h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You've _only_ been to about a dozen weddings? I've been to 4, count'em 4, including my own!

And $100 is fine for people you don't know. DT insists on around £50 for his friends, but I'm always tempted to overcompensate.

We, like you, had been living on our own and together for a long time, had our house and everything in it. So we didn't really want any gifts - didn't feel it was needed.
Also, as we got married in Iceland, it had to be really portable, as guests would need to bring it there and we'd need to bring it back.

Plus, I knew my mum would never accept there not being any gifts. So we tried a few things, like cows via Oxfam or a herd of goats. But mum thought that was reaaaalllly weird, so again, that got nixed. We ended up with vouchers for the garden - created a list for those that wanted a definite list (some people want to pick something off a list as then they're sure they've got you the 'right' thing) and those that didn't want that just gave us cash. People could buy the vouchers online and from anywhere, so that worked great.

We still got a couple of paintings and a vase and some homemade garden gnomes from artist friends of ours. They're cooler than they sound, honest.

We didn't have a vegetarian option per se, food was served family/buffet style, but those that had special dietary requirements were invited to let us know and those got dealt with by the caterers.

Only one faux pas there, we'd wanted the chicken to be stuffed with vegetables rather than seafood as DT and his mother are allergic, but somewhere along the way that message didn't make it to the chef, who was mortified and very apologetic (and we got a discount because of it!). MIL just had the lamb instead, so she was happy enough.

Oddly enough, I was the only person there who didn't actually eat anything. Can't remember why though, now.

If you were the one getting married, it's no wonder you didn't eat!

The friend for whom I was maid of honor didn't have a single veggie option at her wedding, either, which I thought was a bit heartless, considering I'd done an awful lot to help out (I won't get into it all or I'll get annoyed again). Is it any wonder we haven't spoken since the wedding (May of '03)?

Ismarah, if someone promised to give us homemade garden gnomes, K and I would be getting married next weekend! We *love* gnomes!

Hey, I had trouble getting anything without meat at my cousin's wedding, and the *groom* is vegan. He'd just not considered that anyone else might not want meat, too

People are so funny.

I'm fairly relieved that most of you lot here are of the same opinion that it wouldn't be tacky for me to ask. I hate causing scenes in public, nor do I really like making "extra work" for anyone, if you know what I mean.

As long as you're asking them to leave something *off* the plate rather than inventing a new entree for you - and giving them plenty of warning - I'd say you're quite safe.

Maybe take along some carrot sticks and hummous or something, just in case. But if you do that, ask the caterer for a plate, perhaps with some pasta or rice or whatever, and transfer your own food to it out of sight of the others, to avoid any awkwardness.

Carrot sticks in the purse is a good standby. Eating a decent lunch that day should also help- if I'm legitimately not that hungry it seems eating less draws less attention. No idea why, or how people pick up on that, but it does.

Do you think "vegetables only" or "please omit meat" would clearly enough express that I don't want them to go to the trouble of creating something special for me?

(I have a feeling I'm worrying too much, and once they receive the card my boss's wife will ask for clarification if she needs it- she worked as a nutritionist for years before becoming unable to work and I'm willing to bet she understands a bit about these things.)

Be as clear as you can politely be. I think they'd rather have clear, but doable instructions than have to worry about whether they're doing it right.

Thanks for the good advice.

It's really not that I don't know how to be polite, you know. It's just that I'm not really "up" on formal dining, etc. And half of the restaurants we frequent are either straight vegetarian or have so many meatless options to choose from... I'm never sure if I'm asking too much.

When it comes to family, though- while I don't want to create a lot of additional work, I don't think it's asking much to be accommodated a bit.

This might be a good time to let you know that I've taken refried beans made the way you suggested to me a while back to three different functions, and they've gone so quickly I haven't gotten any.

Not implying that you don't know how to be polite.

But if someone had special requirements, I, as a host, would be happier if they told me. Preferably well in advance.

And fortunately, those beans are cheap and easy to make, so you can always do more!

pls remind me of the recipe...

I've been using kidney beans, a splash of lime juice, some ground cumin, lots of diced onion, a tablespoonful of sambal oolek, and enough olive oil to smooth it out. There've been a couple times I've run everything through the food processor thing for my blender, but for just K and myself I use the potato masher, because we like 'em chunky.

They're nice on regular tortillas, but the shop down the street has nice flat, crispy ones (called tostadas) that are perfect with the beans.

We just had these again on Thursday. Seriously, we have them once a week or so.

This is the second-most requested thing people ask mke to bring, second to my baked beans, which aren't exactly fun to make in warmer weather.

Oh, I'd definately say 'vegetables only' then there can be no miscommunication of what constitutes meat.

Also, if all you and K want is garden gnomes to get you married, I'm sure hootooters would all be happy to send you one each! We'll get you married in no time.

Oddly, the artist couple who made our gnomes used to live in Chicago, and as poor artists couldn't come to our wedding. We all met up in Florida on our honeymoon.

Saw a fabulous, simple dessert recipe on 'Gordon Ramsey's Cookalong' the other day, but seem to recall you also avoid dairy?

In any case it's a lemon & lime syllabub and I will be making that myself shortly. He also made a green bean veloute (where you could skip the bacon, I imagine) that looked good.

It's on the channel 4 website, if you google the name of the show.

Here at the moment everything is about teaching people to cook as people's diets are often appalling and/or expensive, so everyone's being a healthy housekeeper and saving money in the process.

i suceeded yesterday in making someting almost completely but not entirely unlike soup. I can make vegetable soup whilst standing on my head but this time i decided to put lentils etc in it, when it was ready i could actually stand my spoon on end in it! it was very tasty though, think the carrots made it very sweet.

mini

I do avoid dairy, yes, but don't necessarily avoid recipes which call for dairy. I'm getting fairly good at substituting things and have no problem working with a "regular" recipe. Especially when it comes to desserts.

Mmmm, lentils and carrots are so good together, and I like soup so thick it's almost like stew. I made one of those, with green lentils and carrots- last weekend. Now you've made me want more.

Was planning to make a soup suing aduki beans today. Maybe I'll use aduki beans *and* lentils, and give us a super fiber blast.

Mala, I knew you didn't mean to imply I didn't know how to be polite. I agree, as a host I'd prefer to know ahead of time and make my guests as comfortable as possible.

This thread is making me hungry...

Me too! Fortunately, we're celebrating my mother's birthday today, so as soon as the family descends on us, there will be four kinds of cake.

Happy birthday to your mum, again!

I've started a pot of soup, in spite of the fact that it's only 8:30 am. I cooked some aduki beans in the pressure cooker, sauteed onion, crushed garlic and a couple of chopped carrots, then threw it all in the pot with some of my veggie stock cubes from the freezer, a couple of bay leaves (they alleviate some of the musical side effects of the beans, you know), chopped fresh thyme, sage and oregano, salt and white pepper, and a few allspice and cloves. It smells SO good!

OK, well, Gordon says:

Lemon & Lime Syllabub - Serves 4
Ingredients
500ml double cream
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 lime, zest and juice
75g icing sugar
50g (or 5) Ginger nut biscuits

Method
1. Pour the cream into a large bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Grate in the zest of the lemon and lime and squeeze in the juice from both – straining through a sieve to avoid any pips. Whisk the cream until it just begins to reach stiff peaks.
2. Lightly crush 4 of the biscuits with your fingers and divide into the bottom of the serving glasses. Reserve the 5th biscuit for the garnish.
3. Spoon the syllabub into the glasses. If you have time at this stage, you can refrigerate the syllabubs for a couple of minutes to help them set.
4. Use a grater to finely grate over the remaining biscuit and serve.


Minted Pea & Watercress Veloute - Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
½ white onion
4 slices smoked streaky bacon
500g frozen peas, thoroughly defrosted
60g watercress
20g (or small bunch) fresh mint leaves
Approx 550ml boiling water
Approx 30ml double cream
Salt
Pepper

Method: How to make minted pea and watercress veloute
1. Heat the oil in a pan. Slice the onion and chop the bacon before frying together for 1-2 minutes.
2. Once the onion has softened and the bacon has browned use a pair of scissors to chop in the mint leaves. Allow to cook briefly before adding the peas.
3. Season with a little salt, then add the watercress and allow to sweat down for 30 seconds.
4. Pour in 550ml boiling water and allow the peas to cook - approximately a further 1-2 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and transfer the soup to a liquidiser and blend. Alternatively, use a hand blender and blend in the pan until smooth. If the soup is a little too thick, add an extra splash of water.
6. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and pour the soup into serving bowls.
7. Drizzle with a swirl of cream to serve.

and Gordon (aka The Rammster) is always right! I'm going to try that too but without the bacon)

all this mention of food is making me hungry! im gonna have to go make something now instead of munching more cream crackers (i only have 2left, might as well finish them)

mini