To Bala, who wanted ideas on how to make celery palatable -- cook it! I
can't stand the stuff raw, but once it's cooked, I love it. Chop it up
and throw it into soups or stews. Hunt up a celery soup recipe (anybody
got one that doesn't require dairy products??). The flavor and texture
both change quite a bit when the stuff's cooked...
To whoever it was who mentioned they got by at relatives' houses by
accepting they'd have to take a little of everything, and maybe even eat a
bit here and there -- a number of years ago, we did Thanksgiving with my
in-laws in NYC. The night before turkey day, we had chicken at my
father-in-law's place. I ate an ever-so-small piece to be "polite". THe
next night, with my mother-in-law, I ate an ever-so-small piece of turkey
to be "polite".
I was doubled over with stomach cramps for more than a day after that.
Big mistake! My innards are so intolerant of animal fats & such at this
point that I can't even have "a bit to be polite" anymore. So I have
accepted the fact that I'm going to hack off a relative here and there,
and let them know, in no uncertain terms, that I don't _ever_ want to go
through that kind of pain again, and please don't try to push me, because
I _will_ push back.
Even my father has taken the hint, and he's generally the worst for
dealing with this. He's taken recently to trying to find something we'll
eat. In general, he's getting pretty good at it (it's hard to mess up
with straight veggies), but if he picks up something we can't eat, we
thank him for it, then ignore it when it comes time to make dinner.
SOmetimes hiding things in the back of the fridge works really well! :)
If he notices the stuff tucked in the back of the fridge before we head
home, he'll often try to convince us to take it with us. Usually, it's
easier to thank him, take it with us and find a convenient trashbin on the
way home (or compost it when we get home) than to explain exactly why it's
the wrong thing... I know he's hurt by the fact that we don't eat his
cooking anymore (and he won't eat my cooking -- Dad never met a vegetable
he liked, and despite the fact that I don't cook things to absolute death
like my grandmother used to, he still won't try it), but he's accepted
that it's helped us lose a lot of weight, and he accepts that it's at
least nice that we've come home to visit, and he just tries to be helpful
beyond that.
But don't get me started too far down the path on "helpful" relatives...
:)
Faith
--
Faith |"Censorship ends in logical completeness when
faith@xxxxxxxxx |nobody is allowed to read any books except the
http://www.senie.com/faith/ |books that nobody can read." George Bernard Shaw
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