Completely Clueless Pampered Chef Participant

I am not known as a domestic diva. I hadn't boiled water in over three years until last week since I am now subletting in a place that has a real kitchen. So what in the world am I doing in my friend Michele's living room holding a 3 month old baby in my lap, listening to Kristy speak glowingly about kitchen products that I didn't even know existed? And why is Kristy asking for my kitchen stories? I don't cook. I am scared of my gas cooktop that is in this condo. I buy bags of vegetables and pop them in the microwave to cook, I buy bags of rice to cook in the microwave, I do take-out, I am not your ideal pampered chef patron. I don't need a pizza stone. And yet I manage to dole out $80.00.

What am I getting when at my real house I don't have a kitchen? I am getting an avocado peeler, some chip bag closey things, two knives, a measuring spoon, and a microwave vegetable steamer. How many of these products will see the light of day? That is the real mystery. And yet there were six grown women at this event and most of them owned all this stuff and actually used it. Am I a defective woman? Did I miss some critical life skill gene? My sister loves to cook. My mom is a food pusher. My dad is even decent at the barbeque, but me - I prefer restaurants. I can't imagine a worse fate than having to throw a dinner party for my friends with me actually cooking. There must be more like me because there is a booming catering business. Besides I am vegan and what I like to eat fits into very few people's idea of what a meal is.

So I go to bed tonight wondering what I will do with my avocado peeler when it shows up in 10 days. I may not ever be invited back to a pampered chef party, but the camaraderie of all these married women who have, or are raising families was amazing. A slice of a different life that I have not chosen for myself.