Posted on 11/10/2021 10:29:42 AM PST by mylife
As I sit down to expound on this topic, I’m taking deep breaths. Are my lips pursed? Yes. Are my nostrils flared? You betcha. Is my butt clenched? Probably. Even the mere thought of people crowding the kitchen, asking me questions, standing right in front of that drawer at the precise moment I need to open it, and generally making noise while I need to focus and finish my Thanksgiving cooking assignment infuses me with ambient, imagined anxiety.
While some easygoing, preternaturally social creatures may find it energizing to be surrounded by loved ones while they prepare food, some of us can’t handle the stress of talking and concentrating at the same time, and are one interruption away from losing our shit.
While it’s understood that the intentions are fantastic—chit chat, warm-hearted togetherness, hugs, helping!—some hosts simply don’t want anyone to interrupt their flow. (And one person’s “flow” is another’s “deadline pressure.”) If you function better in a quiet environment, here are some helpful ways to keep guests out of the kitchen, without being a jerk and ruining the true meaning of the holiday.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifehacker.com ...
Have some durian lying around near the entrance to the kitchen. Threaten to put it in the turkey if anyone dare come in.
If you have HELP you are lucky, stop being such a stick in the mud. I mashed potatoes, stirred gravy over simmer, peeled potatoes, mixed whatever I was told, and generally helped all morning early until serving time. TEACH those people, don’t just push them out of the kitchen.
Simple- when people are meandering around our kitchen aimlessly on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve, i tell them, “if you’re not cooking or cleaning up- get out!”
That usually takes care of it.
I have done the opposite - the guests are bringing most of the food. I just have to stay out of the way and supply drinks and desserts.
See how easy it is?
I have the opposite problem. No one wants to help, at all!
Someone should build an app, where helpful people in the presence of Sarahs can be directed to the homes of cooks with useless guests.
Better yet, the helpful families can move in total to the overworked cooks, and the useless guests can be fed by Sarahs.
Heaven forbid whoever wants to help just asks if it’s wanted. And takes the cook at his/her word.
Jeez louise, are these people raised by wolves?!
Sarah wants to be overworked, she is a victim.
Get the table set in time, carry stuff out when I tell* you to. Beyond that, please** get out of my kitchen when I’m in the zone.
* - yes, tell. You’re here to eat it; I’m not asking.
** - I’m pretending to be polite. My kitchen.
We love having family and guests, and I am in charge of Thanksgiving Dinner, usually for 13-16 people, and its always a marathon.
Unfortunately folks usually pass through our kitchen on way to family room and bathroom, so it gets crowded. I have a hard time not saying “get the hell out!”
“then love me.. shower me with kisses..”
Concertina wire.
The problem, as I see it, is that some people naturally know how to “move” in a kitchen with others and some do not. My husband does NOT. He runs into me. He covers the spaces that I just cleared for something I am about to work on with HIS stuff (Oh look! A nice clear space! What a surprise!). I laid down the law years ago. I do NOT work in the kitchen with him. I will help him if he asks, but he is NOT to help me because he makes it worse.
However, we also divvy up the duties. My husband is a wonderful cook and makes his own dishes during the holidays...separate from me. The kids too had their duties. If organized well, it can be lots of fun....But ORGANIZATION IS ESSENTIAL.
machinegun nests?
Claymores?
Flatulence always works for me.
LOL! Exactly....
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