Julep: Side Rant

Adventures in Ingratitude will return, but first...

I have a monthly meeting with my Catholic group (I took that class with the Archdiocese last year; now we're self-directing) and the girl who is hosting November sent out a message that we would be doing a pot-luck Thanksgiving. Everyone should bring a dish, and she'll provide the drinks, rolls and dessert. My first thought was, are we going to be dining exclusively on sides? Not that I have a problem with that, I can happily fill up on green beans and sweet potatoes, but shouldn't the hostess be providing the turkey?

My second thought was, ugh. We all know that my sweet tooth is legendary, and this hostess makes no bones about the fact that she doesn't cook. Deeply suspicious that she would be serving Frisch's pumpkin pie if we're lucky and some nasty cardboard-crusted Kroger special if we aren't, I emailed her to say that I would bring mashed potatoes and what was she doing for dessert since I love to bake and would be happy to also contribute a second dessert if appropriate. She wrote me back, and this is a quote: "I was planning yellow cake with chocolate icing (because I bought the mix and need to fix it)."

So many things wrong there, I don't even know what to say first. I'm sure you're all saying them in your head right now, so I'll leave it at that.

Edited to add: I just said them all in an email to Dibbs anyway, so ... she announces a Thanksgiving potluck, and her contribution is a yellow cake with chocolate icing. Honey. If you want to have a Thanksgiving theme meal, the dessert should be pie-shaped and orange-colored. And you, the hostess, need to put up the turkey (at least pick up a couple of rotisserie chickens).

Otherwise, just tell us it's a potluck sans theme and everyone can bring something random to go with your cake. Oh, and cake mix doesn't go bad.



By the way, in case anyone is wondering why I am suddenly so prolific, I am writing a rather tricky brief today, and the blog is serving to break up my writers block. Theoretically. Now let's see if it worked.