Holiday guests and meals

[Laura2592]

Its that time of year!

"Hi Laura! Can't wait for our stay! Question, do you have an oven that can accommodate a 20lb turkey? We plan to make some fixings for Thanksgiving and take them to my family. Do  you have a turkey pan that size? I can bring mine no if not. Thanks!"

Reading this,  I can anticipate 1) extra clean up 2) lots of pots and pans being dirty 3) guests visiting who have not been disclosed to check out the "cute cottage!" that the turkey makers are spending time in. 

These guests are coming from about 3 hours away. At least they did not ask me to supply the turkey. But who goes to an Airbnb to make a 20 lb turkey?? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Basha0 @Anonymous Is a deep fried turkey a greater cooking travesty that the famed Scottish deep fried Mars bar (Snickers bar for those in the USA)

[Anonymous]

@Mike-And-Jane0  Admittedly I'm not a turkey fan, but actually in my opinion, the "traditional" way of roasting Big Bird whole is just about the worst thing you can do to him, unless you like dry breast or undercooked leg. If you can't bring yourself to do the logical thing and cook each part of the bird separately, pressure-frying it in that device that collects dust in McMansion garages across Middle America is about the best way to get the whole thing both juicy and crispy. But for my money, nothing beats smoking it.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Anonymous we gave up on whole birds a while ago and just cooked turkey crowns. We will probably just go with a turkey breast joint this year so should be able to get it juicy and have the great advantage of not be still eating Turkey into the New Year.

[Sarah977]

@Mike-And-Jane0  The greater travesty is a tofu "turkey."

[Laura2592]

An update to the update...

the guests discovered a few record albums, the air fresheners and some "other items" in their belongings. It seems they took a lot of things over to the family's house and my items got mixed up with theirs. They will be returning them. They "brought their own" air freshener and got ours mixed up with theirs. Okay....

Which further begs the question...when you guests stay, is it okay for them to take your belongings off the premises to be part of a family feast elsewhere?? Geez! Now I understand why the flatware was in the laundry room. It probably had a Thanksgiving adventure. 

[Lisa723]

@Laura2592 our cleaners recently reported missing steak knives, then found them... in the oven.

[Laura2592]

@Lisa723  my grandma was famous for putting her purse in the oven and then searching for it everywhere.....and this was when she was in her 40s and 50s, so not a symptom of some cognitive decline!

People are really interesting, for sure. 

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  Years ago when I lived in Canada I belonged to a quilting group that created a king size quilt every year, quite fancy- fabric for the squares were cotton velvet and sashing was satin- that was raffled off, the proceeds donated to organizations which benefitted women and children. They raised thousands of dollars.

The quilters would take turns sitting at the raffle table at various craft or other fairs where it was displayed.

One year the quilter who was the last one at the table that day, who was responsible for taking the money collected home, to be deposited in the designated bank account, was going out of town for a week early the next morning, so she stashed the money in her deep freeze.

In her absence, the freezer went on the fritz, and she came home to a disgusting mess of thawed and rotting food, which she shovelled into garbage bags and took to the dump.

It was only when she got home that she remembered "The money!"

She raced back to the dump, prepared to have to paw through the muck in the bags, but the bulldozer had already buried the area where she had thrown the garbage bags.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Laura2592 

I guess it is the ultimate compliment that they felt so much at home in your place! 

[Laura2592]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 that's one way to spin it....

I may be a bit of a kook, but when I rent a place on Airbnb or a hotel, or whatever, my objective is to:

1. have a place to sleep;
2. have a place to put my luggage safely;
3. have a place to bathe and relax;
4. if its a cute space, or somehow unique, the extra bonus is to enjoy looking at/experiencing the surroundings. But mostly I just require the first 3 things.

It seems that some guests rent an Airbnb to:

1. have an entertaining space they don't have to clean;
2. have use of items they can take out of the space to other points of interest so they don't have to buy those items;
3. have full use of a chef quality kitchen for entertaining;
4. use the space as a temporary hostel for any errant friends, families or hookups they may meet upon their travels. 

Maybe I need to start viewing this platform like some of my guests. 

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  I could see myself transporting some things from an str. For instance, cutlery and non-breakable dishware or bowls, if I was going on a picnic. 

But of course I would bring them all back to the house, wash them, and put them back where I found them.

There really isn't anything I feel a guest shouldn't do like that, it's a matter of being responsible about it. And unfortunately, it seems too many guests are neither respectful nor responsible.

That holds true for just about anything involving guests. If all dog owners were responsible, all parents were vigilant about watching what their kids were doing and stopping them from doing unacceptable things, hosts wouldn't need to have rules about pets or kids.

If guests carefully lifted a piece of furniture to move it, being careful not to ding the walls or scratch the floor, and moved it back before leaving, hosts wouldn't care about moving the furniture, in fact, they wouldn't even be aware it had been done.

It's the way people do things, not  necessarily that they do them, that's the issue, and why hosts end up having so many rules and behavior requests.