JJ Gonson wasn’t always this wholesome. The sister of Claudia Gonson, also known as “the girl in the Magnetic Fields,” she began her adult life as a music photographer and band manager, cooking organic and local food for her rocker buddies and beaus before it was A Thing.

Now a mother of two, Gonson still looks very much the riot grrl, with blocky bangs and a mischievous gap-toothed smile—and she still gets calls from magazines like Vice seeking to use her photos of the 90s underground scene.

But JJ’s jam now—pun intended—is local and organic fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, prepared inventively for private clients in her mother’s to-die-for Cambridge kitchen and in hired locations around Boston. And her pet project is the One Night Culinary Event (O.N.C.E.), a once-every-few-months production with the slightly-subversive feel of a basement show. (Though it’s far from a secret supper club: when Gonson does something interesting, she wants to share with everyone—as those who subscribe to her delightfully rambling email list know well.)

Gonson’s last O.N.C.E. starred the local lobster, done in ravioli, curry and mini surf ‘n’ turf form—the latter served in waves of tiny toothpicks shoved directly into the mouths of her waiting disciples, who sat arranged on couches behind TV trays in a cozy meeting space near Union Square. The menu was scrawled on the chalkboard next to a giant cartoon crustacean named “Pinchy”, and the food was served more or less family style. Eaters in the know don’t expect dinner to be served precisely on time, but they do know they’ll be getting far more bang for their buck than would really be sane in a restaurant setting—so if you sign up for a O.N.C.E., just be ready to rock and be rocked by her wabi-sabi style. A bottle of bubbly doesn’t hurt either.

Catch Gonson’s next O.N.C.E. this Friday, October 8. Spaces are going fast, and booze is BYOB—just the way we like it. (We recommend picking up on a Tortoise Creek pinot noir, a food-friendly wine which is locally bottled by a couple of British former musicians—which just seems apropos.)

–Ryan Weaver

Things heat up in the kitchen

Yes, that would be mini surf and turf.

The author tries the risotto.

Gonson and her mom

J.J. Gonson and the TeaParty Ten:

What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?

Hot oatmeal made with milk and water, 50/50 and dressed with maple sugar, cold milk and butter

Who would you rather punch in the face: Long Duk Dong from “Sixteen Candles” or Mouth from “The Goonies?”

I’m embarrassed to say I have no idea. I have never seen Goonies, and I haven’t seen 16 Candles since it came out

If you were a kitchen appliance, what would you be?

Braun Mulitiquick (with all three attachments)

You go to bed, you wake up, you go to brush your teeth.. and you realize that you’ve morphed into one of Jim Henson’s Muppets overnight. Which Muppet are you?

One of those little bouncy moon creatures with the feathery heads who jump about and make funny noises. Can I be a few of them in assorted colours?

After a raucous night out, you wake up at some point the next day and you realize that in your fit of crazy you got inked. What tattoo did you wake up with?

Mom- sailor style, on my bicep with the heart and anchor

Would you rather be a rodeo clown or a sumo wrestler?

Rodeo clown

If you were a particular kind of cheese, what kind of cheese would you be?

Ascutney Mountain, in the spring

If you were a particular style of facial hair, what style facial hair would you be?

Muttonchops

What’s your quintessential “I’M GONNA DANCE AROUND MY APARTMENT IN MY UNDERWEAR AND LOVE LIFE!” song?

“Brimful of Asha” by Cornershop 

What’s your favorite word?

Supercalafragalisticexpealidocious