KLO

History of the Kitchen Liberation Organization

How It All Started

Back in the Fall of 1993, a group of married couples (all DINCs) got together. It was a Saturday night, and the people there were Alison & Jay, Adonice & Greg, and Lorraine and me. Although none of us knew it, that night an event occurred that would change our lives forever!

Alison mentioned that she had read an article in Southern Living about some guys who do a fancy dinner for their wives every Valentine’s Day. She said, “Gee, that sounds like fun!”

Not having any idea what we were getting into, we (the guys) said, “Yeah — that DOES sound like fun!”

Later we called Laurie & Stephen and Dana & Tim, since we figured the more the merrier. Since Stephen & Tim had no more foresight than Jay, Greg, & I — they both agreed that, “Yeah — that DOES sound like fun!”

So the five guys got together, picked out a topic and waded through a morass of recipes to create a menu, and unknowingly set out to start a tradition. We went all out — everything was made from scratch — pasta, bread, sauces — and in many cases we stretched our cooking ability — actually that was a major part of the idea. All of us could cook to some extent, and most were comfortable in the kitchen. But we picked recipes that pushed all our abilities, and set a wonderful table.

And not only did we cook — we made sure the entire evening would be special. A menu was drafted using a calligraphy pen and various colored inks, each lady’s plate had a single rose upon it, and we decorated the hosts’ home for the occasion. If we were going to impress the ladies, we were going to do it right!

Most important of all — the theme was a secret. Until they actually arrived at the house, none of the ladies knew what our theme was! All they knew was that we were doing a special dinner.

We had such a good time that we decided to do it again the next year. We followed the same formula and, if anything, we improved upon it. And we kept that most important feature — the secrecy. It built the anticipation for the ladies, and gave us good excuses to plan meetings that included beer and wings!

During the planning process for the second year we, the guys, decided we needed a name for ourselves. Using e-mail, voice mail, and fax — we sorted through a dozen or so ideas and decided upon Kitchen Liberation Organization, or KLO for short.

And so a tradition was born!

Different Theme Each Year

The themes for our dinners were:

1994 – Italy
1995 – France
1996 – Dim Sum
1997 – Greece
1998 – Germany
1999 – Caribbean
2000 – Surf-n-Turf
2001 – Tuscany
2002 – Hawaiian Luau
2003 – Spanish Tapas
2004 – Provence
2005 – Fondue

We ran the KLO dinners for 11 years. It was fun … but all good things come to an end.