Well, how did the evening go? Pink, I would take Deborah's advice, she is wise... -BUT- I would also set boundaries. Snooping-no way! You don't want her driving your child? - don't let her! You are the Mom control the situation. I would have been thrilled if my MIL had sent pictures of my child to friends and family. She was good to my child while she was growing up but there was always tension between me and her- I was always the outsider or outlaw(and the closest neighbor). I sucked it up and carried on, never called her on anything. She was never overtly mean to me but made little comments and made many demands around the holidays. My DH was always aware of it but never took a stand even when I ranted and raved over her. Ten years ago my husbands father died and there was a huge rift in the family, we didn't see or speak to MIL for over 8 years even though she was 1/2 miles down the road. I was shocked last Christmas when I saw her comming thru the yard on her walker! DH's brother had brought her to have Christmas dinner with us. She had had a stroke, and was much older looking than when I last saw her, but I greeted her with a kiss. Then I went out on the deck for a smoke and a drink! I stayed on the side lines and kept my mouth shut, just let DH and DD visit with her, it was strained, but at least they got to "visit" for a while, and all went well. It felt so good! I think she must have seen what shes been missing - family! She came back for Easter too. I am the one that cooks for the holidays now and the house is always full of her kids, gkids and ggkids and I like having her here too. I try to dwell on the good times, DH and DD are still wary (they were very hurt)but they are comming around. She taught me alot, about being the wife of a farmer, raising kids and how not to be a mother in law. I hope I can be a good future mother in law. Things change, be open to it.

That sounds like fun, Glenda. Your menu choice sounds really good. Linda. I mentioned quiche to Harry the other day so every day I think he's hoping for it. Today was close with the tomato pie. The man loves anything in a pie crust! Trixietx, I know your friends were grateful for your gift. Bet they really enjoyed it. Adding the Italian sausage to the tomato pie was a good idea and I'll do it again. Woo hoo--finally a winner. I've been having a bad cooking week :-(

Cynic, is that all???? I better get moving. LOL Maybe I will surprise my family and leave them to fend for themselves and take that trip to England for Christmas. I'll let them have my house and they can do their own cooking. Fat chance, they would starve. I think Laura's boyfriend knows how to cook though and my brother's specialty is Greek pasta salad. My sister is the Queen on Lean Cuisine. LOLOL Not exactly a nice Christmas dinner is it. Okay I have been reprieved, a ton of weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I just called my brother and he and his girlfriend are driving to Toronto for Thanksgiving. David is still at his store counting stock and will be there pretty much all night since the store just closed. He sounds happy to be retiring but I feel kind of sad for him. End of an era. I then called my friend Kathy to see if she had any bacon on hand and she said she did. I asked her to make me some bacon bits for the broccoli salad but she said not to bother making it since rarely do we have a cold salad at Thanksgiving and then she said I ruined her surprise. Kathy is one of my childhood friends and it has always been the tradition in her family to have that marshmallow 24 hour salad for their holiday dinners. I consider that more a dessert salad but hey who am I to mess with tradition and this is her first Thanksgiving without her Mom so I said that was wonderful she made the salad. I like it but usually at a shower or something like that. I never thought to make what we call my Grandma's green lime jello salad made with pineapple, celery and cream cheese LOLOL At our family dinners there was always that pale green Pyrex casserole dish on the holiday table that held the lime green salad. Refreshing it was and I had forgotten all about it. I will have to remember it for Christmas. Out of all the vintage Pyrex I have in my huge collection that pale green casserole dish is one I have never been able to find at yards sales or thrift shops. I think my sister Lizzie absconded Grandma's green dish so I will have to ask her if she still has it. Lime green cream cheese jello is just not tradition without serving it in that dish. Oh my. I now don't have to put 2 extenders in the table now so I should have a table cloth that will suffice. I know I should do it anyway but now I don't have to make that extra effort to make sure everything in my house is in perfect order and now I can hide books and my computer stuff on the attic stairs and the dog can still have his toys out and the dog food bag can remain where it is. I was getting ready to get on my butt and start cleaning baseboards since the "girlfriend" was coming. Tomorrows Menu Turkey Stuffing Cranberry Sauce Brussel Sprouts sliced cooked with garlic and cream Orange glazed carrots Squash Mashed turnip Mashed potatoes and gravy Tray with raddishes, olives, my pickled beets 24 hour salad Rolls Pumpkin pie Butter tarts - my Mom's filling recipe, Tenderflake shells I will go raid my Pyrex collection for all the autumn coloured pieces and that way I can keep the food warm in the oven and put right on the dinner table to serve. I wouldn't do that with good china which I don't have right now. I'm still waiting for my Grandma's china to make its way back to Windsor - it just needs a ride LOL Grandma's Royal Doulton china and her pale green Pyrex dish now that for a beautiful holiday table. Thanks again for helping me and listening to my rant. I am so relieved and now will be able to enjoy myself more with the usual suspects in attendance. Anne

So the menu changed. We had: - Roast duck, finished a la propane torch - Spare ribs in black bean sauce, the usual pressure cook-refrigerate-deep fry-stir fry process - Steamed cod with ginger, scallions and sake, there were NO live fish to be had as seemingly everyone was celebrating Chinese New Year, even my friend whose sister owns a seafood store had to buy packaged fillets at Costco - but they steamed very nicely, on a bed of lotus leaves with ginger, scallions, soy sauce and ShaoXing wine. - Baked bao with pork filling, DD made these - Deep fried veggie dumplings, DD's and DS' work - Shao mai with pork and shrimp, also DD's doing - you get the picture, I managed to not do a lot of the cooking! - Red rice with beets, someone brought - Long beans, stir fried with sesame, rice wine and red pepper, it is a long food = long life thing - Long noodles, served cold with a sesame-vinegar-soy-sake dressing, more symobolic longevity - Tofu with snow peas, DD made - Char sui pork, very red indeed - Lo mai gai, sticky rice with Chinese sausage, chicken and shrimp, steamed in lotus leaves, rested overnight, then re-steamed, which didn't actually add much extra lotus leaf flavor - Daikon cakes, baked then fried, DD made these with the nasty gluten-free flour and she whined about it a lot - Gai lan, or Chinese broccoli, we needed token veggies - Chinese tea eggs, which turned out much worse than previous attempts, they always taste the same but I didn't get as much of the pretty marble veining We did not have: - Egg drop soup, my stock was too cloudy and I didn't have time to clarify it, so I had a hissy fit and abandoned the effort - if the stock isn't clear, the egg drop doesn't look good - Soup dumplings, we had everything made but DS took so long to pleat the fried dumplings that I didn't have time to make the soup dumplings (we only have one station for dumpling assembly), so I will make these during the week - Seaweed salad, it was going to be gross so I pitched it. And a friend of DS came and made us all espresso and lattes. He is on indefinite hiatus from college, working as a barista, and is going to give me lessons in latte art. No, I didn't sit down much, so the evening was in that sense a failure. But everyone had a good time so it's not all bad!