I hate my girlfriend's cooking!

[Dirty Hippie]

Last night she cooked mac and cheese out of a box, heated a can of green beans and baked pork chops until they were the consistency of shoe leather.

Her previous meal was beef stew with the meat way overcooked and the vegetables almost raw.

The problem: She gets home from work about 3:30 and I don't usually arrive home until after 6:00. Even so, I would rather do the cooking myself but she feels like she is doing me a favor by having dinner prepared.

Being nice, I always eat the food and thank her for preparing dinner all the while thinking I wish I could keep her out of the kitchen!

I do manage to cook about half of the time (weekends and some weekdays).

An added note: this is not youthful inexperience, she is over 50 and thinks she is a good cook. Helpful hints and suggestions usually do not go over well.

Not necessarily seeking advice here, just wanted to vent.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. IF everything else is good, grab a burger on the way home

nd say.mmmmmmmmm....that's gooooood

[jpgray]

2. I just had penne and roasted asparagus in a balsamic butter sauce

:D

But then I made it for myself.

[Dirty Hippie]

3. You suck!

I'm jealous.

[jpgray]

4. You could always get her a solid cookbook

I'm a barbarian when it comes to the kitchen, being a filthy male. But even I can manage a great dish or two with the aid of a good book.

[Dirty Hippie]

8. I've got cookbooks aplenty.

A whole shelf full of 'em.

She is very stuck in her ways. Doesn't believe in trying new things in the kitchen.

[jpgray]

10. Then I agree with punpirate's post below

Try to salvage what you can by making cooking a cooperative sort of thing.

[madrchsod]

5. go on a diet...

she`s had what 40 + years in thinking she`s a good cook and you know there is no way in hell you are ever going to change that..sooooo-hell i don`t know...good luck!!!!

[frylock]

6. sabotage the range so she can't cook..

feign ignorance when she asks how you're able to get it to function. :evilgrin:

[Dirty Hippie]

11. Now there is a great idea!

For several years I would call her when she got home and volunteer to pick up dinner from this great Chinese restaurant that was on my way home.

Alas, they have closed. I need to find another good take-out restaurant.

[frylock]

13. nothing worse than when one of your favorite take-outs shuts down..

if I get a job on the East Coast, like I am actively pursuing, I'll be eating at the taco shop down the street for about two weeks straight before I leave!

[foxy]

7. Tell her about "about.com'

They have some great recipes

[punpirate]

9. A couple of times a week...

... call early and say you're going to cook when you get home, but you have to get a few things. Tell her to have a little snack to tide herself over. Stop by the grocery store on the way home and pick up something good to eat.

This doesn't sound as if it's something you're going to solve by complaining, so you just need to make this seem as if you're helping. Arrange a meal or two during the week that go down well and don't require long preparation.

Cheers.

[MissMarple]

12. Sounds like she's stuck in the 60's.

June Cleaver probably cooked like that. Now who buys the macaroni and cheese gunk and the (gasp!) canned green beans. Get them out of the house. The microwave, at least mine does, cooks frozen green beans quite nicely. Other than that... I'm sorry.

[Dirty Hippie]

14. Bingo

I think you have hit the nail on the head. I use to know a woman who "cooked" canned potatos.

I HATE canned veggies. I always cook fresh.

Maybe she hates MY cooking. Who knows....

[miss_kitty]

15. sorry that is sad

i really get all twisted when someone gives me some crap i don't like, or want or need. food clothes knick knacks-whatever. if its given with that "isn't this great?" or" i cooked this just for you" "i looked and looked for ages to find this" and i am evilly mentally completing the sentence with "and it's quite inedible cuisine," or "ugly piece of shit," and i feel quite crestfallen inside. i think a little piece of me dies when i have to stifle "that is completely awful!" or "how do you think anyone would be able to eat this-this shite?"

i am reminded of a foody kind of story-actually its about wine. i think i heard it on the radio.

Some ex-pat couple bought a villa with vineyards somewhere in Europe. They worked really hard and harvested grapes and did everything in their power to make the best damn wine possible.

Some friends from the States came over to visit them and as a celebration of their friends' visit, they decided to have a party and a ceremonial uncorking of the wine. Everyone was on tenterhooks as the host brought up a bottle from the cellar, which represented a great deal of time and work.

The bottle was opened and poured all round. Each guest and the host and hostess lifted their glasses in a triumphal toast, and sips were taken simultaneously. Also simultaneously, everyone realised how bloody awful the wine was.

They all sat around the table in an embarrassed silence for what seemed to be ages in this almost perfect setting-the villa, the vineyard, the friends, and the crap wine. Finally one of the guests piped up. "Doesn't travel well, does it?"

[eyesroll]

16. Can you try cooking with her?

Maybe if you treat cooking as a fun thing you can do together, some of your tastes will rub off?

Both my husband and I are decent cooks, but we still enjoy cooking together.

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Julia Child SUCKED as a cook when she was first married. Even when

she completed the program at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, the school was reluctant to give her a certificate. But she kept at it until she became the beloved legend we all know.

I recommend a basic cookbook or two. Start with the library and if things work out, the bookstore. (Don't worry. I don't John Ashcroft can do anything with information with regard to your interest in cooking.)