Kitchen territorialism

It's been a long time coming, but I finally admit to being territorial over my kitchen.

I reflect on this now as my roommate and his girlfriend prepare dinner tonight. I've jumped up multiple times to make sure they were using the right utensils, not using metal on my nonstick pots, not throwing recyclables in the garbage, etc. Mostly, I'm glad they got started while I was at work.

I cringe at the thought of other people using my utensils and ingredients, but I don't know why. My mother never worried about us kids in the kitchen. My party-hosting friend in college never cared if us dorm-dwellers got our cooking fix in her kitchen. But ever since I moved out on my own, I get kind of wiggy about people using my kitchen.

An accurate depiction, as little as I'd like to admit it.

To be fair, I didn't have an issue with my college roommate. Maybe because I felt the duplex we shared was more "hers" because she found it originally and asked me to room with her that year. We shared stocking and cleaning duties, so I guess I just didn't mind when she wanted to use it because it was quite literally half hers.

Living in my own apartment, however, I guess one would become possessive over things. The kitchen was full of food, tools, utensils and decor that I purchased. Some items, like the microwave, were gifts and loaners, but whenever someone would try to prepare something I had a habit of hovering and critiquing.

Brian learned this the hard way. When we started living together, I would ask him to help me make dinner sometimes, but I always had a problem with how he did things, or I'd get annoyed that he didn't know where basic things, like towels or cutting boards, were stored. I guess I can't really blame him for leaving the food prep to me now.

Maybe it's because I've lived with people inactive in the kitchen for so long now that I became territorial because I feel I'm the only one who uses it. I know where everything is, how much of each ingredient remains, what needs replacing soon, what substitutes I can create for different ingredients, and I think I resent having to tell other people. Part of me thinks they should know, but the other part knows why they don't.

Anyway, dinner is being served. I am doing my best to appreciate not having to prepare it tonight and not think about going in to figure out what's misplaced or depleted or improperly used or cleaned...