What time does your kitchen close?

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our's never closed.

mom had breakfast on the table at 7am, your brown bag lunch ready to go by 7:30am, and dinner on the table at 6 sharp! and you'd better be clean, dressed (no sleeveless shirts, and no odd, dirty, or ripped pants or shorts), and you'd better be on time. at the end of dinner, we'd have to excuse ourselves from the table politely. dad always waited you out, eating slower than you could. then we'd rush to my parents bedroom , elbowing each other out of the way to see who could get mom and dad's vitamins, so we could be the one to give it to them.

of course we pushed the envelope with 6pm, as kids will do, but mom still delivered, literally, after dad said you're out of luck if you missed it. then dad tried to sneak you a plate too. :)

we'd snack around 8pm, on everything from cheese and fruit, to pudding and jello, to peanuts and popcorn, to ice cream and beyond. while we sat around the living room watching tv, mom served dad, then called us kids into the kitchen to "come and get it!"

finally, on one of dad's few nights off, he'd indulge in a bottle of wine or 2 after we all went to sleep, and he'd rummage around the kitchen, cooking up a storm. he'd leave a pile of burned pots and pans soaking in the sink, which mom cleaned by the time we awoke.

my mom never complained that loudly, because she felt it was a small thing to have to put up with for a really good man; one who is fiercely loyal, hardworking, self sacrificing, thrifty, affectionate, and loving.
they worked as a team, never trying to compare or measure, just giving of themselves completely.
 
pdswife said:
Mines always open. If you're hungry.. I'll feed you.

Ditto :)
I could never turn anyone hungry away, family, friends or strangers.
not only that, but I always seem to cook for an army anyway, so there`s always Something to eat or on the go:rolleyes:
 
the only time i close the kitchen is when everyone won't stop snacking
before we are either going out for a big meal or i am cooking one.

need them hungry for the big meal
 
My kitchen never closes either, but after I plant my butt in my chair for the evening it becomes self serve.

When I was a kid we didn't have rules about food. If you wanted something, you ate. I had friends that called my house "food with a roof" because there was always such a smorgasbord of food available there. From that description you may have guessed that mine was the gathering place for the teens. I don't care what anyone says, if you want to know where your kids are and what they are doing just make sure there is a pile of appealing food and drink at your place and they will congregate there.

My Mom loved having all my friends over and fed us all no matter what time it was. My Dad was a bit like buckytom's, he didn't cook often, but when he did WHOOEE! Every pot got used and it was always a "masterpiece". (Frequently one that lasted all of about 10 seconds if my friends were around.) I remember once making homemade potato chips in the deep fryer somewhere around 11pm, and Dad shouting directions from his chair in the living room. LOL.

My house is a bit like that. When you arrive you get served appys, meal, drinks, snacks whatever. But after a while, you are one of us and you can go serve yourself. The kitchen is always stocked and the door is always open.

Vera, my mom insisted that after our Grad night we bring all our friends over for breakfast after the major party. She would make us pancakes or french toast, whatever we thought our alcohol abused tummies could take.
 
Mines always open, heck I've never wanted to close it.
I got that from my dad I guess, he worked in a factory during the day, he owned a bar which he tended at night and he worked at mom's uncles slaughter house on the weekends. Dinner was anytime that he walked in the door. He'd often wake me at 3am to eat with him. I loved that.
 
philso said:
the main rule in our kitchen while we were growing up was:

"get it yourself!"

well, i'm only half joking, 'cause my mom usually worked most evenings. us kids, especially me as the oldest, grew up doing a lot of cooking. when we were really young, there were a lot "tv" dinners & chicken pot pies with frozen vegetables, graduating to macaroni & cheese, spaghetti with canned sauce, etc. by the time i was in highschool, i was able to cook fairly well, even trying bread and homemade spaghetti sauce.
there's never beena "kitchen's closed" period in my life. even now i find myself sometimes cooking in the wee hours, if i feel the urge for an apple pie or some cornbread.
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TV dinners were a treat back in the 60s and 70s! We only got a tv dinner if my parents were going out for the evening on a saturday night. Most often they entertained at home, or went to the home of a neighbour, but always after dinner. When the ocassion called for them to be out for dinner, we got to pick TV dinners! Something about eating from a foil tray made the whole night special.

I never close my kitchen, either. Just don't have the heart to deny anyone I love... I think my mom must have been tired of all the 'special requests', hence her declaration that the 'kitchen was closed'.
 
Alix said:
My kitchen never closes either, but after I plant my butt in my chair for the evening it becomes self serve.

When I was a kid we didn't have rules about food. If you wanted something, you ate. I had friends that called my house "food with a roof" because there was always such a smorgasbord of food available there. From that description you may have guessed that mine was the gathering place for the teens. I don't care what anyone says, if you want to know where your kids are and what they are doing just make sure there is a pile of appealing food and drink at your place and they will congregate there.

My Mom loved having all my friends over and fed us all no matter what time it was. My Dad was a bit like buckytom's, he didn't cook often, but when he did WHOOEE! Every pot got used and it was always a "masterpiece". (Frequently one that lasted all of about 10 seconds if my friends were around.) I remember once making homemade potato chips in the deep fryer somewhere around 11pm, and Dad shouting directions from his chair in the living room. LOL.

My house is a bit like that. When you arrive you get served appys, meal, drinks, snacks whatever. But after a while, you are one of us and you can go serve yourself. The kitchen is always stocked and the door is always open.

Vera, my mom insisted that after our Grad night we bring all our friends over for breakfast after the major party. She would make us pancakes or french toast, whatever we thought our alcohol abused tummies could take.

I have to admit, Alix, I'm like that with my kids, now. It's like you said, give them food, and you'll always know where they are. I know full well what my kids and their friends are up to in the basement. Honestly, I'd rather have them doing it in a safe home, staying still (aka not driving around), and eating during the party to help absorb whatever they've indulged in. My son is 21 now, my daughter will be 18 in two weeks. This house has been the house to go to for the past 4 and a half years. I wonder if they'll ever leave??
 
VeraBlue said:
I have to admit, Alix, I'm like that with my kids, now. It's like you said, give them food, and you'll always know where they are. I know full well what my kids and their friends are up to in the basement. Honestly, I'd rather have them doing it in a safe home, staying still (aka not driving around), and eating during the party to help absorb whatever they've indulged in. My son is 21 now, my daughter will be 18 in two weeks. This house has been the house to go to for the past 4 and a half years. I wonder if they'll ever leave??

Do you really want them to? LOL, OK, SOMETIMES you do, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think any of us really wants them to fly the coop forever. Good for you Vera, I'm going to emulate my parents with this one and ignore all the screaming parents of my kids friends who say I feed them too much crap food. BAH! Just because I don't bake everything with whole wheat flour and applesauce doesn't make my stuff BAD for you...does it?:angel:
 
My dad, a child of the of the Depression, was very proud of the fact that he could put meat on the table every night and he did not want to see any leftovers either. Apparently, meat was scarce for them back then and they ate a lot of the same meals. Yep, a vegetarian would have starved at our table!

My mom didn't care if we five foraged and cooked in the kitchen and as a result there were sometimes cooking mishaps. For example, my sister, who was 8 at the time, wanted a baked potato. Soon the smell of hydrocarbons and possibly carcinogenic molecules filled the air. Being out of foil, my sister had used the next best substitute to wrap her potato---plastic wrap. I, too, once filled the kitchen with smoke on an evening when my parents went out. After hiding the burnt, blackened, totally nuked pot at the back of a cupboard, I nonchalantly asked my Dad the next day if you needed oil to make popcorn. "Of course, you do-------Why?" "Just wondering," was my reply.
 
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