Alarming, amusing, amazing things other people do

[Fat Guy]

If you're like me, you go to someone else's house for a meal and, partly because you're curious and partly because you just feel comfortable there, you wind up in the kitchen. You watch the meal being prepared, the service, the cleanup. And, if you're like me, about a half-dozen things happen that make you scratch your head, or that have you on pins and needles wondering where the nearest fire extinguisher is to the stove and whether you'll be able to follow the instructions, the nearest psychiatrist is to prescribe you some anti-anxiety medication, and whether you remember the CPR class you took in high school well enough to keep an actual person alive until the ambulance arrives.

Just today, I saw almost an entire set of Wusthof knives -- good ones -- go right into the dishwasher. Good thing they've never been sharpened, otherwise someone might get hurt taking them out.

So what are some of the things you've witnessed that have raised your blood pressure?

[petite tête de chou]

Kitchen trash cans without lids. gross.

Complete lack of recycling. hello?!

Knives carelessly placed too close to the edge of a counter. impale a toe, cat or kid. NOT!

[Fat Guy]

Kitchen trash cans without lids. gross.

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What drives me batty is when people put their trash cans like a mile away from their workspaces, and they walk back and forth, back and forth, back and forth from the counter to the trash fifty times in the course of preparing the meal. Jeez, even Rachael Ray uses a "GB: garbage bowl!"

[rooftop1000]

I walk back and forth to protest the fact that I cant have a can with no lid because we have a dog.

and my mother has set her kitchen on fire...twice

tracey

[snowangel]

People handling raw meat and not washing their hands before they proceed on to another task.

Long hair not pulled back.

Putting expensive non-stick pans in the dishwasher.

[Kouign Aman]

What drives me batty is when people put their trash cans like a mile away from their workspaces, and they walk back and forth, back and forth, back and forth from the counter to the trash fifty times in the course of preparing the meal.

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I dont do it, but it seems a reasonable way to burn a few calories mindlessly. Also a way to claim the entire kitchen space, thus repelling 'invaders' who might try to 'help'.

[Anna N]

Watching someone attempt to make a meal when both sinks are piled high with dirty dishes, the dishwasher is in mid-cycle and there's barely 6 square inches of clear counter space - ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[jgm]

Tasting the food with a spoon, then plunging the same spoon back into the pot and stirring.

Not so bad if it's on the stove and still cooking, but if it's cold, like potato salad or something. . .ugh.

[rooftop1000]

How about people who put raw meat on the top shelf of the fridge, and you know they always have a nice bowl of fuit on the bottom shelf.

T

yeah my mother again

Edited July 9, 2007 by rooftop1000 (log)

[bergerka]

Tasting the food with a spoon, then plunging the same spoon back into the pot and stirring.

Not so bad if it's on the stove and still cooking, but if it's cold, like potato salad or something. . .ugh.

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I just use my fingers. Is that wrong?

[Peter Green]

My favourite was chasing my mom's cigarette around the kitchen with an ash tray as it burned down while she cooked.

[jgm]

Tasting the food with a spoon, then plunging the same spoon back into the pot and stirring.

Not so bad if it's on the stove and still cooking, but if it's cold, like potato salad or something. . .ugh.

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I just use my fingers. Is that wrong?

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In my mind, depends on what you're tasting and how clean your fingers are. If you've just handled raw chicken with them, um, yeah, that's a problem. If you washed them a few minutes ago, and have handled relatively clean things since then, I'll still eat your potato salad! I'm not a pristine cook, myself. And I'm not a fanatic about cleanliness. But please don't stir the cole slaw with a spoon you've had in your mouth...

[Porthos]

Watching someone attempt to make a meal when both sinks are piled high with dirty dishes, the dishwasher is in mid-cycle and there's barely 6 square inches of clear counter space - ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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All Right. Who put the web cam in my kitchen!

Actually it's just running out of counter space that really happens...

What's gross? How about a cook who doesn't wash her hands after using the toilet (yup -my mom). I can barely bring myself to eat food she has prepared any more. So we cook or take her out to a meal as much as possible.

Edited July 9, 2007 by Porthos (log)

[Prawncrackers]

Flimsy chopping boards on slippery counters avec blunt knives - make me wanna holla!

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

My mother refuses to touch raw food with her bare hands, so she uses grungy dishwashing gloves, without scrubbing them first!

It's so gross.

I should probably buy her a box of disposable gloves.

But then again, she would probably just reuse those too out of a sense of frugality.

Another disgusting kitchen thing she does is save half-used paper towels and napkins and then uses them to wipe up spills on the counter and floor. Using them for the floor wouldn't be so bad if she didn't tuck them into just about every drawer in the kitchen to save them for future use.

Ugh.

Gotta appreciate the recycling sentiment though!

[GTO]

Speaking of chopping boards. When I moved into my flat during the first year of University, I was interested to see what kind of kitchenware we had.

A glass chopping board. A GLASS CHOPPING BOARD. The most impractical, uncomfortable, dangerous, hideously unmanagable peice of crap I have ever seen.

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

Oh and PS, I'm extremely guilty of the sink-full-of-dishes-while-I'm-cooking faux pas. If only I could train hubby to be my kitchen cleaner (he bows out of all dish duty citing childhood trauma caused by his mother--a bit too convenient, if you ask me).

Usually I'm lucky during a dinner party and someone asks to help. What task do I put them on? It's almost always filling up the dishwasher and handwashing what can't be put in it!

[weinoo]

Knives carelessly placed on a counter or cutting board - with the blade up!!

Knives in the sink bug me too. Good way to cut a finger off.

[Kouign Aman]

AnnaN nailed it. I think I had blocked the memories.

also, food prepped on the same counter the cat is fed on. Without cleaning the counter in between. Urk.

47 trips to the fridge. For some reason, opening and closing the fridge repeatedly bugs me; I start to flinch at the sound.

[Kent Wang]

My mother thaws out meat by leaving it out on the counter.

[nonblonde007]

Can this include Alarming things others have done in my kitchen?

I had a guest staying for a few days, after cooking dinner, I needed to run out for a few minutes. When I returned, a large grin on her face, she informed me that she had 'tidied up my kitchen for me".

My cast iron dutch oven was sitting in a sink full of hot SOAPY water! My stainless steel pans and best knives were in the dishwasher, Washing! My beloved wooden cutting board, (an especialy cherished gift that I used) was quietly soaking in the other half of the sink, again in hot soapy water. (yes, it warped) The dog was in heaven, munching down on the very expensive leftover meat that I had planned on using, of course, licking all the juices off of my heirloom serving platter! AAHHHGGGG! I did thank her politely, and vowed Never to leave a guest with a dirty kitchen again.

[cakewalk]

My mother thaws out meat by leaving it out on the counter.

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That sounds very familiar.

What, I should leave it in the freezer?

[Anna N]

Oh and PS, I'm extremely guilty of the sink-full-of-dishes-while-I'm-cooking faux pas. If only I could train hubby to be my kitchen cleaner (he bows out of all dish duty citing childhood trauma caused by his mother--a bit too convenient, if you ask me).

Usually I'm lucky during a dinner party and someone asks to help. What task do I put them on? It's almost always filling up the dishwasher and handwashing what can't be put in it!

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My own sink can get full WHILE I am cooking but I don't start out cooking with both sinks full! Even my counter space can get sparse WHEN I am cooking but I start out with the surfaces as clear as possible. Sorry if no one got this point.

[dockhl]

Can this include Alarming things others have done in my kitchen?

I had a guest staying for a few days, after cooking dinner, I needed to run out for a few minutes.  When I returned, a large grin on her face, she informed me that she had 'tidied up my kitchen for me".

My cast iron dutch oven was sitting in a sink full of hot SOAPY water!  My stainless steel pans and best knives were in the dishwasher, Washing!  My beloved wooden cutting board, (an especialy cherished gift that I used) was quietly soaking in the other half of the sink, again in hot soapy water. (yes, it warped)  The dog was in heaven, munching down on the very expensive leftover meat that I had planned on using, of course, licking all the juices off of my heirloom serving platter!  AAHHHGGGG!  I did thank her politely, and vowed Never to leave a guest with a dirty kitchen again.

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Oh God.

I am SO sorry....

[Dianabanana]

Hand"washing" dishes by piling them all into a basin full of soapy, greasy water, swiping them with a rag, then "rinsing" them by passing them under a stream of water for one nanosecond. Food eaten from these dishes tastes like nothing but dish soap. Mountain Fresh Dawn oatmeal, anyone? Almost everyone I've seen handwashing does this. One of the things I love best about my husband is his obsessively thorough rinsing.

And while I'm on it, why are so many dish detergents scented? Why do we need our dishes to be perfumed?