After having lived in Europe
during the fall of 2011, I moved to Cincinnati in January, hoping to establish
a more permanent residence. This move came with the usual discovering of a new
city and its people, but also included a bit of reverse culture shock as I re-acclimated
to aspects of an American lifestyle. I
missed not having the time and option to go to fresh, local markets, but was
easily able to make do with Cinci’s Jungle Jims and Findlay Market. Good crusty
bread is harder to find, but does exist and tastes delicious when make the effort to locate it.
And although I walked everywhere in Rome, I quickly readjusted to the
lifestyle of automobiles in America, and even took it one step further by adding
an hour-long commute to and from my new job. However, I am still adjusting to
on specific aspect of my fellow Americans, and finding it hard to do so.
When did the rules of being a guest
or a host change? Call me old-fashioned in my great age of 26, but it seems to
me that the feeling of entitlement of my generation to have what you want, when
you want it, how you want it, has superseded the need to be a good guest or
host. Let me explain. After moving to a
new city, I feel the need to meet people. I’m a social person and not having
friends does not sit well with me. So, I met a few people from my apartments
and invited them to dinner. I soon found out that this experience was not going
to be as easy as I had imagined.
First, I had to take inventory of
allergies and intolerances: How many lactose intolerant people? Anyone allergic
to nuts? Do we have any celiacs in the crowd? Other strange allergies I don’t
know about? I can’t blame any of my
guests for these. You can’t help your gluten intolerance and I can’t help the
fact that cheese and my stomach are unfortunately not friends…and I’d like all
of my guests to leave my house alive. However, Round 2 of planning gets a
little more complicated: Is anyone a vegetarian? How about vegans? Are there
any food taboos associated with the religions of my guests? Any other social or
cultural restrictions I should know about?
Again, my American respect of individualism prohibits me from becoming
too annoyed. Vegetarians should have the freedom to make a statement of
principle and, being Catholic with its No Meat Fridays, I not only respect but
empathize with those who cannot eat certain foods due to religious
prohibitions.
So I’m driving back to my apartment two
days before my dinner, trying to configure a menu to accommodate the gluten-free
guest, my cheese intolerance, the vegetarian, and the Muslim guest when I run
into one of the invitees in the parking lot of our building. After exchanging
small talk, I run my potential menu by him: bread, risotto with sun-dried
tomatoes, vegetarian eggplant and zucchini moussaka with no meat and cheese
only half of the dish (can be eaten as a side or entrée), and a roasted chicken.
He cringes. My heart sinks. “Does that sound okay?” I ask. “Well….I don’t really like eggplant,” he
explains. Okay. So now we’re going to Level 3 of planning of a dinner: accommodating
all of the specific food preferences of your guests? “No problem,” I say, “I’ll figure
something else out.” I think of another dish all the way up the stairs – I need
one filling enough for a vegetarian to eat, but that could also serve as a
veggie side dish for the meat eaters of the group. I draw a blank and
ultimately decide to tack a salad on the growing menu so as to accommodate
my new eggplant-hating friend.
The next day I realize I should make
a dessert. I have a great recipe for olive-oil lemon cake in one of my
cookbooks; it’s different and still really good. I run this by a new apartment
friend over drinks. She cringes. My heart sinks…again. “Ooooo, I don’t really
like lemon,” she says. “No problem,” I respond, “ How about peanut butter fudge?”
It’s fast, easy, and tasty, I think to myself. Take a guess at what happened
next…her boyfriend is allergic to nuts. At this point my brain is exhausted and
I don’t even feel like cooking anything, and then I throw out my last attempt, “What
about brownies?” Her eyes light up, “We love brownies!!” BINGO. I should have gone there first... American can resist the brownie.
What ever happened to eating what
the hosts cooks? When did inviting people to dinner turn into the host being a
personal chef for multiple guest, commissioned to appease the tastes and
restrictions of each individual? I can’t say that I’m not guilty of imposing my
no-cheese or cream restriction on my host, but I am a little surprised at the
detailed explanations of “can’t do” foods that I am given by guests.
In the end, the dinner turned out
well – we had a nice showing of 5 people plus us with - this is not a joke - a vegetarian, a no-pork eater, ca eliac, and a no-cheese eater. I cooked all day and presented a buffet of food for the guests to
choose from. Some guests ate a little of this or that, and the three non-restricted
ate a little of all of the plates. The only food that no one passed up was the
brownies. I said goodbye to the last guest, mentally exhausted.
As I sat on the couch after everyone had left, I reflected on the night. All of my efforts rendered me with two vital conclusions: 1)These days, it’s
better to go out to eat with new friends, and 2) You can’t wrong with the food
that no American can resist…the brownie.
I found the recipe for the brownies at
www.browniepower.com (check it out – this is the place to go if you love your
brownies), and I adapted it for the ingredients that I had on hand. These
brownies were some of the best that I have had, and can’t steer you wrong if
you’re ever a host or a guest…or if you have a little chocolate craving
yourself.
Fudgy
Brownies
½ cup white
sugar
2 tablespoons
unsalted butter
2 tablespoons
water
½ cup
semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup dark
chocolate chunks
2 eggs
½ teaspoon
vanilla extract
⅓cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking
soda
¼ teaspoon
salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place
sugar and water in saucepan and heat on medium low until sugar is melted. Add
butter, stirring continuously – do not boil or the mixture will be too hot to
add the eggs without them cooking. Remove from heat and let cool for one
minute. Add chocolate chips and dark chocolate to the sugar, butter, and water
mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla extract. Place
baking soda, flour, and salt into a sifter and sift into chocolate mixture
(stir once or twice while adding). Finish stirring just until mixed and pour
into a greased 8x8 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife or toothpick
comes out clean.
**Marti’s
side note: these are also delicious half-baked after 20 minutes with some sort
of cold milky (or fake milky if you don’t do cream…) treat.
