Smell-a-thon-cook-fest-wife must stop!

Yep she uses the non-stick Teflon pans at high heat so that could be what's getting to me, she does like to blacken stuff. I have not thought of that!

Hm, that can be dangerous to your health if you cook on these non-stick
Teflon pans at high heat while it burns the onions and other stuff etc.
I can imagine that the chemical smell does get into every part of the house.
It sure is unhealthy but if your wife has no inclination to change her habits,
I don't know what we can do to help?

I don't know the name of the things she cooks only that they may emulate the spicy bean thing of the Chinese restaurant.

Here is something interesting as per your view that "rejecting cooking smells is odd" (even though I don't think it's applicable in this home circumstance): I like cod but I got a serious complaint letter at work to not to eat any more cod because someone did not like the smell! And all I was doing was warming up (in a microwave) precooked (boiled at home) fresh cod fillets with plain white rice! The letter made the claim that this someone had a fish allergy, but I kind'a doubt the modest smell of fresh cod would initiate an allergic reaction.

I can bet what the instigator of the letter would make of Mrs. Chum's occasional culinary explorations! You can also bet I'm a lot more accepting than the letter writer when it comes to food smells...but like I've said, if Mrs. Chum kept her promises to open the doors and windows, I likely would have started this thread!

I like green beans with garlicky black bean sauce myself. We'd never get along, Chumly.. you'd hate my house.

Thanks for everyone's contribution! I'll ask Mrs. Chum to read this thing and hope for the best. Talking to her about it has not produced the most promising results.

Hope springs eternal and the solution is at hand if she were to simply open the doors and windows, even better to abide by her promise to cook in the daytime, or at the least give me a heads up of when she must cook at night.

I just had chat with Mrs. Chum and she has agreed to open all the windows and doors and to use the back burners whenever possible and to cook in the day if she can and to give me a heads up if she is cooking at night (near bedtime in particular)

I'm happy now but I don't see the need for something of this nature to get to such a silly degree before a simple solution is confirmed.

Buy her a new set of pots and pans and don't buy the non-stick kind with a coating. I use stainless All-Clad, I like it because it's heavy and cooks evenly, there are a number of brands of good cookware, and it's not like you have to buy new pots and pans every five years...that stuff lasts forever. Invest in some steel wool pads to clean up the food if it sticks from the high heat. Wash the bedding including the comforter or bedspread at least once a week. You can wash down the walls with vinegar diluted with some water and that will freshen the area, but if you can't stand the scent of vinegar (it clears out fairly fast) use baking soda and water, or borax and water, they work just as well and smell better.
I have a air cleaner in the kitchen (one of those things that's supposed to be an ionizer) it's amazing how quickly it does away with cooking odors.

Personally, I find the smell of fish disgusting, especially when warmed up in a microwave at work. Years ago, one of the women from an adjoining space would heat up her fried fish and I had to leave the area. But I love the smell of shell fish. I could also not go without vinegar, garlic, onions and a whole variety of spices. I don't make things that are overly aromatic all the time, but I can't imagine making a nice salad dressing without a good vinegar and good olive oil.

If you wife enjoys cooking, also invest in the best quality ingredients you can afford. Sometimes generic oils are sub-par and if the oils get old they get rancid.
My dear departed mother-in-law who was a fine Southern cook, liked to use lard in almost everything. I hate the smell of lard and everytime we came back from a visit my clothes smelled of lard and mothballs. Oils have a way of getting into everything, fabrics, rugs, furniture, There are a number of safe products on the market that makes it easy to take care of those odors

Wouldn't hurt for your wife to get a check up and make sure there is no underlying infection that blunts her sense of smell.....she may be using too much because of some sinus problem...and doesn't notice when it gets too strong. While you are at it, see if you have an underlying condition that makes cooking smells more unbearable for you. When I was pregnant, sometimes I couldn't googo to restaurants because of the variety of food being cooked...put me right off eating. I'm guessing you are not pregnant, but some digestive problems can cause similar discomfort from odors.

That's interesting stuff, thanks!

Funny!

Out of curiosity, do you keep a bedroom window open? If so, this might be drawing the smells upward and into the bedroom even if she does open the downstairs windows.

A solution you might wish to try if there is a window in or near the kitchen, is to buy a large box fan and place it in the window with the air directed outside to exhaust the smells outward where they originate.

The same thing would probably work upstairs in a bedroom window to exhaust any residual smells that dared to rise up to the sanctuary.

Sleep in another bedroom. You can't tell what bedroom you're in when your eyes are closed.
Get a better vent.
Get an auxilary filter/fan system. If I can't smell cat ****, it must work.

Cyclo had a good question, I didn't see an answer.
Who's eating all this food?
Does she cook in the middle of the night then give it away?

I'm not trying to be catty. You two need marriage counseling. It seems like everything she does bothers you, and vice versa.

I don't see how this is going to change things because you've already said she's promised to do all this but "forgets". How can you believe her this time?

Inconsideration is a form of disrespect, and her lack of consideration to you regarding your sensitive nose is extremely disrespectful considering how much it bothers you. In a respectful relationship, she'd take your feelings into account and wouldn't "forget" to do the things you think would help.

If my habits bothered anyone I lived with, I'd modify them immediately. Yes, she can certainly cook them earlier, out of consideration to you; ditto with opening doors and windows and using the back burners. How does one "forget" to consider someone else? Sheesh.

I think she may be passive-aggressively telling you something else, like you're not as important to her as she is. Not a nice message.

My thought is that you should probably sleep in the bathtub.

Love that little Freudian slip! Master barroom?

By any chance, is she using olive oil when she cooks these things at high temps?

BBB used to do this when we lived together in California and she was doing a lot of the cooking. The stink from the overheated, smoking olive oil gave me headaches and the smell permeated and lingered throughout the whole house.

It might be as simple as her changing the type of oil she cooks with. If neither of you have peanut allergies, have her switch to peanut oil (for higher cooking temps) for a month to see if that changes anything.

So she just didn't give a **** that it really bothered you? She had such little regard for your comfort she wouldn't take even basic measures to compromise?

Smell isn't a trivial complaint.



So, to what do you attribute the change in attitude?

And you believe it this time. How come?

She obviously has Chum by the short hairs Joe.

His best bet is to pretend he finds sex tiring, distasteful and boring and to gobble down everything she cooks with relish.

I want to hear Mrs Chumly's side of the story!

How about a nice romantic weekend at an inn that offers up gourmet cooking for couples? I'm sure there has to be one around somewhere.

Just found this website:

http://www.gourmetontour.com/country.php?coID=36

I like the window exhaust fan idea, very nice!