Dishes Are My Kryptonite

Convenience "food" is about more than just ease of preparation. After the meal, clean-up is easy too. Recycle what you can, place dishes in the dishwasher, and maybe wash a cookie sheet or two. I could handle that. It's the meal itself that would be unsatisfactory.

On the flip side, I have no problem with prepping ingredients for and preparing delicious meals using REAL ingredients, a bit of patience and time. I'm even quite good at maintaining a clean workspace as the meal is being prepared, clearing away tools as I finish with them, and putting foodstuffs back where they belong once I have used the required amount. Of course, enjoying a homemade meal is rarely a chore in our home either.

The headache begins when the meal is complete and the kids retreat to the family room leaving my husband and me to clean up. The prospect of dishes just about cripples me. I'd rather do twenty loads of laundry than one day's dishes!

It's not the dishwasher either - I'm happy to empty and fill, empty and fill again. The handwashing is the problem. Knives, pots and pans, wood cutting boards and other non-dishwasher-safe items that stare me in the face at the end of a meal practically bring me to my knees.

I've tried to understand the psychology behind it, to justify to myself and my perpetually frustrated husband why I can't bring myself to do the dishes. A couple theories/rationales:

1. We were forced as kids to do dishes immediately following supper each day, rendering the experience miserable - hence, it is still, to this day, a miserable task, or
2. I have eczema that flares up when my skin gets dried out - and we all know that nothing dries out your skin more than overexposure to hot water.

When it comes down to it, I don't think my situation is terribly unique. I've heard several notable cooks and chefs say that they love to cook but hate to clean up (of course, they can afford to hire someone else to do that for them). And honestly, I think those people who find cleaning therapeutic are a wee bit nuts. So I guess it is what it is. I love to do what I love and hate to do what I hate.

That's all well and good, but I still have a growing pile of dishes on my kitchen counter...