Worst dinner party of the year starts in one hour. My house.
A very dear friend's daughter and family are visiting her for a week.
Six...mom. dad, 4 daughters age 2 - 13.
Two are twins.
I can't keep any of their names straight.
Mom and one daughter are vegans.
Two daughters are allergic to gluten.
Another is lactose intolerant.
Our close friend is allergic to garlic.
Gives her the runs.
This crew is very hard to cook for and they aren't much fun either.
Mom is a drama queen, living some kind of soap opera in her head.
It's a long story.
Dad is a very quiet introverted software engineer and does...not...talk.
Miz t., who excels in Cajun, Mexican, Italian, Asian, you-name-it, etc. cuisine, is hard pressed.
Roast chicken for the omnivores, a raft of roasted vegetables for the vegans.
The dinner is an obligation for an old and close friend, and I am very much looking for this evening to be over.
I think I'll go fix another Scotch.
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Kanpai!
The gods bless it.
A friend from PA kept a bowl of them on his bar.
Somehow, they just 'go' with Scotch.
Try it.
As Garrison Keillor says, ketchup is the mellowing agent.........perhaps a bottle or 2 would not be amiss.
Definitely a bottle of Scotch is needed.
Rots of ruck....
She sure needs 'mellowing'.
How ya doin'?
Getting more un-creaky with every sunny day....
Our friend and her daughter and son-in-law like them.
As does Miz t.
She's already working on her first one.
Our friend ALWAYS says "Oh great! trof is making his 'special' Margaritas."
My 'special' Margaritas (pretty complicated):
1 part tequila
3 parts 'whatever' Margarita mix.
Pour over ice in a salted Margarita glass.
OK, I do dip the glass rims in triple sec to get the salt to stick.
Now you too have my 'special' recipe.
I think it must be underway now, and I hope you're having more fun than you expected...
Enjoy your scotch!
Works every time. 
Hell, who am I kidding?
Yeah it was.
Miz t. outdid herself in preparing foods each could eat.
Bland?
Oh hell yeah.
Bland as it could be.
But 'wholesome'.
Damn, I hate 'wholesome'.
Mixed fruit for 'dessert'.
yuck
And then "Susie can't eat pineapple. She's allergic. Mary 'doesn't' eat blueberries."
Anyway...IT'S OVER!
A last Scotch and off to bed.
Thanks for all the commiserations and sympathy.
I damn well deserved it.
I had to cook a Christmas Eve dinner like that once.
In my case, the vegan in question did not like any of the vegetables I suggested. It is still not clear to me exactly what she lives on, to be honest. How can you be a vegan and not like vegetables??? 
sorry...old joke. 
I hope you all made it through ok.
The daughter was a 'wild child' as a teen.
Miss Roundheels in high school.
She and our daughter were 'contemporaries'.
They were brought into close contact because of our friendship with her parents, but they were never really 'friends'.
Her mom and dad, while being really nice people and very close friends, were both upper-middle class Brits who were shipped off to boarding schools at an early age.
The daughter was about 6 when they immigrated to the U.S. and they really didn't have a clue about how to raise kids.
At least not in America.
She got away with murder.
Maybe she didn't appreciate how she was raised, because she's done a complete 180 with her daughters. They aren't allowed to watch the news on TV. Too violent.
And of course there are all the special diets.
The eldest turned 15 today. She's a sophomore in high school.
She looks and behaves like a very subdued 10 or 11 year old.
Stepford wives? These are Stepford kids.
Maybe I'll live long enough to see how they fare in 5 or 10 years.
It'll be interesting.
Again, thanks for all the comments and support.
HEY! We don't have to do this again for another year.
