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TDG: The Compulsive Cook: Being a gracious guest


Fat Guy

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What a timely topic.  We had guests the past weekend at our summer cottage...

Nothing like a long weekend in a small house-worse if it's raining-to find out more than you ever wanted to know about your friends, right? We've owned a beach house for 15 years. We are careful who we invite, as a weekend can be a very long time. (It can also be a wonderful opportunity to catch up on all the news with friends you love and don't spend nearly enough time with, but then that's a different thread, isn't it.)

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To keep kosher, you must eat food from a kosher kitchen.  This is often overlooked when going out to chinese food.

That's what I thought. So a kosher guest showing up to a nonkosher dinner party would be a nonissue. If the kosher guest shows up and knows you aren't kosher, he/she ain't keepin' kosher that night.

K

Basil endive parmesan shrimp live

Lobster hamster worchester muenster

Caviar radicchio snow pea scampi

Roquefort meat squirt blue beef red alert

Pork hocs side flank cantaloupe sheep shanks

Provolone flatbread goat's head soup

Gruyere cheese angelhair please

And a vichyssoise and a cabbage and a crawfish claws.

--"Johnny Saucep'n," by Moxy Früvous

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To keep kosher, you must eat food from a kosher kitchen.  This is often overlooked when going out to chinese food.

That's what I thought. So a kosher guest showing up to a nonkosher dinner party would be a nonissue. If the kosher guest shows up and knows you aren't kosher, he/she ain't keepin' kosher that night.

K

Technically, yes, if it is not cooked in a kosher kitchen it is not kosher, because the utensils are not kosher (even if the food is). But people keep different "levels" of kashrut (e.g., they make up their own rules and standards for themselves). I'll eat fish in a non-kosher restaurant, even though I know it is technically not kosher. We all draw our own lines in the sand. If I'm invited to someone's home and they are not kosher, I guess there are a lot of "ifs." Am I close enough to the host to make a special request, or should I just say thank you and decline? I would never put the host on the spot and expect him/her to accomodate me.

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"Well, my 5 year old is not fond of this chicken and asked if he could have one of the hamburgers. They had brought 4, enough for only the two of them, and the husband said that he would give up a burger if his wife would eat the chicken."

Unbelievable. I cannot imagine anyone who wouldn't give up his dinner for a 5-year-old, even if there were not something else on the menu. You are clearly a gracious host -- I definitely would not invite them back.

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NolaFoodie, the only way I could keep quiet is that she is our daycare provider and a very good one at that. Sometimes I think her strange habits are from being around too many children all day :raz:

I felt like my child was being too picky, but he loves hamburger patties, so of course as soon as he saw them, he wanted one. The chicken was likely a little strongly spiced for his tastes anyway, and I had forgotten to make him a hot dog or something else.

At least my older son has gotten over the pickiness; I hope the little one does as well. However, older son will not eat green beans, no way, no how, not ever since he was a baby. It's funny, actually, because the little son loves them and taunts his brother with a green bean. Goofy guy.

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Technically, yes, if it is not cooked in a kosher kitchen it is not kosher, because the utensils are not kosher (even if the food is). But people keep different "levels" of kashrut (e.g., they make up their own rules and standards for themselves).

For instance, we have friends who will bring anything requiring cooking, but a cold salad prepared in our non-kosher kitchen is fine as long as it has no meat or dairy.

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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Great article - definitely a few people to whom I would love to send it. One item that I thought was missing, but was discussed somewhere in the thread, is the simple act of RSVPing. That seems to be the largest problem that my husband and I have with a certain group of our friends. So bad with one that he has been essentially banned from future events.

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