No, it's not a horrible girlfriend quality, and you don't have to make up for it.
Maybe you've heard: this is 2011, not 1951. The old days of strict lines between woman's work (cooking, cleaning, changing diapers) and man's work (yard work, repairs, grilling meat) are long gone. I know that a majority of women still cook dinner for their families, and a majority of men still cut the lawn, but nowadays it's more about choice than expectation. A woman who can't or doesn't want to make dinner is no longer scandalous.
If you really want to learn to cook--not because you think you should, but because you want to try it--there are ways to learn. I cook more often than my wife because I enjoy it more than she does, and I learned by asking questions and using recipes. (Not that I'm a gourmet chef or anything, but I can make dinner without using anything with "Helper" in the name.)
Also, most colleges offer community classes at night--there are usually one or two cooking courses offered along with the writing, photography, and, ugh, ballroom dance (which I failed miserably. It's never a good sign when the teacher laughs so hard at you that she has to apologize). Or you could try classes at a culinary school, but those will be more expensive and intense, I imagine.
So there you go. Learn if you want, don't learn if you don't want. There's no right or wrong about it. If your boyfriend likes to cook, great, he can be the house chef. If not, you'll be eating out a lot, which is expensive, but a helluva lot more fun than having to cook and then clean up all the crap afterward.
Thanks for the Q.
haha thanks =)
I do end up making lots of things involving the word "Helper". Or macaroni. I'll see about cooking classes on campus--that's a good idea.
lol I'm awful at cooking as well. Ask me to make cookies or cakes even some homemade candies and they're AMAZING. Ask me for a steak dinner one of 2 things will happen: I'll get my timing off and half the meal comes out cold/bland or two you better order a pizza cuz there's about to be a fire on the stove XD
I'm the only one of all my friends, guys and girls, that has very little talent when cooking, so whenever we go on vacations, I'm always the first to volunteer for washing dishes. I love to clean, so it works out!
…or she can ask her boyfriend to teach her. It could turn out to be a enjoyable time together.
My partner went to culinary school, after working in kitchens for 5 years. I need to call my mom so I don't screw up hard boiled eggs.
The deal about he cooks/I wash is a really good motivator to learn to cook. My timing is still off and we frequently have rice for dessert; but we balance that with him trying to show me how to flip stuff in a saute pan. Somethings are more fun to laugh at than others. He hates watching my "knife work" and since he loves "choppy-choppy" we cook together :) Ask your BF for some pointers and a little help if you want to get into the kitchen more (also, most supermarkets have little recipe cards near the meat and fish displays - most are really easy and a good start if you'd like to surprise him).
If you don't want to get into the kitchen, help set a beautiful table, wash the dishes, learn about wine so you can become sommelier for your dinners, or rub his feet at the end of the evening once he's outdone himself in the kitchen. Or offer to change his oil ;)
Great suggestions all!
When I first turned 18, I moved in with my 28-year-old bf, just because I was 18 and my mother couldn't legally stop me. He used to use our differing skill levels as a way to put me down. "When the man cooks better than the woman, what does that say?" Well, it says he's 10 years older and has been on his own longer, that's what it says! Needless to say, it didn't last long. It only took him two months to go from putting me down to hitting me, so I got out.