“Clean-As-You-Go” for the Win

Mike and I hosted two families for dinner tonight. Each family was two adults and two kids, so we had a total of 11 people. I made chicken and spinach enchiladas, homemade salsa, and spinach salad with from-scratch lemon poppyseed dressing; Mike made homemade guacamole; our friends brought rice, beans, and dessert. It was delicious — one of the kids said it was “a Mexican feast!” — and we had a really nice time.

That being said, I started cleaning the house and prepping the food at 10:30 a.m. for their 5:30 p.m. arrival. It was a long day and a lot of effort! I have a habit of cleaning up as I cook. Use a dish. Rinse it out, put it in the dishwasher, wipe down the counter. Repeat again and again. I ran several loads of dishes before our friends arrived, then another two loads once dinner was over. I have to say, though, that by 9:30, the counters were all clean, the dishes were all washed and put away, and you couldn’t tell anyone had been over. It was fabulous.

This compares to when Mike cooks. He cleans when he’s done. Except our rule is that if one cooks, the other one cleans. So typically, Mike cooks and I clean up. He’s got it good, because when I cook, I clean up. Of course, I’ve got it good, too, because he does the vast majority of our cooking.