iss Dropsey

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

The Baron’s friend, William Stone, was talking with the Baron and his chief advisor, Professor Hamblin, regarding a problem that he was having with his wife. William’s wife was perfect in every way except in the kitchen. It seemed that there was not a cooking pan that was not burnt, or it had many dents in it. “The kitchen,” William commented, “often looks like a war zone. Do you have any suggestions that I might try to alleviate the situation?”

The Baron said, “Perhaps you might hire a cook if your wife does not mind.”

But he had already tried that and hiring a cook was not a welcomed solution. Privately, and only to himself, he referred to her as “Miss Dropsey.”

Professor Hamblin had a different solution in that part of the fault might be with William. The Professor asked William if he was too demanding and that the prepared food se served exactly at a certain time? And maybe his wife preferred to cook at a slower tempo than that of a fast food type of service.

William thanked Professor Hamblin for that suggestion which he believed was true because he tended to demand that they eat at exactly the same time every day, just like his mother had insisted. But in some respects, William’s wife was not a carbon copy of his mother and preferred her own way of cooking.

Another thing that the Professor brought up were the constant interruptions while William’s wife was cooking over the stove. Those interruptions caused delays, which in turn caused food to be over-cooked and burned, as well as the cook pot being burned. William said he would cut down on the interruptions while his wife was cooking over the kitchen stove.

Professor Hamblin suggested one further consideration and that dealt with organization. “Before cooking, assemble all the required items first so that you don’t start cooking something with missing ingredients.

“First things first, and one thing at a time, should reduce or eliminate all those burnt and dented pots.”

William valued all of the suggestions from Professor Hamblin and the Baron. But the best advice was to hire a cook. “Maybe my wife would not object if I hired a cook to come to the house only several times a week but not everyday.”

Several months later, William mentioned that all of the advice about his wife in the kitchen seemed to be working out very well.