Quick question - roast potatoes - vegetable oil or sunflower oil???

[FAQtothefuture]

It's all I have in - which is best?

thanks

yes this was definitely a "black African" family meeting - my goodness I didn't realise how tired I was from it all.

OK it was my lie in this morning, but still I did intend to get up around 9.30 - you know - don't really want the host in bed until all hours of the morning and all that........

Well I remember the alarm going off - but actually got up about 20 minutes ago

Still I've just presented FIL with flapjack and a cup of tea so earned back my brownie points LOL.

and and there was lots of shouting, including SIL2 telling FIL that "none of the children (his grandchildren) care about the chieftanship, or kumusha and they'd only ever go there for brief visits if at all"

Oh god I hate the family meetings. I am usually "busy"

thankfully they don't happen often a slight problem of 5000 miles between FIL and the 3 oldest children - I managed to avoid the first part of it mostly by sorting the dinner out.

But the evening bit was intense.......and I had to bite my lip more than I've ever done in my life - thankfully easier to do when your FIL is spouting nonsense than when your own father is.

I sensed that for many of the "issues" it was a case of just "let the man speak" (and think what ever you like about what he's saying as in reality we're all too far away from him to make any difference LOL).

Respect for your elders means you don't have to agree, but you do have to at least listen and let them feel that you're taking them seriously...?

I miss that actually about home.

oh absolutely - it's a good thing - as DH says - his heart is in the right place - but his mindset it 5000 miles away in a totally different "world" to what we're all living in now.

LOL yes the distance does help with that! Though sad that they don't get to see much of the dc.

PIL's were splitting up when I was living out there so family meetings were happening most days, it was pretty intense so has probably coloured my view more than a little!

Yup. And unless he's going to mvoe here, it still has lots of meaning to him and, perhaps as importantly, to his friends/acquaintances etc back home. He needs to be able to tell them that he's got itunder control.

ahhh well you see that was one of the things that was thrown at him last night - the possibility of him moving to the UK permanently - over concerns for his safety (he's sporting a huge scar on his head from a car crash just a week before he flew over which nearly killed him - and of course none of us could see/contact him due to appalling communications between here and there), and as he was beaten up quite badly last year (I think maybe the year before - that bit was all in Shona so I was slightly lost). It's highly tense at the moment - and thankfully some bits just fly over my head when it's in Shona - i just sense the tension

(although they did all try very hard to make 95% of it in English so I could follow )

Yes, that's hard. I have Zimbo friends whose families are still out there and it's a constant worry.

Would he consider coming here? It's quite a difficult move for an older person who has spent his whole life in Zim?

I don't know - we appeared to get an agreement from him last night that he wouldn't go back to kumusha (village) to chase the chieftanship.........the location of where away from Kumusha is still up for discussion.

We have another 4 months to persuade him and sort out the visa......

We're hoping being able to spend an extended period of time with 7 of his 8 grandchildren may help to sway him - as alot of what he was ranting/waffling about last night was in relationship his views on him/us working togheter for the greater good of the children....

Time will tell -

In the mean time I'm pottering around doing "wifey" things to keep in with expected culture and norm while poor DH has been stuck in long conversation with him since he got up........DH is a quiet man who likes to spend time just sitting quietly

If I could speak Shona (something I failed miserably to do while living out there and which my oldest SIL categorically gave up on trying to teach me several years back) then I think we'd both be much happier with the roles reversed - him doing the housey/hosty stuff - me doing the talking

I prefer olive oil as it is the healthiest!

I know this has moved on, but if you are doing a roast, use the juices from the meat. Much tastier than veg/sunflower oil.