Tuesday, February 14, 2017

So Close, But Yet So Slick

I am still reaping the benefits of my birthday window.

On Sunday evening, after we returned from the casino, Farmer H made his own supper! I told him I had no plans for cooking. So that might have influenced his decision. I DID, however, offer to bring him a Hardee's Chicken Bowl from town when I went to get my 44 oz Diet Coke. He declined.

Around 6:00, comfortably caffeinated, and ensconced in my dark basement lair, my nostrils detected a not-altogether-unpleasant aroma of frying nitrites. Farmer H had mentioned frying himself some bologna and eggs. Let the record show that they were store-bought eggs, due to our lack of layers, due to the invasion of the chicken-killers, the neighbors' fleabags.

I was shocked that the newly-revived smoke detector did not scream in alarm. I was even more shocked, at 3:00 a.m. when I went upstairs for bed, to find the kitchen cleaned up! Since Farmer H had informed me that he would be cooking, I figured he would see no reason to disguise his behavior by washing the pan and plate that he used.

Not only had he scrubbed my non-stick skillet, the metal (!) spatula, and his plate and fork...but he had washed about four spoons, a knife, and two plastic containers (one an opaque quart tub from carryout hot & sour chicken, the other a white flat rectangle that once held Chinese hot braised chicken). I made a mental note to tell Farmer H that I appreciated his homemaking skills.

That evening, as I was preparing supper, I decided to put those clean dishes away while my spaghetti noodles boiled.

The white flat rectangle nearly squirted out of my hands! It had a greasy film all over it. As did the opaque quart tub. So I ran a sink of dishwater to re-wash them.

I guess Farmer H gets an 'A' for effort.

Though I am holding off on the thank-you, lest his behavior prove to be an evil plot to guarantee that I never ask him to wash dishes during his retirement.

5 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

An "A" even though the stuff was still greasy?

You're losing your rigor...

Anonymous said...

I think that should probably be an A-!!

Hillbilly Mom said...

Sioux,
You've got a point there. I need to set my expectations higher. A little grease might be okay if he had used a creative method to reach that final result...

***
fishducky,
Probably more like a C-. I have to be careful. I don't want to single-handedly be the cause of effort-grade inflation.

Kathy's Klothesline said...

Maybe he just sort of rinse washed them, no soap involved. My mother-in-law started doing that in her later years, using cold water. It made for interesting dining.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Kathy,
I KNOW he only rinses with cold water. Like when he uses a plastic picnic plate for his Chinese takeout, and leaves it shining like a mirror with that sheen of oil. He fooled me this time. I think he really washed them, but grew impatient waiting five minutes for the hot water.