Gendered Cooking

This week, I'm going "back to work."  In that I finally got a real job, doing real things, for real people.  This is really exciting for me, especially because I get to finally and formally renounce housewifery, which I dislike immensely, so I'm pretty excited.  It also makes me nervous because it means Mr. Barefoot will be doing more of the cooking.  I usually don't like to talk a lot about issues in our relationship, but I think that navigating a dual-chef household is really tough, and so I wanted to share how things are for me in our house.  He's welcome to retaliate, but I'll try to share his perspective as well.

Others would argue with this statement, but I'm not a control freak. I generally trust other people. I delegate. I let things go when they aren't that important. At home, the only place where I'm not good at this is in the kitchen. And that's because, about half the time, my husband is simply wrong. He just...does things wrong. He uses the wrong pot, the wrong cutting board, the wrong knife. He has this totally weird need to use everything that is smaller than he could possibly actually need.  He thinks this is more efficient. He'll use a paring knife instead of a chef's knife, and then refuse to use the chef's knife because he already got the paring knife dirty.  He'll cram something in the smallest pan to marinate, or to cook, even if that means the thing being cooked gets squished or crowded.

He also follows recipes either too strictly or too poorly for my taste.  This is a ridiculous thing to complain about - that he either cuts things into too bite sized pieces or not bite sized enough, and they are simply NOT HOW I WOULD DO IT.  Somehow, this makes me irrationally angry.  Regardless, I know how annoying backseat cooking is, so I try not to say anything, usually leaving the kitchen.  Which annoys him, because he gets offended that I'm making him cook and am not keeping him company.  Which in turn annoys me.

He's also remarkably rigid about menus - if I get home later than planned, and dinner is going to take awhile, I'll usually skip the elaborate menu plan and meal that will take 30 minutes of prep and 30 minutes in the oven to cook something quicker.  Mr. Barefoot does not stray from the plan.  If the meal takes 30 minutes of prep and 30 in the oven, well, dinner will be ready in an hour.  Have a snack.  Mr. Barefoot also doesn't always start cooking as soon as he comes in the door, and doesn't mind eating at 7:30 or later.  I mind it enormously and get very very cranky when I'm hungry.  If it's not clear already, I'm the problem in this relationship. 

My habits that annoy him?  I come from the "go big or go home" school of cooking - use the biggest pot that makes sense, use the large cutting board, use the space that you have available. Since he usually does the dishes, this makes him crazy, so I've tried to scale it back, but been largely unsuccessful. 

I also don't put things away as I go, and tend to leave everything out on the counter, perishable or not, until he goes to do the dishes later that night.  So he tries to combat this by cleaning around me as I cook, which results in one of the following conversations:
"Are you done with the butter/milk/greek yogurt?" 
"WOULD YOU QUIT TRYING TO CLEAN UP AROUND ME? IT'S SO ANNOYING! GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN!!!"
or:
"Are you done with the butter/milk/greek yogurt?"

"Yeah."
"Then why didn't you put it away when you were done with it?" 

Nobody wins in these conversations.  If anybody is wrong, well, it's me.  I should put stuff away as I go, or while the meal is cooking.  I am simply not lazy enough to just make dinner from a box, but am too lazy to put the butter back in the fridge. 
One of the realities of our situation is that I've developed a system. I know what size pot works for a half-box of pasta, I know what I can fit in a casserole dish. I know if I'm chopping three types of vegetables I use the big cutting board and if it's just an onion I use the small one. These are systems my husband doesn't have down, because like it or not, I've been the one doing most of the cooking since we moved in together three and a half years ago.

So how do I let go of the control and let my husband develop his own systems without backseat cooking or fleeing the scene?  How do we deal with the differences in our eating schedules?  Also, even though the food he cooks is usually delicious, creative, and cooked well, I still can't stand to watch his process, so how do I avoid insulting him when I don't want to be in the kitchen? 

Mrs. Barefoot is back!

Okay, so I'm like, the lamest cooking blogger ever.  The truth is, I've been pretty short on time to cook lately.  What with the bar, the campaign, and getting married, cooking has fallen by the wayside.  So I'm excited to be back and to finally get to use all of the fabulous new toys that have been filling our apartment.  (Registries are fun.  It's like having the most practical birthday ever, which, when you are super-interesting like me, is AWESOME.)
We got a lot of interesting products that I'm excited to use and will be reviewing a bit here, like a cusinart food processor, Le Cruset French Oven, and Ultimate Mandoline.
One of the things I have to say nice things about so far is this pan which is pretty easy to clean and a good size for general use.  I love calphalon generally, and I really like using stainless steel - we only registered for a few pots and pans, because we have found that we don't really use that many pots and pans, and having space is nice.  I think we'll end up with 2 3-qt pans, a 10-inch fry pan, a 12-inch deep skillet, and a big pot and frying pan.  We're not really sure what the best combination is, so any guidance is appreciated.
I also got gifted several cookbooks at my shower, which are all awesome looking - many of them are vegetarian, green, local, or otherwise delicious - so I'll be reviewing and relaying recipes from those as well.  So far, Cooking from the Garden has some really interesting recipes which are delicious.

Cilantro Lime New Potatoes from Cooking from the Garden (in the Le Creuset French Oven)

We also got this slightly controversial gift.  If you know me, you know how I feel about these guys.  I'll admit...I was pretty excited when this showed up, since we didn't register for it (I felt too guilty...)
Meet Darth:

I'm going to get him a lightsaber.  He makes delicious bread that is super easy.  I think that will be the next recipe that comes up here.  Also, Cheesy Onion Souffle Mac & Cheese, which is more delicious than it looks.  (And I think it looks pretty good.)

Finals

So the reason, dear readers, all one of you (hi Mark!) is because this past August, I entered law school. And since my contract with those of you in readerland is illusory, I am not bound to post and thus, I did not much.
I also did not cook much. The cooking triumphs I experienced this semester were few and far between. The relationship triumph of having my boyfriend make dinner a lot of the time? That was a nice triumph. We've tried a lot of new recipes, especially for the slow cooker - if you are going to go to graduate school, invest in a slow cooker. It will change your life and you will never order takeout again. We also recently bought a wok and have been discovering the beauty of stir-fry. (Which is a manly thing to do, so men, wok it up. It's the indoor barbecue.)
So - a few cooking triumphs, with recipes to come:
1) Roasted red pepper risotto.
2) Potatoes au gratin (can be made either slow cooker or in the oven).
3) Mini - pineapple upside down cakes.

But the real reason for this post is its finals time. As in, I'm procrastinating. That's right. Although not by cooking as much as I used to. In law school, there isn't time to cook to procrastinate!
But finals requires a different eating schedule. During finals, you feed your mind. I'm always hungry while I study - I eat constantly. How can that possibly be healthy? It's not. Try to pick the highest volume lowest calorie snacks. Popcorn is good. Grapes are great. Oranges are a little juicy but not bad. A granola bar will not make you feel better about life, skip it. Small chocolate covered things are good, as long as you buy them in small packages. Get ones covered in dark chocolate - more antioxidants.
Also consider the smoothie. A morning smoothie with a healthy chunk of protien powder? mmmm!
Buy frozen berries, milk, and vanilla yogurt. Get some chocolate or vanilla whey protien powder, and use as much as you're comfortable with. This normally comes in giant containers, so I'll let you know when I find it in small, manageable sizes. Put in blender or mini-food processor. I actually recommend the mini food processor if you are only making one serving - less mess.
Blend.
Pour into cup. Enjoy. Blend to your own preferred thickness - straw, spoon, or sip.