Family Reunion Ideas?

[lola]

My brothers and I are fixing dinner for the first night of a family reunion next week. They'll barbeque chicken and salmon maybe, and I'm doing side dishes and dessert.

I'm thinking cole slaw with cabbage from my brother's garden, grilled vegetables, bread, and a brown rice salad type dish that I can put together and chill after our 5 hr drive but in time for supper. Any ideas on the rice dish for a crowd lines?

I'll probably make a rhubarb crisp. My brother in Kansas City likes to bring large things from Costco, so he'll probably throw in another dessert.

[bixaorellana]

Rhubarb crisp?! I'm sure we must be related. I'll show up, just in case.

My first thought with the rice dish was "curry flavor". Here's one good-sounding recipe from the net: simplyrecipes.com/recipes/curry_rice_salad/
This one is also intriguing.

There is a dish that used to show up frequently on buffets, potlucks, etc. I think it's tasty and pretty, plus has vegetables and protein and the leftovers hold up well. Anyone else like green pea salad?

This is the most basic version, but there are so many ways to make it better. For one thing, I say either leave out the ham or replace it with chopped crisp bacon. And you don't have to defrost the peas first, either. Here's one with fewer but nicer ingredients, but with no boiled eggs.

I know you didn't ask for other salad ideas, but depending how you feel toward the end of the driving time, you could just swing by a supermarket & grab the peas whatever else. Dumping peas out of a bag might feel more appealing than shredding cabbage.

[lagatta]

You can get very nice small peas frozen now.

I used to like rhubarb, but it takes more sugar than I can eat now (teef) to be palatable. It is very nutritious, and sould be nice if some way to eat it without so much sugar could be found.

[auntieannie]

maybe a pulao (pilaf) or a biryani?

but if you have a brown rice salad, do you need another rice dish?

I might not have understood your question? (bit early on a Sunday morning for me!)

[Deleted]

As the traveller of the family, my contribution would generally be exotic but not 'too' exotic -- egg rolls, accras, unusual fruit...

[lagatta]

Yes, agree with kerouac, but I was trying to think what would fall into this category for this particular extended family. I'd definitely have mezze from the Eastern Mediterranean, various finger foods from stuffed vine leaves to empanaditas, but will this family eat those things?

Accras also fit into the little bites category. One small disagreement is that I wouldn't have exotic fruit in the summertime when local fruits, including berries, are so fresh and tasty. I'd definitely make a berry salad, but mine typically has a bit of booze in it - not enough to get even a small child drunk, but parents would have to be cool with that.

[lola]

Thanks, all! Sorry, I logged off without checking to see if I made any sense. Yes, just want one rice dish in salad form, for ~60 people of all ages and many levels of culinary sophistication shall we say, with a sprinking of vegetarians who'll need something sturdy besides BBQ.

The Curry Rice Salad looks perfect, Bixa. I'm going for that. My dear great aunt Myra used to refer to something bedraggled as "the last of pea time", and that's what my snow peas are now. I'll buy some frozen ones or the small kind as you say, Lagatta.

I could do without chopping cabbage, for sure, but my brother is proud of his crop this year. Does anyone have a favorite slaw that's not too vinegary? (My husband and daughters share a vinegar hating gene.) My standby is a creamy kind loosely based on Joy of Cooking.

The reunion is at a resort near Branson, a town I've managed to avoid so far, chosen by the Maryland branch of cousins. This will give me a chance to confirm or revise my prejudices about the place.

I'm still pretty sure we're related, Bixa, through the Mason line or maybe the Stokelys. Come on up. You'll like them, though they do go through a lot of beer. And Kerouac, we can always use some accras.

[lola]

About sugar, Lagatta. During the height of the low carb diet fad, one of my brothers used to be a little annoying on the subject. Then two years ago he started showing up for family weekends with big gloppy packages of Costco sweet rolls, far more carbs per cubic inch than the rest of us would normally eat.

[lagatta]

Oh, that is funny! Yes, I remember Atkins-inspired terrorism, when people threw out good bread and ate the middle of sandwiches. I have no problem at all with there being sugary things, as long as there are alternatives, and it is none of my business what other people eat.

[Deleted]

Following along the lines of fresh fruit,and is so easy,melon.With the addition of some mint or other herbal surprise. Everyone loves melons don't they???
Ought they not be in season where you are Lola? Even if not,are available...

[lola]

Hmmm. Yes, Casimira. Melons won't have come in yet locally, but I can grab a handful of mint from my garden and chill melons in a cooler on the way down. Excellent idea.

Agreed, Lagatta. I'm happy for people to be on diets, as long as they don't expect me to listen to long detailed accounts. I note that some of the loudest carb-shunners from a few years ago at my work seem to have given up the battle.

[bixaorellana]

Melon is good anyway, and the solution for people who won't eat this, that, or the other.

Jun 13, 2010 12:58:16 GMT lola said:

Does anyone have a favorite slaw that's not too vinegary?

Go for the old classic, with evaporated milk and some sugar. People secretly like that sweet slaw, and it goes well with barbecue. Use a little mustard instead of vinegar.

Jun 13, 2010 12:58:16 GMT lola said:

You'll like them, though they do go through a lot of beer.

;D That settles it ~~ we must be related. I'm coming. Buy extra beer.

[lola]

aarrrgh. Just spoke with my brother, who says the new head count is 80. For some reason the new number makes quality food for the masses seem less possible.

[Deleted]

Aren't we family? We'll come assist Lola! Don't you worry!

[auntieannie]

oh, gosh.. .when we have such headcount at family gatherings... it is bring and share BBQ, sides and desserts for lunch... and raclette in the evening for those who stayed on later...Just to settle the stomach after all the wine and the sunshine and the petanque...

Could you convince some of your family members to bring food to share?

[lola]

Yes, Casimira! Please!

Your reunions sound lovely, auntieannie.

This reunion lasts 5 nights, with people coming from across the country. My father was an only child, and these are his first cousins who had their system for many years before our bunch started tagging along. Each family group makes dinner one night for everyone. Last time two years ago it was in Nebraska, and the time before that on a cousin's ranch in TX. Always lots of fun.

[Deleted]

[lola]

Now yer talking.

[lola]

Couldn't locate a good source of MRE's so:
I'm taking a break from cantaloupe/mint/lime salad prep. Just bought the silly things yesterday some of them overripe already. 93 in the shade and humid.
Curry rice salad mellowing in refrig.
Brownies and banana chocolate bread, made by dtr and husb respectively.
Limeade concentrate in freezer. Limes to add slices for the illusion of fresh squeezing.
Eggplants etc in the basement to be grilled.
Major snag in the rhubarb dept: none in the stores now, not even for ready money. So I'm making blueberry cobbler using Splendid Table recipe, taking cream to whip.
My BBQing brother is relaxing a bit, no longer demanding to know how many pounds of everything I'm bringing.
So it should be fun.
Thanks to all for your help.

[Deleted]

Good luck! Will other people bring anything? (Bottles...?)

[joanne28]

Lola, it sounds like a fabulous time. I know exactly what you mean by some food faddists & how they change over time.

[lagatta]

I couldn't handle such a big group, unless I had competent professional help. I'd be afraid of not being able to ensure the quality of the food, or even its safety.

I agree, joanne, food faddists and people who natter on about diets are bores and often aggressive bores, but at the same time foodways must change. I work in front of a computer all day - I can't eat what ancestors who did hard physical labour did - if they could get it. And there is also a problem with all the hidden sugar, salt and other stuff in our food - they alter the tastebuds, for one thing.

[lola]

We relax the other nights and let others work. One year the Texans made some tasty fajitas, using poblano peppers from their gardens.

[hwinpp]

How're the preps going, Lola?

Haven't added anything constructive to this thread because we don't have huge family reunions anymore (we do, but not here) so I just take them out for dinner ;D

[lola]

Tomorrow morning we throw everything into coolers and head on down there, ready or not.

We thought we could find easily big glass beverage dispensers to buy, and my husband even went to Walmart - shudder - but no luck. We'll figure something out, though.

[auntieannie]

good luck, lola! safe trip! The car will smell gorgeous with the melons... although you might not feel like eating any afterwards (talking from experience... being driven a good 8 hours in an estate car with the melons ripening at the back...)

[lola]

The dinner worked out great, despite untimely cloudburst just as my brother was starting to smoke the chicken. After the storm died down he took them off the grill and put them in the smoker, and I was able to grill vegetables in a light rain.

The most successful side dishes turned out to be Bixa's curry rice salad and Casimira's melons with mint and lime. My cooking and cabbage-raising brother was a little jealous because his slaw was passed over. I eventually had to discard the idea of cobbler for logistical reasons. It wasn't missed.

It was great to see all the cousins, but I checked out early to run out to WY and visit my younger daughter, using previously requested days off from work. All the leftovers were eventually eaten, beer was consumed, innertubes and canoes put to use.

[Deleted]

I'm so thrilled to hear the update/outcome of what sounds like an uproarious,brilliant gathering of family Lola!!
Thank you,it was fun following this from start to finish dear!!
Glad the melons worked out too!!

[joanne28]

Lola, how did you find Branson?

[bixaorellana]

Lola ~~ it all sounds fun and perfect, even the part where you were grilling in the rain. I feel badly for your brother, and slightly shocked that slaw wasn't snapped up to go with the chicken. Glad everything got eaten in the end, though. Did you drink an extra beer for me?

Great that you got to see your baby girl, too!