I made some progress and narrowed the cause of the issue down (see below). SInce I am a technical analphabet I will write this in the format Yoast wanted, so hopefully he will address this and tell me how to fix it:
WordPress version:3.5
WordPress SEO version: 1.3.4.4
I did this:
1) I re-installed wordpress 3.5
2) I then activated Akismet and installed the Wordpress SEO plugin (which were step 2 and 3 in my original submission to this thread). I could see the titles&metas tab - so it worked!
3) Only then did I install genesis 1.9.1 framework (which was step 1 in my first submission to this thread). I could no longer see the titles&metas tabs
4) I de-activated Genesis and reactivated the WP 2012 theme - I could see the title&meta tabs again.
I expected the plugin to do this: work with genesis 1.9.1
Instead it did this: it did not work with genesis 1.9.1
As I said, I am not a technical person. But to me it seems obvious that the issue I am experiencing has nothing to do with any other plugins (aside from Akismet I do not have any other plugins). Instead it seems to be caused between genesis 1.9.1 and Wordpress SEO 1.3.4.4
I hope someone who is technically savvy can help out...