should be syrup like consistency.

Serves 4

Notes: Great dish to serve at room temperature for picnic, barbecue, or buffet. Alternate colors on large platter.

HAVEN'T BEEN TO YOUR FIRST GOLDEN GATE GOATS EVENT? 

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

You are probably like me. You wait for your newsletter and enjoy reading the articles and the list of upcoming events. Prez John brings us up to date on news and encourages us to come to events. We get excited and go outside and look at the GTO and think, "Geez it would be fun to be at an event," but then for many it just doesn't happen yet. I know the feeling. I was a member for 2 years before I went to my first event.

Speaking for those who do attend I can say "You don't know what you are missing." Even if the Goat isn't quite ready you can attend the monthly meetings. Those are fun and a great time to gather, eat Hofbrau stuff, be with friends and peers and for many have a night out with the spouse. Fun time.

But the events are really the reason we have the cars. Here is my experience on my first time out. The event was the club picnic at the Presidio a couple of years ago. I didn't know many people, so I pulled out the roster and noticed that Jim Lent lived nearby. I called him and he told me that he and Jeannie were taking their '66 and Al and Pam Harris would be in their '65 and Colin Mellin in his '68 and were caravaning over and I could meet them on the way. [Caravans are common among the club.]

Caravanning sounded good to me as we had been working on the ole goat but it was still running hot, smoking bad and looking pretty rough. We met, they said nice things about my car and then we took off. Colin in front, then me with my daughter Christine, then Al and Jim. I was put in the middle in case I had car trouble. I didn't but I probably came close to making Al and Pam sick from smoke inhalation. I know because I passed a Toyota on an upgrade and the driver held his nose and started fanning in front of him in the universal language of "You are smoking up the place."

We got to the picnic and in front of everyone, my car more or less lifted its leg and poured antifreeze on the ground. No one laughed, they just came over and helped me clean it up. That is how it was all day. Questions and interest from everyone. My car is not numbers matching and no one asked or seemed to care. We just shared the day. Wayne Barnes came over and since he is Dr. GTO, I asked him questions about my car. What a wealth of information he is.

My story has a happy ending. The day was completely a success. I was once again in the middle of the caravan and the car made it home ok. I am now a gung ho member and you have no idea how cool it is to be with 30 or more other GTO's when they fire up until you have experienced it. After a while, the other members recognize your car and you will enjoy sharing the newest thing you've done. So whether your car is pristine or under construction, you owe it to yourself to go and see what a great club you are in.

NEW MEMBERS