On Wed, 30 Dec 1998 13:49:06 -0500 John & Starling
<[log in to unmask]> writes:

>we were very lucky!

Good for you!  We weren't so lucky.  I did a trip with my daughter (both
milk intolerant, plus some other things) between holidays to visit the
relatives.  We did a big dinner at my mother's and one at my MIL's.  The
one at my mother's was pretty easy since I did most of the cooking.  She
had prepurchased the turkey, but thankfully it was OK.  I could not find
any bread or bread cubes for stuffing that did not contain corn, so
Alyssa couldn't have that.  I did manage to find chicken flavoring that
was Kosher for Passover so didn't have milk or corn and made some quick
stock for things out of some parts.  I just told my sister to hold out
some of the cucumbers for the salad before she put the sour cream
dressing on and did my own with just a vinegar dressing.  I used
margerine I brought to make most of the stuff although there were a few
dishes like the the green bean with mushroom soup cassarole that we just
avoided.  Of course the plain veggie she made was corn (the only one
Alsyssa can't have).

My mom baked the pies while I was gone, however and screwed them up.  I
took margerine 3000 miles on the plane with me since I had trouble
finding anything decent last time.  She forgot to use it in the apple pie
which would have been the only one we could have had.  So no dessert for
us!  Fortunately, I had also baked and taken my own cookies.  I froze
everything and packed it in a cooler with lots of reusable ice packs and
checked it on the plane.

During dinner, contamination was a problem as people were switching
spoons around in serving dishes, etc.  Luckily, neither of us has a true
allergy so a little will only make us sick.  My parents did see the
effects of the intolerances one night out to dinner, so they have seen it
first had.  It's not as severe as most of the horror stories I've heard
on here, but not pleasant either.

My MIL's was a different story.  She asked a head of time if it would be
possible to make dinner that Alyssa could eat (she seems to forget about
my having problems for some reason).  I gave her the run down of what she
would have to do and knew it was not going to fly - I knew doing
everthing from scratch and having to read every label without my being
there was out of the question.  Her idea of a great holdiay dinner
involves canned gravy, Stove Top Stuffing, and Mrs. Smith's pies!  So I
suggested that she make a beef roast with veggies and potatoes - no
seasonings.  This was fine with me, but I had to sit there while
everything was being passed around the table under my nose.  She had
plain vinegar and olive oil from previous visits for the salad.

The real kicker was this Polish tradition involving something that looks
like a big communion wafer.  You have to break bread with everyone at the
table.  I told her since I didn't have any idea what was in it, I was not
going to eat it or feed any to Alyssa.  I don't think she understood this
paranoia.  I had gotten sick several days earlier while eating out with
my parents on something I thought was safe, I was not going to chance
something I had no idea what it contained.   I went through the ritual
and just placed the little pieces under the edge of my plate.  I pretty
sure I offened her quite nicely although I tried to be discreet and not
make a big fuss.

Kathy P.

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