I have this thing with Halloween food. My traditional Halloween spread consists of pigs in a blanket, chips, dips, drinks, anything that looks good at the grocery store, and, duh!, candy. Once I decided I was too old to go trick-or-treating, I enjoyed getting dressed up and passing out candy to the cute little kids. Since trick-or-treating falls during dinner time, it's tradition to have a snack buffet on Halloween night.
Being in the fall spirit, and having been invited to attend the midnight showing of Rocky Horror, I was in an entertaining mood that Sunday Halloween in 2004.
My neighbor below me came over and her friends showed up. We were having cocktails and I was obsessed with downloading Rocky Horror songs and printing out the audience participation script so I could brush up on my Rocky Horror.
I threw together a costume by adding a pair of cat ears to my standard Long and Leans, black shirt, and black heels outfit.
I taught my guests how to do the "Time Warp."
Being the good, strong, Southern lady I am, I had to serve hors d'oeuvres. And with it being Halloween, I didn't have to think too hard at all about what to serve.
I went to the grocery store and grabbed cocktail smokies, croissant dough, chips, dip, cookies, crackers, cheese and, of course, beer. So easy.
My Nepalese neighbor popped in and I insisted he stay for a while. I was so proud of myself because I knew he could eat everything I was serving. (Since he is Hindu, he doesn't eat beef.)
Or so I thought. So much so, I even told him the food was beef-less.
'Cause cocktail smokies are pork, right?
Nope. They have beef in them.
I found that out a few weeks later, when my Nepalese neighbor and I were in the grocery store together and he told me it was important for him to read the labels because beef is snuck into a lot of foods. Out of curiosity I checked the cocktail smokies.
Sure enough, beef was one of the ingredients.
Y'all, I felt so bad. Not only did I feel bad for disrespect someone's religious beliefs, I felt like a failure as a hostess.
Thankfully, my Nepalese neighbor is a very Zen Hindu, who said, "It's okay. It was an accident. You didn't know. I didn't know. We are forgiven."
