<p>"And most of our relatives also chip in on the grocery and order out food costs…we don’t ask, but they do. "</p>
<p>I can’t imagine staying someone for more than a couple of days and not buying groceries, taking them out for some meals, and helping with the cooking (if they’d let me do that. Some people are very protective about their kitchens).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>NSM, I mean this in the kindest way but are you slightly, ever so slightly autistic?</p>
<p>Of course we went and bought groceries and it just CRUSHED them. Of course we suggested going out and again, it just CRUSHED them.</p>
<p>I did get it. I would put in front of my pregnant DIL what I would want. It’s just not what I wanted. My MIL was doing for me what she would have wanted but we are different. By buying groceries or insisting on restaurants, she would get the message (a very perceptive, intelligent woman). </p>
<p>Food is actually a really intimate issue.</p>
<p>Sensitivities abound.</p>
<p>We get lots of visitors in winter.
Generally two meals are eaten together. Breakfast: everybody grabs what they want from the fridge, some like ceral, some eggs, some toasts. We tend to congregate around the kitchen island, whoever gets up first let’s the dog out and puts coffee on.
Lunch is separate. Generally our visitors eat on the slopes.
Dinners are what I love most about those visits. We take turns cooking, trying to make our best recipes. Whoever cooks buys the products. Those not cooking that day are in charge of cleaning. It works almost perfectly.
I always hint my “new” visitors that they should purchase what they like to eat for breakfast and snacks and put it in the fridge for all to eat.
When I get visitors that “refuse” to cook, after two dinners cooked by me we start ordering pizza. They usually get the hint ;)</p>