My not-in-laws came to visit us over the weekend for the first time in several years. We went to San Antonio and saw the Alamo 
and had dinner on the Riverwalk
and saw interesting Texas memorabilia
and I ate a lot of portabello sandwiches and drank a lot of beer for several days
I really wanted to cook them dinner and for weeks I have been discussing with D what we should make for them. When I got home from work on Friday I sat and talked with them about what we could do that night and I said well we could go out or I could cook some super food at home. They looked really nervous and said “well I don’t know if we would like that” I was truly shocked! Everyone loves my cooking, I even give workshops on it! The Dad is a meat-and-potatoes-no-spices guy but I still felt pretty confident that I could make something that they would love. I decided on the Eggplant Rollatini from the Veganomicon because it says in the intro, “This is a meal that impresses non-vegans every time and is for when you want to be on top of your vegan game” and I thought, perfect! Plus who doesn’t love Italian food, that is fried, and I could put spagetti on the side that could easily become a meal.
Well Sunday night I cooked and I cooked and everyone got very excited as the smells were wafting into the room. I knew I had won over the mom because she kept coming in every few minutes saying “what are you doing now” but I was still nervous about that dad.
The meal came out beatifully
the plate was gorgeous
and the Rollatinis were super cute
Everyone was blown away. The mom said that she was going to chain me to the kitchen and force me to cook every meal and that it was better than any restaurant. The dad stayed quiet most of the meal, but I was happy to see that he was eating and he said softly, this is really good. Then, at the end of the meal he said, “You know, this is something I would never have ordered at a restaurant and I would have missed out because it is really good” then the mom said, “and I think this is the first meal I have ever had that was all vegetables” and the dad said, not just vegetarian, no animal products at all. Its amazing”
So it was a victory for vegans and animals everywhere! They even made the connection that no animals were harmed in the entire dinner and they seemed to be excited about it!
