Are you allowed in the kitchen?

[cgallery]

Rnelson's post about getting all his tools out to start a project, only to have his wife call and tell him it is time to start dinner, got me to thinking...

I'm not actually allowed to cook. I'm not allowed to touch things in the kitchen.

The straw that apparently broke the camel's back was when I insisted that I could make fudge by melting a giant chocolate bar and adding vanilla ice cream (I had heard about this on a radio show).

I used my wife's antique earthen bowl. She never used it, but it seemed perfect for this task.

I put a melted giant chocolate bar in it, with a 1/2 gallon of ice cream, but it was a little too soupy. I decided to give up and put it in the refrigerator for my wife to deal with later.

Only, when she removed the bowl from the refrigerator, it had cracked perfectly at the level where the molten chocolate was. It was kinda kewl, but she wasn't impressed.

So she doesn't ask me to do any cooking, which is just fine by me.

[Incidentally, I did later make actual fudge w/ ice cream and melted chocolate. I learned that you have to slowly add the ice cream until you get the consistency you want. Several people tried it and did confirm that they couldn't tell the difference between my fudge and fudge made w/ the marshmallow fluff stuff.]

So, can you cook?

[LCHIEN]

that's what my cousin calls defensive negligence.
You don't want to cook, then try once and leave a mess and a trail of damaged equipment behind and you'll be disallowed from the kitchen. Show too good an aptitude and you'll be cooking all the time.

My father actually grew up in a well-to-do household in China. THey had staff in the kitchen. I think he told me he was not allowed in the kitchen and when he left home at 18 he had never ever set foot in the kitchen. Which explains his cooking skills.

He also had an Austin Healey. I think his father told him he should not be driving himself... so he had a chauffuer. The car was a 2-seater.

[Ed62]

LOML knows better than to let me do the cooking. I can make toast, oatmeal, fry bacon, make burgers. Anything more than that, and she's taking a huge risk. One day I made a meatloaf. My high school aged daughter, at the time, had a friend over for dinner. He commented on my "onion bread".

Ed

[poolhound]

Actually I can cook and although I am allowed in the kitchen its invariably for washing up duty.

[mschrank]

You don't want to cook, then try once and leave a mess and a trail of damaged equipment behind and you'll be disallowed from the kitchen. Show too good an aptitude and you'll be cooking all the time

This is how my wife fooled me into doing all the cooking. She is allowed to use one fry pan to make her scrambled eggs in the morning, and occasionally she will make microwave mac 'n cheese for the kids.

I actually enjoy cooking...or used to. I enjoyed it before I was married and used it to impress and woo women. Now that I'm expected to cook for a family, where nobody likes the same things, it's lost it's appeal.

[jackellis]

I got by just fine as a bachelor and I get along fine when my wife is away. She cooks a wider variety of foods than I would for myself but I can follow a recipe and I probably make less mess.

Since my wife is a perfectionist and I usually do not cook to her standard, I have largely given up doing so in the kitchen. The barbecue, however, is mine and she heaps lots of praise on my outdoor cooking, so I guess I cannot complain.

I'm allowed in the kitchen unless she's cooking, in which case I'm told, sometimes not too politely, to leave.

[Tom Slick]

It's usually the other way around for me. Is anyone else but me allowed in the kitchen would be the question at my house.

[cwithboat]

Oh, I am allowed in the kitchen. When we were in the big house with the kids, the dog and a couple of cats, I was never unattended. Now, sans, kids and dog I still seem to be accompanied, whether I and making a sandwich or a cup of soup or something more complex, there is always some creature (wife or cat) hanging around. Of course that's not unusual, today while repairing a toilet I had a cat supervising the procedure. Same thing, I guess.

[Popeye]

Being separated for four years it's either cook, eat out or go hungry. I'm more than capable of cooking, but mind you the Food Network isn't after me for a new show. It really depends on how tired I am. Tonight was a KFC night. Pat

[Schleeper]

Breakfast is my domain; otherwise, I pretty much steer clear until LOML interrupts whatever project I'm working on to tell me chow's ready. Exceptions: grilling outdoors, baking bread, and making pizza with homemade dough.

[Whaler]

I love to cook and have always had free reign in the kitchen. Now that i live in a retirement complex with a gourmet cook there is no reason to cook. It's a bummer as I can't show off to my new wife. No dishes or pots and pans to clean though.

[footprintsinconc]

both my parents can cook. my mother did most of the cooking, however, when ever my father was around and were chilling around, he would do the cooking. he loved making traditional pakistani sweets (his father had a shop when they were young).

so i never ever cooked. we were required to clean up and stuff like that, but i never liked cooking, so i never learned. the only thing i can cook is scrambled eggs. now that i am married, i have never cooked. may scrambled eggs a couple of times. however, my wife is amazing when it comes to cooking. mainly traditional food, but she makes other non-pakistani dishes but with a traditional twist to them (got to have those spices).

when i was bachelor for a short time after our son was born, for like 9 months, i tried cooking a few times but with no success, so i lived off of salads, grilled/baked meat. i actually lost some weight (that my wifes cooking had put on me) and it was amazing. but when she returned, the weight returned too.

[jonmulzer]

It's usually the other way around for me. Is anyone else but me allowed in the kitchen would be the question at my house.

Same here. My girlfriend's family commented once that they were glad she found me because she can burn water. I love Food Network and make some wonderful food if I do say so myself. This Saturday we had her brother, sis-in-law and their kids over for dinner. Traditional style lasagna, homemade garlic bread, homemade wine, salad and tres leche cake for dessert. Everything turned out great but the most praise was heaped on the cake. If anyone has never had it, they really need to try it.

[Uncle Cracker]

I am encouraged to be in the kitchen, as I am as at home there as I am in the shop (although to look at me, one would think I spend much more time in the kitchen than the shop ). For me, cooking is a Zen kind of thing. I do it to clear my head.

[Black wallnut]

In our house we share the cooking duties, although LOML gets far more of it than her share. After 13 years my sweetness is even getting pretty good at it. There are times where I give her instructions on how exactly to cook something. Thankfully she has also stated asking a guy at the supermarket meat counter for cooking advice on items that I like to eat but have never learned to cook.

On weekends I sometimes make breakfast for myself and the kids if they have not already had cereal. With SWMBO's work schedule I am having to cook far more than I really care too.