So, that roommate trouble I was having? I thought it was all okay, but apparently she was really just bottling it up until she exploded at me a few hours ago. The smell of my cooking, especially the garlic, onions, and spices, is making her sick, she says. She can always smell it, it’s on her clothes, it’s making her have to use her inhaler more than ever before (which seems suspect to me, but whatever), etc. She even brought up one of us moving out, although she doesn’t think she should have to, because she was here first. (I think that I shouldn’t have to move out either, but I digress.) But if we both stay, she doesn’t think it’s “fair” that she should have to feel sick all the time, and that I need to stop cooking ethnic food and stick to, in her words, “mainstream” food. (I won’t EVEN get into the fact that when I mentioned that none of my friends could smell anything, she threw back that maybe we were used to it, being engineers and around Indian and Asian people every day. Nothing racist and prejudiced about that, NOT AT ALL NO SIR OMG.) I’d like to just laugh, shake my head at her, and continue cooking the way I have been, but I’d really rather not be, like, killed in my sleep or something.
So. Does anyone have any suggestions or recipes for me that don’t include onions, garlic, or pretty much any spice?
Going through life one step at a time 
December 22, 2008 at 9:18 am
SheesH! Sounds like a bad roommate! I have a feeling she’s upset about more than just cooking. It seems weird to “bottle up” and explode feelings about how you cook.
How does she eat? Does she ever cook? What are mainstream foods? Bologna and mayonnaise sandwiches? Maybe she’s just jealous that you know how to cook!
I’m guessing your “smelly” cooking is from sauteing onions and/or garlic in the pan before adding other ingredients… It’s definitely not quite the same (but to keep you from being killed in your sleep), but you can use those jars of minced garlic, and I think you can get dried onion flakes, to add to the food. Instead of starting with those ingredients at the beginning and letting the smells invade your roommates sacred space, you can add those at the end of the cooking, or very near the end. Unfortunately the flavors will not be absorbed fully to be as yummy, but it should do the trick.
Let us know how it goes.
How was your semester?
December 30, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Yeah, I have no idea. In her rant she also mentioned that I “didn’t clean enough” and was “taking over the common areas.” However, this is coming from a girl who once angered her sister by letting it slip that she cleaned the toilet if her sister happened to use the restroom while visiting, because she’s afraid of getting MRSA, so I’d say her views on cleanliness are SLIGHTLY SKEWED.
She bakes a decent amount, but she doesn’t cook much–she says she used to all the time, but now she just doesn’t have time. She has made a homemade pizza, a batch of chili, and sandwiches and things to take with her for lunch, but other than that all I’ve seen her eat is frozen dinners and McDonalds.
Yeah, I already use the jarred garlic at times. I’ll have to consider your other suggestions. I’m thinking that when we get back to campus, as much as I don’t want to, I might have to just sit her down and say that I will try to make accomodations for her, but I’m not going to completely change how I do things. We’ll have to see how that goes down.
Thanks for asking about classes! I did well, but I’m mostly just glad it’s over. The change from undergraduate to graduate was harder than I expected. I’m going to have to try to buckle down and work harder this semester.