Messy Kitchen

My Messy Kitchen 1Originally uploaded by Tim Somero

When I am baking or cooking, I’m messy. Really messy. Think Tasmanian Devil in the kitchen. And it doesn’t help that our countertops are black granite. Spilled flour powdered sugar everything really shows up on those. I always complete whatever dish it is I’m making, THEN start to clean (if The Littlest Apple allows, otherwise I have to come back to the cleaning later, whenever that is). This drives Nathan crazy. He, who does not do the cooking but offers plenty of advice and comments from the sidelines, says I should clean the dishes, pots, pans, etc. as I go. I say that’s impossible….especially when working on recipes that call for adding certain things at certain points in the process. You know what I mean, right? Although my KitchenAid is super fantastic, it doesn’t necessarily know when to stop what it is doing. It doesn’t know when the dough is sufficiently mixed, but not overworked. (But I’d definitely buy a “smart” mixer like that if it existed!) So I have to pay attention to what I’m making, and that doesn’t mesh well with the clean-as-you-go philosophy my husband subscribes to. How do you deal with cleaning up when you cook? Do you clean as you go, or clean up at the end? I’m thinking that I’m in the majority on this topic, but perhaps you’ll prove me wrong.