Millennial on the left, me in the center, friend/former student on the right
Syndicated columnist Jim Mullen’s recent piece in the Saline Courier titled “It’s Alive!” inspired this week’s thoughts. His first line read, “My refrigerator is where cucumbers go to die.” He humorously noted all the soft things that had gone hard, all the hard things that had gone soft, plus lots of examples of outdated sauces, multi-type mustards, etc. Funny, funny—and so true for a lot of us.
I
have my—our—own story. Since my 27-year-old grandson moved
home from a nine-year stint in Arkadelphia, we’ve shared the fridge. He moved
back the first of August and soon bought a sack of orange, apples and “baby”
carrots, which went into the right crisper. Most of those are still there.
After
that, the man-turned-health-nut, brought sacks of green grapes and fresh
cherries. They landed on the top, right-hand shelf of the fridge. For the longest time, they sat where he placed them. Oh, I'd eat a few of both now and then, until they dried up. I threw them to the squirrels and ants. A bottle of schnapps behind the gallon of whole milk
hasn’t been touched. But the milk has—for dry cereal. In fact, he’s on his
second gallon.
As
for “my” side, there are two large containers of fresh pears--to eat, to make
pear cake and pear bread. My skim milk, cranberry and tomato juices take up
more than half the space. Here and there are empty spaces for Billy’s
store-made-and-purchased salads.
In the left-side crisper—I shouldn’t talk—for a long time, I’ve left three
different-colored sweet peppers in there. I discovered something Jim Mullen
needs to know: Peppers left in the plastic bag from the store stay good for a
month!
As
I write, I realize Billy’s food takes up a lot less space than mine does, but
he’s not so good at eating what he’s purchased--except for the salads. Perhaps those oranges will rot,
the apples will spoil and the carrots will dry up and turn black.
At
some point, for both our sakes, I MUST do something with those fresh pears. I
don’t think I could eat them all by Christmas, even if I ate one at every meal
between now and then. When can I manage to bake for the holidays? I guess after
a trip to Eureka Springs, and before our Thanksgiving get-together.
Yes, that’s it. That’s when I’ll get to it. OR, perhaps I could use Billy’s
blender and make pear smoothies using his Herbalife powder and ice. I’d better
check with him first.
Billy in earlier years
4 comments:
I am home alone at the moment and the fridge is not too bad. In himself's absence I am whittling down/evicting the tired and the furry. When he returns space will again be an issue and things will go to the darkest corners to die.
I relate. I just forget certain items. I have started buying bell peppers frozen! : ) Fun read. Thank you, Pat.
I find that if I put the fruit in a bowl I more likely to remember to eat some. But I have thrown away more lettuce and salad makings than I have ever eaten. Pre-made might be the way to go. Good read.
We never have that problem here. I graze and graze and graze. Nothing goes to waste. It all goes to waist.
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