"Michael "Dog3" wrote:
> "TammyM" > :
> in rec.food.cooking
>
>> OK, so we've picked apart the picky eaters. How about this?
>>
>> I was once invited to dinner at the home of a certain someone (CS).
>> CS asked me if I had any food issues - I suspect she put it more
>> nicely than that, but you probably know what I mean. I told her no,
>> no allergies, etc, but I well and truly detest mustard. Maybe I
>> shouldn't have said it, but she ASKED so I did. She said "oh no
>> problem", and that was that.
>>
>> I thought.
>>
>> At the dinner, she made a big homping deal about how she so very much
>> had wanted to make some kind of lamb-mustardy thing, but I was so
>> picky about mustard that I spoiled her fun (OK, maybe I am overstating
>> that just a tad....). I was *mortified*, close to tears in fact,
>> because she went on and on and on about it. I couldn't wait for the
>> evening to end. Which for me, is saying something!
>>
>> How would you have handled it? I never accepted a dinner invitation
>> from her after that.
>>
>> TammyM, don't hate me cos I hate mustard
>
> Well, I happen to love mustard. All kinds of mustard. Now... about the
> hostess. For her to go on and on about the lamb-mustardy thing was
> pretty lame on her part. I suspect she was using your dislike of mustard
> as a scapegoat for the dish she actually prepared. I would certainly not
> have been intimidated by her. But then I'm a person that has been banned
> from the Clayton, MO Ritz Carlton for life, for smashing one of those
> cream pie creations in an attorney's face at Sunday brunch.
>
> At the very onset I would have replied something like, "Oh dear. You
> *did* ask about it. Had you not asked, I would certainly have *tasted*
> the lamb thingy and told you how delicious it was, in spite of the fact I
> probably would not have cared for it. There was no need for you to go
> to so much trouble on my account"... or something similar. Had she
> continued to go on and on I would have excused myself from the dinner
> party and gone home with the excuse of a "headache". She sounds like a
> superficial, silly woman that I wouldn't spend another minute of my life
> with.
>
> Michael
>

Actually the hostess should never have mentioned the mustard, and if she
knew how to cook no one would have been able to detect mustard. Anyone
asked what's in the sauce a gracious hostess would simply say "Oh, it's an
old secret family recipe, I'm so glad you're enjoying it, would you care for
another serving?".

What's in the food or how it's prepared is not a topic of conversation at
the dinner table. And save any negative comments for the next day, to fill
ones idle time yakking on the phone with whichever like minded simpletons
care to. I mean if you're not a conversationalist you can always discuss
the birth of your fifth child in great detail over appetizers... I'm sure
everyone will be attentive with bated breath as you describe your entire
pregnancy, including the detailed circumstances of conception, leading up to
how the delivery was by sicilian section... and so that's why you named him
Guido Baretta Carmine, Guisi. LOL