what a surprise..it has started!

[momager1]

long story, short.
husband and I took early retirement and sold our home in Canada. 7 weeks ago we moved to a condo that we had purchased previously (for our retirement) In Dominican Republic. 3 min walk to gorgeous bavaro beach, lots of quirky little eateries, Small condo complex but upscale with two large pools and 2 bbq gazebos with included gas bbqs and dining tables for the owners to use. SURPRISE. 3 couples that we have not had alot of socializing with have all sent messages this week. 1 looking to stay a week in august, 1 a week in October, and the other couple want to bring their two kids over CHRISTMAS!! I need to figure out a good response to them all. I did want to message back FUCK OFF but my husband thought it was a bit harsh haha. Couple one have always been good hosts as have we on the rare occasion that we have been in each others house ( and good dinner guests, including asking what they can bring and when i say nothing, they showed up with flowers and two bottles of wine as they didn't know what i was cooking, so a red and a white) Couple Two. had them over for a bbq once. nice enough people that lived in our culdesac, but showed up empty handed and then asked for some of the leftovers as she didn't have time to make anything for their packed lunches the next day (it was a lunch bbq over at 5 pm) Couple three. JUST NO. In the message they sent they said that they know it is just two bedrooms two baths, but the kids could sleep in the livingroom and share THEIR bathroom. And they were so looking forward to my cooking for the week as they are not in a position to eat out much !! ( I am a NOW RETIRED restaurant owning chef. NO NOPE NOPITY NOPE.
So. How do I word my messages back to them that does not include FUCK OFF ?

@innerspace I am fine thank you so much. I got home here last night. I am just getting caught up on some stuff. I will post mars bar cheesecake tomorrow. Also update on cf #2

We’d love an update when you feel you are rested enough!

Sorry to hear your news. 😣 Thank you for the recipe.

Sorry for your loss. And thanks for the recipe

So sorry for your loss and thanks for the recipe

So sorry for your loss. Even the worst of mums are still the only ones we have and their loss is felt in many different ways. Big hugs to you ❤️

I am sorry for your loss @momager1

how about Piss off?
Bog off?

Thank you for the update, especially as you must be knackard!
Good on your for keeping your promise to your Dad, I'm sure he would have appreciated it 💛

Sorry you had a stressful week - hope you feel peace that you did what your dad would have wanted. Well done you - I hope you booked in to the house of one of these cheeky 3 for free while you were there, and they waited on you...? 🙃

Lasagna noodles! Well, that's new to me, here in the UK we use rectangular sheets of flat pasta (lasagna sheets) - I'm assuming that would work ok too? Thank you for the recipe, I'll give it a go!

Look forward to hearing about #2!

@allhailthebrain I think that @momager1 is using North American terminology - they tend to say “noodles” where we’d (UK) say “pasta”.

When I googled "italian sausage" Wikipedia confirmed, as I suspected, that this means something different in North America than it does in the UK, more like our ordinary pork sausage, often with aniseed flavour. OTOH Italian sausage to me means salami.

Any "bi-lingual" Mumsnetters able to advise?

Sorry for your loss, OP, and thanks for updating.

M and S do an 'Italian style sausage'. No idea if they would be similar to the ones op uses?

Scotland has a large Italian community and you can buy Italian sausage here from the Italian delis. They're nothing like salami - for a start they're not cooked/cured

They're near enough 100% meat with no rusk/filler (unlike most UK sausages ), are nice and chunky and usually have fennel seeds as an additional flavouring. Our local deli also sells spicy Italian sausage which has added chilli

Never thought to use them in lasagne - they're lovely crumbled on pizza or in pasta or sliced in chunks in a tomato sauce on spaghetti or baked whole (in various sauces) my favourite when I'm eating at Sarti's, our best local Italian restaurant

I'm sure that there will be similar suppliers of Italian sausage in England and Wales - and given the Tayto discussion on thf island of Ireland.

I use the spicy ones to make a sausage penne pasta sauce loosely based to a River Cafe recipe. Very quick and easy

Sorry about your Mum, thanks for the recipe

Welcome back to mn @momager1
It was good of you yo keep your promise to your dad under them circumstances.
When you say
Otherwise 3 jars or cans at about 24 oz each.
Is this a basic ragu sauce or something a bit more fancy ?

I am looking forward to the CF updates once you are well rested .

ok.. so Italian sausage. If you can not get it.. just use a same amount of big breakfast bangers. Add in just a touch of italian season to meat.. or if you don't have that, a little oregano season, garlic powder and a very small pinch of paprika. as for the jars of sauce. ragu would do just fine. ( I make my own , but it is a faff for just one tray, I was making aprox 80 servings at a time so worth it.) now here in Dominican, I am just using a store bought sauce and ramping it up.

What happened with CF 2, @momager1 ?

@FelisCatus0 omg . where do I start? So I was up in canada, they knew I was there as I stopped in the restaurant a couple of times. they came by the home I was staying at (not one of the cf's lmao ) because they just wanted to let me know that they were understanding of my situation BUT what about if they came in the spring? would that give me more time to settle in? I was blunt (no husband to stop me , he was back here in Punta Cana) I told them.. SERIOUSLY.. I said NO, how desperate do you have to be for a free holiday that you did not understand my first NO. (my daughter and my friend, both said I am a bitch. but an effective bitch.) #2 has now removed me from their social media. aww ..sitting here in tears ........ NOT lol

So pleased you scraped off the CF’s. I lived in the Netherlands for many years. As the Dutch love to say about themselves, you weren’t rude, you were DIRECT. Anyway, they forced your hand.
About your mum… I understand. Mine was a horrible person too. When she died I actually became very traumatised about the unfairness of it all and the mother I never had, etc. (A lot of other things had happened at the same time too…) Anyhow, if it all sneaks up on you, I highly recommend EMDR therapy to desensitize quickly. (Although beach walks with doggies and sunset cocktails also therapeutic!)
Big hugs!

Sometimes you are left with no choice but to be blunt like that. I don't think it makes someone a bitch at all

Don't think you were a bitch. you were ditect due to the fact they were so thick they didn't understand the 1st message. so needed to be more direct to get it through their thick skulls and in language they understand. Well done. very sorry for you loss.

Thank you for the additional lasagne tips.
Good lord some people are cf of the highest order! Perhaps your friend and DD would like to accommodate the CFers for free for a couple of weeks.

Is your DHs pal still coming over to have a look around ?

@ScottBakula he arrives on Sunday!! I told husband that I am going with girls only to the beach so I need the car and he has to stay home with the dogs. He is good with that (but I am actually going to the airport lol)