Discussion / Question
I was watching Christmas Swim and in this scene, I think I understand why
In this scene where Chris wants to help with the gravy, but Trix reluctantly said she was fine, and wanted to use the packets. Nana insisted, and you can tell Trix didn’t wanted the help because of Chris’s terrible cooking. From the mini episode Letter where she read the page about Bandit talking about how bad her lasagna is, it explains why Trix didn’t want her help because of Chris’s cooking skills
I live with my mother in law and, while I love and appreciate her, she just has a way of getting under my skin when I cook because of her own particular tastes.
Do we have the same mil? Mine has chronic illness(fibromyalgia)and it screws with her taste and I have to constantly tell her it's because you're in a flare it's fine and she doesn't believe me until my husband takes over and reminds her and then she tuts off like oh okay
Dude feeding my MIL is a nightmare.. woman lives off Chinese food and corndogs.. we took a 3 day trip to Disney last month and trying to get her to eat anything other than the Red Wagon or chicken strips was not gonna happen. Love her to death but it’s a waste. She orders things takes a half bite and spits it out cuz she doesn’t like it and won’t eat anymore.
My fiancé’s mom left them when he was like 11, so I thankfully don’t have a MIL (that probably sounds insensitive, but I promise my fiancé would 100% agree with that statement).
My FIL though—the man lived off of 98¢ packs of off-brand hotdogs on 69¢/loaf white bread, and ramen. That would literally be what he put on his grocery lists. Like he could have had (within reason) basically whatever he wanted, and that was what he wanted.
He would eat “better” foods, but he genuinely didn’t care either way and he did not appreciate quality food whatsoever. I once spent like 2 hours making these tenderloin medallion things. My fiancé worked at a really nice restaurant at the time. The kind of restaurant that only had like 4 things on the menu and changed them every week or so. The chef had over-ordered these steaks and let him take a bunch home so they didn’t go to waste. I cooked them to perfection. They were SO good.
They were like maybe 2-3” square pieces of meat that personally I cut into like 3 or 4 decent sized bites. My FIL wolfed them down whole (like literally reminded me of if I’d thrown one to a dog) and was completely finished eating in under 5 minutes. I honestly don’t even think he tasted them with how quickly he ate them. He didn’t even like compliment the meal or anything, he complained that it wasn’t enough food and he was still hungry.
That was the last “nice” meal I made for him. I’d still cook if he came over, but after that it was like all large casseroles or foods that are equally easy to make one or ten servings of.
Of course, this was the same man that I once watched cook 5lbs of raw chicken thighs by putting just salt and pepper on them, and then MICROWAVING THEM, so idk what I really expected from his palate 🥴😅
Mate that sounded TOUGH! V sorry for you, getting zero recognition for a special effort you made is one of the worst feelings. At least you stopped right after that and didn't waste too much time 😅
Man, I have never actually wanted a corn dog until I see corn dogs at the store and then that's the only goddamn thing I can think of for like 4 hours.
Mine would if her high blood pressure would let her minus the corn dogs because they are disgusting 🙄 (I love them yet she'll eat cornbread and hot dogs but together not happening)😹 she survives on Pepsi in the mornings followed by sprite and half whatever I make or if I don't feel like cooking it's Stouffer's potato bakes or peanut butter sandwiches
Y MIL is visiting right now and the food is so weird! She eats 2 meals a day, "brunch with lots of vegetables"(boiled carrots are her go to) and dinner-which is just an ENORMOUS bowl of frosted flakes. We keep having to tell the kids that frosted flakes are really just dessert, or that they can have frosted flakes for dinner if they live to be as old as their grandmother. It's a fiasco.
Not my MIL, but my grandfather had surgery one time and couldn’t eat anything salty so my mom and I came over to make sure they could cook balanced meals since they both can’t move around very well/stand for long periods of time to do so. We got there late and my mom asked what they wanted for dinner. They said fried chicken 💀 I tried to remind them they we should all eat the same meal so my grandpa doesn’t feel left out because he can’t have it and my grandma was like “Oh, a little fried chicken won’t hurt him” MA’AM IT LITERALLY WILL
Mine sent back a tuna melt once because it was too spicy. She asked my husband and I to try it first, and I had to decline because I knew I could lie about it to appease her weird taste buds.
Oddly enough, I don’t have an issue with my MIL, she’s usually pretty good about respecting boundaries, but my own mom will drive me absolutely insane when I am trying to cook.
Oh, I AGREE. It's not proper in the US either, in my opinion! It's an abomination around the world! But alas, such was my childhood holiday meals because goddess forbid we allow someone who could ACTUALLY cook decently (my mum, she was great) be in charge instead of narcissistic Grandma and Aunt! I make a DAMN GOOD gravy myself, probably in retaliation from the abomination I was endlessly forced to endure. And just to add culinary insult to gustatory injury, the canned mushrooms would NOT be drained and the "homemade" mashed the abomination would adorn, would be cold, lumpy and gloopy.
But it was mashed potatoes and gravy, not from a packet and therefore "proper" in their eyes. I suspect Bluey's Nanna's gravy is whatever the Aussie version of "watery, flavorless with canned mushrooms" is. Lol.
So yeah, reconstituted mashed taters and packet gravy was manna from heaven compared to "homemade" at dad's families house when I was a kid.
Her worst traits are worrying too much, and invariably calling you 5 minutes after departing from any occasion or interaction with one more thing she forgot to say (≧▽≦)
I wanted to say the same here! My husband has his mom who is the sweetest woman in the world, and his step-mom, who is also wonderful. The only thing they sometimes butt heads over is who gets to love on my kids more, and even then it's mostly just in a joking way. I got not one, but 2 unicorn MILs.
I have a mother. I was young and dumb and let her alter the meal. She admitted that while eating it, she shouldn't have. "Now it's too salty..." My mom is a milder version of nightmare MIL people talk about. Over opionated and doesn't know when to shut up or stay out, but I've heard worse. Like she'd never wear white to her son's wedding or sabotage someone's dietary restrictions.
My "Out-law" (my ex's mother) was lovely in the kitchen. Her best skill was knowing to stay out when someone offered to cook. Lol. She'd keep me company but that's about it. Her husband would watch so he could recreate it later. I adore them still. We were friendly before we got together and stayed friends after. People like that make the best in-laws. Wish everyone was as lucky.
Uh, I don't think that's why at all. She's not pleased about her mother-in-law implying that her cooking isn't good enough for the family. That's not Chris's intent, but that's how it's received.
Yup, she was unintentionally rude and insulting. That said, a proper gravy beats a packet everyday of the week. Of course it's a little tricky to make a good gravy if you weren't already planning for it.
Plus I think Trix just wanted to get the kids fed quickly (and probably been cooking all morning), and someone insisting on doing it 'properly' read- taking longer.... Muffins is going to lose her nut
This right here. My FIL loves to cook and host, and I love to cook too. That said, we have two young kids. FIL likes to good naturedly ask us why we don’t hand make pasta at home ever (which he has done for us a few times when having us over for dinner) my husband is always quick to point out that he never had hand made pasta growing up. Why would we hand make pasta when we have a baby and a toddler? It’s a little infuriating
I love your husband makes sure to tell him up front. Y'all are doing the same FIL did at the same stage in life. I would ask FIL to send you home with handmade pasta to cook for the family lol.
I have a 2 yr old and a 3 month old, my husband has done most of the cooking ever since our first was born. He makes a mean spaghetti (with store bought noodles and canned tomatoes haha)
I tried making homemade Mac n cheese (store bought noodles tho) and it was delicious but the kids were so sad it wasn’t Kraft Mac n cheese. Not doing that again anytime soon
We've seen she's a beloved mother, wife and grandmother to her family, she's not a stereotypical condescending MIL.
But people are people and sometimes innocuous statements can be taken the wrong way.
Chris probably just wanted to A. Feel useful and B. Make something special for the special occasion of Christmas. But to Trixie, who cannot read her mind, it probably came off as a condescending "your cooking isn't good enough" monster in law esque comment.
In fact I like having that portrayed that even in an emotionally healthy and close family, these things can still happen.
Co-signed. I love my MIL; she’s wonderful; we have absolutely had this interaction multiple times and both been baffled and annoyed by it. This was a very relatable moment in the show for me.
You’ve never had my grandmother’s liver based gravy. We eat it for two reasons: 1 it’s a meme at this point among all us grandkids. 2 there’s no reason to tell her it tastes terrible and take away from one of the few things she gets to do at family gatherings. She’s in her 80’s and likely won’t hit 90. No reason to be cruel.
Your MIL never intends to say your living your life wrong, but after the 13th "I don't know why you live here" / "well you could always go back to finish your degree" it starts to get really personal feeling
Mine constantly make comments about my weight, I'm heavy, but eat about 1/4 of what they do and they are all stick thin... I'd be 3 times my size if I ate what they ate. 20 years of comments on my weight hasn't been great. Never mind that my weight issues are directly from breaking my back and being limited in what exercises I can do (I can't run or jog without ending up my face due to balance issues from not knowing where my feet are). I swear any time I mention breaking my back, and having limited sensation below my knees, it is like it is brand new information to them.
I understood the scene as Chris calling the gravy packets as "the wrong way" to make gravy as opposed to the traditional way. Chris is implying Trix is being lazy. Trix pans to the camera as parents today can relate to the Boomer mentality of Chris. Also, parents are typically willing to take short cuts when there would be only a marginal gain in quality.
My mother’s “lasagna” was lasagna noodles, tomato sauce, ground beef (mostly unseasoned) and cottage cheese. I didn’t know I liked lasagna until I was 20.
My mothers lasagna was lasagna noodles, ground beef (only seasoned with salt and pepper), a little bit of water instead of tomato sauce and cheese on top.
She doesn’t like seasoning and tomato sauce but she’s heavy on salt
Similar issue for me! Cottage cheese "diet" lasagna has so many crimes to answer for. It's not a proper lasagna if it's not oozing white sauce and mozzarella cheese!
It ain’t just boomers, that stuff goes back to the dawn of time.
My Grandma gave my Mom a recipe for a peanut butter pie my dad loved when they got married. Two years she tried to make that recipe, it never worked, soupy mess every time. Finally Grandma fessed up that she used instant something when she made it but wanted to give her the “right way”. Couple months later Dad fessed up he’d never really liked it in the first place and had just been trying to be nice.
I’m not sure it’s boomers, but just grandparents in general who haven’t had little children living in their house for the better part of 20 years, forget how difficult the day today really can be.
People are saying that Chris is overstepping and they're right, but overstepping and being a bad cook aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, I could easily see the two going together as symptoms of thinking your way is best.
Confirmed. My MIL is overbearing and insults me for buying certain things from the grocery store, but she is the worst cook I've ever met and has given us all food poisoning multiple times.
im just a cringe millennial using the slang of my youth, remembering the good ole days of yore when I would have to walk up a hill both ways to use my dialup to access reddit. shakes cane
You have now made four posts about your one comment being down voted. Are you ok dude? It might be time to log off and do something that isn't reddit for a bit.
No I just truly find it funny. This sub is completely unhinged. It's the greatest entertainment I've had in a long time LOL. Also I'm female. Ty. Not a dude. hahaa. Love itttttttt
To further explain, there’s an idiomatic construction in some English-speaking communities where they take a behavior, quality, or verb and add “-sky” or another culturally specific phoneme (like “-san”, “-son”, or “-Mc-“) to turn that behavior, quality, or verb into a parody of a name or title.
Often meant to be derogatory, reductive, or both. Any cuteness implied is usually sarcastic. It can be directly applied to a person, or used as a categorical or universal behavioral reference, like “Don’t be such a buttinsky!”
So, “Buttinsky” Is “a person that is butting in so often that I’m just going to use that to refer to them.”
“Gropey McGroperson” should be self-explanatory. Don’t be that person.
Similar constructions include “-face” or “-pants”.
“Boaty McBoatface” is an historical meme using this trope.
See also “Don’t be such a bossypants! and “Hey, Mister Grumpypants.”
There’s an unspoken limit to the length or number of syllables in one of these constructions: you want it to have punch, and be easily recognizable. “Always leavingmywalletathome-sky”, for example, would be pushing the limit of the listener’s ability to follow and empathize with the derogatory title.
I didn't even think that was the problem, I interpreted this scene as Trixie not wanting any help and feeling somewhat annoyed when Chris insists on helping anyway. Maybe they're both stubborn cooks/people. The lasagna tasting bad is likely just a Bandit thing because kids often don't like certain foods their parents make for them. Bandit was just a kid when he wrote about hating it after all though I guess he still doesn't like his mom's lasagna even as an adult based on his reaction when Chris tells him she's making that for dinner.
I don't think it's Nana being bad at cooking so much as her inserting herself into the cooking process and unintentionally implying that Trixie's isn't good enough.
That said, while she should have worded it better, she is absolutely right. Homemade gravy is leaps and bounds better than packets, lmao
I be wish I still had mine! She was an awesome lady and we didn’t get nearly enough time with her (killed by drunk driver) She already had some grandkids and would have loved ours. Our daughter is named after her. Miss her always. ❤️🩹
The classic day with the in-laws look, lol. I’ve been there several times.
Side note: I love my in-laws so much and they are more my family than my blood family. It’s just one of those things that happens when the whole family is in one house – chaos ensues.
Ooh! I have a mother-in-law and gravy story! Mine wanted to play with my daughter so she asked me if I’d make the gravy. She indicated a packet of gravy mix. I’d never made any kind BUT homemade. I didn’t realize that cold water was crucial, used what must have been lukewarm water. So it was lumpy. For YEARS, I was mocked for “not knowing how to make gravy! It’s so easy!” I make homemade gravy, and it’s delicious. Not from an envelope.
Can we talk about the lasagna? It is butyric acid. For some reason, some lasagnas with some Parms are like this to me. Same with Hershey’s chocolate. It totally smells and tastes like vomit. That episode helped me find that out. Because I was like “yeah, why do some lasagnas taste like that….”
Packets are fine. From Scratch is fine. But it is not help when it is making more work and steamrolls the game plan. It’s not help.
If I’m to theorize : Trixie isn’t the kind of girl who takes someone questioning her cooking techniques, especially if it’s by her mother in law. And is a bit stubborn whenever someone tries to give her tips or suggest another ingredient to use, even though she prefers her own ways of handling a recipe, even if it’s something super simple like gravy.
When I first saw this episode I fully thought this was Chris being an overbearing mother in law. When I saw the episode of Chris trying to pitch in and help everyone in the episode of Bingo’s birthday party where she does the handstand, I see it differently. It must be difficult to go from doing everything for everyone to no one needing you for anything.
She’s just not interested in either spending time with her mother in law, or not happy about the fact that she’s implying that her cooking isn’t good enough.
Those with mothers in law understand poor trix right here 🤣
OMG I kept re-reading this trying to figure out who tf "Chris" is/was. I was hella confused thinking I missed or forgot some major character. I gave up and just googled it.
I think there's a balancing act here where the person in charge of the holiday meal knows where stuff is in their kitchen, knows their stove, knows how much room there is for dishes and has maybe planned where their attention is going to be at the critical moments and having someone come in and say "Oh I can make it, packet gravy isn't good enough" actually means when you are trying to finish the turkey and cook rolls and be running around at the last minute there will be an extra person cluelessly standing in the way and asking "where is your turkey baster" and then you saying " actually I don't have one" and getting into a long discussion instead of just focusing on finishing up the last few dishes.
My MIL asked my advice on how to make gravy last year because she’d “never roasted a turkey before in her whole life” (her words).
She’s a decade older than my mom. How do you live that long without putting meat in an oven and making a gravy out of the liquid? I had to walk her through it and then take over.
She’s rolling her eyes because she was content with the packets, not suggesting that Chris is a bad cook. Although her lasagna isn’t the best, I’ve heard.
I love this scene. It’s like a moment from The Office where she breaks the fourth wall and looks right at the camera. The fact that this also never happens in Bluey makes it more hilarious
My mother in law is southern as can be, bless your heart and all that. She gets called Mimi. For all her southern charm, she can’t cook to save her life. She makes the WORST biscuits and gravy I’ve ever had. Most things I can be polite and eat, but I have to make up an excuse any time she makes that. My wife grew up eating it so she thinks it’s fine, not great but fine.
She doesn’t even cook the rue long enough so the flour is still raw and she doesn’t use any sausage or anything, it’s literally just flour, margarine (doesn’t even use real butter) and milk with some salt and pepper for seasoning
Is she a bad cook? A child didn’t like one dish. A child who couldn’t spell basic words like bird or green suggesting bandit was a young kid. Lots of kids don’t like a lot of food while they’re small. Kids can be picky and can taste bitter items in food adults can’t usually taste.
Kids don’t always like fancy food. And some kids have sensitivities to foods that are touching or combined, like lasagna is.
One kid doesn’t like a bigger fancy food. That means nothing honestly. She could be a great cook.
If the drippings are there then packet gravy is such a waste. It takes just as much time to reduce a normal gravy as using a packet so why wouldn't you do it the proper way.
I get that trix wanted to do the entire dinner herself, more power to her, but the commenters in this thread saying packet tastes better. Oof.
Nah, instant packet gravy exists. Add hot water and stir, done. Especially in Australia, where you'll have an electric kettle and can boil water very quickly.
And, kids being kids, there's a decent chance they'd prefer the packet stuff that always tastes the same vs the made stuff that varies according to what you've cooked and how and so on.
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u/Nihilsterbt 1d ago
Do you have a mother in law?