This describes my mother. She has never been that great of a cook. As a kid, she was raising three of us alone, and had multiple jobs, so we kids learned to cook at a young age. She never really used spices. I did. It was like chemistry class. One time, when I was visiting from college, she made me some meatballs and said "I know you like them with some spice, so I added extra flavor for you". Ya. That pinged the radar. The meatballs were saturated with a TON of garlic powder. Even worse, garlic powder that had been sitting over the stove for YEARS and was clumpy and far from fresh. She could see from the first bite, and was like "ooo, too much??" um, ya.

Hee. I did once come across someone who never used spices in her cooking, who decided to be adventurous one night and try a dish that called for (I think) two cloves of garlic. Well, having never used it before, and not knowing what a clove was, she put in two bulbs.

I got told I was a "great wife" because I went on this motorcycling trip with Jason. Now, I don't think I would go motorcycling if I didn't know him in the first place, but I wouldn't go on a week long trip if I didn't like it on my own. Exploring his interests is like a bonus with purchase for me--being with him brings along cool stuff for me to explore. I know he feels the same.

This is the thing. There's this other person in your life, bringing in all their history and interests and outlooks. It's like a whole new wing of the library. You get to browse through for the interesting stuff. (For the record, Chinese: extremely interesting. China: ditto.)

I read a thing once (no idea when or where) that talked about how most "women" jobs tend to be things that had to be done at certain times and/or frequently (cooking, dishes, laundry, mending) and most "man" jobs tend to be projects that can be scheduled (gardening, mowing, painting...). I found this interesting.

This even goes back to the hungter/gatherer lifestyle. In such cultures, the men generally were/are the hunters (glory projects), the women the gatherers (actual staples, needed every day).

I had a buffista dream this morning. billytea and Wallybee and Ryan came for a visit. I held Ryan on my lap, and bounced him up and down, he was half standing up on his own, half supported by me - obviously this was a few months in the future, as he seemed to be 5-6 months old. What a charmer.

t adds "Astral Projection" to Ryan's resumé

DH is frequently told how lucky he is when people find out I'm a scifi nerd. Which is funny on several levels, but mostly the one where he never read any non-comics SF at all before he met me.

I can cook (a little, still learning).

S would cook for me almost every night, because she wanted to. AND, even though she's vegetarian, she would cook meat for me pretty regularly. She kept offering, in fact. She never had a problem handling meat, she just didn't eat it.

Aims, we have that one! Actually, I'm fairly sure we own all of them (for obvious reasons).

erika, sorry about the drama and the wussy ending to your assistant's relationship. After two years, you'd think she could tell you in person.

The thing that always gets me is when other guys ask S. how they can persuade their (sometimes theoretical) partners to like nerdstuff. Especially when I'm standing Right There.

His response is pretty much, "how should I know how to get your wife to like comics (sf, fencing, video games...)? Mine came that way."

Heh. I'm NOT a vegetarian, and I hate handling/cooking meat...

The thing that always gets me is when other guys ask S. how they can persuade their (sometimes theoretical) partners to like nerdstuff. Especially when I'm standing Right There.

Heh. I have introduced Wallybee to nerdstuff. I can say that if I did so with the expectation that I could 'get her to like it', it would not have had a happy ending.

She likes Battlestar Galactica, a lot. She liked BtVS and Angel ok, but it didn't really grab her. She fell asleep playing D&D. She will happily play many different board games with me. She has developed a love of nature programs. I would still not want to be with anyone else if none of it had stuck.

I'm a whiz at cooking scrambled eggs on plain stainless steel and not having them stick

OK, I'd like the secret to this. The only ways I know to do this are) 1) oo much oil 2) a little bit of oil diluted by being added to some boiling broth which really means I am sauteing or semi-poaching the eggs. PAM does not work for me on stainless steel.

I love the Olivia books.

Story Corps this morning featured a couple who've been married 60 years. The husband said of his wife "She's not the best cook in the world, but she makes great reservations."

It was funny and sweet because he clearly adored her.

I can't tell you how many problems I've had with female partners of male friends because I like nerdstuff. Also, the fact that I do the grilling and all the driving when we go anywhere together seems to bug people.

They also always assume that our interior decorating is all me, which couldn't be farther from the truth.