9 kitchen things that drive me crazy

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I think there's a risk that because I cook a lot and write about it and take pictures of it, people start to believe that everything in my kitchen always goes to plan - that I never have disasters and that I'm always filled with inspiration and that I never have a meltdown somewhere between the dishwasher and the biscuit tin .... 

Guess what? My kitchen has just as many 'hot mess' situations, annoying frustrations and 'GGGRRRRrrrrrr' moments as yours. Truly it does.

Here's what's driving me kitchen crazy right now

• Other people’s mess - I'll jump straight in with the thing that has the most potential to turn me into a screaming banshee; other people's mess. I am a huge fan of everyone getting involved in the kitchen. I am a huge fan of teenagers learning how to cook and experimenting with ingredients and dishes and techniques, but what I despise is not clearing up afterwards. And by clearing up, I mean washing up and drying and putting away - with none of that 'piling it all up in the sink' trick. To avoid a potential banshee moment, you will often hear my request to 'clear up like it's a crime scene'. It often works, but beware of the banshee if it doesn't.

• Cooking a dish that had so much promise but turned out to be disgusting - Sometimes I am so excited about my creation; often it is overflowing with potential but there are times when it just turns out to be awful. There is disappointment but also annoyance at the waste + the walk of shame to the bin. To be honest, the slow cooker is often involved in these dramas. The silver lining is that if I have these disasters then you can avoid them…

• Cooking a dish that I really love and then the rest of the family gives it the thumbs down - It doesn't happen often but when it does, I'm properly gutted because I know that a) I'll never make it again and b) I respect their opinion, so it won't get onto the blog either.
• Finding a key part of last night's dinner in the oven the next day - Or sometimes, it's in the microwave. Last week, I only found the chips that I'd left to 'keep warm' two days later. It was a relief, in that I thought I'd literally gone mad, but still annoying. I'm also hoping that I'm not the only person who does this ...

• Trying to think of what to cook for dinner when the fridge is empty - Making something out of nothing is an art.

• Trying to think of what to cook for dinner when the fridge is full - Decision overwhelm really is a thing.
• Buying a challenging ingredient with the best of intentions and avoiding using it for so long that it has gone way beyond fresh - This happens when I shop for the cooking that I WANT to do, not what I will ACTUALLY do. In other words, I'm shopping for a dream and not a plan. My big culprits are butternut squash (I'm convinced that I'm going to stab myself during the preparation) and pomegranates (I'm convinced I'm going to cover myself in the 'high-staining-potential' juice and LOOK like I've stabbed myself).

• Finding that there is no chilled wine in the fridge - Damn.
• Putting a bottle of wine in the freezer to 'quickly chill' and finding it frozen and a little 'exploded' the next day - Double damn. Slushy, anyone?