Personality change in the kitchen?

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Don't even speak to me when I'm in the kitchen unless I give you permission to. I do however allow my kids to bug me when I'm cooking as long as they are willing to help me, which is what they are usually doing in the first place.
 
I'm not volunteering to do all the cleanup by saying this, but I don't mind the cleanup all that much. It's nice to get everything clean and orderly again (yes, I'm a little retentive! :LOL: ). With a little help and good conversation it flies by!
 
The advantage of being on cleanup duty is that you get to pick at the still-warm carcass and eat that last spoonful of whatever so it doesn't have to be put away.
 
lol, bug, that's the way i clean up. if it's not enough for another good serving, it gets eaten now...
 
DampCharcoal said:
I hate to admit it, but I'm Jekyll and Hyde when it comes to cooking. I go from mild-mannered congenial me to a knife wielding psychopath! Anyone else suffer from this affliction?

You need to have a cooking show, DC, similar to Iron Chef. You can change shows, IC when you are the psychopath, and Martha Stewart when you are mild mannered and congenial.
 
I actually did do an in-store show when I worked at HomePlace here on the north-east side of Columbus. I cooked with Regis Philbin during the Grand Re-Opening but no one here believes me, which is okay because it wasn't the most memorable of experiences! :LOL:
 
DampCharcoal said:
I actually did do an in-store show when I worked at HomePlace here on the north-east side of Columbus. I cooked with Regis Philbin during the Grand Re-Opening but no one here believes me, which is okay because it wasn't the most memorable of experiences! :LOL:

Regis is sometimes funny, DC, but he is so into himself. Did he give you a bad time. What did you cook. I believe you, DampCharcoal may not ignite but it would not lie.
 
Must be a TV personality thing because he was really funny offstage. Most of the people that came for the Re-Opening were older ladies and he kept cracking off-color "blue hair" jokes! He was pretty cool on stage and kept the jokes clean while the cameras were on. Besides Regis and myself I got to cook with Chef Park Kerr who does Southwestern cooking and has a cooking company in El Paso. It only lasted 45 minutes but was good fun! :D
 
I must have my "breathing room" while I'm cooking. I compare myself to a magician in the kitchen......I don't want anyone standing close enough to figure out my tricks. And if anyone invades my "hot n' spicy" space.....well, let's just say.....they'll get the fire! ;) :LOL:
 
Unfortunately, I was a chemist for a number of years, so have a way of approaching cooking that mimics the way I had to operate at work.

We have a relatively small kitchen (seems all of our kitchens have been that way, SIGH).

So when we start preparing a substantial meal (e.g. Thanksgiving) insist the dishwasher be empty as well as the sink.

Then, when we finish with a cutting board or plate or bowl or pot or knife, clean it quickly in the sink and put it in the dishwasher. And if you then need another one of those items, DON'T PULL IT OUT OF THE FRIGGIN' CABINET.

Grab one from the dishwasher and quickly wash it out and use it.

That way, at the end of the cooking you have used very few dishes, pots, etc., and do not have a sink so full of dirty stuff you cannot even begin to figure out how to clean the stuff up.

Just a minor compulsion, and I can deal with it.

Of course, the fact that they will only give me the plastic knives to prep with can be a problem.
 
I am never happier than when I'm in the kitchen cooking. So although I prefer to cook alone, I'm cheerful with friends sitting over there and keeping me company. But I'm also very focused on what I'm doing, so any conversation gets only a fraction of my attention. "Hey, Cats, can I borrow a thousand dollars 'til payday?" "Sure, fine, okay ..."
 
I can vaguely tolerate others in the kitchen, provided they are prepared to instantly respond to my commands for action in exactly the correct manner, and, of course, are non-verbal...

Which is why "Dougie" gets on with me so well...he is slower than molasses in January in peeling a potato or a carrot, for instance...I'll do 4 or 5 while he does one...but when "his" is "finished" is done "RIGHT"...likewise, if I tell him to put caps on the spices and clear them away, its DONE...like "now" and "correctly", replaced in "exactly" the correct position...(if almost to a fault)...being non-verbal, there's not a lot of "chatter" coming back to break the "concentration"...which is why I have said, we are the "ham and cheese" working together...

And like most of you, if you came into my kitchen, messed with or crabbed about my "tools" or recipes, or methods, or interfered with "my" timings...well, there's be a new type of "chicken fingers" on the card that night, and I'd be checking how hydrogen peroxide cleaned DNA off the rivets of my knives....

Lifter
 
OOPS!

Forgot to add...

Is this a "personality change", or continuation of one?

Lifter
 
buckytom said:
i prefer to work alone, in the kitchen, as well as the yard and garden. i can concentrate on what i need to do, as well as let my mind wander without the interruptions of making sure the other people "helping" me are doing things the way i want them.

Wow, you just described me!
 
Most of my guests are pretty good about staying out of my way while I am cooking. I try to do as much ahead of their arrival as I can.

One pet peeve is when people start to gather in the kitchen just as I am about to add the last minute ingredient(s) and sort of hover over me. I have forgotten some key stuff a couple of times for that reason.
Also, I will put the food out myself. A guest got in my way when I turned around to bring out a dish, and he hit my arm and I broke a beautiful antique platter. He was embarrassed and very sorr y, but he can't replace the dish. :cry:
 
Hehehehe

When cooking at home, i gotta say, I prefer to do it alone... I love having people hanging in the kitchen, so long as they stay seated and do little more than drink wine and make funny comments.

Problem I guess with being trained up in commercial kitchens is that I am a complete control freak!

Now during the curse of learning how to cook commercially, I did go through some serious temper and anger issues... pretty much sorted now, but I definately have been a right p***k at times...
I still remember standing toe to toe with a french chef, both of us with knives in our hands, me sccreaming at the guy 'cos he took 5 minutes to make a salad (it was a perfect salad, I must mention the guy was a perfectionist) rather than 2, and him screaming back at me that he was "not my dog"... The owner cam rushing in thinking we were about to murder each other over a salad...

"No murdering or maiming allowed 'til after service" is my motto.

Sheesh, and much to my shame, I have brought a few waiter/esses to tears as well... sigh. But hey when service is on, the order rack is full, and you have plated meals withering under the heat lamps....

Yeah alright, no excuses, I'm a bloody animal! But I must say these days, sure it might get a little stressy when flat out, but my tolerance levels are way higher than when I was a younger man... honest!
 

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