Our Oakland neighborhood’s monthly pot luck, “First Wednesday” is featured in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, on the food page, along with Victoria’s excellent grilled pork tenderloin recipe.

This is something that has been going on in our ‘hood even before we moved in, almost ten years ago. Some say it’s been a tradition for over 20 years, but no one is really sure when it actually started.

The great thing about it is that it is never planned. It just seems to happen the first wednesday of each month.

Which does result in some surprises occasionally, like the time everyone only brought dessert. The article is by one of the neighbors, Patti Brown, who lives across the street.

We are fortunate to live in a great neighborhood, where everyone knows each other and shares a meal at least once a month. It seems like such a rare treasure these days.