Dinner Party Disasters

Dinner Party Disasters.  I’m talking about failed meals, disappointments, fire alarms, tears. We’ve all had them. Here’s a good story:

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Submitted by Mariana:

The year was 1984.  I was a young military wife trying to make do on very little income.  I made a ‘new’ recipe for potato salad, and it included Italian dressing and unflavored gelatin.

All would have gone well if I hadn’t adjusted the amount of potato salad I was making from the amount the recipe intended.

But the money was tight, the dinner group was small, and so I tried making half the number of servings.

That meant I needed to correctly adjust ALL of the ingredients.

In case you were wondering, TWICE the amount of Italian dressing gives a substantial ‘puckering’ effect to the faces of those trying to eat the salad.  And TWICE the amount of gelatin makes said salad quite rubbery.  The combination was awful!

My husband convinced me it ‘wasn’t too bad’, and that, since we really didn’t have anything that would serve as a substitute, I should serve the sad salad anyway.

Then he told the arriving guests (out of my hearing) that it was an old family recipe I was very proud of. And even though it was horrible, please pretend to like it or I would be crushed.

Well, they tried.

I didn’t buy it and said something to the effect of ‘You can’t possibly like this!  It is a new recipe and I screwed it up.’  This brought much relief to our poor guests as they realized they (and I) had been played. All they cared about was not having to take a second bite!

story submitted by Mariana Dannelley, San Antonio, Texas

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Are you interested in avoiding dinner party disasters like this one? Then you will want to sign up for my “Beyond the Basics: STOP DINNER PARTY DISASTERS” video cooking class which begins next week.
http://oneroastvegetable.com/beyondthebasics.htm

All best,
Shelley

PS/ Advance registration is open for current members of The Veggie Club only > http://www.oneroastvegetable.com/beyondthebasics-members.htm. Regular registration will begin Tuesday, June 23rd.