I can't take my family anywhere.

[LeftyMom]

My mother and my sister took me out to dinner tonight for my birthday. I got to pick where we ate, so we went to one of Sacramento's two (we had three, but now we don't) veg places to eat, the other being casual and really not a birthday dinner kind of place, what with the picnic tables and chickens trying to eat one's food and all.

Between my sister asking loudly and repeatedly if we could stop at McDonalds on the way home and my mother asking if they had anything without tofu or mushrooms (At a vegetarian vietnamese place? The tea maybe.) I really didn't have a very good time.

My real family can show up to get me now. *sigh*

[wildhorses]

1. happy birthday leftymom

welcome home to the family:hug:

[LeftyMom]

4. Aww thanks.

On the upside, I have a new post to the next strange gift thread. :)

My Mom gave me...












wait for it...
















windchimes. :wtf:

[wildhorses]

7. oh honey

:spray::rofl:

now you know why, in the south, we invented the phrase...bless your heart:rofl:

[petronius]

2. Happy Birthday!

:party:

Sorry the family were such party-poopers...

[LeftyMom]

5. I'm home now.

Hanging out with the kid, and he rocks. :)

:party:

[GoneOffShore]

3. Happy Birthday, LeftyMom

Sorry you couldnt fly east tomorrow and have some of this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65405610@N00/424869789/

(I still haven't gotten that whole image posting thing down)

:party:

[LeftyMom]

6. Ooh, what did you make?

[GoneOffShore]

8. Well the pics are of Tarte Tatin

Carmelized apples on a pastry base. Sort of an upside down apple pie. Impossible to make without butter and cane sugar.

I also made cassoulet, which you couldn't eat, being a veggie and all. But it's basically French baked beans with all sorts of meat.

[LeftyMom]

9. I'm sorry to say I couldn't have that either.

Butter. :(

I'm vegan, and allergic to dairy anyhow.

I'm tempted to find a recipe and see if I could veganize it. Butter is usually a pretty easy thing to sub out.

[GoneOffShore]

10. The allergy thing always makes pastry difficult

I think you could do the carmelization thing with the apples fairly simply, but there should be some sort of fat involved (hence the butter), otherwise you've just got candied apples. What sort of things do you substitute for butter?

Added on edit:
The recipe is really simple. If you want it, let me know.

[LeftyMom]

22. Butter's pretty easy

A one for one sub for a vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance, but there are others) is pretty much infallible, the only time I wasn't happy with it was trying to make a buttercream frosting.

[GoneOffShore]

24. Well, the tatin is really easy

4 oz butter (or substitute)
4 oz white sugar
12 or 14 good cooking apples, peeled, core and halved

Short crust pastry, about a pound.

You also need a 9 or 10 inch cast iron frying pan or Le Creuset Tarte Tatin pan - Enameled cast iron. http://www.lecreuset.com/usa/products/guide.php?category_id=24

You don't really need the Le Creuset, but the two handles make it really easy.

Heat the sugar in the pan with the butter over medium heat, and let it bubble and start to turn color. It needs to carmelize. After it's taken on some color, put in the apple halves around the edge of the pan, standing on their edges. They'll turn as they cook. Really pack them in around the edge. In the hole in the center arrange more apple halves. Cook this on top of the stove for 10 minutes or so. Then put the pan into a preheated 350 deg oven for at least two hours. Take it out and let it cool overnight so that the apples can "confit" (absorb the caramel). If you can't wait, let the pan cool slightly, roll out the pastry and put it over the top of the pan. Roll it so that the edges of the pan cut through and remove the excess. Tuck the pastry down the sides and put the pan back in the oven. Cook for another 20-25 minutes until the pastry is brown.

Now comes the slightly tricky part (as though the carmelization wasn't tricky enough). Put a plate face down on the pan. Pick up the pan and plate together and flip the whole thing over. If you've held on tight and the plate is a good fit, you shouldn't lose any of the caramel. Set it down on the counter and wait 5 minutes. Remove the pan. If any apples stick to the pan just remove them and put them back in their spaces on the tart.

You can serve it warm or cold with whipped cream or ice cream or just by itself.

Old French recipe complete with a preservation society and web site http://www.tarte-tatin.com/

[Nicole]

11. Happy Birthday!

:party:


Hope your real family shows up soon. :rofl:

[marzipanni]

12. Happy Birthday!

I live pretty near Sacramento- what is the vegetarian restaurant with picnic tables and roaming chickens?
I hope you can come up with a satisfying treat to make up for a not-so-scintillating birthday dinner.

[Robeson]

13. Happy Birthday, LeftyMom!....

...aren't families grand! ;-) :party:

[qnr]

14. What they said!

Um.. the other DUers, about Happy Birthday... not your relatives, about McDonalds, tofu & mushrooms.

[u4ic]

15. I hope at least the rest of your day was happy!

:bounce: :party: :bounce:

[SeattleGirl]

16. Happy Birthday, LeftyMom!

[unsavedtrash]

17. Happy Birthday

[DainBramaged]

18. Happy happy joy joy birthday Leftymom

My sister is an obese diabetic who when we last went out to eat on Mom's birthday, ate enough to feed all of Cambodia for a month and complained about how shitty the food was.

Ya can't win with relatives who probably are aliens.

[bridgit]

19. yeah-yeah = Happy B-Day, but i'm serious: at what point did you peel away...

from this group of individuals that you continue to describe as diametrically, 180dgs in opposition to your...beliefs, and how are you able to live with them for sustained periods of time if that is the case :shrug:

[datasuspect]

20. there is always some form of payoff in everything we do

whether the net result is positive or negative is immaterial.

/armchair therapist goggles.

[BarenakedLady]

21. Happy Birthday!

:party: :toast: :bounce:

[Nikia]

23. Would it have been insulting to ask for the dishes without tofu or mushrooms?

I am a big mushroom fan, but I am not a tofu fan at all. I am a vegtable fan. If I would have gone to a vegan Asian restaurant, I probably would have asked for an entree without the tofu. Is that rude? Do you even find yourself in a situation where an entree, which you would otherwise like, has meat and ask for it without.

[Jamastiene]

33. I think the OP was talking about how loudly they

were saying it and how often, not necessarily that they simply didn't want tofu or mushrooms. I would imagine simply asking the waiter for a dish minus the food you didn't like would be ok, assuming you didn't make a spectacle of the question. :hi:

[Kajsa]

25. Happy Birthday, LeftyMom.

Yikes,

It sounds like the best bet for next year would be
to go out for breakfast.

There's lots of meat-free items on the breakfast menu
so hopefully, everyone could order what they want.

I'm sorry you had such a lousy time.
:(

:hug:

[China_cat]

26. You might like this from one of my thai cookbooks

Wash baby spinach and shake off excess water. Put in a large heavy pan with chopped garlic (to taste) and chopped green onions (to taste). When spinach is wilted, drizzle with sesame oil and add toasted sesame seeds (about a teaspoon). Cook for about another minute.

Enjoy. Happy birthday.

[hfojvt]

27. couldn't I just have some rice? Or pasta with sphagetti sauce?

Does there have to be tofu and/or mushrooms? How about peach pie? Is that vegeterian, and can I have ice cream with it? Or rhubarb. Is that in season yet?

Did I ever mention that I have gone to meals with two self-proclaimed vegetarians? One had a turkey sandwich while I had grilled cheese. The other had linguini with clams while I had tomato basil linguini. I've never cared that much for meat, but I gotta have my dairy. How else am I gonna get my RDA of phlegm?

[Jimbo S]

28. Happy Birthday!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. Too bad they lack a sense of adventure...

That makes them really boring people.

I can't believe Sacramento doesn't have more vegan places. It IS in California, isn't it? Criminy!

Happy Birthday! :hug:

[jpgray]

30. Happy birthday! There are more than two veg places in Sacramento, if I remember

http://www.vegguide.org/location/view.html?location_id=140

Also, though I don't know your situation, at least they -tried- to accomodate your tastes. Perhaps if you encouraged that behavior more, rather than saying it doesn't go far enough, you'd get better results. Sorry if this sounds snarky, but I've had similar family experiences and in my experience it's always helpful to make it clear you appreciate even the meagerest of efforts.

:hi:

edit: fixed the link

[CanuckAmok]

31. So if your mom wants to go to Arby's on her B-day, you'll take her, right?

:shrug:

[Jamastiene]

32. Well, damn, I'm a meat eater, but

I could be nice enough to try out the type of food non meat eaters like to eat for one afternoon without being assholish about it. What's so wrong with mushrooms and tofu for one single day?

Btw, Happy Birthday.
Now, how many of these ( :spank: ) should I be giving you? What say you? Twenty nine and one to grow on? Is that what you said? Happy 29th birthday!!! :evilgrin: