anti-climatic, cooking blues.... I can't be the only one this happens to? having done

Menu for my rustic Italian dinner

to start:

leek & bacon flans
roasted olives
roasted peppers

tortelinni with red pepper sauce

home made Italian sausage
sauteed onions
ceasar salad

Rao's lemon cheesecake

crusty bread was served with all the courses, except the cheesecake.

the roasted peppers were a bit redundant with the red pepper sauce but peppers were on sale and one of my friends seriously wanted me to make roasted peppers too.

I had home made lemon vodka that I served as a palate cleanser. boy, that stuff sure can bite your butt if you're not careful!

also, the onions were supposed to be carmelized but I used Myan onions and their moisture content is so high they wouldn't brown. no one seemed to mind smileys/smile.gif

 
If you like that, then you'll love this...

When we lived in Albuquerque back in the late 1980s, we planned an 8-course Oriental dinner. Everyone who was invited was told to bring their own wok (we gravitate toward folks that love to cook/eat as much as us.) But that's all they knew.

Upon arrival, each couple was told to pick a recipe from a bouquet of recipes (printed & tied with a ribbon) that made up the 8 courses. Lar and I had already bought all the food and made any necessary prep sauces, marinated any chicken, etc. Our theory was: if you own a wok, you know what to do with it.

We made the first and last dishes.

As each course progressed, couples for that course made the food while the rest of us sat around our low table on pillows and drank (Sake, Japanese beer, plum wine, etc). Our kitchen was open to the living/dining area, so they were able to still participate in the conversation. Since all the dishes cook very fast, the cooks were able to rejoin the rest of us and enjoy their efforts.

Dinner and conversation went on for 4 hours.

We visited Albq this summer and the first thing one friend said was: "I still remember that Chinese dinner where we all cooked."

 
I had forgotten that this was your Italian Sausage event. I trust you solved the fat content

issues and they were a huge hit! Greg and Sheila are lucky people. Thanks for sharing, I think this belongs in the menu section.

(I don't see anything wrong with repeating an ingredient, usless you were to Iron Chef it and and saute peppers with the onions, then serve the cheesecake with red pepper ice cream, lol. How do those judges get through it?)

 
we had to remove the sausage from the casings, grind the fat (had to use unsmoked bacon) and

put them into new casings. it worked great... whew!

I know, some of those desert things on Iron Chef make you want to run screaming.... '-))

 
I wonder if this was a holdover from the days when polite society didn't prepare their own meals? I

wasn't aware of the French custom but I had an etiquette book years ago that mentioned it. It was such a shock to me, I remember thinking I was extremely gauche, because I always complimented my hostess on the food. Albeit, at that time, she was usually a member of my family or a very close friend, lol.

 
What a great idea. This would work for grill your own on the BBQ too. love the idea of a mystery

meal get-together.

 
Another great idea! That sounds fun...

We did something a little similar to this, but without the mystery. A New Year's Eve party several years ago we were told the menu was French, assigned a course, and told to bring what we needed to make the dish there. Good thing we started at 6 and had all night to go about it!

 
Better yet, you could actually stage a hands-on cooking party.

I work for a company called Parties That Cook (see link for the website) and that's exactly what we do. Every guest is a chef. The guests are divided up into culinary teams, each team working on an entree at a "station", and when all the cooking is complete everyone sits down to enjoy the meal together. It's soooo much fun, people really get into it...a great way to entertain your friends or celebrate a special event. Add some music, cocktails or wine, provide aprons for your guests, and have someone take photos throughout the party. You could easily do something like this yourself with your dinner group.

http://partiesthatcook.com/

 
Maybe because it would be taken as not being

gracious if you offered suggestions, and if you didn't comment at all, it would be assumed you didn't like it?

But I never am annoyed by a compliment, anytime ;o) If it's family or close friends, I don't think the rule-of-thumb really applies these days.

 
I AM the world's pickiest eater...

but fortunately, most of my food allergies, intolerances and just plain old dislikes are centred around the main course, not the flavourings, seasonings and accessories (well - except for fish/shimp paste - I simply refuse to eat Thai).

most of my friends know my tastes, but if I get invited to a friend's mom's for t'giving dinner, for example, I don't take or eat the turkey. I am quite happy to make a meal on vegetables and bread. I can't imagine asking, as Cyn's guest did, for an alternate entree. I don't make a big fuss over it, but I also don't eat something I loathe (and which makes me feel icky) out of "courtesy".

if I go out to someone's home for dinner, I'm there for the company, not the food. Even back when I considered myself a "foodie" (which I no longer do) it was still about the company.

On the rare occasion I have someone over, I do ask about allergies or intolerances or dislikes...I want them to be comfortable. If it's over the top, I just don't invite them to my home for a meal again - we can go to a restaurant. And if it turns out that I've prepared something they can't eat, well, life goes on...and there's always the vegetables & bread.

 
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