I wonder if we’ll ever hear from the OP again.
@mathmom, that is hilarious. I’d had jellyfish before that was fried so it was somewhat crispy and it was edible. But, the preparation at the Fukienese restaurant was inedible. The sad thing was that I was being entertained by a construction magnate whose family was from Fukien province. He said this was the best Fukienese restaurant in HK and he ordered the special dishes. I have been to many fine restaurants in HK. Haven’t been back to that one.
Sea urchin (I think that is what it is) sushi or sashimi is pretty bad. Don’t love the consistency and worse taste than jellyfish. I just looked it up and the sushi called uni is sea urchin’s gonads. I wasn’t going to order again anyway, but that knocks it further down the list.
@oregon101 – I’m appalled that someone knew you were vegetarian but served you disguised crab. Does she not know that crabs are animals, which vegetarians don’t eat? 
hi@-thanks for all the suggestions. so we went over there on Saturday and she made short ribs which were literally covered with a an inch or two of fat and then they were served in a sauce that was an inch of fat swimming on the top. I pushed the fat away to try and find some shreds of meat … And then I ate the wedge salad we had made. Her husband always cleans his plate but, if left to his own devices he will eat chicken wings and fried catfish. They are really great people - generous and kind- it’s just the food has become so inedible !! We be decided to try as some suggested and become " vegetarians " for the next few months ! I’ll keep you posted how it goes-. Also the restaurants around where we live aren’t very good. My husband and I go into the city whenever we want to eat out0, but they won’t go with us because she travels every week for her job and he doesn’t particularly like to eat out- he feels it’s not good value unless the proportions are huge. Sigh…,
Becoming a vegetarian sounds like a good idea. I am not an adventurous eater, so if I ended up having someone order for me in Hong Kong I think I would become a vegetarian too!
Four seasons at Mexico City used to be my favorite place for brunch. I could be there for 3+ hours in their court yard drinking champagne as part of their all inclusive. Jelly fish is also one of my favorite appetizers.
Jellyfish is often sliced thin and served on cold appetizer platters at fancier Chinese dinners in HI. It’s crunchy/rubbery, not gushy. The important thing is to have a good sauce on it, which is often a bit spicy. I’ve never prepared it myself but have enjoyed it when it was part of the appetizer platter. I’m not sure I would try it if it was gushy–that texture does not appeal to me.
garland, thanks for the support. Somewhere in my 35 years of eating as a solid vegetarian/vegan I accepted that eating some fish in some situations was the only way I would get anything to eat. We lived in a little town for 5 years and although it was 1980 the only thing a restaurant had was nachos or a baked potato.
An entire week of my pregnancy MIL served me baked potatoes, overcooked vegetable and salad. Night after night, lunch after lunch when she cooked. One evening they were having a bbq and she intended to serve me salad. H never stood up to his mom but this time he did talk with her and her response was that we could buy fish if we wanted. When we told her we had she said, (ugly tone) “I thought you would”. Her other solution is to have me cook on their rotation more nights than anyone else.
But my favorite is the dinner where she was serving 7 bratwurst to 9 people at the lake cottage.
4 were vegetarian. 2 were men who had been cutting trees since 6 a.m. 2 did not eat bratwurst.
She was furious with me when I quietly made a double batch of a great potato dish made with cottage cheese. She actually told me that I needed to know they had a system. I was way over her by then.
But the incident H and I still groan about is that with her bratwurst she made a raw onion and raw cauliflower salad and her nose dripped into it. H got her a kleenex and wiped her nose.
There was not even a tablespoon left of my dish and she was clearly annoyed. She did not serve the buns because I made my food.
She is actively dying right now and her family is building her quite the throne.
But this is a both a food rant and a mother-in-law rant!
OP, ick on the fat. We have wonderful friends and she is a terrible cook. She uses no seasoning of
any kind. She cooks bottom feeder fish, serves cold bay shrimp on an avocado with no sauce.
Just so difficult. Over the years I have often brought the main dish. Or great sides. I have given her
two sets of salt and pepper shakers and ask for them after I taste the food. Our house is the number
one place their family likes to eat, although they are super picky. It takes a lot of creativity to cook for them and I make double. The relationship is worth terrible food. She recently told me she is a great cook. =(( . Somehow this year her Thanksgiving food was not half bad.
There’s a difference between preferring food that’s fully cooked and preferring only dishes that were made from scratch with organic ingredients. “It’s not just that she sees no difference between better cuts of meat and organic…” is an opinion that speaks volumes. If your portions of meat are undercooked, tell your friend that you and your spouse prefer well done meat and ask to put them back on the stove for a few minutes. Better yet, tell her before the next dinner so she can cook it that way. But if the food is just not up to your “fresh picked, made from scratch” standards, either quietly eat it or quit insulting your friend by accepting her invitations and then criticizing her efforts to please you.
OP, thanks for clarifying that going out to restaurants is off the table. I think saying you are vegetarian works fine! Continue to bring a dish to share, and have a bite before you go. What a hassle! Do you ever entertain over at your place?
Ok as former vegetarian for 35 years I can tell you that some people make disgusting dishes without
meat. It is super easy to just add tons of cheese, make a super dry nut loaf (as I did once for Thansgiving 
) and overcook vegetables.
You may not die from it like meat but you might choke to death.