the unatural order of dishwashing

I love to cook, but detest doing dishes.   Something about the processes – combining ingredients together, mixing, chopping, layering and stirring is very satisfying to me.  And the smells. . .the smells are good.   Unfortunately when it’s all over, you have a pile of dirty dishes.  And if you cook like I do, it’s not a small pile.

I’m a very methodical person and, for most experiences in life, I appreciate the natural order of first working hard and then being rewarded.  For example, clean the house, and then appreciate the calm & beautiful results of your labor.   Almost every chore, job, experience I can think of has this natural progression.  But with cooking, it’s the opposite.  I get the fun up front and then suffer the drudgery of washing dishes as my last step.  (Which in and of itself is a bad process.  It gets worse as you go.   The water gets colder and grosser and less soapy the more you wash).

I guarentee I would cook twice as often if I could do the dishes & clean up the kitchen first and then soothe my soul by throwing together a pie, a casserole, or a batch of warm cookies to wrap it all up.

Now that I think about it, I’ve actually tried to make this work – I’ve been known to cook and leave the pile of dishes to be washed as I’m preparing the next meal.  It doesn’t work so well and generally does not leave me feeling very cool, calm and refreshed.

~ by bjtelle on July 2, 2009.