“For 40 years, my husband never cooked a thing,” my friend Billie, 75, said. “It was a huge burden for me to make all the meals. After he died, I decided I will never live with a man who cannot cook again.”

I’m not willing to be a kitchen slave. Cooking is a basic life skill. A healthy, nutritious diet is fundamental to a healthy life.

Thorough online dating, I have met over a dozen men in their 50s and 60s who never learned to cook. They expected me to plan, prepare and cook three meals a day. One man sat passively in the car while I shopped for our groceries. What is this, the 1950’s?

Basically, they want a mommy to take care of them and great sex. Not interested.

If you can read, you can cook. Pick up a cookbook and follow instructions.

“How do you slice a lemon?” Jim asked. Talk about helpless!

One man was so intimidated by my excellent, healthy cooking, he refused to cook for me. Not even oatmeal. John criticized me for being "too exacting" while cooking and sewing. My creativity and eye for detail are strengths, not a character flaw.

John thinks it's sexy to see a woman with her back turned, working in the kitchen. He likes to come up behind women and rub against them.

When he did this to me in the kitchen, his intent was to distract me and initiate sex.

Because I was rapidly chopping vegetables and stir frying- to stop would turn the vegetables into mush- I ignored him. John complained that I was not paying enough attention to him in the kitchen. Needless to say, we broke up.

Everyone loves to hear those magic words: "Dinner is served."