I wonder if it is just me but my wife practically lives in the kitchen. She is always preparing food or cooking food, washing dishes (the old fashioned way) or washing the clothes (the modern way). She never seems to sit down and relax.
Depending on the layout of the house, the kitchen can be the focal point of the house. That used to be the case for me a few years back but we have a small kitchen now. My other half spends less time in the kitchen these days as she is at work and I have to step up to the mark and get involved which has been tough as I have never been used to that role. I make use of the slow cooker gizmo ( a great invention for poor cooks like myself ) and as said before, a dishwasher helps.
My first Filipina wife worked her way up to being assistant manager in a very fine Italian restaurant. It was hard work having to wait for whatever gourmet meal she'd be arriving home with each evening, for poor starving hubby and kids.
I think its a big positive to stand in the kitchen helping with the washing up and also the cooking. My wife and I seem to always have a good natter with little distraction.
We saw it from our parents. Mum and dad doesnt rest when its weekend. There is always something to do - fix or arrange or change or cook specially on a saturday. Dont get me wrong, they put their feet up after dinner time (when kids had to do dishes) and its telly time. But the entire day is a day full of stuff to do. Now i do the same - with the help of my husband. If i dont sit down the couch, he cant as well, so its better if he helps me.
now shes working all hours--and im fully retired--we take household jobs equally. she cooks--i eat i eat--she washes up. i mess the place up--she tidies up.
seriously though.. back in the 70's i owned and operated a cafe / restaurant chips with everything joint. i did the cooking. today--i made us a full english breakfast--late am. we ate together al fresco in the late morning sun. then drove her to work for 2 pm. tonight i cooked chicken breast stuffed with garlic, wrapped in smoked bacon; new spuds carrots and sweet corn. then picked her up from work. while she lay relaxing on her mobile phone i washed up and tidied. i'm not like a typical MCP yorkshire type.
I am banned out of the kitchen except for the occasional visit to make a cup of tea or other such small jobs.
The house we have chosen to live in has an open plan kitchen and family room with a big leather couch. There is a seperate living room but its empty at the moment, leave it for relatives
Not sure what that's supposed to mean... but this 'Yorkshire type' looked after himself for 22 years until his first marriage, to a lady who happened to be a Filipina ... then took care of her and her two kids (and our one) after that . After a marriage which had lasted longer than those of most of the board members here have so far done, I was then given custody of our son, and was a single parent to him for several years, until he got his own place, and had passed 14 'O' Levels and 4 'A's. His Filipino half-brother and sister, who I had helped to raise from being pre-schoolers, had both gone on to acquire good degrees at good British universities. In our present property in the Phils, I often cook for all of us, when I'm not putting up shelves, making furniture, or decorating, in a new house which is constantly being enlarged and improved. Of course I've had to put some effort into this, other than writing out cheques, and even got off my arse and engaged with my wife's family and friends... in the Philippines, for more than a week every 5 years. Maybe that's what has kept me so slim and fit.
