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My forty-one year old daughter! She has no regard for sanitation issues (:

My sister... we're too competitive!

Myself. I get so caught up in my own sanitation, flavoring, and clumsiness issues (as in, obsession and with clumsiness, being clumsy I guess :)) I can really screw up a dish that should just be LEFT ALONE.

ANYONE who hovers in my small kitchen without offering to chop something or pour me a glass of wine.

My husband-he's a great cook but everytime we cook together he tries to take over-rechopping my garlic and onions, adding different ingredients than I what I planned on, telling me how to do things...he means well, but I do know what I am doing! I teach cooking classes! I develop my own recipes! We have to take turns in the kitchen.

I'd have to say... MYSELF! Ugh, I am the WORST cook! I am also partially blind, so I tend to make a bit of a mess :D So I cook an awful meal, and then I have a huge mess to clean up afterword! :)

Well I used to cook with my mother...and we did not get along at all. The answer: I stopped cooking completely, until I was old enough to do everything by myself. Since I was about 11, I kicked her out and the kitchen became mine... alllll miiiiiinnneee.

My dad. He leaves bags open in his kitchen, even though he's got a big issue, and he eats some of the scariest things in existence: food he bought from places so dirty that I'm afraid to walk in them.

the former garde manger chef here at the hotel.

My husband. He is always under my feet and in the way. I'll leave now when he comes into "my space"

My wife: She has absolutely no patients when it comes to cooking. At times she even prefers a Big Mac to my Thomas Keller look alike (and hopefully taste alike-I never went to TFL) menus.

I am actually the devil in the kitchen. I am a avid cook. I like to try things that I have never made before ( not always with edible results). My friends and family are pretty good sports about my culinary adventures. But nobody likes to clean up after one of my whirlwind cooking sections. I try to clean up after myself sometimes...but I have even less talent for cleaning then I have for cooking.

Anyone else...I have to say- I'm a total control freak. So, in that case, I guess it's me! I just like to do it all myself.

Although she means well, my mother-in-law keeps me frazzled when I cook in her kitchen. She's very protective of her kitchen, even though she hardly ever cooks for herself any more, and she hovers. I imagine she thinks she's helping, but in reality, she drives me nuts. (And, as I write this, I'm sure she feels exactly the same way about me.)

Pre-teen grandchildren who don't think directions are necessary. Gotta luv 'em.

I can't cook with my Pop. He likes to shortcut too much, and calls me a snob for practices like preferring to use sea salt, cooking the pasta into the sauce instead of simply pouring it over the noodles, and using fresh and organic veggies and fruit instead of canned stuff. It's an argument with every technique, from dicing onions ( to which I use the one I've seen every chef do, to which he claims is "crazy" ) to the amount of time necessary to blanch tomatoes in order to peel them for sauce. Besides that, we both have big elbows, it's bone battle cage match. Zero fun.

My daughter has been calling me from college every Monday night when it is her turn to cook dinner for six. I have to spend four hours on the phone walking her through the grocery store purchases and then thru the cooking process. I usually send her an easy receipe by email and then we cook together long distance. It is hard...I hate to cook long distance and would have loved to have cooked with her at home...but she had no interest. So, who do I hate cooking with......the PHONE! Please, I hope I win this book....I will have something to read in the down time on the phone...waiting for water to boil etc.!!!!!!!

My best friend. To clarify, though, what we really can't do is bake together. She doesn't measure anything and licks all the utensils. Cooking together is far more successful!

Marco was fantastic in Hell's Kitchen UK. I hope he does more TV!

On the on the other hand... some of the celebs in HK UK were a joke/dull, and the editing/style was awful. A lot of filler, and less content than you get on the USA version. I wish the UK version used unknowns and let the head chef decide who goes home like they do in the USA version. The entire home viewers voting for celebrity is a mess.

My mother. No appreciation for plate dressing.

Hands down my mother. She's a great cook, but difficult for others to cook with her. Every time I am at home I try to learn something new from her in the kitchen, but her impatience often drives me right out.

The only devil in my kitchen is the one who tries to help! I know, I know...but they're either slicing too thin or too thick, stirring too fast or too slow (or not at all), chopping instead of mincing, ignoring instead of timing, etc. It's all about control - mine!!

But the angels in my kitchen are my two mutts - high-fivin' it down there on the tiles, giving me the wave as the food starts getting into play, and sitting there in the stands with their "gloves" ready as a couple of stray "balls" get hit over the counter!

You go boy!

This is a comment. Yay randomly chosen winner.

My mother is the devil in my kitchen, not because of her cooking, but because she "reorganizes" the kitchen cabinets when she cleans up in our kitchen. I have spent days trying to find kitchen items that she "put away" in some (to my mind) unlikely place.

My husband, definitely. I think it's because I'm right-handed and he's left-handed. We're always bumping into each other.

The dishes are my devil. They sit there, taunting me, screaming at me each time I pull out another, clean one...clammering each time i have a moment to take a sip of wine but don't take that opportunity to wash something.

my grandmother - for her, the kitchen is a shrine that must not be marred by a single drip or stain. For me, the kitchen is to be used!

My friend and fellow foodie Rebecca. She's a great cook as well but its often a battle over control. We've learned to divide the tasks for the sake of peace and great dinners.

my roommate.

My mother in law, for sure. Really anyone who hovers over my shoulder, but she has the added scowl.

My mother - "Are you going to chop the onions like THAT?" - Grrr.

I am a cooking teacher all over the Boston area and three days a week I teach kids to cook.
Have you ever tried cooking with 10 teenagers? Seriously?

Daily Comments include (but are not limited to):
Ew!
That's GROSS!
I can't touch that?
I'm Kosher, Muslim, Vegetarian, allergic to _________ (which often REALLY means, I hate olives so I tell you I am allergic to them)
Can we make Cookies, cupcakes?
Do I have to cut the onions?
Can I eat all that chocolate?
Do I have to put the _______in it?
Can I have a band-aid, no two, mmm maybe three?
Can we light it on fire?

We don't mess around either, this week we are making Jean George Vongerichten's Chicken with Figs and his Pear and Star Anise Clafouti. Last week we made Lamb and Olive Ragu from Rick Tramonto. For many of these kids it was the first time they ever had lamb.
But my oh my, they are a challenge!

There is no question: It is my daughter Alison. Her nickname is Beezil, short for Beelzebub aka the Devil. I adore cooking with her, but she has this uncanny knack of being behind you without notice. In the kitchen, this can be messy

I nominate me, I am trying to do better, but I am like a whirling dervish in the kitchen leaving a path of destruction in my wake. I am trying to be a neater cook, I am trying to be a neater cook, I am trying to be a neater cook. (I figure if I keep saying it it will happen.

Easy - the dogs are the devils in my Kitchen. Constantly demanding samples. The good news is that since they arrived the kitchen floor has never been cleaner!

Thanks to everyone for commenting and congrats to our winners: eschoenfeld, ceforrester, DaveFaris, cher48603, gochrisgo.