A colleague is holding a small dinner party for our department to honor one of our number who is retiring. We are sorry to be losing our irreplaceable co-worker and friend, of course, but we are also excited by the prospect of the party. The hostess is known to be an excellent cook, and I have it on good authority that dessert will be either a carrot cake or a lemon mascarpone cake , depending on the entrée.
We are all excited, I should say, but there is a problem. One of the guests, for all of her charms, is a vegetarian. We all love and cherish this particular vegetarian, but her dietary restrictions do make planning a dinner party a bit difficult.
I understand the situation, because I’m having just such a party this weekend. It’s a small affair, just two other couples. One of the guys is smart and funny and interesting and well-read, and his political views happen to align with my own.
But he is a vegetarian, and that adds a certain level of complexity to our plans for dinner. The other guy, incidentally, is smart and funny and interesting and well-read, too, but his political views happen to be in opposition to mine. But at least he eats meat, which makes dinner plans easier.
We have an unwritten rule: We don’t talk about politics, especially with an election next week. It makes our time together much more pleasant. The last time we hosted a dinner for a pack of carnivores and a single vegetarian, we hit upon a menu that I personally think was kind of genius.
We m.