etiquette questions

» zhaofeyen - need advice

I am an American and I am not Muslim. I am a woman and I have a new woman friend who is Muslim. I am living in the same city as her temporarily, am not married, share a house with other single people (men and a woman- but only a platonic situation), and she is married. I am helping her with something and have come to her house a couple of times. She is very nice and hospitable and has cooked for me. I know she takes great pride in cooking and in making me feel special as her guest. But the problem is that I don't eat meat and haven't for 13 years. Now I have because she cooks me meat (I don't know in advance she is cooking for me) and I don't want to insult her since I am not sure what proper etiquette in this culture is, so I have eaten it. I will be coming over to her house often and she has said she will keep cooking for me. How can I tell her I don't eat meat without hurting her feelings, especially since I have eaten it when she made it. Also, I brought flowers the first time, and she responded the second time with a special gift which was her personal belonging. Do I bring her another gift or just leave it at that? Do I have her over for dinner? I don't usually entertain at my house because it is a shared living environment. She is very nice and I want to continue to be friends. I do not want to trouble her by her having to go to so much work for me whenever I come over, also. Thank you.

-- posted by zhaofeyen

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