First of all, a very big Thank You to all the people who made the 2016 Driving Events a great success; participants who came out to the driving events, organizers, rally masters, tour hosts, and family and friends who helped. All of you are important to make our driving events happen and you could not have done it any better in 2016. Early next year I will present a summary and a few statistics of the entire season but for now Thank You Very Much!

At this time with our Holidays coming closer, my New Directions column is getting shorter. No more driving events for a while so not so much to talk about. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to think about over the next month or two.
First, you could think about your MG a little bit. This is the time to plan the work that you’d like to do so that you are prepared for the 2017 Driving Events of the MG Clubs of Chicago. And second, I would like you to think about the events in which you participated this year. Which events did you like the most, is there anything that you’d like to add to our 2017 calendar, do you have suggestions to improve some

of the driving events from this year etc. etc. ? Maybe you can still find a couple of the old Drivelines or Vintage Viewpoints and read through the 2016 event reports to refresh you memory, We will start working on the calendar in February, so there is time to share your suggestions and ideas with the officers or directly with me. 

Maybe you have been thinking about organizing an event but you’re not quite sure about it yet, I would like to hear from you, we’re always ready to help. We would love to have a driving event West or South of Chicago. The reason that many of our tours and rallies are in the Northwest suburbs is only because that’s where the rally and tour master happen to live. There is no magic to the Northwest suburbs and there are no problems with the Western and Southern suburbs. We just need an organizer or two to create an event in those areas.

For now and until we really start to prepare for our 2017 Driving Event, enjoy the Holidays and a Happy New Year.

I look forward to hear from you. You can see me at an upcoming meeting, call me at 847 342 9804, or email me at reinoutvogt@gmail.com

"The more you think about driving,
the more you smile".

-- Reinout Vogt

I’d like to share one of my favorite holiday recipes with you. It’s too late for Thanksgiving, but in our house we also enjoy a nice turkey at our Christmas/Hanukkah holiday dinner with family and friends. Everyone has their own way to roast a turkey, so I’ll skip right to the stuffing. This will work for a 12 to 14 pound bird. If cooking a larger turkey, increase the proportions. James Beard never made it quite like this!

Pop Corn Stuffing
2 cups un-popped pop corn
1 ½ cups thinly sliced green onions
½ Lb. unsalted butter
2 Tb. finely chopped fresh tarragon
1 Tb. Salt
1 ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely chopped parsley

Over low heat, melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the corn, and sauté until the butter browns slightly and the onions and tarragon wilt. In a large bowl mix the corn and butter mixture. Stuff into the turkey cavity, making sure that the bag of giblets is removed (be honest, we’ve all been there) and place in roasting pan. Season the outside of the bird and cook in oven as you normally would. After an hour get the hell out of the kitchen ‘cause when that corn starts to pop, it will blow that turkeys ass right out of the damn oven.

You may want to have a few pre-made sub sandwiches on hand for a backup. Make this and it will be a holiday dinner they’ll talk about for years! And next year you won’t have to put up with annoying in-laws or Creepy Uncle Carl.

As a special gift, I’m not going to bore you with book review. But wait until next year. Merry Christmas.

-- ~~ Bill Mennell