Thanks for the nudge to do something I also need to do! I get hung up on the difficult questions- will I ever eat these pickled garlic scapes? when will I use the kappou sashimi soy sauce? could this lumpfish roe still be edible? how did I end up with four jars of capers? Etc.
One time when I was a teenager we had a mysterious terrible smell coming out of our fridge that was driving my entire family insane. My parents were pretty neat and clean so the smell really freaked everyone out. My mom cleaned out the whole fridge to no avail, and then later my dad discovered a mouse had drowned in the drip tray underneath! The smell was a waterlogged dead mouse!
I've heard sumac gets musty fast; I also keep my gochugaru in there because once I had a deli container of gochugaru and it got.....moldy? (I've also heard of people keeping large stores of it in the freezer.) Kalonji seeds too, because I think of seeds as things that go rancid. And there are some curry leaves in there, but they should probably be transfered to the freezer
You are motivating me to tackle the bottom freezer of my French door, which is in chaos and to clean the second refrigerator in the basement. I saw someone's freezer at Thanksgiving and it was so neat. I didn't know freezers looked like that.
there's an episode of an early nigella lawson show (just tried to find it and failed) where she opens up her freezer and it's absolutely PACKED, it's HAVOC, there's stuff practically falling out of there. When I saw it I GASPED, partially in recognition (my freezer often looks like that) and partially because I don't think that would EVER be allowed on food television these days. All of that to say, even nigella has a chaotic mess of a freezer. You are in good company.
what a brilliant piece to read first thing in the morning, marian. thank you. i was just looking at my kitchen counter and working on accepting the organized mayhem there. our kitchens are our workshops!
Thanks for the nudge to do something I also need to do! I get hung up on the difficult questions- will I ever eat these pickled garlic scapes? when will I use the kappou sashimi soy sauce? could this lumpfish roe still be edible? how did I end up with four jars of capers? Etc.
the worst existential questions to ask!
truly aspirational
<3
One time when I was a teenager we had a mysterious terrible smell coming out of our fridge that was driving my entire family insane. My parents were pretty neat and clean so the smell really freaked everyone out. My mom cleaned out the whole fridge to no avail, and then later my dad discovered a mouse had drowned in the drip tray underneath! The smell was a waterlogged dead mouse!
Omg this is my NIGHTMARE!!!!!
Sumac in the fridge!!! Which spices do you choose to keep in there vs. your cabinet, and why?
I've heard sumac gets musty fast; I also keep my gochugaru in there because once I had a deli container of gochugaru and it got.....moldy? (I've also heard of people keeping large stores of it in the freezer.) Kalonji seeds too, because I think of seeds as things that go rancid. And there are some curry leaves in there, but they should probably be transfered to the freezer
You are motivating me to tackle the bottom freezer of my French door, which is in chaos and to clean the second refrigerator in the basement. I saw someone's freezer at Thanksgiving and it was so neat. I didn't know freezers looked like that.
there's an episode of an early nigella lawson show (just tried to find it and failed) where she opens up her freezer and it's absolutely PACKED, it's HAVOC, there's stuff practically falling out of there. When I saw it I GASPED, partially in recognition (my freezer often looks like that) and partially because I don't think that would EVER be allowed on food television these days. All of that to say, even nigella has a chaotic mess of a freezer. You are in good company.
what a brilliant piece to read first thing in the morning, marian. thank you. i was just looking at my kitchen counter and working on accepting the organized mayhem there. our kitchens are our workshops!
our workshops! yes! xx