Monday, July 17, 2006

An act of fancy

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we had a little Bastille Day / Independance Day gathering. I had planned the menu at least a week before. Actually, as soon as Lorraine mentioned making corn dogs. So the menu on Bastille Day at my house was as follows: apéritif was beer with rosemary potato chips with a couple of dips I made (shallot/sour cream and gorgonzola/tomates confites), dinner was corn dogs (go to Lorraine's blog - Here's the thing for the excellent corn dog recipe) served with my homemade (that means 8 hours in my oven while it was 87° outside) Boston baked beans and coleslaw. Dessert was a caramel cheesecake that my new American friend and her daughter made.

The evening before Bastille Day, Husband called and asked if it would be alright if he invited a couple of client/friends. Sure, it would be fine, I said.

The following morning around 10:00 am, Husband said, "Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you last night, P is a vegetarian. Is that going to be a problem?"

And then I did the unthinkable. I rolled my eyes and said, "oh jeez, give me a break."

I was a vegetarian for 12 years.

Unfortunately, many people who are 'reformed' from something, good or bad, become, like I had, intolerant of what they once were. Think about it. The former smoker (not you Lorraine or Eric) who CAN'T STAND to be around cigarette smoke, the reformed sinner who CAN'T STAND hanging out with unreformed sinners, members of a minority who CAN'T STAND members of a minority smaller or newer than their own.

Which is not to say that I can't stand vegetarians. Not true. Many of my friends and my sweet mom are vegetarians and I love them all. But jeez, menu planning and cooking are a lot less fun when vegetarians are involved. Ever made a vegetarian corn dog? And DON'T tell me to use a soydog, they don't have them here. They have some soy mush sausages that are nasty and that's it. And I'm totally open to soy products, when they're good.

Anyway, the dinner was delicious. I had to get poultry dogs for NAF (new American friend) and her daughter since they don't eat red meat, P had no dog at all, and boys and Husband and I had the real dogs. And they were excellent. As for the baked beans, well, let's just say technically, at the time they were eaten, there was no meat in them. I will say nothing about their amazing clove, molasses, and slightly smoky flavor or how they got the latter of those three flavors. Everyone enjoyed the beans.

Friends and family who endlessly tweaked menus on my behalf during those 12 self-righteous years, bless you all. You are kinder than I am. If you ever rolled your eyes at my various dietary restrictional phases, don't feel guilty. I totally deserved it.

5 comments:

Eric said...

Hee hee,
Really Nicole you were not that bad, merely your average grad student from Seattle in her 20s...Oh wait you were that bad. But we love you and put up with you regardless.

Anonymous said...

As a former vegetarian (for about 7 years) I understand. Have you ever tried to make a tofu dog for your vege friends - do they have them in France - even though I love a good hot dog - the tofu dogs aren't bad, especially if you lather them in BBQ sause!

Lorraine said...

Yes, I seem to recall that you just eschewed whatever was particularly meaty and filled up on veggies. But it is way easier to cook for you now. Assuming, you know, that I was able to cook for you...

Anonymous said...

Nicole - I just called your mom to say hello. I told her that I got a laugh at one of your previous posts where you tell her not to read it. . .she asked me if she should read it. . .I said probably not. . .then she asked me to ask you how many Hail Marys will need to be said due to the nature of this post - and of course, she said this while laughing with her cute mother's laugh!

Grish said...

I would starve if I couldn't eat red meat.

I don't mind when smokers light up, I just don't want to stand right next to them while they're puffing away :)