Something uncooked

Okay, So i have this friend. My sweet perfume D.V.D. friend. I invited said friend over to cook today. (I know, you are thinking, how in the world do you get the courage to invite a friend over to cook in your non-air conditioned kitchen in 100 degree heat in June?) But, I did. So, we planned it all out. I was going to have her over and teach her how to make this one Turkish food that I know how to make and she doesn't. She is always laughing because she says that I'm like a Turk because me and my roommate are forever getting our language helper to teach us to cook Turkish things. We were both really excited. She's really sweet and we've been planning to cook together, but putting it off for months now. She asked off work for the afternoon. I went to the store this morning and got all the ingredients we needed. I had a recipe on hand from my other Turkish friend, who actually taught me to make the aforementioned food. I've made it before. It's my favorite. Delicious. I'm sure I'll make it for some of you when I get home. My mouth is watering thinking about it.
Where is this all leading, you ask? Well, my friend came over today and I whipped out my recipe card--which I painstakingly collected the last time I had made the food, because usually they don't measure when they cook. The recipe card, I will give you that it was a bit odd for my friend. I lost her vote of confident right then and there. (Mistake #1 on my part--but I didn't have time to memorize it!) They don't use recipes. They use generalizations. A water glass of this, several spoons of this spice, some oil, etc. I happened to need the card. I wanted it to be exactly like my friend and I made it.) So, I got this one ingredient (we'll call it Ingredient A--I'm not sure what it is in English) out of the fridge and get our bowls and pots ready. My friend looks at me and conversation goes something like the followings:

her: Are we going to use Ingredient A?
me: Yes, my friends' recipe calls for it.
her: No, there is no Ingredient A in the food we're making...
me: Okay, but I've made it before and eaten it several times made by my friend who gave me the recipe with Ingredient A in it. It's delicious and tastes like ever other time I've had the dish. I think we should just try the recipe with Ingredient A. I have bought everything for it.
her: No, she firmly says, let's not make it. We can't make it. My mother can make it better than us. Should I call her and get her to verify your recipe for us? We should have invited her over to make it for us.
me: Well, come on, let 's just try it. I think it'll be great with the recipe I have, surely there is more than one way to make the dish--(especially the way they throw ingredients in without measuring, I'm thinking.)
her: No, we don't know how to make it. We can't make it. Let's make something else. My mother will make that other food for us some other time.
me: I don't have all the ingredients for this new food (that we hadn't planned on making)
her: Doesn't matter, what do you have? What you don't have enough of, go ask the neighbors for some...

So, one trip to the neighbors later, I realized my afternoon activity and dinner party were not going to go quite like I had planned. I didn't totally love what she cooked for us (she would not let me help, even though she confessed that she never cooks at home and wasn't sure it would be good!!!). Maybe I was just looking forward to what I thought was going to be on the menu. I was a bit offended at first, but then I just laughed and thought, welcome to my life here. Obviously, I can't be the expert on Turkish food and my recipe cannot be trusted for I am not a Turk. Welcome to flexibility and humility.
But, p.s. if you're ever invited over to dinner to my house...for future reference, eat what I cook for you and pretend to like it. (smile). I'm okay with this being the cultural norm where I'm from.