Wednesday, March 23, 2011

He Did What!? Wednesday - By Life With A Fussy Eater

Mr Fussy is Banned Not Welcome in the Kitchen

My natural instinct is to dislike anything that requires me to work more. No, I am not lazy. I just cannot stand having to clean up after someone else when I am busy cleaning up after myself all day long.

For this reason, I have made it very clear to Mr Fussy that he is not welcomed in my kitchen.

Mr Fussy renovated our 111 year old (tiny) farm house before we were married. It was actually just before he proposed. So whenever he consulted my opinion on the renovations, I could only say, “Well, if it were my house then I would do...” I now know that his timing was all a cunning plan to keep costs down.


The pre-renovated kitchen was awful. Worse was the Auschwitz style bathroom, but the kitchen had benches that came up to my thighs (and I am not a tall person), mustard paint, a baptismal font-sized sink and one peep through window. Had I known that this would be my kitchen one day, an entire wall would have been knocked out and the key word would have been “expansion”.

But as it is, I ended up with a few more windows, off-white cupboards, and normal height benches. It is, however, still a small kitchen. There is approximately 15 times more surface space in the farm workshop than there is in my kitchen (I calculated this in an effort to argue the need for a Thermomix. It didn’t work.). So I do not like it when someone else is in my limited space.

More than that, I do not like it when someone comes in and uses my kitchen when I am not looking. It’s not that I am a control freak, but there is a basic element of order that must be maintained in a small space to keep it running efficiently.

When Mr Fussy uses my kitchen ... well, let’s just say, it isn’t pretty. If you asked him, he would say that he needs only one pan to cook in. A wok.


He prides himself on being able as a bachelor to have cooked any number of dishes in a wok. Penne in a wok, spaghetti in a wok, and of course a stir fry in a wok.

Now whether he feels that he should expand his repertoire, or that there are just a lot more pans to choose from, he definitely uses more than a wok when he’s in my kitchen.

I won’t even comment on the quality of the dishes he serves up. I’m not one for chunks of food and an over abundance of chilli. But what really makes my stomach turn is the end result in my kitchen.
This is not my actual kitchen, but you get the picture
If he can’t cram something in to the dishwasher (and he simply refuses to accept that some items do not go in the dishwasher), then he rinses it and leaves it on the bench. That was rinsed, not washed. Because obviously we have a house maid who will come in to do it later....

It is for this reason that I am diligent about never leaving him to cook his own meal. If I have to go out at night, I leave him a meal on a plate. If he works late and comes home after we’ve all eaten, I leave him a meal on a plate. Anyone looking in would think I am a doting housewife. Believe me I am not. I am just preserving my sanity.

If only I had suggested a door be put on the kitchen, then I could lock it.
___ . . . ___ . . . ___

The Fussy Eater's Mum is the fabulous woman behind Life With A Fussy Eater. If you've been playing along at home you'd realize that that makes her the creator of HealthyChart and therefore my fabulous AusBlogCon title sponsor!

She moved all the way from New York City to the Fussy Farm in rural WA where she fell in luuuurve and never looked back. She lives on the land, amongst the sheep, with Mr Fussy and The Darlings (pictured with her on the right - is that not the most photogenic family ever?).

She blogs about food & nutrition, being an Uber Mum (yes, she says Mum not Mom - she's fully Ausmerican now), the original Fussy Eater and how awesome it is to be my sponsor. You can tell her I'm the best Sponsorette in town by chatting to her on Twitter - she's still new on there so be gentle.

Next week: A missing gadget or missing memories from Three Lil' Princesses' 

Send your He Did What!? submissions to glowless@wheresmyglow.com
___________________________________________________
Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to

18 comments:

  1. What I got from this post is that he is denying you a Thermomix.
    Thermomixes are one of the worlds most amazing inventions.
    I popped into my sisters for a few days once. I am allergic to most staple foods (wheat, milk, soy, nut and white fish). She whipped me up some suitable bread in her thermomix. And then made a raspberry sorbet for dessert. The next day she made a cake I could eat and then set it to make dip for the lunches.
    It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
    Because you can leave it alone for so long, it would be suitable to have it live in the shed, in a glass case to protect the food from nasty shed stuff. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. My Ex was/is a great cook and loved to cook. But whenever he cooked he invariably used up every pot/utensil in the kitchen and never washed up/stacked the dishwasher. And used up loads of ingredients but never replaced them. When he cooked it always fell to me to do so ... and when I cooked, I still had to clean and shop. So I kind of preferred it when he didn't cook in the end! Now I please myself, except for when Mr 10 likes to take over. He's a great cook, but he's just like his Dad in the cleaning up department! But still, I want to encourage his skills, and maybe I can bribe him into helping me clean up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That certainly is a good looking family. Straight from a catalogue! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am sorry to say but wait until your kids grow a bit older....then u have more to cope with...they seem to sense that mum has just finished cleaning and everything is in place and the n they come out of the woods and start opening fridge...cupboard..pretend to clean ...and then I used to look at my kitchen...and ask myself why did I bother...now that everyone is gone...as much as I miss having them around...but my kitchen is found as I have left.....Mr. H sometimes gets out line...but I remind him that there is a dishwasher......!

    ReplyDelete
  5. very entertaining post! can totally relate on many fronts..
    firstly i also have a very small kitchen and find myself frequently saying to hubby and 3year old "get out of my kitchen!!"
    hubby never cooks but when he does the amount of dishes required to boil water for his two minute noodles is incredible...
    men!...they some of the best chefs in the world are men....why couldn't i have got one of those....*sigh*

    ReplyDelete
  6. My kitchen generally looks worse than the one pictured lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. If only I had a door to my kitchen to hang that sign on. I understand how you feel.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm sympathising with you. Although, I'm rather fortunate to have a huge kitchen and a hubby who loves cooking! However, his washing up skills leave much to be desired (I always end up rewashing them) and he tends to use every utensil he can get his hands on!
    So there's always a bit of a fight for who can get into the kitchen to cook first. So much less work when I cook! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. We use our HealthyChart:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Please don't tell me this! I have Thermomix envy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yes, it's amazing how I think that it is less work when I cook?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ugh., Fussy eaters. I am not one. Why have I been cursed with a couple?? Auschwitz bathroom. Yikes!

    ReplyDelete
  13. lol i have to agree with mumstrosity, my kitchen can also look worse then this at times!

    ReplyDelete
  14. He he he this is funny, i have a medium sized kitchen, its my domain. Ok off to google what a thermomix is...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Aggghghghhhhhh I can't actually see straight through blinding tears of fury. Thanks for making me reminisce the last time my kitchen saw such a frightful scene. It's taken me several days to get it back in order after my husband "helped and made dinner".

    ReplyDelete
  16. My husband rarely cooks, but if he ever ventures into the kitchen, you can bet your bottom dollar that everything will be cooked on 'incinerate'.

    I haven't been able to kick him out of the kitchen when I'm cooking like my mom used to (notice the 'mom' there, I am not fully Canaussian because I never stopped referring to her that way, but I *am* Tropical 'Mum'), and I am truly disappointed in my lack of authority over my own kitchen. I guess you have to chose your battles.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh dear - this reminds me how lucky I am to have a husband who does most of our cooking, and does it well!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I admire the valuable information you offer in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and have my children check up here often. I am quite sure they will learn lots of new stuff here than anybody else!

    ReplyDelete

Comments are blogger crack.
Comments are taken through Disqus. If you don't see that here then please try another browser or device. Thanks x

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...