<p>momof3sons, I was wondering whether kosher meat would be acceptable. I will ask that, and post here if I am going to look for kosher food, and I would appreciate your suggestions. Sunday morning is fine. I am leaning toward the salmon at the moment, but may change my mind.</p>
<p>NYMom, when it is too rainy to grill outside I bake salmon either on a cedar plank or in a corning glass dish. I sprinkle a salmon fillet with lemon pepper, a dash of oregano and dill, place a row of lemon rings in the middle of the fillet and bake it in a 425-degree oven until the juices are clear (15-20 min depending on the thickness). This works great even with the farmed salmon from Costco!</p>
<p>Two salmon recipes that I have used:</p>
<p>[Grilled</a> Cedar Plank Salmon with Yellow Pepper Saffron Sauce Recipe : Bobby Flay : Food Network](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/grilled-cedar-plank-salmon-with-yellow-pepper-saffron-sauce-recipe/index.html]Grilled”>http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/grilled-cedar-plank-salmon-with-yellow-pepper-saffron-sauce-recipe/index.html)</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>[Cedar</a> Plank-Grilled Salmon with Cilantro Pesto Recipe : : Food Network](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/cedar-plank-grilled-salmon-with-cilantro-pesto-recipe/index.html]Cedar”>http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/cedar-plank-grilled-salmon-with-cilantro-pesto-recipe/index.html)</p>
<p>I grilled steak yesterday and ribs in the rain the day before. I admit though that not everyone is as crazy as me. It was a little chilly out there!</p>
<p>I have all the information, and have placed an order with FreshDirect. The students who are Muslim can eat kosher chicken, fish is fine, cheese/dairy are fine. So I will serve:</p>
<p>cheese/cracker/bread platter before dinner</p>
<p>Broiled Salmon with Parmesan Cheese Grits (cookinglight.com; I have made this many times before)</p>
<p>Roasted Kosher chicken with lemon and thyme</p>
<p>roasted asparagus </p>
<p>roasted sweet potatoes with cumin/pepper/salt</p>
<p>apple-cranberry crisp</p>
<p>chocolate cake (ordered from FreshDirect)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your help! </p>
<p>One unbelievable fact - there is a halal restaurant/market right across the street from the small college in the tiny southern town where these students go to school. I had assumed that they would have nothing within hundreds of miles, and wondered how they managed. And here, right outside NYC, there is nothing within a reasonable distance.</p>
<p>What time should I show up and are you sure I can’t bring anything :)</p>
<p>It sounds really good and please let us know how it goes over…</p>
<p>Sounds delicious!</p>
<p>NYMomof 2, How thoughtful you are to go to such trouble to welcome these students and respect their dietary/cultural restrictions. With your generous spirit it’s clear they will have a lovely time. I hope you do, too!</p>
<p>Thank you for the kind words, zipyourlips! scualum, I expect them sometime after 5, and you are welcome! You’ll have to bring your own chair, though, I am scrambling to find seating for 13 (there are now 9 guests in total - another student was added yesterday). </p>
<p>I am really looking forward to this, now that I’ve figured out the food, and my sons are very excited. S1 is quite close to the nephew who is bringing the crew - they are more or less soulmates, despite the 10 years age difference. S2 is excited to see his cousin, and even more excited to meet people from several different countries. Geography has been his passion since he was a toddler and slept with his globe. He spends hours each week poring over his atlas. I just hope he doesn’t wear them out with his barrage of questions.</p>
<p>I love the menu. Have fun!</p>
<p>The students were delightful - I only wish we’d had more time with them. As it turned out, 10 people arrived - one had joined the trip at the last minute. They were starving after their long trip, and I was glad I’d prepared plenty of food - 7 lbs of salmon, 3 large kosher chickens, quartered, platters of vegetables, cheese and crackers before dinner, two desserts. There was very little left. S2, the geography buff, was thrilled at having so many people from different countries to answer his many questions - I don’t think any two of them were from the same country - most were from the middle east or northern Africa. At one point they turned the tables on him and quizzed him about their various countries. He was able to answer all the questions except one - at one point they made up a country and asked him about it! He was baffled, it was very cute. They were very impressed, because many of them are used to Americans never having heard of their country at all. We had to rush at the end to get them to the last reasonable train to NYC, where they had reservations at a youth hostel. They were very sweet and thanked us effusively for the meal and hospitality. My nephew (my favorite nephew, and S1’s soulmate) has clearly gained in maturity and was very comfortable in his role as shepherd of these younger students (he is in his mid-20’s) - I believe that all of them are newly arrived here this fall - they seemed very young. </p>
<p>Thank you all, again, for helping me prepare for the visit!</p>
<p>NYMomof2, thanks for the update! If you had very little food left, it sounds like you made the perfect selections!</p>
<p>Yes, I was happy that not every scrap disappeared - there was one chicken quarter, a couple of pieces of salmon, a few straggling vegetables - because then I would worry that they had not had enough. As it was, unless they were too polite to take the last portions, or worried about being old maids or the male equivalent, I had just the right amount. Actually, FreshDirect sent more than I had ordered in the way of salmon poundage, and the chickens were enormous, so I probably did not order quite enough, and FreshDirect saved me!</p>
<p>It sounds like you had a great meal and a wonderful evening!</p>
<p>And I’m taking notes, planning Christmas dinner for an as-yet unknown number of young airmen who are here in Germany and far from home for the holidays. I’m leaning toward your main dish choices, some roasted veggies, a few other sides and a good variety of desserts and cookies.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, I’m happy to hear that the dinner was a success!</p>
<p>How nice of you to entertain the troops, ReneeV! It must be so hard to be far away from home at this time of year. I am sure that your dinner will go beautifully!</p>
<p>NYMo2 - If only we had a FreshDirect! The salmon at the store down the street is very good, and if I can’t find nice big chickens I’ll get a small turkey…and I was talking about the menu as I read through this thread and H said a spiral ham would be good, too. So I just emailed the one guy we know of so far that is coming and told him I hoped he would bring some hungry friends. </p>
<p>Our D is coming in two days, and several of her friends from high school will be back home as well, so I’m sure we’ll find a way to deal with leftovers.</p>
<p>NYMOM—thanks for being a good will ambassador! I always go way out of my way to invite foreign students over for dinner. I studied abroad myself and was an exchange student while in high school and know that one good meal with a loving family makes all the difference in the world!</p>