What's Cookin?

Think of how often you are drawn into a conversation about the differenced between men and women. I’ve blogged about it before, I am But a Man, but I find it amazing how often the differences come to the surface.

Today we will explore the difference in terms of cooking. My wife is an excellent cook, while I am an average cook. She hates to cook, I don’t mind it and it’s better than eating raw food. Often I will cook something like Baked Ziti, (East Coasters living here are now salivating) and I’ll make enough for a couple days of left-overs and some more to freeze.

Generally when I cook I use a minimal amount of tools. Maybe a pot or two, a fork, a knife and perhaps a spatula. I’ve got it down to a science where everything I use will fit in the dish washer with room to spare.

Loading the dishwasher is always my job because I have mastered how to fit things in there for one load. Normal people would need three loads to accomplish the same task.

On days when my wife gets tired of my meal plan she will sequester herself in the kitchen. There is banging and clanking and motors running for hours, and when it finally get’s quiet it’s time to eat. However all that banging and clanking isn’t a good thing as far as I am concerned. This tells me that she is using every pot, pan and tool in the house.

The sink is piled high with mixer blades, bowls, various food processor parts, every sharp blade in the house. There are pots, pans, lids, cutting board all soaking in one sink. In the other sink there are bones, eggshells, vegetable parts, empty containers and all kinds of stuff that have nothing to do with the meal. (By the way I could not find a photograph that would do this topic any justice. They weren’t severe enough or if they were severe enough they had shitty looking sinks and faucets, and I wouldn’t want people to think that the photo was of my kitchen.)

When I cook I clean as I go, when she cooks she looks for things to dirty. Remember, All I need is a knife, a fork and a pot to cook most meals. When she cooks it will be a two dishwasher load night, and at least one trip to the compost pile, one to the recycling bins. The difference between our cooking styles is amazing.

After the left-overs from last nights meal are finished I’m going to buy a weeks worth of takeout from a Chinese restaurant so the only things that get soiled will be some bowls and chop sticks. When that finished I’ll get out a fork and a pot and start all over again.