Behind the Knife - tools, food, and the secret lives of chefs

i once had so many dirty dishes my husband decided to get involved after bitching so much. so i let him do them all by hand of course we had no dishwasher. the reaction was we now have a disherwasher
mverno@roadrunner.com

On my first attempt at hosting Thanksgiving dinner I had soo many pots, measuring cups, plates piled up in the sink that when the guests came over and looked in the kitchen all the women rolled up their sleeves and got to work. The men as usual just grabbed another beer and headed into the living room to watch tv. Boy I didn’t realize that cooking so many dishes uses so many things. Now I cook less and have the guest bring something ;)

When I was in college I used to cook quite a bit. My roommates and I decided to have a nice party one day before winter break. We left a pile of dishes in the sink expecting each other to clean it up. When we returned from break, there was mold in some spots! I think we left it there for another day before deciding to do the dishes together.

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dishes that stuck together with some moldy spots… not good.

husband hates doing dishes just as much as i do. i wish one of us likes to clean!

I used to live with two male roommates. They loved eating, but of course, hated doing the dishes. Needless to say, the kitchen reeked on a regular basis and a few times there was even mold growing on the dirty dishes in the sink! So glad I moved out!

Because I live alone, I have very few dishes.
I tend to quickly wash the glass or dish I use but find I really don’t eat at home much because I am always at the office.
This would be great to use for the few I have or even if I have friends over! Of course, I am the type who makes a horrible mess, no matter what I do so the apron is super!!!

I GUESS MY WORST HORROR STORY WOULD BE (IT HAPPENS QUIET OFTEN) WHEN PEOPLE DROP BY UNEXPECTEDLY AND SEE DIRTY DISHES PILED UP IN MY SINK….(I WAIT UNTIL I HAVE ENOUGH TO WASH THEM) COULD BE 2 DAYS WORTH

We went on a weekend trip and I neglected to wash the breakfast dishes and was greeted by the largest accumulation of ants in the sink targeting the bacon grease.

When I was at school a couple of friends and I rented a house, the dishes got SO bad once we couldn’t wash any, we had to throw them out. absolute hygiene fail.

When I was a kid one of my chores was washing the dishes I really grew up hating to wash dishes.That’s why I am glad I have a dishwasher.

It’s embarassing but my first apartment always reeked from dirty dishes. It got so bad that they were growing mold and I had to hire someone to come clean them all, I couldn’t stand the smell. I vowed then and there to never let my dishes start growing anything again.

I was exhausted from cooking all day, and kept putting off the dishes. Rod felt sorry for me and offered to wash them. Of course, I said yes.

OMG, you’d have thought he was giving birth to triplets, all the moaning and groaning that went on in there.

And of course, he knew where nothing went, or where anything was, and there was as much water on the floor as there was in the sink…

But the dishes got done. And not by me.

When I lived with my best friend, we were extremely apathetic about doing dishes. We used mainly bowls and would stack them 10-12 high. Well, when we finally got to them, the residue had curdled so badly it would literally punch me in the face with its horrid smell. It smelled like concentrated vomit! (And, you think we would learn, but we did it ALL summer!)

There was a week when my roommate and I had been pretty sick and on top of not having done dishes for a while, resulting in about a week and a half’s (maybe two) dishes. Of course, this is the day that the city inspector showed up with the landlord (completely unannounced, by the way, even though we’re supposed to have 24 hours’ notice). He told us he was going to inspect the smoke alarms and neglected to mention that this was a full inspection of our apartment. Long story short, he said our kitchen violated city codes and if we didn’t clean it up, we could be evicted. They claimed they were coming back in a week or two, but it’s months later and I don’t think they have (which is a pity, because after that, the kitchen sparkled like an angelic chandelier).

I am good at washing dishes in the sink. My downfall is cleaning out the leftover containers in the fridge. I am so thankful for disposable storage tubs—sometimes it is easier to toss than clean out those nasty surprises!

I have never put off doing the dishes

I don’t usually put it off because I am the one that is going to end up doing them, but when my husbands family comes into town he goes into a cleaning frenzy. It is so annoying to me that he only cleans when they are coming. I left the dishes because he just expects them to be done. He threw a little fit and I just left them.

I had been sick and had a pile of dinner dishes in the sink for 3 days…they smelled bad. About 16 people from work came by to give me some flowers for my birthday. I was SO embarrassed . Thanks for the chance.
mogrill@comcast.net

I had finally started the dishes once but then had to leave and left with the dishes (and water) still in the sink. After I got back I thought I should at least drain the water and maybe attempt to do the rest of the dishes the next day. I don’t know how it happened but the Brillo pad had fallen in the sink with the dishes. I reached in to take it out and discovered it wasn’t a Brillo pad at all but the cat had caught a mouse and drowned it in the sink.

When I had my first apartment with a roommate I put some dirty pots and pans in the oven to get them out of the way i forgot about them.
Well it was summer, and they started to smell, when we opened the oven the pans were covered in maggots.
We just threw them away.

I let the dishes sit in the sink for two days thinking someone would get the hint, but no, it was me doing the dishes by hand the third day because I couldn’t take it any more.

thanks for this wonderful giveaway fancyfeet45@earthlink.net

My worst kitchen disaster is breaking dishes as I take them out of the dishwasher so I could really use this win! Thanks! senekers@comcast.net

I’m kind of a clean freak and almost never put off the dishes. I do when I’m sick and hate having to clean it all up just as I am finally feeling better.

My husband and I are ‘soakers.’ We let the dishes sit in the sink for a couple of days at a time. We tend to put soap and water in pots and pans we’ve used and let it sit there. Sad. There was a time when the dirty dishes were not only in the sink, but on the counter…it went up to the stove. It was so bad that mold was starting to form. Gross. My husband started to empty the dishwasher and I could hear the loud sounds of plates and utensils and got the hint…time to clean up.

Usually I get to the dishes pretty fast. I don’t jump up from the table as soon as I’ve finished chewing my last bite and start to load the dishwasher like my mother did. (ugh) I get to them before I head to bed. So, here’s my story. On one of the few occassions I left the dishes in the sink overnight, I woke to hear my mother-in-law at the door. I ran down to let her in then went back upstairs to get dressed. When I return, she’s in the kitchen washing the dishes! I didn’t know what to do, so I just started a pot of coffee. She dries off her hands and tells me that I’m a terrible housekeeper. I said, “I’m not a housekeeper. I’m a cook.”

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dontaskme22(at)yahoo(dot)com

My husband and I both hate doing dishes and one time we let them pile up that we had NOTHING clean and we were still too lazy to do them so we went out and bought a few cheap pans and paper plates. Luckily we grew out of that and aren’t as lazy anymore.

I have a busy schedule (and a husband who doesnt do housework) so it is very embarrassing when people drop by for a visit and see a sink and countertop cluttered with dirty dishes. It is even more embarrassing when the guest offers to help clean up (HI MOM!)

It was when I cam home from the hospital from having my first child to discover my husband (now my x for this and many more reasons) had left the dishes for me to do upon my return. Nothing says love like a sink full of dirty dishes

i used to try to get hubby to do the dishes so i would leave them there until he did them, well one time he went like a week before doing them, it was embarrassing when someone dropped by