“I dont think our smart kitchen even has a manual setting.
Trying to cook ourselves could mess up the entire system.”
A rainbow list of options popped onto the screen.
Unsplash / Squared.one
Steak and sausage and lamb appeared in blue font to represent the lean meats.
Turkey and chicken and duck appeared in purple font to represent poultry.
The reds represented pastas.
The greens represented seafood.
The oranges represented side dishes.
The yellows represented desserts.
Unsplash / Squared.one
A black line ran through certain items, signaling the fridge lacked the ingredients needed to create the meal.
I would have to order more over my grocery app later.
I think we should go with spaghetti tonight, I said.
My daughter bobbed her head from her spot at the kitchen island.
A snake-shaped hairpin kept her bangs from drooping into her eyes.
When you were little, did you ever cook something for real?
Me and yourgrandmotherwould bake cookies every holiday.
Neither of us even really ate them.
Making them was the best part.
I scrolled through the pastas and typed in the parental code to activate the spaghetti recipe.
Other items dropped from slots in the cabinets above.
If it was fun, why dont you do it anymore?
I fished a bowl from the cabinet and plopped it onto her placemat.
Its just more convenient this way.
Besides, I dont think our smart kitchen even has a manual setting.
Trying to cook ourselves could mess up the entire system.
Her face crumpled like foil.
I wouldnotbe the source of those eyes.
I said, tapping my acrylic nails against my cheek.
I might just get so excited that Ill teach you the recipe.
Her smile put her bottom teeth on display.
Im pretty sure mine did the same.
It sat between aStudent Of The Monthcertificate and a signed agreement from her to never do drugs.
When I yanked on the handles to collect the ingredients for our cookie dough, the doors remained sealed.
No matter how hard I pulled, the damn thing wouldnt budge.
Get in the car.
Well do this the old fashioned way from start to finish.
Pick up the ingredients from a grocery store.
Ive never been in one of those!
Rhea said, already lifting from her seat.
Just as I remembered from my own childhood, the process was more fun than the end product.
I swore we followed the recipe perfectly.
Like eggs with the top part of the oven?
You want to make breakfast?
We can cook whenever you want.
Over the next few weeks, we flipped blueberry pancakes on the stove.
We fried chop meat and green peppers for tacos.
We basted a turkey.
We baked brownies and cupcakes and pudding.
Something minor always went wrong.
Something wasnt cooked all the way through.
But after years of letting my kitchen do the work for me, I wasnt surprised by the quality.
Besides, Rhea never seemed to mind until the day we made pumpkin pie.
She barely touched any of the ingredients.
She sat there, staring, while I did all the work.
Honey, if you dont like cooking, its okay, I said, removing my oven mitts.
Theres plenty of other stuff we can do together.
She fiddled with her hairpin.
It wont hurt my feelings.
Then why didnt you have fun making the pie today?
Her eyes shifted to the stove.
I think the robot is mad.
It doesnt get to cook anymore.
It doesnt get to do anything.
We stole its job.
I wrenched down my smile, trying not to dismiss her emotions the way her father would do.
Honey, the kitchen cant get mad like people.
Just like your cell phone or your tablet or your drone toys cant get mad at you.
It doesnt think like a person.
She didnt look convinced.
It keeps burning our food though.
Its messing up on purpose.
It wants us to give up and let it go back to cooking.
Its burning because your mommy isnt a professional chef, I snapped.
Then I took a breath.
You know what, youre right.
We havent used it in a while.
We dont want the parts to get rusted.
How about we let it cook us something tonight?
Do you think that would help?
She nodded, so we held hands on our walk back to the kitchen.
I lifted her up so she could choose the meal herself on the touch screen.
She decided on a stew with potatoes and carrots and dark meat.
It still works fine.
No different than before.
But honey, if you still feel uncomfortable, then we can get the whole thing uninstalled.
It costs a lot to run it.
Wed be saving money by cooking ourselves and if Im being honest, I miss cooking.
Not in front of the robot.
I assumed the kitchen could do its job without my supervision.
I never checked to see which ingredients it added to its conveyor belt.
I never heard it grind those pills into powder and sprinkle them into the stew.
I never realized that I would be feeding my family poison that night.
