I am currently facing a small dilemma. I’ve been convinced (forced) to cook for my parents on Sunday night as I have to go back there for Christmas day.

Now the combination of having a food blog and the fact i’ve i’ve been moaning about their cooking for years means I can’t do anything too simple. Unfortunately my family’s peculiarites mean that there are a lot of  other things to consider too.

1. Mum wants something exciting 
2. Mum would  like fish. She also thinks she might be intolerant to red meat and poultry as she hasn’t eaten it for so long.
3. The only animal protein Dad will eat is fish. At least that ties in with 1), and 2).
4. Dad sometimes goes on guilt trips when eating fish. Therefore any fish presented whole/ anything I have to kill myself/anything that reminds him he is eating an animal is out.
5. Dad is bored of sri lankan/Indian curries.
6. Dad hates couscous.
7. Dad is very wary of pasta unless it’s served to him by an Italian.
8. Dad gets a bit worried by things he hasn’t seen before and tends to say things like “those don’t go together”.
9. Dad hates olives and anything with an aniseed flavour. Also he’s not keen on strong and blue cheeses.
10. My cousin (Gimhani, 21 yrs old) will be with us. She seems ok with most things but refused to eat cherry sauce with duck last Easter, so I suppose ’sweet’ fruit based sauces are out.
11. I would just like to get a pleasant 3 course meal together. I’d prefer fish to purely veggie in the main, as would my mother and cousin but with Dad to please we will probably concede. Oh yeah, he doesn’t like the idea of a nut roast either (plus I don’t know how to make one).

Anybody have ANY ideas?