My kitchen is MY domain.
A friend of mine is in town visiting, and she spends her days in my apartment while I'm at work. I'm pretty territorial when it comes to my kitchen, and I take excellent care of my space and utensils. She doesn't get the basic rules of the kitchen, and she barely knows how to cook. I fear she'll experiment with the Cuisinart or something and cause a disaster. Any advice on how to deal? I'm clearly overreacting, but hey, it IS my kitchen we're talking about here.
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10 Comments:
I'm seeing shades of Felix Unger and the flying linguini here ... ;-)
Besides rolling a big steel gate across the entrance to the kitchen like they do for downtown stores at night, I feel you need to realize it's just "stuff". Things will break, it doesn't matter who's using it at the time, and frankly, it could very well be you. That being said, the stuff in our kitchen is all "food service" grade, meaning no one has to worry about it. You dented my best egg pan?? Dangitall, now I gotta go to the supply shop and pay another fifteen bucks for a new one! :-) The stuff I use for photos for my blog, the el-cheapo IKEA $2.99 white plates and such, are even in another room so they don't get chipped. But if someone breaks an appliance, so what? It could have been me, really, and that actually gives me the chance to get something even tougher. And if your friend is really a friend, you'll have to argue for them not to pay. Else, maybe you know of a good B&B they can hang out at next time ...
LunaPierCook at 8:20AM on 08/22/07
I bet that if your friend doesn't know how to use anything, she just won't. Most people have the courtesy to respect their hosts' property - and I bet she already knows how important your kitchen is to you, which will encourage her to be even more careful in that department. Don't worry!
producestories at 9:50AM on 08/22/07
I always believe honesty is the best policy. Tell your guest you love having her, and you know how inexperienced she is in the kitchen, so you will prepare whatever she wants. Also offer to show her, gladly, how to properly use any implement she is curious about. If she is your friend, she will understand your quirks, as you understand hers.
Mich23 at 10:10AM on 08/22/07
Hey, LunaPierCook, I like your attitude. Appliances can be replaced. Real friends can't. Having said that, anyone visiting my kitchen is welcome to anything -- except the last beer in the fridge.
hatlady at 10:26AM on 08/22/07
I'd be much more anxious about being there with her while she's there, and having to watch her incompetent efforts, because I'm just a bossy control freak in the kitchen. Breaking stuff, as LunaPierCook says, meh.
emily20008 at 10:35AM on 08/22/07
All I'd do is, if you've got particular knives or other items that you love and that might be hard to replace (ie, I've got a knife that has been reground and re-edged so many times that even though it began life as a regular 4 star Henckel its now one of a kind) then get those out of the kitchen and put them away somewhere. Then, try not to worry about it.
ccbweb at 12:19PM on 08/22/07
In my case - its easy - I would give them a google map of the 8 restaurants that are within a few blocks of my house.
shea at 12:40PM on 08/22/07
I'm not sure how to deal with the problem, but if it helps any, I could totally understand how you feel! I'm territorial about my things too. In my college apartment, I sort of hated sharing certain appliances, it was soo hard for me! I plan to get my own apartment next year and hopefully I won't have guests that explore my future ktichen! Good luck!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 6:43PM on 08/22/07
I guess I'm a teacher at heart -- I would offer to show her how to use some of the stuff. Chances are she won't even want to :-)
If you're insistent upon her not using them, just lie and tell her that she's liable to take a finger off if she uses (insert expensive kitchen toy here) incorrectly :-)
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 10:09PM on 08/22/07
Thanks, everyone, but it's not even so much about the expensive equipment. There isn't too much of that, and I don't use it as often as I do, say, my good knives. My house is pretty hot and humid during the summer, and I've had problems with some older ones rusting, so you can imagine my passive-aggressive anger when I come home to see a bunch of them sitting in the sink. Ugh.
LunaPierCook, I might invest in one of those gates before the week comes to an end!
kmnola at 9:08PM on 08/23/07