I shouldn't have done this given the constraints
imposed by circumstances and personnel. In order
of decreasing irritation - one free of corn, soy, egg,
gluten, dairy; one lactose intolerant low carb (moi);
one pepper wuss who also doesn't care for red meat
and is a wannabe low-carb; two ordinary pepper wusses,
one an afraid of fat health person. Another issue was
Bonnie is out of town, and I don't know where anything
is. Mere setting of table was a chore involving a
cupboard in a dark hall that I had to feel for.

Rice - I can't find any basmati, so I just used my
plain long-grain white. Cooked with just a little too
little water and then fluffed and rewarmed in a 212
oven (as near as I could with outdated controls), then
tossed with melted butter, it sort of worked.

Bread - I can't find the reinforcements for the ailing
flour canister, so I thawed out a pound of frozen dough
and flattened it to make fake naan, letting it rise at
least three times, cutting in four pieces, then rolling
five times. Brushed with garlic butter and done in a
hot skillet, it was a good fake.

Lentils with onions, garlic, and cumin, also a touch of
clove, ginger, and dried mild red pepper - these were
delicious. I was dying to put a little zing in it, but
there were pepper wusses at table.

Potato chickpea curry the wrong way (without dairy)
was pretty good, not enough onions; this really
needed the tang of yogurt.

Potato chickpea curry the wrong way (without any
heat whatever) was pretty good, not enough onions;
this needed the tang of hot pepper.

I had yogurt and a homemade hot sauce on the table to
fix things. I should have had chopped onions available
as well, but I couldn't find any more onions.

Spinach with sweet spices and Meyer lemon juice was I
think good, but it wanted cream cooked into it (no
cream in the house, just Coffee-Mate).

Kofta made without eggs or breadcrumbs using mashed
carrot, onion powder, and cayenne as a substitute
binder were fine if a little dense. I'd debated
using almost as much carrot as meat, but an
experimental teaspoon tasted too much like carrot,
so I retreated to about 15-20% filler.

Kofta made in the normal way but without any hot
spices were otherwise fine; the texture was perfect.

I'd not planned dessert - what can you do with a party
that has diners who are dairy-free, gluten-free, low
carb, egg free, and low fat? One of the guests brought
perfectly ripe Bartletts from TJ's. Each person got
half (I munched on the cores as cook's treat) -
garnishes available were warm chocolate sauce from some
agribusiness or other (but all natural and GMO-free),
strawberry sauce, all natural and GMO-free, made by me,
and Breyer's vanilla ice cream, an abomination but all
I found in Bonnie's fridge - I'd got the not much
better Brigham's, but apparently she'd eaten that and
replaced it with whatever the convenience store across
the street happened to have - it seems to carry only
one kind at a time, probably whatever fell off the back
of the truck last week.

Wines courtesy of another of the guests were from
Crane Ridge, a $5 neo-two-buck-chuckish thing, about
as cheap as you can get out here. The Cabernet was
surprisingly good, peppery and brambly and almost like
a real Cab but on the soft side (though not too sweet).
I didn't dare try the Chardonnay.
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