Woman Tries to Impress Her Boyfriend with a Homemade Dinner. His Reaction Disappoints Her

Yahoo

3 days ago

He thanked her for cooking but admitted the meal wasn't impressive, and now he's wondering if he was too honest
A man turns to the Reddit community for advice following a tense moment with his girlfriend after a home-cooked meal didn't quite earn the reaction she'd hoped for. The 23-year-old shares that he and his 22-year-old girlfriend recently moved in together after dating for over a year.
'We both work weird hours,' he writes in his post, explaining that their usual dinner routine leans heavily on takeout. 'But when we do have a home-cooked meal, it's usually me who cooks.'
The boyfriend grew up in an Italian family and says that while he doesn't consider himself a master chef, he can throw together a solid dinner. His girlfriend, on the other hand, grew up eating 'frozen pizzas, canned soup, and microwave meals,' and rarely cooks.
On this particular night, he comes home from work to find that his girlfriend has made spaghetti and meatballs. 'I thanked her for making dinner and ate a large portion because I was starving,' he recalls.
But when she asked how he liked it, his low-key response didn't land well. 'I said it was good, but I didn't really say it with any enthusiasm,' he explains, clarifying that he didn't mean to sound rude but was just answering honestly.
His girlfriend seemed disappointed and asked what she had done wrong. He reassured her that 'she did nothing wrong. It's just basic spaghetti and meatballs.'
She pressed further, confused because she thought it was a meal he loved. He admitted he did love it, but added, 'since she asked, I pointed out that she had used frozen meatballs and sauce from a jar.'
He emphasizes that there's nothing wrong with that. 'I was happy to eat it,' he says, but didn't understand what kind of reaction she was expecting from something so simple.
'She said she wanted to impress me,' he continued, and that's when it clicked. 'I realized that she has so little experience with cooking that she really didn't understand the difference between what she made vs. a homemade meal.'
Feeling bad about his reaction, he apologized. 'I realize that to her, this is a huge effort and a step up from what she is used to,' he admits, adding that he thanked her again and suggested they cook together later in the week.
She accepted the apology, but he notes she 'went to bed early' and believes she's still hurt. 'I think she is still upset,' he writes, wondering if he's in the wrong.
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He stresses that he wasn't trying to criticize her. 'I myself have used frozen meatballs and jar sauce many times out of convenience,' he says. 'I was simply being honest when she asked me why I wasn't more excited about it.'
Reddit users offered their thoughts, with one commenter writing, 'Now that you realize that she took that extra step to learn, I think you did the right thing after the fact by apologizing.' They added, 'She wanted you to be proud of her… Next time just be a little more considerate of her feelings.'
Another agreed he handled it well in the end. 'Not the AH,' they wrote. 'When you realized how big it was to her, you made it better with understanding and an apology.'
Though the night didn't go as his girlfriend had hoped, the poster seems committed to making it right. 'She's trying to learn,' he says, 'and I thanked her again.'
Read the original article on People
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