ON THIS WEEK’S episode of Dinner SOS, test kitchen director and host Chris Morocco and test kitchen editor Kendra Vaculin help Rachel plan a menu of crowd-pleasing recipes for the first-ever encounter of her parents and her in-laws.
Rachel doesn’t typically follow recipes, but she is planning a dinner at which her parents will meet her boyfriend’s parents for the first time and needs help selecting a menu. She wants to do as much in advance as she can so that she can stay present during the evening, while factoring in quite a few dietary restrictions. Her mother is a vegetarian, her partner doesn’t love spicy food and is allergic to everything from strawberries to unprocessed soy products, and her partner’s dad can’t eat onions nor tomato sauce. To add on to that, her partner’s mother doesn’t like spice nor garlic. Rachel wants to create a dinner menu that will please this very picky crowd and ensure everyone hits it off.
Chris brings in Kendra, who knows a thing or two about hosting and bringing people together. Kendra says her main guiding principle is abundance—as long as there is enough food, wine, and dessert, all will go well. She suggests Rachel make this Squash and Broccoli Rabe Lasagna, which is both vegetarian and avoids using alliums of any kind, and a side salad with this Three-Minute Red Wine Vinaigrette. For dessert, she goes for this Raspberry Cake With Whipped Cream Filling, an absolute showstopper and crowd favorite.
Listen now to hear whether Rachel can pull off a delicious meal with impeccable vibes with a little help from Chris and Kendra.
Chris Morocco: Hey there, listeners, future callers and cooking enthusiasts. Welcome to Dinner SOS, the show where we help you save dinner or whatever you're cooking. I'm Chris Morocco, food director of Bon, Appetit, and Epicurious. Today's caller, Rachel, doesn't typically follow recipes.
Rachel: I see them for inspiration all the time and I love reading recipes. It's like an activity I like to do and I like watching cooking videos, but then I can't seem to measure things. So I definitely intuitive cook, which is how my mom cooked, which is how I learned to cook. I just go to the store, see what looks good, what produce looks fresh, what's on sale, and then whip it together with random sauces [inaudible 00:00:52].
CM: Which, to be clear is totally fine, at least most of the time.
R: So it's hard for me when I am cooking for a picky crowd or have a lot of considerations to keep in mind. So, my boyfriend and I have been together for about two years and our parents have yet to meet, but they're getting scoochy. I'm having a little meet and greet dinner party at my apartment in a couple of weeks. The dietary restrictions and preferences are actually insane and I'm really not sure what to do and still keep integrity in terms of serving a dish that feels like it came out of Rachel's Kitchen.
CM: You said something that my brain is preventing me from moving past. I think you said something like they're getting scoochy.
R: Yes, they're getting scoochy, like they're getting antsy.
CM: They're getting scoo... Okay, and where does that expression come from?
R: Oh, okay. Now I'm questioning everything because I don't know where that expression comes from. That's probably something that my mom said, that I assumed that everybody in the world said.
CM: In my brain it's like, is this Yiddish? Is this Italian-American kind of dialect? It doesn't sound unfamiliar and yet, I don't know.
R: Wow. Okay. So funny that you mentioned Yiddish, because I'm Jewish, my partner's not, and my mom started a Yiddish word of the day group chat to bring him in under the fold of the culture.
CM: Yeah, yeah.
R: So it totally could be Yiddish, but it also just could be a my mom saying because she's quirky.
CM: Okay, that's fine. I just need a little bit of context. I'm now psychologically prepared to move on.
R: Yeah. Okay. Yes. My mom's vegetarian and skews vegan, which is mostly how I cook, so that doesn't feel like a huge restriction. My partner likes pretty much everything. He doesn't love super spicy, eggplant, and then he's allergic to a couple of things, which is unprocessed soy products. He can do soy sauce and tofu, but he can't do, for example, edamame and he's also allergic to strawberries.
Then, his dad, red sauce or tomato sauce is difficult unless he takes a medication, but I'd rather not have to medicate the people that I'm feeding. Onions also I think upset his stomach and he's allergic to lettuce, but I haven't even really gotten to the most challenging eater yet, which is my partner's mom. She doesn't really like international flavors other than maybe Italian and Mexican, nothing spicy, even black pepper. She could be sensitive to nothing garlicky. Pesto is a no-go, olives, sun-dried tomatoes. I would assume that extends to capers and pickled things. Kale she likes, but it gives her stomach troubles and yes, basically anything unfamiliar like tofu or anything out of her normal cooking wheelhouse, she's reluctant to try.
Also, I feel like pasta is the only thing my brain is going towards, but I made them pasta last time and I also would love to be a little bit more creative if possible. I'm not opposed to it, but it does feel a little bit like a cop out, because I know that it would be a crowd pleaser. You know what I'm saying?
CM: Yeah, yeah. I hear you. I hear you. Then did we cover your dad as well?
R: My dad will eat anything. He's the easiest one of the bunch.
CM: Bless him.
R: Yes, yes.
CM: Okay. First of all, it's going to be all right, because of course it is. Part of the thing here is just you're creating this event, you're creating this opportunity for everybody to get to know each other. That's huge and the food is going to work out. But I'm curious, you each have met each other's parents, correct?
R: Correct.
CM: Are you confident that everyone is going to get along or is there some concern there?
R: No. Vibe wise, I think they're going to have a really fun time meeting. I'm just getting anxious because I'm like, "But think of what it means."
CM: You're getting scoochy.
R: I'm getting scoochy.
CM: For sure. I can hear it in your voice. It's just you're bringing together people who clearly have pretty strong preferences and requirements, and you don't want the food to get in the way of your ability to just be present in the moment. Right?
R: Yeah, and cooking is my love language, and I really enjoy having people over and hosting and especially feeding people, and I think it would be a nice common ground to be able to feed everybody something delicious that everybody likes and there's not one person who feels like they have to pick around this one side dish.
CM: Here's the thing, okay, my parents never had an opportunity to meet my wife's parents. The fact that you can put all these people in a room together is amazing, and it's a blessing, you know?
R: Yeah.
CM: That's a really powerful thing, and you have so much energy and creativity to harness here. That's the energy I want to bring to this. This is something worth celebrating, that you guys can all be together. So let's go for it. Okay?
R: Yeah, I'm feeling reassured.
CM: In order to help Rachel find a menu that would check all the culinary and emotional boxes, I knew just who to call. Bon Appetit test kitchen editor, Kendra Vaculin. In addition to her work in the test kitchen, Kendra runs a dinner party series across New York City called Dining Room, so she's used to hosting and bringing people together. Also you are married.
Kendra Vaculin: I am.
CM: Yep, and have your parents and your husband's parents met?
KV: Yes, certainly many times at this point because we are wed.
CM: Yes. I mean, but can you paint the scene for me of when your parents and Michael's parents met?
KV: Yes. We were at King's County Imperial, which is a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn, and we kind of conned our parents into planning their trips to New York at the same time, and then we're like, "Everyone's here and we're going to have dumplings," and it was very good. Very quickly it became clear that later my mom said to me, "I would be friends with Jo in real life," Michael's mom. "We would be friends in real life." I was like, "What's awesome is this is real life. You get to be her friend." That was the biggest stamp of approval.
CM: I'm curious about the decision not to cook and not to host.
KV: This second time that we were all together, we hosted them at our apartment and I cooked. I just wanted the first time to be no pressure on me. There was already so much pressure on the scenario, just like I wanted that to happen in sort of a third location so it wouldn't be happening in my apartment with the added layer of I couldn't foster conversation, because I was worried about a chicken or something.
CM: Well, so maybe you are sensing where we're going here.
KV: Yeah.
CM: Interestingly, Rachel has chosen to take a different path from you, and she's going to be a dinner party for her parents and her partner's parents to finally meet.
KV: Oh, my gosh.
CM: And she wants it to go well.
KV: Of course.
CM: No surprise.
KV: Yeah.
CM: There are some dietary restrictions to be kind of considered here. Okay?
KV: Mm-hmm.
CM: Rachel is... I filled Kendra in on all the dietary restrictions Rachel's concerned about, but I also wanted her in on my plan to help Rachel focus on what's really important about this dinner, the people.
KV: And that's the big thing to remember here, is absolutely no one is rooting for you to fail. This is a room full of people who love you so much. It's like, "Okay, I can fall in line. I can get the vibe. The vibe is we love this. The vibe is this is my favorite apartment to be in with all of my favorite people, except for those two people are strangers to me, but I'm not going to act like that's a reality. I'm going to act like these are my pals." That's how people are entering this scenario. So, it honestly is like what's on the table is almost immaterial. So long as everyone can eat it, people are ready to be happy and have a good time.
CM: We are going to take a quick break .When we get back, we'll see if we can get Rachel less scoochy about hosting this long-awaited gathering. Welcome back, Rachel. How's everything been?
R: Thank you. Everything's been well. What about you?
CM: We're doing okay.
KV: We're hanging in there.
CM: I'm joined here by my colleague, Kendra Vaculin.
KV: Hi.
CM: And Kendra has a ton of experience cooking for and hosting people who don't necessarily know each other.
KV: That's true.
CM: But making that feel like a fun, engaging, convivial, totally not scary experience.
KV: Yeah. It's like my favorite thing. I love cooking for dinner parties and I love bringing together people whose one common interest is that they wanted to come to this dinner party or the one common interest that I know of. Honestly, I leave it to them to discover the rest of their common interests over the food and drink. I think my main guiding principle is abundance. As long as there is enough food and enough wine and enough dessert and enough space to spread out, people will do the rest.
R: I love that philosophy. This sounds perfect.
CM: Well, Kendra, do you want to kick us off with some thoughts with regards to Rachel's menu?
KV: For sure. So this is crazy, but when we were being detailed on all of the dietary restrictions that were going to go into this menu, I had already picked out a dish in my brain, and as you were going through everything, I was the dish in my brain and being like, "Okay, we're good. Okay, we're good," and I think I've come up with something that fits the bill, a menu, in fact, three dishes that fit the bill.
R: Oh, perfect.
KV: The one caveat is that this is strictly vegetarian, but it does have some dairy in it.
R: That'll be okay.
KV: Okay, great. So here's where I landed. This is a recipe that I actually ate. This is so crazy, but I was an intern at Bon Appetit the summer of 2012 when I was between junior and senior year of college. This dish, I ate that summer, at Four Times Square because it had been brought up to the edit floor from the test kitchen. I remember being like, "This is a superlative lasagna. I love it so much. It's truly such a great dish," and I've made it so many times since. I'm not sure I would have ever found it on Bon Appetit, had I not known about it from eating it myself that day.
But it is called squash and broccoli rabe lasagna, and it is a vegetarian take on lasagna that uses a creamy bechamel sauce, roasted slices of butternut squash and broccoli rabe. That provides kind of like your more green veg moment. There's no garlic, there's no onions, no alliums of any kind. You flavor your bechamel with a bay leaf and a little bit of nutmeg. There's sage and rosemary and lemon zest in the cheesy mixture. It's really rich and decadent, but it still feels like it doesn't put you into, "You need a nap," territory.
R: Right.
KV: Because I think the green vegetable energy of it feels like light and fresh, and so does the lemon zest helps with that as well. So, you have this cheesy, rich, noodle-y moment. In the headnote to this recipe. It says, "Serve it with a simple salad." I agree. My second suggestion for you is the three-minute red wine vinaigrette from Emma Lapperuque.
CM: Emma, yeah.
KV: It's a really easy vinaigrette that you can make in a jar and shake it up. It does involve garlic powder. You can absolutely remove it from this vinaigrette, and you will be no worse for it.
R: Right.
KV: It's super easy and you can throw it on any green that you like. I really like it as serving suggested in the photo on radicchio or a bitter green. I think that would also provide some nice crisp crunch and play off the bitterness of the broccoli rabe really nicely. And then to finish, I have Shilpa's raspberry cream cake, which is such a delightful cake that is very easy to make,
CM: And there's a video of her making.
KV: There is. So you can follow along on the video. I have made the cake part of this cake recipe more times than I can count.
CM: It's a chiffon cake. Right?
KV: It's a chiffon cake.
CM: Oil?
KV: It's a chiffon cake. It's all oil, no butter in the mixture.
R: Oh.
KV: What that means is it sits in your refrigerator really, really well. It never turns a weird texture by being in the fridge.
R: Great.
KV: Whereas butter would harden up. So you can do this to completion, in advance, in your fridge, hanging out, and it's no worse for it. So it has this whipped cream frosting that's truly just whipped cream with freeze-dried raspberry powder in it, super simple.
R: Ooh.
KV: And then it's like this pink, gorgeous cake.
R: This sounds really delicious. It sounds kind of like a holiday meal, honestly.
KV: Yeah, it definitely could be.
CM: This is a great lasagna. I'm curious, Rachel, how is all of this sounding?
R: Well to me, I feel like this is not danger territory for anybody. It's kind of lasagna is for sure pasta, and I know that pasta is kind of a crowd pleaser with this crew, but it still has a little bit of something fresh and interesting with the butternut squash and the broccoli rabe. I like that because it's not a little bit too predictable with the salad. You mentioned radicchio, but with something maybe arugula work?
KV: Definitely. Or is there anything else you'd put in that salad as well?
R: You could kind of go any direction you want.
CM: The cool thing about that dressing is it's a superbly balanced dressing that is like manages to be perfectly middle of the road, while being welcoming of virtually anything you might want to dress it with. Because this dressing has a little bit of maple syrup in it, and it has a little bit of mustard.
KV: Yum.
CM: So it has a wonderful emulsive quality to it without being thick, and it has enough sweetness to be able to swing both ways when it comes to sweet or savory.
R: Right.
KV: Whatever vibes of salad you like most, this dressing really can lend itself to that. I think your cooking ethos of like, "I am not following a recipe, I'm just kind of going with my heart." This dressing I feel like can be the recipe following part.
R: Yeah.
KV: Then the contents of the salad are like, you follow your dreams.
R: Yeah. You mentioned it had mustard and maple. I put mustard in every single dressing I make.
KV: Nice.
R: And I feel like the maple would pair super well with the butternut squash.
KV: Yeah.
R: So I think this is for sure a viable contender.
KV: Cool.
CM: Sounds awesome. There was another principle that I was thinking about, which was kind of the thinking was something like this. Decentralize your dinner. Don't make everything hinge around some big labor-intensive main.
KV: Sure.
CM: Just do some smaller bites, do a couple of fun salads, do a couple of fun dips, make a really simple flatbread, or just buy some great lavash or something and just throw together a spread that is very low stakes. But I do wonder if amongst a certain set, somehow a bunch of small dishes doesn't feel like dinner.
KV: Totally. I think that's true.
CM: I don't know, there's something that you said about your future mother in law, that was sort of like, I don't want to set up a kind of clash of expectations around like what dinner is.
R: Right. Mm-hmm.
CM: At least for meal number one.
R: I will say, if you've seen Only Murders in the Building...
CM: Heck, yeah. Dips.
R: Martin Short's character, exactly. He's obsessed with dips. That's my dad. He could eat nothing but dip.
KV: I love that.
R: So she would be pleased if I did that.
CM: So in walking it back, do you know what I came up with, Kendra? It was your cheesy mushroom galette.
KV: Ah, fun.
CM: From 2022, I was like, "Okay, if you wanted more of a lower-stakes main," you were still making your own pastries. It's like a shortcrust pastry.
KV: Uh-huh.
CM: With a jumble of mushrooms
KV: Yes.
CM: And some cheese. It's pretty simple, but you could kind of put that in the center of the table. I think it's just enough of a main dish and then do some salads and whatnot around it.
KV: That dish has a duxelle.
CM: Yeah.
KV: And does it have-
R: Is there a...
CM: It has like a fine, blended sort of mushroomy paste.
KV: Is there shallot?
CM: Yeah, there might be. I think there's probably an allium in there, but I mean you could take that out. You could throw a little bit of miso in there.
KV: What about, are scallions good or bad?
R: I think scallions are okay.
KV: You could do the whites of the scallions, you could chop up the whites of the scallions, and that could be a good spot in.
R: Spot on. I mean, to me, this sounds delicious, and I think I'll just do some recon to see if mushrooms are a no-go or if they're okay.
KV: Yeah.
R: Otherwise it sounds really good. What would you pair that with as a full meal?
CM: There again, I think you want a really punchy salad. This is going to be very savory and it's going to be somewhat rich, but it's going to pair really well with something bright, fresh, and crunchy. I would fully endorse the vinaigrette that Kendra mentioned.
R: Okay.
CM: Also, you are an intuitive cook, I believe in your ability to kind of assess from whatever you might find in the green market or in a supermarket, kind of what vegetables feel like they're looking their best and can go with that and just dress them simply. It's funny, I wasn't even thinking about dessert. I was like, dessert for me is the first thing to go when I'm entertaining.
KV: Oh, my God.
CM: I'm like, "Well, I can't possibly make something sweet and do an entire menu on top of it."
KV: I work backwards, because to me, the dessert is the most important part. Something that I've learned in throwing these parties is that I had to start making my dishes, my courses throughout the night smaller, because I would make them big, and then I would give them a huge dessert and everyone would tell me, "It's too much food. It's so much food. By the time dessert comes, I'm so full, but I want to eat this dessert," and instead of making the dessert smaller, I made everything else smaller and kept the dessert enormous, because to me, nothing is more fun than a big ass piece of cake.
R: I like that.
CM: When is the dinner happening? I should say
R: On Saturday.
CM: Oh, wow.
R: Yeah. Yeah. So this call is well-timed.
CM: Cool.
R: Because everybody is, "Well, my parents and his parents are like, what can we bring? What can we bring?" I'm like, “Let me let you know in a day or two.” Love it.
CM: Cool. Well, listen, we cannot wait to hear how it goes and we have total faith in you to pull this off. Okay?
KV: You're going to rock it.
R: Thank you both.
CM: So with menu options in hand, Rachel went off to plan and execute a delicious meal with impeccable vibes. After another short break, we'll hear how it went. Rachel, how are you?
R: I'm well, how are you?
CM: I'm all right. I'm joined here again by Kendra.
KV: Hi, Rachel.
R: Hi.
CM: Let's get into it. Word is that you had a tough time deciding on what to make for the main, the galette or the lasagna. Tell me about the decision and kind of where you ended up.
R: Yes. So I'm a huge over thinker, and I really agonized over this because I heard the lasagna recipe and I was like, "Well, it is pasta. It's pretty safe. I know everybody would find it delicious, but the galette feels a little bit more like me and my personality cooking, but the lasagna is a little bit more autumnal, so we're welcoming in the fall, and then the galette's more like saying goodbye to summer." It was absolutely absurd, but it came down to... I actually, it's so crazy. I had a dream.
KV: I'm obsessed with the direction this is going. I had a tarot card reading.
R: Yes, because even my subconscious mind over thinks, but in my dream, I made the lasagna, and so I woke up and I thought that that was the direction I was going to go, and I also was a little bit worried still about picky eaters and mushrooms, so I decided to make the lasagna.
KV: Wow. So funny that I could incept your dreams.
R: Yeah.
CM: Yes. Now, what did you do around the lasagna? What did you end up making with it?
R: Yes, so I did a super simple side salad. Like we said, I did arugula with plums and cucumbers and the dressing.
KV: Yum.
R: The dressing, I kind of felt was the unsung hero of the evening. It didn't really get that much attention, but it was so nice and it was so balanced and also it didn't separate at all, and I had it in the fridge for several days, which I found was really impressive.
KV: Very cool.
R: So I did simple salad, and then I made the cake recipe.
CM: Did you?
R: For dessert, yes.
CM: Did you make it that same day or did you make it in advance? How did you attack it?
R: Yeah, I made the cakes the day before. I actually also did part of the lasagna the day before.
And then mostly did assembly the day of, and I'm really glad that I split everything up over two days because it ended up being a lot of time in the kitchen.
KV: Yeah.
CM: Yeah. Yeah. That's fair.
KV: Wow. I'm so proud of you. You did so many things.
R: Yeah, it was really fun. It was actually a whole lot of stuff that I was not super experienced in doing because I don't usually cook with a lot of dairy. So making a bechamel was new. I never made a chiffon cake, making whipped cream. A bunch of these things I wasn't experienced in and for example, the bechamel, the recipe said it was supposed to come together in 10 minutes, but it felt like it took maybe 40 minutes for it to get thick, and I was like, "I must be messing it up."
CM: Well, I guess it's sort of depends on how much heat you apply.
KV: Exactly. Yeah.
CM: You can kind of get there quickly or you can take a long time to sort of reach the same end point potentially.
R: Yeah.
KV: I think as long as you're going off of your visual cues, it's like the destination, not the journey type of vibe. As long as you get to where you need to go. Maybe it took a little bit of extra time, but you got there.
R: Right. Yeah. I mentioned I'm not really a recipe follower, but I was trying really hard to follow these recipes.
KV: Yeah.
R: Then I felt like I was going rogue, making this bechamel for way longer than it said, but I had no choice.
CM: Was there anything surprising or positive though, that came out of following these recipes pretty precisely?
R: The amounts. It was exactly the right amount of squash, exactly my right amount of broccoli rabe. There was kind of no guessing. I didn't feel like I had to adjust things. I would taste one element at a time, and I was like, "Oh, yeah, they did a good job developing that recipe," I wouldn't have to wonder, should I add a little more here or should I hold off?
KV: Sure.
R: So in some ways it was a little bit easier and definitely for the baking, because I know that's way more about being precise. So that was nice that I could just trust that and have faith that it was going to turn out.
KV: Did you have a good time with this chiffon cake? I find this recipe so nice, the actual cake part. I feel so calm making it. It's something about the folding in of the whipped egg and it being oil and not butter. It just feels really so nice and light to me.
R: Yes, I totally agree.
CM: I am just staggered that you feel way. I feel like the flour comes out and you're already off-roading as soon as I'm measuring, weighing and trying to do all that. But also think about all the other considerations you had going on here, Rachel. Well, I understand we have some photos. Michelle, you're going to send those to us? Yeah.
KV: Okay. Here. Oh, my God.
CM: Ooh. I'm seeing a top-down of the lasagna, just looking like its absolute best self. It looks like you kind of cut this, but it's so oozy and melty that even post-scoring with a knife, the cheese has sort of oozed and flowed back into those score marks.
KV: Looks really good.
CM: The edges of the noodles look frilly.
KV: I know, it looks so nice.
CM: Lacy with that burnished bechamel on top. It's just like.… Listen, I get that starch and dairy aren't necessarily the answer to every single problem, but there are a lot of things that they can fix.
R: Yeah.
KV: Also, this cake is stunning. You did such a good job on this cake.
CM: Oh.
R: Oh, thank you. I used a Ziploc bag as my icing.
KV: Hell, yeah. That's all I ever do. Piping bags are for the weak. You got to just use a Ziploc.
R: Yep.
KV: I would've sworn that you had used an actual piping tip because they're really even. You've got some really nice decorative kind of twirly swirlies kind of going all around the outer circumference of the top of the cake with gorgeous raspberries, plump, just sort of sitting right inside that ring of piped frosting, and then the crushed, the dehydrated raspberries just kind of crumbled and crushed and scattered all over everything. Wow.
R: Yeah. That felt like the secret weapon, the freeze-dried raspberries. They were, one, really delicious, and two, just gorgeous, and just sprinkling them on top immediately made it look very, very beautiful.
CM: So, I would've said, we've talked about freeze-dried fruit a lot as a brand over many years. This was still new information to you, Rachel?
R: Yeah, it was cool too, because part of making the cream was making the raspberry sugar, and right there, I felt like I was in a bakery making that.
CM: Yeah.
R: It was so easy. It was just in the food processor.
KV: Yeah.
CM: Totally.
KV: And it turns this gorgeous color.
CM: What do we call that? That's not fuchsia.
KV: No. That's like a-
CM: It's a hot pink.
KV: It's like if millennial pink picked itself up a little bit.
CM: Yeah, yeah.
R: Yeah, and it looked like artificial, but the flavor was so natural because obviously it literally was just raspberries.
KV: Yeah.
CM: So, okay. We've talked a lot about the food that was only going to be half of the story here. So take me there. It's just before the dinner party. Prep is done, lasagna is in the oven, your guests are about to arrive. How are you and your boyfriend feeling?
R: A little bit nervous, but mostly excited. Everything looked really beautiful, and our logic brains were telling us that it was going to be really fun and easy and nice, and it was just the little stomach butterflies that were being illogical. But everyone came over and had a super nice time. Immediately they were hitting it off, and dinner was a really nice icebreaker. Like I said, it took a long time and it kind of looked like it took a long time, which was just nice in the sense that it was obvious that we put a lot of thought into the evening, which made everyone feel really appreciated, and it made the night feel very special.
It was really funny. At one moment, I was asked where the recipes came from, and so I was telling them that it was coming from Bon Appétit. And before I had an opportunity to explain the situation, my partner's mom was like, "Wow, you should send these pictures to Bon Appétit. That could be on the cover." I was like, "Don't worry. I sure will."
KV: I love it.
R: But it was so nice. It was a really nice evening.
KV: Oh, I'm so glad.
CM: Did anything surprising come from this and from getting everyone together?
R: I think I was very unsurprised in the way that everybody got along and felt like they'd been friends for a long time. Maybe I was a little bit surprised that the embarrassing middle school videos of me had to come out.
CM: Whoa.
R: Yeah, after putting in so much effort to make a delicious meal, that felt a little uncalled-for.
KV: You didn't deserve it. Yeah. Absolutely not. You did not deserve that.
CM: Wait, did your boyfriend have embarrassing videos of him shown as part of the PowerPoint part of the evening?
R: It would not have been fair. No.
CM: No. This is just a little flourish of your parents, huh?
KV: Just a one-way, embarrassment train. We love to see it.
R: Yeah. But it was okay. I was happy to be the butt of the joke at the expense of everybody bonding.
KV: Yeah, I hear you.
CM: Wow. And did the folks on the squad who maybe were of sort of the choosier persuasion, AKA, the pickier eaters in the group, did they still enjoy everything?
R: Yes, and actually my partner explicitly called over his mother, who's probably the most particular eater to face-to-face ask her what she thought of everything. She said that everything was really, really delicious and enjoyed the whole entire meal. So that was really nice.
CM: Oh, man.
KV: I love that.
CM: I mean, this all seemed a little bit fraught, but of course it worked out just fine. I'm curious, what are things going to be like going forward? Do you envision another meetup of the parents? What is this going to look like as you sort of proceed from here?
R: Hopefully we'll have many more meetups like this. So I hope that this was kind of just the icebreaker and now everybody's getting to know each other. I heard they were texting one another after they exchanged numbers.
KV: Oh, sweet.
CM: Whoa.
R: Yeah, I'll definitely be hosting everybody over again. Maybe next time I'll do brunch, so that I can just cook eggs and call it a day.
KV: Oh. Yeah. Nice.
CM: Amazing.
KV: Love it.
CM: Yeah. Well, listen for part two, we're ready to talk brunch anytime.
R: Okay. Sounds amazing.
CM: If you have a dinner emergency on your hands, write to us at dinnersos@bonappetit.com or leave us a voice message at 212-286-SOS1. That's 212-286-7071. We'd love to feature your question on the show.
If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a rating and review on your podcast app of choice and hit that follow button so you never miss an episode. You can find the recipes mentioned today on the Epicurious app, brought to you by Condé Nast. Just search Epicurious in the app store and download today.
Thanks for listening to Dinner SOS. I'm your host, Chris Morocco. My co-host this week is Kendra Vaculin. Our senior producer is Michele O'Brien. Peyton Hayes is our associate producer. Cameron Foos is our assistant producer. Jake Lummus and Pran Bandi are our studio engineers. This episode was mixed by Amar Lal at Macro Sound. Chloe Prasinos is our consulting editor. Jordan Bell is our executive producer. Chris Bannon is Condé Nast's head of global audio.
Next week. We get questioned all the time from listeners who are dealing with medical issues that impact what they can and can't eat, but we don't always have the expertise to solve those SOSes. So we tapped a registered dietician who does.
Desiree: There is no diagnosis on the planet that can get in the way of enjoying food and maintaining a good relationship with food. It's all in how you approach it.