The General Chat Thread

kenco

Couple of nice candles, nice lighting, etc can liven up even the smallest dining area. We have a large kitchen/dining area which is used for all the usual family activities (homework, art, etc). When myself and herself eat together (usually weekends) we are making a point of dining at the table with the lights off in the areas covered with paint, bags, footballs, etc. We dine and chat and then head into the fire and TV (or when we go mad just music!).

Used to be regular TV with dinner on the lap but a bad habit to get into if you can at all avoid it (the odd time mind is no harm either!)

Give it a go, might take a few turns but it can feel as close to in house restaurant dining as you can get.

As for the joint cooking ideas......stop it and stop it now

IvyTheTerrible

I love baking with my son, but cooking with my OH is a no-non, too much interference!

fiddlechic

I think the best couple interaction in the kitchen is 1 chef, 1 dish washer/table setter/tidier. Rotate as appropiate!

Mrs Fox

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Regarding a Cooking & Recipes meet-up - I'd suggest starting a separate thread to see who would be up for it & ask for a rough idea of where/when to meet.

If it looks like there is enough interest start two more threads - one with a poll for dates & another with a poll for venue to tie it down.

(If it is mid-week in Dublin city center I may be able to make it myself. Not to say that it has to be in Dublin though. )

Meet up and review an eaterie, perhaps?

Lovely Bloke

Merkin wrote: »

Another thing you could do is actually prepare some meals together. It's a really lovely, intimate thing to do with someone and you can enjoy a chat and a glass of wine while preparing your food together. I know you're stuck for time but even a half hour chopping things together or preparing different elements of a dish is nice.

I'd like to not get divorced, thanks! :P

Myself and my wife are polar opposites in the kitchen, I often leave utensils or cutlery down, close to me, to pick up for use again later - if my wife is there she'll whip them away, cutlery into the dishwasher, utensil into the sink, I end up having about eleventy sauce tasting spoons for example. Does my head in.

MissFlitworth

I'll start a meet up thread Let's see if people would be interested. I pity the restaurant that gets a load of us in to review them en masse!

Lovely Bloke

make sure the restaurant has a good selection of beer please, not everyone likes a choice of a hundred wines OR Cobra lager.

The Hill Billy

Merkin wrote: »

Another thing you could do is actually prepare some meals together. It's a really lovely, intimate thing to do with someone and you can enjoy a chat and a glass of wine while preparing your food together.

Nooooooooo!!! When I am prepping/cooking I hate anyone being near me in at the counter top or cooker. In our house the kitchen & living room are all the one. Mrs B & I have a drink & chat across the room while I'm doing my funky thing in the kitchen at the weekends, but God help anyone who invades my space while I am at it! :mad:

A throaty growl & flash of my cleaver usually gets me my personal space back fairly sharpish.

The Hill Billy

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

I'd like to not get divorced, thanks! :P

Myself and my wife are polar opposites in the kitchen, I often leave utensils or cutlery down, close to me, to pick up for use again later - if my wife is there she'll whip them away, cutlery into the dishwasher, utensil into the sink, I end up having about eleventy sauce tasting spoons for example. Does my head in.

Me: Where is x knife/y utensil/z vegtable, etc, etc?
Her: I put it away - it was just sitting there along with a/b/c.
Me: ****! I need all those. (Preparing my mise en place, etc.)
Her: But you just left them there & went off.
Me: Yeah, I was at the dishwasher looking for x knife/y utensil - I still needed them.
Her: Oh, I thought you were finished with those.
Me: Oh, FFS!!! Where's that ****ing takeaway menu???

MissFlitworth

I'm a bit...narky & humourless if anyone is in my space while I cook. Especially if they're offering helpful pointers (I will immediately take those as criticism and enter into Snit Form) or doing things out of the sequence I like. So I like people talking to me while I cook, I'm not agin them doing a spot of sous chef work before I start cooking (who doesn't like all their things laid out in bowls for them!) and they are MORE than welcome to deal with mess & dishes afterwards but need space during or dinner will be tense.

I like perching on a high chair with a glass of wine & being offered tastes of things when other people are cooking

Dizzyblonde

I like to either cook alone or be in another room when Himself is cooking

Lovely Bloke

MissFlitworth wrote: »

(who doesn't like all their things laid out in bowls for them!)

ME! If I didn't measure it, it's probably wrong.

MissFlitworth

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

ME! If I didn't measure it, it's probably wrong.

Hehehe That's a very good point actually... Luckily my potential sous chef is way more accurate and a better cook than me so I'd be in a good place if he went ahead and did all the chopping

iwantmydinner

MissFlitworth wrote: »

I'm a bit...narky & humourless if anyone is in my space while I cook. Especially if they're offering helpful pointers (I will immediately take those as criticism and enter into Snit Form) or doing things out of the sequence I like. So I like people talking to me while I cook, I'm not agin them doing a spot of sous chef work before I start cooking (who doesn't like all their things laid out in bowls for them!) and they are MORE than welcome to deal with mess & dishes afterwards but need space during or dinner will be tense.

I like perching on a high chair with a glass of wine & being offered tastes of things when other people are cooking

I'm the exact same, super happy to have someone to chat to while I'm cooking (if there's space in the kitchen) but back the fck up out of the actual cooking situation. "Narky and humourless" is the perfect way to describe me when they get in my space...

The Black Oil

For something like a Christmas dinner, you better not be coming in every 10 minutes to use the kettle or to make sandwiches.

I need the counter space! :mad: :pac:

Gloomtastic!

Jesus, the confessions are coming out now......

When we're in the kitchen together, Mrs G! has the really annoying habit of standing exactly where I need to be to open a cupboard or drawer. Drives me bonkers! :mad: But on reflection, our kitchen is such a small space that she'd probably be in the way wherever she stands. :rolleyes:

Neyite

I think the reason my relationship is so harmonious is that I'm left to my own devices in the kitchen. Cant stand spoony fcukers.

Alun

I agree ... I do the cooking, she does the clearing up and loads the dishwasher. It's been like that for over 30 years now, so we must be doing something right

angeldelight

My husband doesn't cook at all but still manages to get in the way for the 2 minutes it takes to get the cutlery/glasses/drinks when he's setting the table... He will insist on standing in the exact space I'm going to be putting something roasting hot within seconds while he pours the water resulting in me screeching to get out of the way as my fingerprints are burned off and him getting offended "but you asked me to get the drinks"

Faith

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I like to either cook alone or be in another room when Himself is cooking

Yes! I get very stressed when he attempts to cook and I can see what's happening. I'm too much of a control freak for letting someone else cook like that.

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Jesus, the confessions are coming out now......

When we're in the kitchen together, Mrs G! has the really annoying habit of standing exactly where I need to be to open a cupboard or drawer. Drives me bonkers! :mad: But on reflection, our kitchen is such a small space that she'd probably be in the way wherever she stands. :rolleyes:

Mr Faith has no sense of where his body is, so he'll stand in the way, every time. It doesn't help that he's 6'3 and the available floor space in our kitchen is about 1.5m squared, but even in a much bigger kitchen, he does it. He'll stand in front of the cutlery drawer when I need cutlery, and then move to in front of the saucepans when that's where I'm heading next and so on.

So I'm definitely a lone cook!

Minder

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Me: Where is x knife/y utensil/z vegtable, etc, etc?
Her: I put it away - it was just sitting there along with a/b/c.
Me: ****! I need all those. (Preparing my mise en place, etc.)
Her: But you just left them there & went off.
Me: Yeah, I was at the dishwasher looking for x knife/y utensil - I still needed them.
Her: Oh, I thought you were finished with those.
Me: Oh, FFS!!! Where's that ****ing takeaway menu???

Her: I put it away since you were cooking:D

the beer revolu

I see I'm not the only grouchy control freak in the kitchen!
I can empathize with pretty much all of the above.

The Black Oil

Bought a jar of this - has anyone tried it?

kylith

The Black Oil wrote: »

Bought a jar of this - has anyone tried it?

I don't know if that's the same brand my dad used to get but stick that on a slice of bread with some thickly cut cheese and some good ham and you have a sandwich my friend.

Alun

Faith wrote: »

Mr Faith has no sense of where his body is, so he'll stand in the way, every time. It doesn't help that he's 6'3 and the available floor space in our kitchen is about 1.5m squared, but even in a much bigger kitchen, he does it. He'll stand in front of the cutlery drawer when I need cutlery, and then move to in front of the saucepans when that's where I'm heading next and so on.

Had an example of this last night when my wife decided that 3 minutes before everything was going to be ready and about to be dished up would be a great time to empty and restock the dishwasher :pac:

Lovely Bloke

D.I.V.O.R.C.E

Neyite

The Black Oil wrote: »

Bought a jar of this - has anyone tried it?

Soda Bread, Cheddar Cheese and a dollop of this. Savage. Reminds me of haymaking as a kid.

AntrimGlens

So as its Chinese new year, I've decided to make a chinese style dinner tonight. Prawn noodle soup, crispy duck pancakes, Spring rolls, Sticky ribs, gingered monkfish with pak choi, chicken fried rice and curried chips (for the wife).
Now that i write it down it seems quite a lot for two. Oh well yesterday was ash wednesday so i'm starving today.

Anyone else going Chinese?

eisenberg1

AntrimGlens wrote: »

So as its Chinese new year, I've decided to make a chinese style dinner tonight. Prawn noodle soup, crispy duck pancakes, Spring rolls, Sticky ribs, gingered monkfish with pak choi, chicken fried rice and curried chips (for the wife).
Now that i write it down it seems quite a lot for two. Oh well yesterday was ash wednesday so i'm starving today.

Anyone else going Chinese?

What time? and can you let me your address:D

dibkins

Felicity Cloak did Dumplings today. I'm gonna pick up some wrappers at the weekend for sure!